One year on...

I feel like I have blinked for fractionally too long and suddenly it's almost a year that we have been down here in the Falklands. It has certainly been an experience so far, on so many fronts, including work and pleasure. Admittedly, I have been a little lazy over the last few months, in terms of writing my blog. This is due to a combination of being so busy at work and there being not a great deal to tell you about. It's the middle of deep, dark winter here. The days are short, the wind, although not so prevalent as in the summer months, is bitterly cold; and we have had numerous flurries of snow and ice. It's been a case of getting my head down and trying to reach the end of a hard-worked year at school.

Well, that end has, at long last, been successfully reached. It did take a little longer than I am used to, with a late finish, well into August for us down here. I have to say, that I have been drooling with jealousy at the Facebook postings of all my former work colleagues, both in the UK and the Middle East, as they enjoy a much earlier and warmer end to their school year. But hey ho… better late than never. It could be warmer though.

So, with little else in the way of interesting news, I thought it a good idea to give you all a review of both the good and less-than-good aspects of island life in the sub-Polar region.

THE GOOD

The far end of Surf Bay. The destination of many a windswept stroll.

The beauty: I only have to look out the window (when not in the middle of a heavy rain or snow shower) to remind myself of the number 1 on my list of reasons to be here. On a clear day, the beauty of the islands never ceases to take my breath away. The patchwork of colours, the rugged wildness, the rolling landscape and the clarity of the air all combine to make the islands a real diamond, which may have jagged edges, but sparkles brightly. 

Looking out from our front door on a gloriously sunny day.

The wildlife: In a close second comes the amazing flora and fauna that the islands contain. We have yet to experience this at its full potential and will continue to notch up new species of birds and mammals over the coming summer; however, what we have seen so far has been a visual banquet, from the characterful dinner-suited penguins to the beauty and cheekiness of the caracara to the wallowing blubbery masses of the many seals. 

The skies around the Falklands are littered with these dark, foreboding beauties - Turkey vulture.

The running: The running has been excellent, both on and off-road. I am running between 80 and 100 miles a week on average, and although in the recent winter months, much of it has been in the dark with a head torch, fighting challenging weather conditions, living here has only strengthened my growing obsession with this most basic of exercise. If I tire of pounding the road, I have a great trail right on my doorstep, and on a clear day I can run to some breathtaking vistas, in order to clear my mind. I am looking to get into the ultra-running scene much more over the coming year. A local running partner and I plan to complete a 66 mile charity run to Mount Pleasant Airport and back next October, and I am considering something much longer, when we are back in the UK for a visit next January (more details to come on that!).

The start to a very cold half marathon back in February - which was still meant to be summer!

The traffic: Or should I say the lack of it. One of the most frustrating aspects of living in the Middle East was the volume of traffic we had to battle against on a daily basis to get absolutely anywhere. With large volumes of traffic come large numbers of traffic lights, which results in many hours of sitting in the car at a standstill, while the air conditioning works on overtime to try and counter the stifling heat trying to peel the paint off the car bonnets. The Falklands couldn't be more different. There are no traffic lights for a start. The busiest driving conditions of the day is the lunchtime rush, which I usually miss anyway as I stay at school. Even if you do get 'stuck' in this, the most you will get is a line of 4 cars trying to turn onto the Stanley By-pass. The air conditioning is still on, but to try and heat the car up (at least in the winter months). As in the Middle East, everyone drives large 4 x 4 cars, but instead of sand, its mud and (out in Camp) a lack of proper roads to drive on. That’s not to say the driving is any safer here; however, while the dangers of Middle Eastern roads are the idiots you share them with, the problem here are the state of the roads, ice and wind. Road traffic accidents are the Falklands Fire Service's number 1 call-out!

This section of road is actually in good shape.

The Whalebone Arch at the cathedral 

- the nearest the Falklands has to the 

Golden Arches.

No Golden Arches: A mark of any great surviving wilderness of the world, untouched by the ruin of 'civilisation,' must be the lack of one of the most recognisable symbols of the western world's passage into a sedentary, lazy and overweight species - the MacDonald's M! Of great irk to many of the younger generation of the islands (including my children), who have been fooled into thinking that the food produced by such companies as MacDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky and the countless others, is nutritionally worth more than something to feed the seagulls to, there is a reassuring lack of such food outlets on the islands. That is not to say you cannot get burgers. However, the burgers here are locally produced, made from grass-fed cattle, are thick and succulent and cost half the price of the UK equivalent. It will be an extremely sad day if those Golden Arches do make their way to this part of the world, but nothing surprises me anymore, and the islands are on the brink of development of their oil industry, so you never know.

