Birds

I have just got back from swimming and the fence on the left hand side of my house is covered with birds.  They keep chirping.  It is quite annoying. They are not on anyone else's house.  I am finding this all a bit strange and remember that when I lived in Canada on the prairie 4 large grey owls perched daily on top of my house, then they would keep me awake at night with their jumping on the roof.  They used to leave dead half eaten animals in my garden. Usually it was just the heads.

One day I was sitting in the garden, and an owl swopped right over my head nearly messing up my hair. Those owls were the most beautiful birds I had ever seen. They were huge. I loved the way they could turn their heads all the way around - like the girl in that horror film.  The one that is so famous I have forgotten the name of.

What is it about me that attracts birds.  It was not long ago that the Turkey Vulture was stalking me. I will have to google it and will report back with my findings. A bird flew into one of the plane's engines this weekend.

This is a chicken I felted earlier.

Well I have had quite a lot on my mind this past weekend. It has been quite exhausting. I am too tired to start to think about it again never mind try to explain. I may collapse it is so draining and I have to go to the polytunnel in a minute and water my courgettes and spring onions.

 I went to an excellent Burns night on Saturday and was in great company. I started the evening with two large glasses of sherry and the haggis was delicious.   I have increased my exercise routine in preparation for action man's return and I can hardly keep my eyes open.

Must go and feed the birds - like the lady in Mary Poppins. Feed the birds, tuppence a bag la la la la la ....

I have just remembered the name of the film - The Exorcist.  I do not recommend it.

Fed up with FI

Well today I walked the dog and got caught in a horrible rain and wind storm.  My face was red and hair dripped by the time I got back home.  Now the sun is shining and I have just watched the last ever episode of Sex in the City.  Very very good ending. I love happy endings.

In 9 days my husband will be home. I am fed up without him.  I have made a chart and pinned it to the wall scoring out the days every morning.

Familes shop fiasco

Well today nerves are fraying.  The weekly planes that bring in fruit and vegetables into MPA were delayed for nearly a day due to thick fog in The Falklands.  This means that the usual delivery in the familes shop was not there this morning.  It was not there this afternoon, the shop was not open. There will be an uproar in some households this evening.

This means that on Monday the shop will be open and it will be a fiasco.  I think I might have to give it a miss and go on Tuesday. By then there will not be much left but I will have my sanity and will not have fallen out with anyone and given or received any menacing looks.

Up to 20 minutes before the shop opens, up to 15 people (mostly women) queue.  The conversation is always tense.  There is pushing and use of elbows to get to the precious cucumbers, bananas, grapes, kiwi fruit, potatoes, carrots, pears, peppers, mushrooms and spring onions. There is sometimes only one poor stressed out person on the till catching all the negative vibes so you can queue for up to an 40 minutes - just to get a bunch on bananas.  I am sighing and drinking wine just thinking about it.

Before you feel very sorry for me, I can drive 50 minutes on the pot-holed road to Stanley.  I can get 4 bananas for £4 there and you can get good potatoes.  We did have 3 cucumbers from the school polytunnel last week and the tomatoes are nearly ready. I can also eat in the mess and we are allowed to take two pieces of fruit out per person.  My husband's mess bill is going to be quite large this month. There are a few gin and tonics on his bill from happy hour on Friday evenings but they do not count, they are only 50p each.

I am looking out of my window just now, beautiful sunny evening, not too much wind, no traffic, no hustle-bustle, no annoying people (well apart from the ones I will see in the families shop) and if I close my eyes I can still imagine what bananas, cherries and strawberries are like.

Must go and defrost some frozen berries.

Salsa

I have started salsa lessons.  Today we learned the basics of the Cuban mambo.  I might need to buy some of those very colouring dancing shoes with the straps and buckles.

Very strange dancing with men other than my husband and ones that are the same height or only slightly taller than me.  Is my husband a giant or am I just very small?  Face to face with a strange man it is hard to know where to look, apart from staring straight into his face and giggling stupidly.  I am hoping my self-consciousness will go by lesson number 2 and I really have to try and concentrate.

Last night I went to Bunco (crazy dice game).  I got tipsy on two glasses of wine because I had no dinner and woke up this morning cringing at my conversation.  I was talking about the full moon and how it was making me do all kinds of crazy things.  Today I tried to put on my daughter's coat to wear - she is nine and I am not that small.  On Monday I thought it was Friday. 

Fog in the Falklands tonight but the full moon is still there hiding playing havoc with my sanity. Or maybe I have been in The Falklands to long and I am going a bit dippy......I might dye my hair brown.

Intense sadness that creeps up without warning

Yesterday I was very brave and nochalant, so what if my friend was moving back to Scotland tonight.  I joked with her and said I had a new friend to take her place but today I am not being brave. I am not telling any lies. My face says it all.  I have been crying since 6pm. I hope it burns up calories.

I went to happy hour and had to hide with the children in another room pretending I was looking after them.  The tears were just flowing. Every time I looked at her I started weeping.  How awful military life can be on days like this.  I have said so many goodbyes over the years and this has been as hard as saying goodbye to my Mum 8 months ago.  Your heart literally aches. You make close friendships very quickly because you live very close to each other and see each other every day.  Living in a goldfish bowl means that you form very strong bonds and know just about everything about each other, warts and all.

ps - I am premenstrual but I do not think this has anything to do with the way I am feeling....my children have just told me to get a grip.

