Tuesday/Wednesday… Homeward bound
Jul 23rd 2008PeterGetting My Life Back!
The time has gone by quickly, and I am on my way home. The flight departed in the late afternoon, and arrived at Asi in the small hours of Wednesday morning. (4 hours ahead of the Falklands). After refueling it was onwards (and upwards on the map) towards the UK. The journey back was uneventful, and seemed to go quite quickly, with good weather. We flew over Cornwall before making our approach to Brize Norton where we landed just after 3:30pm. After collecting bags, I was in the car and home by 5:30. A great trip!
Although I haven’t had any motorised transport, I have had the use of my legs (and thumbs) and this morning I went down to talk to the person doing the job I did 8 years ago. It was interesting to hear how the projects had evolved, and that he was facing similar problems to the ones I had faced. Not really much I can say about it here, except that I came away feeling quite pleased that all the things my team and I had achieved had delivered most of the expected benefits. I also spotted some of these little birds – nicknamed Military Thrushes – on my walk round.
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One of my favourite places in Stanley is Gypsy Cove – a small bay outside Stnley near the harbour entrance. In the Spring and Sumer it is the home of Gentoo and Magellan penguins, but at this time of year there is nothing to see but the empty beaches of gleaming white sand. Many of the beaches round Stanley are fenced off because they were mined by Argentina – and clearing them is too expensive. However Gypsy Cove is fairly safe, although there are warning signs saying that mines can be washed up from neighbouring beaches. It was a favourite place of the children when we were here as a family, as this picture (taken in 2000) shows. 
This one shows the whole bay – and as an aside, it is interesting to campare the picture quality – my current digital camera is far better than the one I had then! But it was good to be back there – and it is as peaceful and wild now as it was then. It was also the site of my first ever open water dive! I went for a longer walk up to the headland and found a WW2 gun emplacement – one of 14 built to protect the harbour entrance. We tend to think of the 2nd WW as a European and Far Eastern conflict, but situated on the Eastern side of Cape Horn, it had a strategic importance in both World Wars, and there was a Naval Base at Stanley.
And that is what we did on Saturday morning! It doesn’t take long to walk round Stanley and visit both the shops – both the gift shops and the ‘ordinary’ shops. didn’t take many phots of this – although I have a lot from 2000, and when I get back, I may post some of them in the gallery. However this one is worth showing – the memorial to those British Forces who died in the conflict in 1982. Elswhere on the Islands is a memorial to those Argentines who died during the conflict.
shown here – taken during a brief snow flurry. The arch outside will again be familiar toanyone who watched the news during 1982 – made of whale rib bones, and a reminder of the once extensive whaling industry that took place in the South Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. I have been in the Cathefdral several times on my previous visit, but for the record, I also took this one of the inside. It is a typical Victorian style Church – but quite moving with the vrious memorials on the walls.
I went and had a look at the house I lived in (we christened it ‘The Scout Hut) before carrying on walking round. The morning went fairly quickly, and with we set off in the afternoon for Stanley.
This aerial view shows a portion of it. This next photograph shows a drivers eye view of the road – and I took this when I was down here 8 years ago – the weather was a bit better at the time!
(Looking at it, I’m not sure it is Stanley Road – but it is representative of the untarmacked bits!) The good bits are more like this! Look carefully and you will also see a roadsign not generally found in the highway code! (This was taken in 2000 – the sign is still there)
I had some friends in Stanley from my last visit in 2000-2001, but we had lost touch over the years so I was keen to see if I could get in touch, although a search of the telephone directory had been unsuccessful. This was a bit worrying, as Anya had also been a lymphoma patient (which was how we came to be introduced… but that’s another story!). So after checking in I went for a walk to where they used to live – and bumped into someone who knew them – and also where in Stanley they live now! And just after I got back to the hotel, I had a phone call so we made arrangements to meet next day.
I had a good flight down, although he aircraft was late taking off – delayed by about 40 minutes because of a problem with some ground handling equipment. Much to my surprise, I found myself sitting up at the sharp end, instead of down in the back where indulgence passengers usually go. (Indulgence being the term for 
passengers taking available seats for a nominal fee). I’m not sure it was an upgrade – but it felt like one!
Would that the Bourgainvillea at home had been like this one!
