Life on Tristan used to follow a slower rhythm. Up until the late 1930s, people worked when the weather and seasons demanded it. There was no electricity, no cash economy and few outside goods. Food was grown, caught and shared. Labor was communal.

That began to change during World War II, when the British government built a secret naval weather and radio station on the island. Soldiers arrived, concrete buildings went up and, for the first time, islanders were paid wages. With money came generators and electricity. Then, in 1949, the launch of a commercial lobster fishery introduced a new, regular income stream, and regular shipping schedules further sped up the pace of life.