Blink and you miss it – we have completed our first term here in the Falklands, and it feels in some ways like we have always been here. Day to day life in the most part is so similar to how it was in the uk – the school system seems just like what the girls experienced back home, and so this has allowed for a seamless transition for them into their new classes. We have had parents’ evenings for all three – and they all are doing really well, made loads of friends and don’t seem to have been too affected by the large break from school March through to September.
Since my last post I can confirm that the car did finally get delivered (hurrah I hear you cry – not many people could put up with my winging much longer either!) which was absolutely amazing – the relief of now being able to go wherever whenever is huge! In celebration I took Cookie to the beach that evening for a walk, and we enjoyed a good run about the dunes and into the waves! Speaking of the beach we enjoyed some lovely few weeks of sun in November, giving us a taster of a warm summer here in Stanley. So warm I was even able to enjoy a swim on my birthday – don’t get me wrong, the water was still FREEZING and many expletives were howled as I plunged into the water to much amusement of any onlookers. But I managed a good tour of the newly reclaimed Yorke Bay, managing to avoid the penguin colony who must be a tad confused at suddenly having to share their home with the residents of Stanley, and exited the water before I turned too blue.
Our ASDA shop also arrived late November, which is actually a little bit like Christmas, you can’t always remember exactly what you ordered 3 months previously and it is interesting to see how well certain things fare on the journey over – not too many disasters and it is nice to receive dried chickpeas that you haven’t had to chop an arm off to pay for – although I am getting a little better at not proclaiming “how much?!” when I see the price of things here- I managed to shop at the veg shop the other day and not wince at spending £60 on a weeks’ worth of fruit and veg…
In terms of shops here there are three ‘main’ shops. The Chandlery is similar in size to your small ASDA / Tesco supermarket on the outside of town– and holds the usual fruit & veg (when the boat has come in recently and also hugely depending on the season), chilled goods (although everything is frozen on the journey over so best before dates are not really acknowledged and yoghurt, cheese etc does not do well on the boat – it really doesn’t taste the same) tins, dried goods, cereal and alcohol. Meat does do well here, most of it is local, and predominantly Beef and lamb. Chicken and other meat is shipped over, and so the availability and price reflects that. We are buying a lot of frozen veg to make it last and try and get it as fresh as possible. The store in town is called the West store, this is smaller but does still offer the same range of goods – although fresh veg and fruit isn’t as large. The goods they import is mainly from Waitrose (!) and so prices are a little steeper here. Finally there are four little corner shops in and around town, called Kelper stores, they stock mainly co-op goods and are just your small corner shop style produce. We also have a nursery here that does really well for fruit and veg – both home grown and from the boat. They have restricted opening times though and so can be hit and miss as to whether or not we can get there on a weekly basis – and also the produce here doesn’t seem to last as long compared to what we were buying in the UK – not sure why. Don’t know if I have mentioned previously, the cheque has made a come-back – people tend to use either cheque or cash to pay for goods, there is only one cash machine on the island for debit cards and so you have to go to the bank to get your money out – which is a bit of a pain for anyone who works full time as it is only open during working hours!
Back to Christmas prep, we have enjoyed a lot of the traditional preparations over advent. We shipped over our Christmas tree and decorations, so it was nice to have a bit more of home around when we put up the tree. I now have more of an appreciation for why the supermarkets back in the uk seem to start Christmas so early in September – if they hadn’t, by the time things get shipped over we would have to celebrate Christmas in March! I was pleasantly surprised with how much we could get in the shops here in December, they had all the usual Christmas chocolate, advent calendars, puddings and mince pies, just obviously a much-reduced selection. And it is definitely a ‘get it whilst it’s there’ mentality – no point in waiting until next week to buy something you want as there is no guarantee that it will still be there; a lesson I am quickly learning. Due to it being almost summer here, the traditional meat eaten at Christmas is Lamb, and so we have put our order in for a delivery of a lamb (dead – you never can be too careful!) before the big day.
I joined the community choir when it started again in September and we had our first performance early on in December at the cathedral singing a few Christmas carols. Due to the far-reaching location of many areas of ‘camp’ (the Falkland term word for countryside) around the islands, the service is also broadcast on the local radio service – Falklands Radio (which I believe you can listen into live from anywhere in the world). The youngest Barlow also enjoyed her first theatrical debut as a narrator in the nativity put on by FS1 & 2 (preschool and reception). I have to admit that due to the fact that she spoke too quickly and quietly, I actually missed her performance and had to rely on a friend who videoed it to play it back and see what she did!!
And so now the schools have broken up for the ‘summer’ holiday – 5 weeks over Christmas. The weather these past two weeks has been a little cold and wet, so fingers crossed it changes whilst they’re off, although it is helping me feel a little more Christmassy and like home!
Family life in the Falklands 