The School Run

Now that woozles is attending pre-school each morning, we have settled into a routine of walking the distance to get the day off to a good start. It is about one mile and we vary the route depending on the weather. If it is very mild and the wind is not howling we might amble across the playing field and down the road but if, as it was this morning, the black clouds are looming with a snow blizzard then we stay close to shelter and head for the corridor which leads under cover all the way to the school gate. Or if we haven't got ready in time for a leisurely dawdle she is requested to travel in the buggy at a pace which more closely resembles the term 'school run'.

During our travels the young lady has been making observations on how people differ, usually in a loud and clear voice. Two days ago she described a man walking towards us thus; "Mummy he's got a black jacket, black trousers and a black face". Yesterday morning in the decidedly accoustic corridor it was; "Mummy he's got none-hair". Then on the return trip home in our truck we gave a lift to a friend who took a couple of goes to heave up into the Defender and she chortled "He can't fit into the car Mummy".

Mount Howl-a-lot

We had been meaning for some time to make a trip to one of the battlefield sites around Stanley. Big Man climbed Mount Tumbledown before during one of his previous visits to the Falklands so he announced he would lead us expertly around the terrain. After deferring the expedition several times because of weather, general inertia and / or fuzzy heads, we finally decided this Sunday we shouldn't leave it any longer. The map showed Mount Harriet to be closer to the car park off the Stanley Road than Tumbledown or Longdon and with a small child to consider this clinched it. For quite a good description of some of the other places to see check out some of the pages on this blog: 52 degrees south

For May the weather was fairly mild and luckily wind-free. After a bumpy 30 minute Land Rover journey the madamoiselle was wrapped up like an onion and plopped into the backpack carrier. It was a lovely first three minutes climb. The peat felt springy under my walking boots, which hadn't seen action since October (shameful) and the views back down across the landscape were great. Compared to the wilds of Mt Usborne, this one was actually quite easily accessed, with a visible path and minimal boulders to scramble over. We reached the summit fairly quickly but with low lying cloud across the whole ridge of hills, we were now in one = cold and drizzly. We spotted a shelter with a few bits of war debris, looked at the memorial and then sat down out of the wind to get our butties and thermos out.

Then the wriggling started. She couldn't get comfy sitting down, it was cold, she was sliding down the rock. So we rapidly ate up and set off back. The monkey then proceeded to yell all the way back down to the Land Rover. And of course after 2 minutes driving with the heater on she promptly fell asleep. Another glorious family day out in the Falklands.

The official flower of the military child

The official flower of the military child is the dandelion. Why? The plant puts down roots almost anywhere, and it's almost impossible to eradicate. It's an unpretentious plant, yet brightly attractive. It's a survivor in a broad range of climates. Military children bloom everywhere the winds carry them. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong, cultivated deeply in their background ...... planted swiftly and surely. They're ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands and new friends. Experts say that military children are well-rounded, culturally aware, tolerant and extremely resilient. Military children have learned from an early age that home is where their hearts are, that a good friend can be found in every corner of the world, in every colour and that education doesn't only come from school. They live history. They learn that to survive means to adapt, that the door that closes one chapter of their life opens up to a new and exciting adventure full of new friends and new experiences.

Madagascan periwinkle

Back at the ranch after a three week whirlwind tour of the UK and Ascension Island. Had a lovely time seeing family and friends, surviving a sensationally soggy spell. Ascension was lovely and warm as per usual. We stayed in a cabin which was surrounded by tropical shrubs, giving a pleasant sense of our own space. Ascension is volcanic and covered in a medley of things mostly introduced by humans in order to perk the surroundings up a bit or be useful (or a complete menace), e.g. bananas, guavas, prickly pear (!), hibiscus and so on. Growing right outside our door was a pretty pink flower, whose origins I had just been told and I think you may find interesting. The Madagascan periwinkle was once a little-known species growing only on Madagascar and in danger of extinction. Then it was used in scientific research, initially for diabetes treatment but to no avail. It was subsequently discovered that the periwinkle contains a chemical which is helpful against childhood leukaemia and treatments using the extracted medicine have substantially reduced the mortality rate. The periwinkle is now grown widely by pharmaceutical companies in the US as the chemical cannot be synthesised independently.