First the weather. Almost at midwinter here and the gonads of the metal primates are well and truly rock solid. The view out of the window has been mostly white for the last 14 days and this scenario is set to continue if this forecast by the local meteorologist is anything to go by:
Thursday 14th June - A cold but crisp start to the day and with temperature below zero over Wed night, which generates a risk of icy surfaces during Thu morning. The wind in WNW 15 gusting 25 Knots, then gradually backs around to a SW direction by 1500 Z and increases to 25 gusting 35 Knots, particularly around snow showers. Showers of snow start out as isolated, but becoming more frequent from around 1300-1400 Z. (MPA to have a higher frequency of snow showers than Stanley due to the track over land at this time.) Max temps around PS 02 C, then below freezing from 2000 Z. The occluded front then tracks from the south to reach us by 2359 Z. From this time, the wind significantly increases from the south to a mean speed of 35-40 knots gusting 60-65 knots, with prolonged heavy snow.
Friday 15th June - Carrying on from above, the prolonged heavy snow is expected to deposit significant snow accumulations in the region of 12 cm, but I would plan for more. The weather front should pass us by 0600 Z, however, there remains a signal for frequent snow showers following this front with winds calming to fresh from 1200 Z..
(Not that I could fully understand the implications of such a summary. Two science degrees and a regular interest in climatic matters later and still no closer to appreciating the intent of their predictions. I surmised the outlook meant more snow and more wind and decided to continue my current strategy of conserving energy and only straying out of the family home when essential).
Secondly my mood. Big Man has absconded to the UK for a training course and a well-earned pat on the back for his charity effort in December, which is as it should be but did leave me with a poorly child during a school holiday and period of inclement weather, which does tend to have the effect of making me want to bang my head on a brick wall. Fortunately the houses here have an outer shell of timber.
Thirdly, and also impacting badly on #2 above, is the polytunnel. My community horticulture project of only a year old was brought to its knees by an incredibly loud and forceful southerly storm on Thursday night last week. As may be obvious, southerly winds come directly from the Antarctic region, which has been said to have formed ice early this year, heralding a severe winter for us. Great. Anyway I was told the structure was in bits and headed down there with the nipper and a few basic tools to take a look and see if anything could be done. Polytunnel = completely buggered. The metal hoops remained but both door frames and all polythene were utterly destroyed. So I climbed back into the Land Rover and burst into tears. Then spent a silly hour trying to find some bodies to come and help make the remains safe. Sigh. Back to the drawing board there then. Am thinking additional fencing is required before we repair the plastic but none of this comes cheap.
So it has been a woeful week. I even declined the chance to go into Stanley for the Liberation Day parade this morning. The thought of driving a reluctant child 35 miles to stand in the bitter cold and then home again really didn't appeal. Perhaps I might have warmed to the idea more easily if the tax and immigration departments weren't such vague and disorganised bodies forming a clumsy obstacle to me earning even the most meagre of wages. In the event it was a blessing that I didn't go as friends skidded on ice and put their Land Rover down a bank. All the family were unharmed but I feel that is the kind of excitement you can do without when not wearing special suits and crash helmets.
Looking on the bright side, there are no confirmed cases of Legionnaires disease here yet, and what with an entire lack of air conditioning or industry potentially harbouring such an infection I might sleep easy in my bed tonight. Wind permitting.