The meat: Staying on the subject of food then, we come to the quality and cost of meat products available on the islands. Beef and lamb is excellent. It's all grass fed, so has a higher percentage of omega 3's, in comparison to cheaper UK grain fed animals, is slaughtered and butchered locally and is very cheap. Yum yum!!

Tasty meaty morsels...

Lots of new experiences for the latest retained fire fighter
on the islands...

The new experiences: There have been quite a few… just being in and experiencing a different place in the world for one thing. Seeing new plants and animals, meeting new people and experiencing their culture, as well as seeing the beauty of the islands are all good reasons to be here. We have produced our own eggs with chickens and ducks, eaten freshly butchered mutton on the barbeque, been bogged in our 4 x 4 and even watching Stanley's population triple in one day as it is descended upon by the contents of one of the leviathan-like cruise ships, which silently appear as the sun rises in the west. Life is often described as a tapestry - its experiences like these, from all over the world, that form the patchwork scraps that make this tapestry rich, colourful and varied.

Sheep shearing is a very important part of life here in the Falklands.

I am not a spiritual person. I will freely admit to being an atheist and this 'belief' is unlikely to ever change. The thought that there is no god or any other ultimate being, or that a heaven (or hell) does not await me, does not scare me in the slightest. Instead I like to step back to enjoy and wonder at the beauty of the world around me. This beauty for me is at its most splendorous during sunrise at the dawn of the day. Watching the sun come up, when the day is at its most fresh is possibly the time when I feel most at ease with myself and the world around me, and if there was ever a time I was going to consider myself to be spiritual, then this time would be it. I have experienced beautiful sunrises in many parts of the world, including India, the Middle East and Europe. The ones I try and catch here in the Falklands when out running are truly amazing, it has to be said. Like the birth of a new universe may be a slightly dramatic description, but that’s often what comes to mind when I see such a large glowing ball waking the sky, on a clear day. Whatever the coming day promises to hold, good or bad, nothing can destroy that beautiful and blissful moment.

THE BAD (well, not-so-good)

The shopping (non-foodstuff): To be fair, this is something that bothers me less and I could even stretch to putting this in the list above. However, it is generally more difficult to get things here and they are more expensive. The situation has improved immensely by all accounts, with a lot more companies now air mailing to the islands now. You just need to be more organised, more patient and less choosy. Obviously, with the number of miles I am running every week, I will go through trainers pretty quickly. The running shoes available on the island are very expensive and quite frankly not very good, so I rely on air mail. This has served me well so far. Again, as long as I am organised and plan ahead, I have no problems in getting the right ones for me. I am currently rotating about 4 pairs and have another pair on order. I generally do not like shopping anyway, so the lack of shops here does not bother me in the slightest. The initial wonder of the Qatari mega-mauls soon wore off, when we lived there, and I would regularly spurn the opportunity to visit them, even if it did let loose a seasoned shopper in the form of the wife, with the credit card. I do have to say however, that Caz has done remarkably well on the shopping front in general - only showing frustration with the lack of choice for children's clothes and shoes.

The Stanley mega-maul that is West Store.

Work: While I have done well at work this year, with great SATs results, being appointed to a TLR position and having some great feedback, it has been a real slog. My work-life balance has definitely not been very balanced at all. Part of the problem is my attitude to work in general (not wanting to do a half job) and the fact that we have not had things like PPA or regular management release time this year. Weekends have turned into an extension of the working week, just without the children in the class and the general pace of having to do things, as well as the amount of things I have had to fit in, has been ridiculously high. I look back on the year, and although it can be regarded as being very successful, I cannot say I have enjoyed it much. I hope next year will improve, although with an OFSTED inspection scheduled for the November of term 1, the prospects of this happening in the short term do not look good. I like to think of myself as a reflective practitioner, assessing the impact of what I do in terms of effectiveness for learning and progress, as well as enjoyment for the children. Unfortunately this reflection all too often also extends to whether I am doing the right thing in terms of my career, but that’s a discussion for another day…

Year 6 on school camp.

