A change from the Falklands

Its the end of August and a couple of really exciting things have happened since my last post.

Firstly I won a prize in the raffle at the senior school fete. As you can see it is a very tasteful and elegant sculpture - I did have to put it together myself and it now takes pride of place next to my television.

 The second exciting thing was attending a Human Rights training event on the Cayman Islands. This involved flying from the Falklands to Punta Arenas, to Santiago, to Miami and then to the Cayman Islands. I arrived on Sunday and went for lunch at Coconut Jo's (as recommended by the taxi driver).

 And had a plateful of chicken wings and rum punch while being checked out by the walking menu!

I was put in an OK hotel near the beach (everywhere is near the beach as the island is only about 25 miles long and not many miles wide for most of it) The hotel was a bit run down and had a slight damp smell - but the Cayman's are hot (33degrees) and humid. The beach however was very nice and only three minutes walk from the hotel and the water was lovely and warm - a real contrast from the Falklands!

It's a tough job but someone has to do it - but to be fair the training was 9 to 5 everyday apart from Wednesday when we were given the afternoon off. With the help of some locals it was arranged for me to go to Sting Ray city and have a swim and touch and if you want, kiss a sting ray! (I didn't kiss one).

 At the end of that week I flew back to the UK for a well deserved break! So I am writing this month's blog from Devon at home and tomorrow we go on a famliy holiday to Portugal. I fly back to the Falklands later in August via an overnight stop in Santiago - more on that in the next instalement. Hope all is well with you all - Love Mark