In Jamestown, I'm sleeping where Sir Arthur Wellesley may have stayed while returning to England from India in 1805. Ten years later, as Duke of Wellington, he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
Wellington or not, the building's definitely old as shown by a signature and '1791' scratched into a window pane.
It is quite extraordinary that the glass, presumably shipped from England, has lasted so long.
The lounge doilies (there's also a 1920s gramophone) could almost date from Wellington's time.
While here, I may not spot the elusive Wirebird, the island's endangered 'national' bird, but can always look at one on an antimacassar.
The hallway to my room has higher doorways on one side than the other and the most marvellous floor with planks, likely from a ship.
The comfortable room doesn't suffer a lack of pillows. At night, for someone who lives on Toronto's main street, silence is absolute.
My view is across rooftops to the tower of the nearby church.
Booking Wellington House, the downside was no ensuite bathrooms. I anticipated sharing showers, drowsily squeaking down corridors and up stairs at three in the morning. Having understanding fellow guests has made things painless. And one can always study the toilet brush duck and sign outside the shower.
The hotel is owned by the delightful, unshakable Ivy Yon. She has an island-wide (given her clientele, perhaps international) reputation for cooking. Meals - based on 'my mammy's recipes' - are simple but exceptional. Fish cakes, gammon and pineapple, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding; lemon meringue, apple crumble and custard, homemade ice cream and tart.
Ivy's surname suggests her husband's descended from Chinese workers brought to the island by the East India Company. Elsewhere, Chinese writing on a cottage wall and 'China Lane' mark their presence.
I'm blessed to share the Wellington House with a team from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (high on the Economist's list of top international business schools). Meals have been among the most entertaining for a long while. It is not overstatement to say I'll cherish memories of our breakfasts and dinners.
Megan, Brenda and Bruce.
The team's training managers at Solomon's, island version of a conglomerate. The Solomon family began business more than two centuries ago. With over two hundred employees, Solomon's seems to have fingers in every possible pie on St. Helena - cars, bakery, butcher, petrol stations, shoe store, DIY store, supermarkets, insurance, shipping.
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Sitting in the Wellington House lounge, gazing at the old building across Main Street, I suddenly think of Ontario’s Wellington Brewery. It has the cheerful slogan “Try a Welly on.” Brewery advertising proclaims: “The Duke of Wellington … inspired the sturdy rubber boots we know as Wellies … had the French Army triumphed, we might today be wearing Napoleons … “