The potential for an outdoor life: One of the things I was looking forward to before moving here was to enjoy a much more outdoor life in clearer, less polluted air. To a certain extent this has been fulfilled, but not quite to the extent of my expectations. The main problem has been the weather. A combination of the prevailing windy conditions, the cold and the wet (especially so in winter, but the summer was not great either) has meant a lot more time spent indoors and a greater use of the car than I was ever expecting. Don't get me wrong. We have been able to go for walks and both Olivia and Evie have bikes now, but the cold weather does prevent us venturing out in much the same way as the heat did in the Middle East. Compounding the frustration is the lack of facilities to keep the children occupied in Stanley – the only cinema on the island is an hour's drive away at Mounts Pleasant Airbase and the only swimming pool on the islands has just reopened after over a year in renovation. When the weather does play ball and the sun comes out, the islands are a magical and beautiful place, the air is pure and there is so much open space, but there is a reason the military send their troops here for training, and it's not for spotting penguins.

Walking at Elephant Beach on a very windy and wet summer's day.

THE UGLY

The weather:  I do not mind admitting that we have all really missed the warmer climate we had become accustomed to. If you don't like wind, this is definitely not the place to come. It has to be one of the windiest places on earth, especially in the summer. Being so close to the Antarctic, the average temperature is low (the heady heights of 20°C is a rarity, even in summer), although not as low as you would expect – it’s the wind chill that is the killer! The winter is also very wet. As the soil is so peaty here, water takes a long time to drain away, so much of the islands have turned into a swamp that Shrek would enjoy living in; the frequent frost and snow only serve to compound this problem, as it thaws. There are sunny days and when these are coupled with a rare day of little wind, the beauty of the Falklands unveils herself like the ugly duckling transforming into a swan. More of these days would be nice though.

Bipolar would be a good way to describe the personality of the weather in this part of the world – just the other day, it started calm, clear and quiet; however, by the end of the day the storm force winds were hurling golf balls against the side of the house. By the next morning, all was clam again. These squalls blow through very quickly and often, and can happen all year round. Such weather makes it very dangerous for sailors in this part of the world and Cape Horn, only a few hundred miles away, has made itself infamous for such a reason. It is also the reason for the many ship wrecks that litter the vicinity of Stanley and the rest of the Falklands. Prior to the building of the Panama Canal, ships were forced to play the lottery of rounding Cape Horn. The first place available for storm-damaged ships to stop off and repair was the Falkland Islands. What captains often found on arrival was that they could not afford the repair costs. It was cheaper to sell off their cargo, abandon their ships and hitch a lift home on another, more seaworthy ship. The islanders did very well off such enterprise!

Half-way through an 18 hour flight to the Falklands (Ascension Island)

The distance from home: There is no getting around the fact that we are a long way from home. Just the time it takes to travel here, from Cornwall, alone is bad enough. However, if you marry this with the fact that there are only 2 MOD flights and 1 other commercial flight out of the islands in a week (all of which are at the mercy of the weather conditions), means getting back to the UK is not easy – especially at short notice. This really hit home at the turn of the New Year, when dear Julian tragically passed away from an 18 month battle with cancer. It has also been a real deciding factor of when we will make it back to see family and with increasing frustration, has been a huge restriction on the running events and races I would like to do. The nearest place I could race would be South America; however, as the only flights to and from the islands are a Saturday, it would mean I would have to take a 2 week holiday (as most races happen on a weekend). This means I am restricted to the longer school holidays, at which time there are not many races! Annoying!

The price of fruit and vegetables:  Basically the cost of both here is incredibly high. Bunches of bananas for nearly £5 each, a punnet of cherry tomatoes for over £4, blueberries for £6-7 a punnet, lettuces for over £2… the list can go on, but you get the idea. Making the price of fruit and vegetables an even more bitter pill to swallow is the poor quality. We heavily rely as a family on frozen vegetables and have learned to adapt our shopping needs accordingly, but the great quality and value of meat products here is very much negatively balanced out by the poor availability and cost of fresh fruit and vegetables. This is certainly not a place for vegetarians, although I do know a few. The problem lies in the fact that most of the food (apart from meat) is imported by air freight. By the time the restaurants and cruise ships have had their pick of the best, the general population on the islands are left with the expensive and poorer quality rest. Some fruit and vegetables are grown on the islands; however, due to the climate and poor soil conditions this is very limited and very seasonal. My partial solution: put the tax on alcohol much higher and use the money gained to subsidise healthier food, including fruit and vegetables. I doubt this would go down well with a lot of people here!

So that’s a snapshot of the good and not-so-good points of living here. I will have obviously missed a few things, so apologise for that. It's certainly been a different life experience for us so far and we are looking forward to continuing this over the next year.