An aging population
Some young English university graduates from the islands are reluctant to return to live in the Anglo-Norman archipelago. Their return is an obstacle course full of pitfalls: housing difficulties, professional choices limited to banking and tourism... However, the banks on the islands are short of staff. They even offer jobs to unqualified islanders, and the strict immigration law poses a recruitment problem. Many of those who chose to leave the islands during their working life return when they reach retirement age. They form tea-drinking, rose-trimming, gardening micro-societies that welcome their isolation from the problems of the world.
A British education system
The Channel Islands' education system is based on the British model, so much so that the history and geography syllabuses do not differ in any way. Even the smallest islands have their own schools. In Alderney, for example, children attend school until the age of 15. Thereafter, they are "sent" to host families in Guernsey and integrate the island's schools. These are often subsidized by the Alderney authorities.
On leaving high school, students who wish to continue their studies at university must travel to Great Britain. They may then receive a grant to help pay for their studies. Those who choose to study law can go to Caen, to learn Norman customary law, which is very similar to that of the islands. To make up for the shortage of manpower, some jobs in finance are open to young people without diplomas. They are then required to take finance diplomas, which have no value outside the Anglo-Norman archipelago. Contrary to the situation in many other island societies, and even if some wonder, most young graduates return to the islands after their studies "overseas". For here, they are almost certain to find a good job, and enjoy all the privileges enjoyed by native islanders. Fortunately for the local balance. This remaining youth keeps the islands from dying a slow death, and maintains their cultural, festive and sporting life.
A relaxed pace of life
Relaxation may come as a surprise, but it's what makes the locals so likeable. " I' vaut mus aller douchement et aller ben ". If you adopt this maxim when visiting the Channel Islands, you're in for a real treat, especially if you're on foot. But make sure you have a copy of the tourist office's leaflet on walking trails, especially in Jersey, and let yourself wander. When visiting Jersey, get up early and head for Mont Orgueil Castle, for example, to watch the sun emerge in the East. You don't need to go to Greece to see the "rose-fingered dawn"; all you need is favorable weather, albeit at the same time a sign of a temporary deterioration in the weather. In the evening, head west to Saint Ouen's Bay and you'll witness one or other of these colorful spectacles, flamboyant if a few clouds join in, in the company of locals who never tire of the show. Unless, of course, the water is falling... which, after all, is not without its charms either and, as we say in Jersey: " Quand i'tchait d'la plyie, faut faithe comme les Français: faut la laissi tchaie "(tchaie: to fall).
Patronyms and habitat
Reading a phone book quickly reveals the most common surnames in the Channel Islands. On the island of Jersey, one can no longer count the Carteret, Decarteret, Syvret, Poingdestre or Carré. In Guernsey, there are many Tostevin, Langlois, Mauger, but also countless names beginning with "Le": Le Poidevin (sometimes called Pedvin), Le Gallez, Le Cras, Le Cheminant, Le Sauvage, Le Tissier, Le Page, Le Pelley, etc. To find housing, locals can apply for a building permit, which is only issued for land that is already built on. The countryside rarely offers an impression of solitude. The habitat has been dispersed according to the opportunities and time. Some parishes are more populated than others, such as Saint-Hélier, Saint-Saviour and Saint-Brelade in Jersey or Saint-Peter-Port and Saint-Sampson in Guernsey. The parishes are composed of a group of hamlets. The cottage rubs shoulders with the farmhouse with its old-fashioned charm, the series of small modern and uninteresting apartments or the hotel. On the road, splendid manor houses sometimes emerge from the background of parks. Only a few can be visited: the Saumarez manor in Guernsey or the Samares manor in Jersey.
Social structure and standard of living
Although they are hardly visible, social problems do exist for the various social classes that live side by side in the archipelago. Unemployment is currently low, but rising steadily. Immigrants from Portugal and Central Europe, who occupy unskilled jobs, are finding it difficult to integrate and tended to desert the area during the Covid-19 pandemic. The older generation doesn't speak English, so they have to cope with the islands' lowest salaries and housing problems. Graduated immigrants from France and England, who hold managerial positions or skilled jobs, are part of the "middle and upper class". Despite a high standard of living, this class also encounters housing difficulties, although these are far less significant than those of unskilled new arrivals.
Finally, the most affluent are usually away for six months of the year. But there's no flashy luxury here, no yacht or Hollywood villa, just a Rolls-Royce or Ferrari behind the gate. A plane ride over their thatched cottage says a lot about the means of these inhabitants... Tennis courts, swimming pools... all located on huge estates.
And whatever the income of the inhabitants, they all have to reckon with very high living costs. Housing is very expensive and food, much of it imported, is very expensive.
