Bermuda!

Happy November to you all. I hope you are all well and enjoying the english winter as we move from Spring into summer. It's not especially warm yet but its good to have the light evenings and mornings.

However for this blog entry I thought I would tell you about my trip to Bermuda to particpate in a conference with the Attorney's General from all the UKoverseas territories. So my counterparts were there from places like Antigua, Anguilla,Cayman, Pitcairn Islands, St Helena as well as from the Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey. It was the most worthwhile conference I have been to, really useful and very good to make contacts in these different places. I left the Falklands on a Saturday afternoon and flew to Bermuda via, Santiago, Panama and Miami arriving late Sunday night. Bermuda is very beautiful but also quite expensive. The hotel was nice but expensive for what you got and you had to pay extra for everything (even the internet). The view from my bedroom was nice though....

I didn't have much spare time. On my first day I went to visit the AG's chambers in Bermuda to find out how they do their law revision and consolidation. Very interesting but I won't bore you with the detail. Their offices compared quite favourably with my shed back on the Islands...

In the afternoon I had time for a bit of sight seeing so I took the ferry to the old naval dockyard. You get quite a good view of the front of Hamilton from the ferry...

 and the hotel that the conference was held in....

 then came back to Hamilton (the main town) on the bus and stopped at the beach on the way...

Then the conference proper started with updates from all the territories and subject based discussions with contributions from law officers from Canada and USA. It included dinner with the Governor of Bermuda and time in the evenings to get to know my colleagues better. Also I got to try ' Dark and stormy' which is black rum with ginger ale - very nice. It was a really good event. Still all good things come to an end and the conference ended on Thursday evening...

Back on the plane first thing Friday morning and back on the Islands on Saturday afternoon. I admit to coming back and being re-motivated with all the things that need doing. Hopefully I can keep it up. Bermuda is a tropical bit of England and well worth a visit - if you can afford it! Lots of history and friendly people.

November here sees a royal visit from Rememberance Sunday and lots of work.

Have a good month and I hope to hear from some of you from time to time.

Visit to Ascension

It's been a while since I published a blog entry but I have been on holiday and wanted to put on a few pics from our break in Ascension Island.

Hengameh, Jimmy and I stopped off at Ascension following their visit to me in the Falklands. Ascension is a small island almost midway between the UK and the Falklands and between Africa and South America. It has no native population but has a British and US base, a BBC relay station, the European Space Agency has a tracking station, and a small government. It has a small police force, a magistrates court, museum and conservation body.

We stayed in the only hotel on the Island - the Obsidian Hotel.

It is fair to say that three to four days on Ascension and you can jsut about see all the highlights. But it is warm - about 28C every day and the waters are rich with life.

Interestingly the magistrates court is decorated by two bombs positioned either side of the entrance. I am not sure what message theyare trying to convey to those who attend. Apparently they are very hot on speeding. We saw two police cars and two policemen.

While we were there we saw several volcanic rock formations, went up green Mountain and visited the rough NE coast and looked at the crabs and blowholes.

A unique thing about Ascension is that it has land crabs that live up on the mountain and come down to the sea to breed. They loiter in small burrows on the mountain.

All in all it was a relaxing break in journey back to the UK. A very good break in an 18 hour flight.

We then went home to the UK for a few days before going on a famliy holiday - a whistle stop tour of Italy with 3 days in Rome, 2 days in Florence, a day in Pisa, a day in Venice, a day in Verona anda day in Bergamo.We saw the Colesseum, Pantheon, Vatican, Museums, art galleries, towers and churches, opera and ate lots of pasta and pizza.

I am now back in the Falklands, have caught my first trout of the season and should hopefully be heading off to Bermuda for a conference of all the Attorney General's from the British overseas territories next week. In my next blog I hope to have some pics from there for you.Work is very busy. Missing Hengameh and Jimmy and Jade. I should see tem next at Christmas.

I hope all is well with you all and that life is good. I hope to hear from you.

Mid-Winter

Happy FICsmas everyone. Its midwinter here in the Falklands, we have just had the shortest day and last weekend I celebrated Ficsmas with some friends. We put the Ficsmas tree up, had a secret santa and had a roast dinner with all the trimmings and mince pies and mulled wine. I got a tie for my ficsmas present!

Last weekend was also the weekend of the mid winter swim. Last year I watched all the mad people plunge into the  waters of the South Atlantic and laughed as they came out freezing cold and shivering. This year I decided to be a mad person myself and found my self on a beach where the sand was frozen together with ice and the water was around 3-4 degrees. It was cold. The worse bit is standing on the beach waiting for the time to run into the sea - once that happens its all over very quickly. Below are the before and after photos.

Afew weeks before this we celebrated Liberation day. Always a big event here but this year even more so it being the 30th anniversary. I think we have been on the news a lot and we have had some ministers and politicians from various places visiting. The most interesting bit though was the attempt by the school to get in a world record for the largest cake scale model of an aircraft carrier!

We had the usual government paid for free bar and buffet and a dance in the evening. Its ani mportant date but its good to be the other side of it.

As you know at the beginning of June, Jade was still here with me and we went out for a lovely walk where jade decided she needed to commune with nature!

