Falklands adventure

Well I've final done it.  I've walked from the house up to the top of Sapper Hill.  My house is on Sapper Hill and the view from my kitchen window is of the summit and its masts.  I chatted about walking up Sappers (as its known) with one of the local policemen who told me the vehicle track up it was one of the worst on the Islands.  He also warned me against walking straight up the hill as it could be boggy.  So with all these warnings in mind I jumped over the back fence and walked straight up. I have to say, knowing this was a battlefield in the 1982 conflict, I was somewhat reticent wondering whether there was any detritus of the war still left around.  What was under the surface?  That said the walk up was uneventful, although I was very taken by the vegetation that evidently was adapted to the difficult conditions including the evident lack of nutrients in the soil and the strong prevailing wind. When I reached the summit I found a memorial to the Royal Engineers (the Sap

Today was my 70th parkrun and my first on the Falkland Islands.  For those of you who are park-runners you'll find this parkrun in the UK's list of events as 'Cape Pembroke lighthouse.' The course is a simple out and back run along a well compacted gravel road to Cape Pembroke lighthouse and back.  There are a few ups and downs but nothing dramatic or difficult.  The course is effectively flat and easy if you're wearing trail shoes.  What isn't so easy is when you have to run against gale force winds!  Also, as I found, choosing the right clothes to wear is also a major factor.  In those wind speeds anything that can flap will flap and act like a braking parachute.  Even on a sunny day like today you need to wear layers.  There is a very strong desire not to take warmer outer layers off especially when the gale force winds are extracting the heat from your body.  This was the first time I've run wearing gloves in the summer and three layers on top! According

On Monday evening a police officer knocked on my door and gave me the news that I was free from Covid and would be released from quarantine at midnight.   Whilst I was tempted to leave the house at 00:01 I left it until around 5am to break the bounds and go for a walk. Earth Station close to my home - where the ‘internet is received” Ross Road aka ‘Main Street’ Stanley Tuesday 24 November was my first day of attending work.  If my travel arrangements had gone smoothly, and I didn’t have to quarantine, my first day of work would have been 27 October.  Its strange to think that I’ve been on the payroll since then without attending work! Where I work is close to the 1982 war memorial, near Thatcher Drive and the bust of the ‘great lady.’  The memorial to the late Prime Minister is on a neatly trimmed and well maintained grassed area in front of the Chief Executive’s offices.  She shares that location with a family of geese who happily gaze out on to the harbour alongside her.  My office

It’s day six of my quarantine - hopefully only eight more to go.*  I’m still in the midst of the transition to GMT-3hours.  That process has proved more difficult than I envisaged. I think there are several factors that are contributing to this including:  the bedroom curtains are too thin and allow in daylight;  I’ve jumped from autumn where the days were closing in to early summer with long days;**  the Falkland Islands really should be at least GMT-4hours if you reckon by the sun so dawn comes early by the clock;***  if I awake in the middle of the night, when the internet is free and uncapped there is the inevitable desire to browse, update and upload; and  being in quarantine and confined to my house and its curtilage (largely a peat field without any grass) I’m struggling to do any meaningful exercise.  I’m anxious to get out and explore. I want to see more of the islands than the stunning views I have from my house. I have an urge to climb to the masts on top of Sapper Hill w

  It’s my first day at 23 Rick Jolly Way.   Surprisingly, after a long day travelling yesterday - and doing a significant amount of unpacking when I got in last night - I go up early this morning.  Looking left from the front steps As most of you already know - I made it to the Falkland Islands yesterday.  It took a while to get out of Mount Pleasant airport and about an hour to be driven from the airport to my new home.  By the time I was largely unpacked it was the early hours of the morning in the UK and I hadn’t set up the internet.  I decided to sleep first. I’m pleased to say that from this morningI have both my mobile and landline internet working - although I’m instinctively very wary of connecting all my devices given the cost and limitations of satellite based internet services.  So, until I’m confident that I can throttle my internet usage effectively, I’m using one device at a time.   Leaving aside the inevitable niggles 23 Rick Jolly Way is a wonderful large three-bedro

 We learnt on landing at Brize that some of our fellow passengers were to board the 01:00 flight tonight and attempt to get to the Falklands once again.  After spending 22hrs on board I was glad I wasn’t seen as a priority.  My employers have sorted out a hotel for me and I’m staying the night in Oxford.  I’ll be staying here at least until tomorrow afternoon - when hopefully I will learn something of what happens next.   If the delay is short I’ll stay here - if not I’ll be heading home to Cheshire.   UPDATE  Before heading home to Cheshire I took a few photos of Oxford.  Not everything was as expected!

It’s 4am GMT on 4 November when I’m starting this blog.   I’ve had some fitful sleep since we took off shortly after 10pm last night. At the moment we’re on stand at Dakar being re-fuelled with an expectation that we will leave at around 6:30am for the Falklands.   With all the disruption, delays and disappointment many of us have encountered there is optimism that this time we’ll head south and actually get there.   All of the crew on the aircraft are acutely aware of the hassles we’ve all been through and many of the announcements are peppered with phrases acknowledging this.   That said the last announcement at Dakar was less than gallant and referred to “getting rid of us” as soon as possible. We took off from Dakar later than 6:30am.  All was going well until the Captain announced at around 11:45am that because of deteriorating weather conditions on the Falkland Islands we had already turned round and were now heading north again, either to Dakar or to Brize Norton.  From the nav

  Yesterday, with a renewed sense of expectation, Dianne and I set off for Brize Norton again.   We stopped off, for the second week in succession, at The Wychwood Inn for dinner... only to be met by a text from Sarah advising that the flight to the Falklands had been delayed 24hrs by weather.   The announcement appears to have been made at 15:15 - and had we caught it as it was made - we could have cut our journey southwards somewhat short.   I noted later that my employer sent me an email at around 17:00 telling me that my journey was delayed. Whilst I was frustrated not to have received and acted upon the information immediately it was sent we both realised that being close to Brize meant I had the option to spend the night in a local hotel - rather than travel north, then south again.   And so what I hope will be my last night in Blighty for a while has been spent in a Travelodge. Whilst I can be frustrated by the delay I am also grateful for it. I am a participant in the Covid-19