Thatcher

Mark Thatcher was on our flight having flown down the Falklands to unveil a memorial bust of his mother on Thatcher Drive.  There were lots of events lined up, many of which were hampered by the weather, but there was an event for the community with free bar and food.  We went along, seeing it as a way to meet new people. 

There were raised eyebrows about Mark Thatcher’s chequered history (and muttered comments about how he became a Knight of the Realm despite £12 million arms deals, attempted coups in Guinea etc).   Among many native and long term residents, Maggie is seen with gratitude and reverence, so people were able to overlook the reputation of her son. 

As we left, the party was really getting going as a result of the liquid refreshment on offer.

Sunday

Sand dunes

Close to Gypsy Cove there is an area of sand dunes.  They are huge, precipitous and amazing fun to charge about in!  To drive to them you have to go off road.  This combination is absolutely irresistible to both children and adults.  We went there on Sunday morning and spent a good while playing hide and seek and lurkey 123.  The trick is to disguise your tracks by going through vegetation or by walking in existing footprints.  It was amazing fun with stealth tactics, flying leaps and tackles to prevent others reaching the base first.  

The drive across to the dunes was great fun too, seeing what exactly we could get the car to do.  Hope I’m not becoming a petrol head.  There are minefields there which mean that access to the beach is again impossible.  It's a bit annoying as there are lovely Gentoo penguins on the beach.

The signs are very explicit in their warning.

Gentoos

In the afternoon we popped over to a neighbours house for tea and cake.  The children disappeared off with Nerf guns and we had a good talk about life here and soaked up lots of tips from our lovely hosts. 

Monday

We went swimming in the spotlessly clean very warm pool.  There were 6 of us in the pool and a fantastic assortment of pool toys for the children to use.  We had a lovely hour playing, swimming and floating about before going home to try to configure our internet hub.

When we bought the box I was offered the opportunity to have the box configured for me for £30.  I thought how difficult can it be to configure a wireless hub?   Can’t be that hard. 

It turned out that it was quite difficult indeed.  Matt had a try when he got back from work.  He agreed that it was quite difficult too.

Tuesday

Back to the telecom place to get them configure the box.  Sometimes paying someone to do something is the best approach.  It only took them 10 minutes.  

We were too early for our swimming session so we went to the library.  The library is amazing, has current and interesting books, a great Y.A. section and the best selection of DVDs I've seen for ages.  As with everywhere here, the views from the windows are great.  I took out a book I've been wanting to read for ages.  H for Hawk.  It is located mainly around Cambridge, the descriptions of the landscape make me feel nostalgic for home.  It’s a beautifully written book.

Swimming was again lovely.  Lots busier and good fun but we had to leave early for Anna to have a haircut.  By this time I was getting twitchy, I was keen to get back home to see if the internet worked.  Sad isn't it?  But after a week without it and with so much happening, we felt a little adrift without it.  Thankfully it was.  I've spent much of my time since writing this blog and trying to get it up to date.

Food

We had sushi for dinner.  We made hand rolls with toothfish cheeks and they were absolutely delicious.  Toothfish is caught off the Falklands and is cheap in comparison with other things (small punnet of tomatoes £4.99 etc…).  We’ve realised that in order to get in our 5 a day, frozen fruit and veg is the answer.  There will be no bananas available until the end of January when there will be space on the LAN flight.  The tourist season means that space on flights is taken by people rather than fresh fruit and veg.  A lot of fresh produce is grown by market gardeners at Stanley Growers but they can’t grow everything.  Many gardens have poly tunnels so a lot of people grow their own.

Calm

During the day the wind had dropped and by evening it was flat calm with not a breath of wind.  We walked down to the sea and along the shoreline.  The sea was like a mirror, the steamer ducks and oyster catchers on the shore were the only things moving.  It was mind-blowingly beautiful.  I took so many photos.  It doesn’t get this calm very often so it was a real treat to experience it and to record it in pictures.

Our house is just behind the yellow roof and the local pub is the white building with the green roof.

Wednesday

We went swimming again…2 hours this time.  We seem to time our attempts to visit the museum here badly and still haven’t managed to go.  Instead, we went for a walk along the sea poking about in the shallows for interesting shells and bits of sea glass and generally mooching about.

Thursday

Reindeer.

As part of the restoration of South Georgia Island, there have been eradication projects undertaken to rid the island of both rats and reindeer.  Both of whom have a negative impact on diversity of the flora and fauna.  The rats got there by jumping ship, the reindeer were taken there by whalers as food.  Both species proliferated with the rats decimating the ground nesting bird population and the reindeer ravaging the tussock grasses and lichens.

As a result of the reindeer removal some have come here to be farmed and some are culled, frozen and shipped as meat.  The Chief Executive of South Georgia popped in last night to deliver a leg of reindeer which we had bought from him.  We had a fascinating conversation about South Georgia and about making the most of living here (over a beer of course).  He had to go home to saw the reindeer leg in half as it was too big to fit into our freezer.   

We need 4 things now.  

1: A chest freezer should more of this bounty come our way 

2: Decent recipes 

3: Our barbeque 

4: A barbeque with lots of hungry people in attendance.

Friday

It was very stormy today.  Too stormy for the cruise ship passengers to get into Stanley on launches.  Too windy at points to stand still.  Apparently the weather is unseasonably bad for the time of year, and it’s meant that we haven’t been out and about as much as we would have liked.  Hailstones really hurt when they hit you at over 30mph.

We did time it right today for the museum.  It’s amazing.  We watched a film about the invasion in 1982 made from the Islanders point of view.  It must have been absolutely terrifying.  The hardship, trauma and damage caused by the conflict hadn’t really registered with me until then.  We left the museum with huge respect for those who had lived through it.

We spent most of our time in the area dealing with the conflict, but it’s only a small part of the museum.  They have Shackleton’s actual hut there!  It’s a good thing that we’ve now got annual museum membership as it will take about a year to see everything.

Saturday

After having a little too much fun at a very lovely cocktail party in Friday evening, we had a slow start.  At around lunchtime we went with the children to go and look around HMS Dragon (a naval destroyer which has dropped anchor in the sound).  The launch trip out to it was bracing, a little kill or cure, as the sea was far from flat calm.  Matt and were due back on board later that evening to a VIP reception.

One of the launches ferrying visitors too and fro

Stanley from the launch

It was great fun on the launch, spray everywhere and lots of bouncing about.  The ship tour was really fascinating; we learnt about all the guns and bombs and we sat in the driving seat of the helicopter!  There was a seal sunning itself on the Jetty as we left and it was still there when we returned

The reception on board later that evening was great.  Jugs of gin and tonic greeted us together with lots of beautifully turned out naval officers.  All of whom had been to charm school.  Beards everywhere.  Our second tour of the ship was really interesting but not as comfortable in our posh clothes.  It was a bit bracing.  The seal was still on the jetty when we came back.  It has an amazing capacity for lazing about.

I just wish our container was here as I only have one posh frock and with all the socialising, it’s getting a little too snug and a little over worn.  Apparently it will be here in a fortnight.