F e a t u r e s
DIARY OF A Dependant…
I
t’s been pointed out that my attitude to the Falklands seems a bit negative. The Falkland Islands are
unique, amazing, and pretty different… I loved it. What I didn’t love was having two pre-school boys 8000 miles away from my comfort zone of family and friends. To be honest, I found having two pre-school children anywhere rather testing! We are, in fact, lucky enough to be heading back for a second tour in the Falklands. We are looking forward to doing all the things that we couldn’t last time due to their being simply too young.
July 30th To San Carlos, where the British forces landed during the 1982 conflict. It’s a long drive and the road becomes progressively more challenging. It’s only when I begin to gibber with fright that I get out and let Andrew drive. I learn later that this bit of the road is called Hell’s Kitchen! San Carlos was amazing – there is a museum in an ISO container with a combination of natural history and war memorabilia including a life- size model soldier that terrified the children! Later in the year I sign up for an Off Road Driving Course which was absolutely fantastic.
August 18th Snow! Hurray! We stuff old cushions into the two fertilizer sacks I’d thoughtfully packed, and go sledging.
August 28th Heli-who? At last, having worked out what all the abbreviations meant, we managed our first successful Heli-bid, for a Heli-trip, run by Heli-Ops – to Saunders Island. Needless to say, Henry, who
is desperately travel-sick, was desperately travel-sick on his first helicopter. True to form, I followed his example shortly after. But it is all worth it and we spend a couple of hours at the Neck (an internationally renowned nature site). For me, however, that day sums up why the Falklands can be tough with very young children. Andrew and I each had a rucksack with a child on our back and it was hard work. All the children can remember of this unique experience is that a particularly cheeky cara-cara (rare local bird) tried to make off with Henry’s welly which had fallen off, plus half our lunch!
August 29th The first of a series of fishing talks from Martin, a very independent ‘dependant’ whose fishing skills were legendary. He tried to teach a number of us to tie flies and catch fish. Later in the year, when my dad and sister came to visit, I took them fishing. This time, having read that mullet can’t resist a bit of Upland Goose, I was to be seen, with a very small penknife, hacking away at a freshly dead goose we’d found lying around on the grass (honest), observed from a safe distance by Dad and Marcia, and hopefully nobody else... It worked though – we caught quite a few fish with that goose. The fishing in the Falklands is amongst the best in the world.
September 27th To Bleaker Island with a friend and her two children. FIGAS, the tiny red eight-seater plane, collects us from the airfield at MPA and flies us there. I can’t remember, but I have to assume that Henry was sick both ways; any trip over 20 minutes and he usually was. Bleaker was my favourite island – fantastic cliffs with Rockhoppers breeding, and Imperial Shags in amongst them, Dolphin Gulls flying all around, Antarctic Skuas (sea hens) awaiting their chance to pick off a baby or two – and the evening braying of the Magellenic or Jackass Penguins. Sitting on a long, sandy, deserted beach, we managed to hit the rush hour of Gentoos coming home at the end of a day’s fishing, masses of them throwing
6 Summer 2009
Susie Wakeham-Dawson
The story so far – Susie, Humphrey (3), Henry (1) and Andrew (RAF Chaplain) have survived their first couple of months in the Falklands. What does the rest of the year hold?
themselves out of the waves towards us, and even more exciting – the sleek black be- whiskered head of a Sealion patrolling the shallows for a quick penguin take-away. This is why I am here.
September 30th We’re on a roll! Another successful heli-bid takes us to Sealion Island – a very southerly island with loads of wildlife – breeding Elephant Seal, Sealion, and lots and lots of penguins.... Incredible.
October 16th After a good lunch in the mess, Andrew agrees to buy me Bessie, a Series II Landrover from friends who are returning to the UK. I learnt to drive on a Series 1 so am very chuffed. Bessie has an alarming tendency to veer hard to one side when you are least expecting it, but she is FUN – and the children love counting to 12 before we can start her. A brightly painted Union Flag on her bonnet makes us giggle and although she’s not really up to a trip into Stanley, we potter around the base having a laugh. As a morale booster, Bessie was worth her weight in gold.
November 7th A frequent note in my diary is ‘Work Services’, the MHS of the Falklands. A variety of contractors wander the base mending things – really basic things sometimes because few of us brought toolboxes out. Andrew did kindly buy me a 140-piece socket set for my birthday but it didn’t always do the trick. He told the lady in the shop that it was for his wife; ‘you men are all the same’, she said.
November 8th Our first Fat Club Meeting. After making my own bread (and eating
www.raf-families-federation.org.uk
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