The Christmas Letter 2022
Why hello there,
It’s good to see you again. Are you well? How’s the family? Can you believe I’m still writing these? This is my 7th annual letter so it’s firmly in tradition territory now, which means I’ll let you do whatever it is you usually do to prepare yourself for this wonderful, eloquent and well-written 5 minute missive about my life — make yourself a hot chocolate, or grab a beer, or put on your favourite pyjamas; you do you, boo. (Is the sarcasm working? Has it ever worked?)
2022 has been a year of change for the whole world — new prime ministers, new crises, new Twitter CEO (though maybe that one could get classed as a crisis too). I haven’t been immune to change though as I write to you from the Falkland Islands, some 8,000 miles from the UK. It all started this time last year and I saw a very interesting job advert on the International pages of TES, a website for teachers. It was for a Travelling Teacher: someone who would go to farms in some of the most remote areas in the Falklands, which in themselves are also quite remote, and teach a family at a time. This sounded like such a unique opportunity that I knew I had to go for it. Fast forward a couple of months to March after an interview during which I had Covid (it was a remote interview, all was fine!), and I got the job. The next few months were full of form filling and doctors appointments so that I could get my work permit until I left the UK at the end of August.
But now we’re skipping too far ahead, and any hope of surprising you is gone. Anyway, the year started as it usually does, with my wonderful school friends, though that feels a bit weird to say considering we’ve not been in school together for over 8 years now. If I remember correctly, it was a chilled game night round mine, games supplied by India though, obviously.
Going back into school after Christmas is always tough as you never feel quite rested enough, but back I went to my wonderful Year 1s and 2s (ages 5–7). They were a lovely class, and I miss them terribly. We did all sorts of topics together, but my favourite was either our Important People topic or our Pirates topic, for which we made really cool papier maché treasure islands; an idea I got from my own Year 2 teacher who did it with us 20-odd years ago. Ugh, 20 years, that is gross.
As my time at the Hendreds came to a close, I started to get rather emotional about it all. I shed tears at least 5 times on my final day (that’s about as close to crying I get usually). I only have fond memories of my time at the Hendreds, even though I know it wasn’t all rosy all the time. I’ve said it before in these letters, but my colleagues were truly the best. I had started to list them all, but the list was getting quite long and I realised that those names wouldn’t mean much to most people reading this, so I’ll just do a little nudge nudge, wink wink, you know who you are and I miss you all.
The Summer holidays were spent prepping for leaving — principally shopping and saying goodbye to friends and family. This often meant going to the pub or going out for meal so was no great hardship really. A highlight for sure though was going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play in the West End. Tickets were bought for my birthday in 2020 and it kept getting pushed back (no prize for guessing why). I was, and still partially am, a bit sceptical about the story, however the technical side- the music, the costumes, the effects, the sets, the acting etc. were all incredible and unforgettable. It felt like genuine magic at times. It is just such a shame that the creator is a horrible transphobe. Anyway, thank you Dad and Karl for such a great experience and send off.
When it came, I felt quite ready to leave, but flying to the Falklands is a unique experience. We flew out from RAF Brize Norton at 1am on Monday 22nd August. We landed in Cape Verde for a refuel stop only for the plane to have technical issues. Instead of leaving us at Cape Verde (which is about a 6 hour flight), and getting another plane to us or fixing it, we got rerouted back to RAF Brize Norton (so another 6 hour flight.) We flew a total of 12 hours in one day for a net travel distance of zero miles. On the second attempt a few days later, we finally made it, landing at the military base here, which is also the international airport, after another 6 hour flight to Cape Verde, and a 10 or so hour flight on to the Falklands. Needless to say, it was not a journey I want to do more than I need to.
Life here is good. On a practical level, it’s similar to the UK, just without good internet and Amazon: there are supermarkets which sell pretty much everything you can get in the UK, though often with a considerable markup due to import costs, fruit and veg being the biggest victims— £4 bag of crisps, £28 watermelon, £15 plastic tub to store cakes etc. Some things however are cheaper — beef and mutton are the primary meats eaten and are very reasonably priced because they are farmed and butchered on the islands. I have the added challenge of not living in Stanley, where all these things are. Once you’re out of town and in ‘Camp’ (countryside), you’re mainly on your own. As I mentioned above, I am a Travelling Teacher, which means I spend all term out in Camp. It requires me to buy lots when I’m in town, and take it out with me. When I am on West Falkland, I am an hour and a half away from the nearest store (which doesn’t do fresh stuff), and its opening hours are 4pm to when the last person is done, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Other challenges or interesting quirks to my life now:
- Very slow internet, yet it is the 2nd most expensive in the world.
- Most power out in camp is renewable — wind or solar — but there is a backup diesel generator for when the winds blow down the turbine (yes, that happened, twice), or there is no wind (rare but possible)
- I know about penguins and quite a few other birds now. The wildlife here is extraordinary and it’s been so much fun learning about it.
- 20km/h winds are now a pleasant breeze. As I write this we’re at 50km/h, which isn’t great but it’s still not blowing-down-the-turbine level winds.
- I know the parents of my children far better than I did in the UK, in fact they’re probably reading this right now, so hi!
- I drive a big 4x4 pickup truck as all roads outside of Stanley and the road to the airport are either dirt or gravel or a mixture of the two. I am not looking forward to driving on them in the winter.
- Getting things here takes forever, Mum sent a box of Christmas presents at the end of October, and it still won’t arrive until mid-January and the regular post that comes on the plane isn’t that regular after all.
I have also met so many wonderful people, I have made some friends for life here and that alone was worth the trip. Big shout out to Jen, who welcomed me into the team before I even arrived. Her friendship and her guidance has been invaluable. I am enjoying seeing more of the islands and learning about their history. Each island, each settlement, each farm is unique and I can’t wait to see more when I have the opportunities.
Christmas in summer (Southern hemisphere) has been an odd one. Singing and playing carols (yes, you read right, playing. I convinced someone to give me a trumpet and I played carols on Christmas Eve, similar to the Wantage Mayor’s Carols) definitely felt strange when it wasn’t anywhere near dark at 7pm and although it wasn’t exactly balmy, winter coats, hats and gloves weren’t necessary. Christmas Day was spent with Sue and Keith, who are basically my Falklands Mum and Dad, if they don’t mind me saying, we played games and ate food, very much like a normal Christmas.
I feel like I’m waffling now. There is so much more to tell about my life here but I need to finish, so if you’re still curious I would love to hear from you, even if it’s been years since we last spoke. It would be great to catch up. As usual, my favourites for the year are below.
Favourite Film(s): Glass Onion, Do Revenge, and on the classic side School of Rock is still, and always will be, a masterpiece.
Favourite TV Show(s): In no particular order- Ms Marvel, She-Hulk, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Heartstopper, Andor, Abbott Elementary, Hacks, Slow Horses, Only Murders in the Building, Stranger Things
Favourite Book: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and its sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green.
Favourite Colour: Green, this probably doesn’t need to be a category, seeing as it doesn’t change.
Favourite Album: Not an album, but I have enjoyed listening to Picture This, and also The Lightning Thief Musical soundtrack (Percy Jackson musical)
Favourite Penguin: Gentoo- the way they waddle is just so cute.
Favourite Oystercatcher: Magellanic.
Favourite Pattern: I’ll stick with the plaid again this year.
Favourite Cheesecake from Shorty’s Diner: Nutella.
Happy New Year my dears, same time next year?