We also had the Queen's jubilee celebrations while Jade was here. We had a big beacon on the beach at Surf bay. It was constructed by the prisoners from Stanley Prison (but described in the world's press as community workers!) Still it burnt just fine and we had a good evening with mulled wine and some good music.

Jade and I also went to a Queen Night. A meal and a dance. See if you can spot the reall queen?

Any way- that's all for now. keep safe and well. By the time I do my next blog - Jimmy and Hengameh will be with me.
Take care and best wishes.

Mark

Greetings and happy end of May to you all.

May has been a busy month with lots going on for the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands war. Lots of journalists, lots of TV coverage and still a very significant and emotional event for the Islands. The main event comes in June when on the 14th we celebrate liberation day. We have lots of important visitors coming down from the UK and I have a few official functions to go to. However we did have a very important visitor who came down in May.

This is Jade's official visit to the police station in Stanley. Jade arrived almost two weeks ago and is doing two weeks work experience with the community mental health nurse and social services. She has been to jail and had some really good experiences so far. She also viewed the police force's high speed pursuit vehicle.

Just before Jade came down the archery club held its first ever field shoot on a wet and windy day. Considering how bad the weather was we had a good turnout and kept going with supplies of hot chocolate and home made cakes. We shot at animal paper targets set out at ranges between 10and 50 metres - with targets ranging from little squirrels to big bears. It was great fun although we all finished soaked through and cold.

While here Jade has witnessed one of the Stanley's worst road accident. A few days ago we had a three car pile up on Ross Road and the police and fire service turned out to clear up and manage the traffic. No one was hurt and for those who know or can guess how busy the roads are - its a bit of a surprise that three vehicles were close enough together to hit each other.

Jade has also become the official photographer of the hens and has decided that one of the new bantams should be called 'Onyx' - though I must admit I prefer 'Tikka and Masala'. Any more suggestions are welcome - have a look and see what you think.

Finally we have had some snow that stuck around for a bit. Winter is definately here and it has been cold. the weather going in to winter has been worse than it was this time last year. We have had gales and snow and hail and rain and sleet and just a couple of still clear crisp winter days.

I hope all ofyou are well. I have a busy month ahead with all the events for the anniversary. I am playing trumpet at the Queen's jubilee church service and helping at a beach party on the 4th June (it sounds daft having a beach party in the middle of winter - but there will be a big bonfire and dance music - so it coudl be fun. Also on Saturday Jade and I are off to a Queen night in fancy dress - so that should be fun. We also have FICsmas on the 25th June (apparently its what contract workers celebrate in the middle of winter so the tree will go up and we may have a secret santa and a special meal. So happy FICsmas to you all and have a good June.

Hengameh &Jim go and Winter arrives!

Hi All, I hope all is well with you.

April saw Jim and Hengameh visit me and then go back to the UK and has definately seen the begining of Winter as the mornings are now dark until almost 8am and the evenings draw in and the weather has changed dramatically with strong winds, cold nights and the first snow on the hills. As I write this blog it is blowing a gale outside and I can hear the house rattling!

While Hengameh and Jim were here we tried to do some things that were interesting for both of them. I arranged for us to go whale watching and we saw a pair of Sei whales, Very difficult to take photos as you don't know when or where they are going to surface- but if you get lucky you can follow the whale's 'footprint' on the surface of the water. Hengameh got some good video and I did manage to get some decent pictures....

On the way back the boat popped into Gypsy Cove where we were lucky enough to see some Comerson dolphins - they seemed to enjoy playing in the backwash of the boat.

Also while Hengameh anbd Jim were here we made our first trip to West Falkland and stayed at Port Stephens - which is about as far west as you can go on West Falkland. we travelled on the government air service FIGAS in a twin prop Islander plane. It was about an hours flight and on the way we saw some whales again from the air. Port Stephens is very pretty as you can see.

We went on a long walk to what is known locally as the 'Indian Village'which is an area with interesting rock formations that look a little like wigwams.

It was a long walk  - about4 hours in total and we got mobbed by Johnny Rooks on the way back - they are a very bold bird of prey that knows no fear. They hovered feet above us as we made our way down Mount Stephens and if we are honest they were quite scary.

I hope Jim and Hengameh had a good time here - I certainly enjoyed having them here and the house has been very quiet since they left.

I was so distraught when they left that I forced myself to go the the sheep and ram show at Fitzroy! I can honestly say that never in my life have I seen such good looking sheep.

And I found out what makes a good ram - see if you can guess!

Well April is almost over and May is upon us and on the 22nd May Jade arrives on the Falklands to stay with me for a few weeks and hopefully get some work experience. I am really looking forward to her arrival - only three weeks to go!

Work is fine, oil exploration continues despite the best efforts of our neighbours and the government's finances continue to do well. I love hearing from you so emails and comments are welcome.

Oh and I almost forgot - I have got two bantams to keep Dora company so we will see how they get on - so far - so good - but no eggs yet....

Love to you all.

