Great kit for road repairs: this tractor has been busy for the last week or so. (0702082)

MY return home after a four-week break – impeccably timed, as Peter Cunneen said – was marked by the most wonderful sunrise over Sark I’ve ever seen.

After the cheers, tears and jeers of the previous month, there was little point in asking people if anything worth writing about had happened, apart, of course, from the annual exchange of largely unwanted gifts otherwise known as Christmas.

Aside from checking the election results – we left on polling day – I had tried to avoid catching up on news until my return, although even in South Africa total strangers, on learning where we lived, seemed anxious to impart the largely distorted impressions they had gleaned from the media.

But distortion has not been restricted to the national and international media. Among the things I’ve read since my return was the Seigneur’s curious assertion that there is little evidence of the Barclay family’s £5m. investment programme in the island.

That means that the scores of visitors who commented on it during last year seem to have been mistaken about the huge improvement to premises in The Avenue.

Oh well, there’s none as blind as those who don’t want to see.

The newly constituted Chief Pleas assembled last week to elect members to committees.

I always thought that no matter what sort of election – school PTAs, carnival committees or full blown elections to or in a legislature – voters could only cast votes equal to the number of vacancies.

Not so in Chief Pleas, I’m afraid. There seemed to be no limit on the number of times members raised their hands in support of candidates and in one election – for three vacancies, as it happened – I saw at least four members do so in excess of the three times to which they should have been limited.

No doubt I will once again be told that Sark is different, but in the absence of a proper check on how many times members vote – there was no evidence of that – the only way in which these matters can be settled properly is by secret ballot. Anything else is open to abuse and consequent distortion.

The day before that meeting I had been told that four of the newly-elected conseillers were ‘going to be marginalised because they are perceived to be pro-Barclay’.

I smiled and took the comment with the proverbial pinch of salt.

I think differently now because the four named to me – Stefan Gomoll, Michelle Perree, Ann Atkinson and Paul Armorgie – ended the day with seats on just one committee each. So much for starting a new Chief Pleas with a clean sheet and no baggage.

This churlishness means that an awful lot of experience, expertise and love of Sark is being wasted.

On a much more positive note, one of the biggest bits of kit ever seen in Sark has been busy for the last week or so – trying out a new method of repairing the roads. It’s an experiment which deserves to succeed and I sincerely hope it does.

That said, there has been a considerable amount of amusement about how the huge tractor and its attachments got here. I’m told that its size caused problems to either Sark Shipping or our harbour crane which meant – and I can’t avoid a wry smile – that our neighbours in Brecqhou brought it over on the Brecqhou Warrior.

I view that as an olive branch which should be seized and built on by Sark.

Whether it will be remains to be seen but I’m not holding my breath.

Before closing, I would stress that contrary to some of the things said and written, Sark is very much open for business.

Some of the businesses closed in the post-election paddy have already re-opened and others will do so soon.

l If any reader wants that glorious sunrise picture emailed I’d be happy to oblige.

The email address for that, and any comment, is fallesark@sark.net