Shooting stars

My husband got me a telescope for Christmas.  I am obsessed with stars.  I have been outside watching the night sky.  I saw 3 shooting stars and an unidentified moving light.  I am going to become an expert on astronomy.  The only problem is that it gets fully dark at 11.30pm onwards so you have to stay up late.

The last two weeks here in The Falklands weatherwise have been amazing.  I feel lucky to live here even if it is for a short time.  This is definitely my favourite posting and I have had 8 so far. I will remember my year here for many years to come.

I am on my own now for a month or so. Plenty of time to look at the stars, read books, clean the house and cook and wash less. No shoes to trip over, less adventures to go on.  My action man never stops. January is going to be a lovely rest for me and I will be recharged for his return in February.

My only annoyance here at the moment are the flies.  There are no proper bugs - no bees, only lazy slow flies.  They are in my greenhouse and are too stupid to find out where the door is.  The plants in the polytunnel are also getting a bit singed with the sun and there are no insects to pollinate them. This is the problem with living in a bug free island.

Saunders Island

I have just returned from a trip to Saunders Island.  Quite close to heaven I thought.  Clear blue sky, white sandy beach, hundreds of Penguins. 

Truly magnificent.

An estate agent with a heart

I have just been watching an episode of Location Location Location. Kirstie and Phil are actually quite nice.  It is hard for me to say this because I have met some really horrible estate agents.  They genuinely seemed to care about the three service couples they were finding houses for and when Kirstie had a little cry about a very brave man, well she has gone right up in my estimations. She is way up there with the Albatross on New Island and you do not get much higher than that. She is a warm heart in the cold hard world of property buying and selling.

 I might go on Amazon and buy Kirstie's homemade home. Stained glass windows here I come.

We are off to Saunders Island tomorrow.  My husband has packed the bags and put them by the front door.  We have to be ready to go by 8.30am.  He is nervous about that already.  There will be the usual huffing and puffing. My son will be up at 5.30am.  These bright sunny mornings in the Southern hemisphere are a nightmare.  I have not been out all day due to my sun burnt feet.

I have resorted to eating Quorn pieces instead of chicken.  There is no chicken available. Even Iceland have let me down. My Quorn, spinach and ricotta lasagne was delicious. Makes a change from beige scampi and oven chips.

Evening at the beach

Just had an evening picnic at the beach.  Penguins made an appearance out of the waves but no Dolphins to be seen.  I was drinking lager out of a can and eating a Christmas Indian platter from Iceland. The beach was deserted which is probably just as well.  Drinking lager out of a can is not really a good look although it seemed to come quite naturally.

I have finally given in and buy Iceland food without a second thought.  So far today I have had Iceland chicken fajita pizza £1, Indian platter £4 (between 4 adults).  Tomorrow I am going to try Iceland scampi £2 and vegetarian curry £1.50. The chicken breasts that you can cook from frozen amaze me.

My freezer is jam packed with Iceland frozen food.  I could start up my own freezer shop. There is no Tesco finest or Marks and Spencer but when I feel like splashing out there are some frozen Birds Eye products I can buy. Vegetable fingers to try tomorrow.

There is always The West Store in Stanley where I could buy a frozen Waitrose fish pie for £14 .  My husband bought me some Whittards hot chocolate for Christmas for £12.99.  If Stanley was not 50 minutes drive away I would have taken it back by now. The big plus about Iceland food is that it is not out of date.  Frozen food lasts for years.

The sun today was glorious and there was no wind.  I forgot to put sun cream on my feet and they are now bright red and burning.  I will be wearing socks tomorrow with my sandals.  This sun is getting past a joke.  Every day at 7am the sun shines through the curtains waking me up.  I might have to start sleeping with my sunglasses on. The house is boiling, the dog can't stand it.  The washing dries in 10 minutes.

Wind is back

Yesterday my dog spent the day pacing around the house panting and then hid under the car when I needed to go out in it.  She is scared of the wind.  It does make the house rattle.  She spent the evening yesterday sitting with her face towards the wall.  Very strange.  I had a sense of doom all day but here I am today and nothing bad has happened.

Another bright day.  We are off to swim with the Dolphins and Penguins today at a nearby beach. I went there last week down the off-road track and broke the car handbrake.  Must remember the factor 50 suncream.  The sun's rays are fierce.

I am still hoping to see the mating seals on the beach. The female apparently looked very squashed and the male was a big boy.

Gin and tonic in the evening sunshine

It has been another warm Summer's day in The Falklands.  My face was nipping in the shower this morning.  I had forgotten to put on factor 50 suncream during yesterday.  The sun here really burns your skin and you do not feel it because of the wind. There is sand all over the house. It blocks the drains.

I have had about 5 gin and tonics this evening and I am feeling quite merry.  I am getting old though because I now have a big glass of water beside me.  I no longer like the feeling of "being out of control".  I am officially becoming old and sensible.  I did not even make it up to see 2011 in.  I fell asleep at 11.30pm and I could not have cared less.  My husband went out partying without me and my daughter cried because she missed out on the fun because of my sleepiness.

I have read two books in the last week.  Love of my life by Louise Douglas - very romantic and hard to put down and The Other Hand by Chris Cleeve.  A book that stays with you when you are washing the dishes, driving, drinking gin, walking the dog.  I am going to start on The Poisonwood Bible.  My husband thinks I am too much of a bookworm.  I have so many books I want to read.

We are moving to a village near Blackpool in the Spring.  Apparently it rains a lot there.  I am looking forward to playing bingo, eating candy floss and playing those money slot machines where the 10 pences line up and fall down but you never seem to win much money.