Mark

1st Anniversary

Hello all, unbelievably I have been here for a whole year  - however Stanley did not hold a party for me and it largely went unnoticed except in the office where we had chocolates and biscuits. Still on Monday 2nd April Hengameh and Jim arrive for a week or so so that will be a great way to celebrate completing my first year!

On a sad note Attila has gone to the great hen-house in the sky. It was weird - this morning she was fine, lunchtime she was fine. I skyped Hengameh, then went to pick mushrooms- I got back and was watching the hens out of the kitchen window and Attila just keeled over. So in case anyone asks - It wasn't me getting revenge for no eggs! Dora seems fine and is still laying regularly  - I guess I better get some more company for her.

Archery is going well - we had our first international shoot against a club from Nonsuch. Both clubs shot a portsmouth and we exchanged scores and team photos via email - we lost by 7 points.

 

We also have a bit of a strange visitor on the Islands currently - the bird below is an Ibis and there are two on the islands at the moment - we are not sure how long it will stay for  - but it won't like winter here!

 

 

I think I may have mentioned before that we get great skies here - this was the sky here today - taken on my way back from mushroom picking. Very dramatic.

 Finally - I meant to post this photo last month. This is a Falkland strawberry - it looks a bit like a raspberry - but smells like a strawberry and tastes good but not quite like a strawberry or a raspberry!

Anyway  - thank you for sticking with me for a year - its been busy. Time has moved both fast and slow and as well as having interesting times here - I have missed friends and famliy and I do appreciate your emails and comments. The year has ended sadly with our friend Marcia passing away - such a lovely person and also our Uncle John who I think had just had enough. Love to you all - more in a month's time after Hengameh's and Jim's visit.

Jigger Season

Dear All,

It is the end of February and this month has seen the harbour visited by around 100 Jiggers all wanting licences to fish for squid in the waters around the islands. I had the experience of visiting a Jigger with a fisheries officer as he carried out his inspection. The boat we visited is the one shown below.

Jiggers generally come from Korea, Taiwan and China. The one above is Korean and apparently they are amongst the better of the Jiggers - some are very basic and unpleasant for the crew to work on. To board the boat we had to climb up a rope ladder. Now my brother might do this day in day out but for me it was a slightly anxious few seconds as when the fisheries officer was climbing the ladder slipped. No harm done but a few celtic curses were offered to the skipper of the boat.

Jiggers are very efficient and catch squid by using flourescent lures illuminated by bright lights that shine down into the water.

The squid are scooped up by the lures and dumped into a gulley with running water that flushes the squid into the hold where they are processed and put on a conveyor which takes them into a blast freezer and then they are packed and stored. When the boats have about 400 tonnes of squid they trans-ship the squid on to a mother ship and take on more fuel.

So the chances are that if you go to the Med on holiday and ask for squid - it may be squid from the Falklands!

I have also had my own success at fishing in the last month. It seems as though the trout are back and on an evening last week I caught four trout. One was thrown back due to it being too small but the others were big enough to keep as you can see from the picture below.

That's all from me for February. Work is very busy and tension levels are higher than usual because of the antics of our neighbours across the sea. No sign of William though I have seen the Search & Rescue helicopter a few times and waved!

I hope all is well with you all and you enjoy the arrival of Spring as I say goodbye to summer - its definately getting colder.

Love to you all

Mark

New Year with Sheep

To console myself after Hengameh, Jade and Jim had left the Islands I decided to go and watch some of the sheep shearing competition that was being held. I must admit I was not expecting a high adrenalin, crowd rousing activity - but I was wrong. The speed the lads work with and the way they handled the sheep was very impressive and to imagine them doing that all day for weeks - I think I don't know what hard work is!

The girls worked just as hard sorting the fleeces out, removing any loose bits, soiled bits, knotty bits and rolling and baling the fleeces.

Also on new Years Day there is a raft race in Stanley Harbour. There were about ten entries and the military team won it (as they do most years) in a craft that looks a bit too professional to be in a raft race. Still credit to them they did put in a very fast time. We also had an entry from one of the members of the Legislative Assembly whose entry was a bath tub - last year it sank - this year it needed to be towed to the finish. A good event and a good turn out to watch it. Clearly it concludes with a BBQ at the Narrows Pub.












A few days later I had my Karate grading. This was something I had tried at Uni and then did with Jimmy when he was little and then I stopped. When I noticed that there was a Karate club in the islands I thought  - why not - so joined. I am clearly the oldest person in the club and most of the members are under 14. So I did look a bit odd doing my stuff next to the little ones.




As partof the event there was also a fighting competition. My only appropriate opponenents were the two club black belts. Needless to say I lost - but I did manage to take a point off one of them - but got a sound hit on the head as my reward in the next bout.








 Hengameh then persuaded me that I should come home for my birthday - I hadn't planned to come home quite so soon after they had visited but if I hadn't then I would not have seen them until April so took the opportunity. It was a lovely visit sandwiched between two long flights. I had a lovely week of seeing friends and famliy and good food and nice outings. Jade made a brilliant white chocolate birthday cake and Hengameh made profiteroles.




Thank you every one for your birthday wishes.











And to finish - a picture of a stunning Stanley sky! Happy New Year.