What is it that is so attractive about small islands?
We all live in Bahrain which – at 790 km2 – is the 173rd largest country in the world, which means there are only 22 that are smaller. However, with a population of 1.6 million, we are the sixth most densely populated country, just behind places such as Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Even though we are all living on top of each other, there is a certain charm to living in Bahrain – we shall call this coziness.
None of your empty vistas and uncluttered panoramas for us, just lots of villas, apartments, office blocks and shopping malls, endless number of shopping malls. Do any of these malls make money? Apart from City Centre Bahrain, they are all empty most of the time.
Small Island Syndrome is an actual thing, and it gets into your head.
Many of my friends and colleagues who have retired and left Bahrain have gone to live on a small island, Cyprus. Even though it is more than 10 times larger than Bahrain, it is still considered a small island. Interesting fact: the population of Cyprus – at 1.3 million – is just under 20 per cent less than here.
Having lived for a significant period of our lives in small, contained communities, I think that is the attraction. If I go and live in Cyprus, I will be in the same village as most of my friends. If I go and retire to the United Kingdom, then the closest friend will be a two-hour drive away and it would take major planning to organise a get-together with more than six of them.
Another friend is from the Seychelles and to her, Bahrain is the big cosmopolitan metropolis. Her home is only about half the area of Bahrain, but has less than a tenth of the population, so this is all big noisy and exciting. Mind you, all she has to look forward to when she retires is endless days lolling on the golden sands of a tropical beach which will be a novelty as we don’t have tropical beaches here on our small island. But at least, when it is cold and wet in Cyprus, we will be able to go and visit Nadia in Seychelles and taste her spicy Octopus curry.
A disadvantage of small-island-living is the inability to just jump in the car or campervan and go for a long drive through many other countries and see the sights. But when I put this to a friend in Cyprus, he told me that they have EasyJet and Ryanair who can take you to Rome, Paris and other mainland destinations for less money than petrol, so it is once more only a matter of logistics.
In the UK or on the European mainland, you would think nothing of driving 30-40 kilometres to go shopping or meet a friend for lunch or commute to work. Here, if I have to drive more than 10 km, I am looking for excuses to not go – ‘it’s too far, let’s leave it till next week’.
Small Island Syndrome, it’ll get you in the end.
Jackie@JBeedie.com
&uuid=(email))