Week 3.

There are no daily newspapers in the Falklands. Local news and gossip does travel fast in a small community. There is a weekly newspaper printed every Friday called "Penguin News". The big news is that mobile phones are coming to the Falklands as well as broadband internet. Cable & Wireless are the only company down here and they have been promising a mobile network for months.

There is a local radio station which broadcasts from time to time, in addition to the British Forces radio, and the BBC World Service and sometimes Radio 5. The local station broadcasts the passenger lists for all the plane trips for the flights to all the islands the next day. People book their seats and have to listen to see if there is space to take them each day. There are over 20 air-fields in the Falklands, most of these are not much more than grass strips.

Work at the hospital is fairly quiet, but just enough to keep me occupied. The lab is well equipped but is very reliant on supplies via the RAF or commercial flights which are not the most reliable, especially when a lot of our supplies have to be temperature controlled and are time sensitive.

We had a public holiday this week it is held every 8th December to commemorate the Battle of the Falklands which occurred early in the First World War. The local defence force, cadets, scouts join with representatives of whatever military units are present at the time for a parade through the town and a ceremony at the memorial held by the Governor General. We even had a fly past by a Hercules Transporter and a couple of Tornadoes.

HMS Southampton visited Stanley harbour this week. Usually there is one naval ship in the area but is stationed in the military harbour on the far side of the islands. The ship came in so the sailors could come ashore for some R&R. The pubs were even busier than normal, the Navy police were in attendance in each of the pubs, but apparently there is rarely any trouble, and when it does occur it is usually the military fighting amongst themselves.

I am to cricket nets this week. The team plays 3 matches a year against the local military and the games are taken seriously as the "South Atlantic Ashes". The military have been known to fly people in specially for the game. The Falkland Island team is a bit of a mixture of grades, as you might expect, as I might get a game. I may end up umpiring the game. The Falklands team has traveled to Chile to play matches, and also play against a Gentleman's Touring side, all the members of which are Sir's or Lord's who pass through occasionally on an round the world cricket tour.