Back to School

The children finally went back to school with a big hooray from Mum. I love them dearly but boy am I sick of the bickering that has been going on here lately. They all seem to have settled in well which is good. They came home tonight on the school bus and came off smiling, even Euan which is a relief. The poor fella has been having a hard time adjusting to the move and I have been worried and frustrated by him in the same breath.

I woke with a stinking headache, hot and cold sweats and sore sinus's which is not good. I have bad earache now and could quite happily head to bed. I went to a families meeting this afternoon which was a bit of a waste of time. The arrivals, hand over brief here is lacking to say the least. There are a lot of things I wish I had brought down which I didn't know about and have no hope of buying here which is frustrating. Hey ho I will just have to deal with it and get on with life.

Fresh food here is a real issue. The families shop on base is very hit and miss and what they do get is minimal and needs to be shared around a lot of families. It is reliant on the Airbridge to bring in the fresh produce. Apparently if you take more than your fair share of things you get a bad name for yourself! Fruit and veg are mostly frozen or you can buy from Stanley Growers and even then the quality is not great. To give you an idea of prices, a butternut squash of average size is £6 and half a cucumber is £4. There is no spring onions or fresh herbs to be had on the island so I think next summer I will grow my own.

Alot of the ladies get very upset with the situation and get quite bitter over it. I hope I can stay with the "whatever" attitude and just go with the flow. I guess if you want something you just pay the price and be done with it. Philidelphia, marscarpone, basic yoghurt, kids yoghurts or things like sour cream are nie impossible to come by so I am going to have to rethink quite a few recipes. Meat however is very cheap and very, very good. The beef mince has hardly any fat on it and tastes devine. In some ways it is quite nice to have restrictions. That may sound odd but it is definitely back to basics cooking here and less of a throw away culture as it is at home. My rubbish bags have certainly shrunk in size and we throw away a lot less food.

Right I had better go and get the kids some dinner. I am off to Darwin tomorrow with some of the girls here to do some spinning and weaving which should be fun.

Love to all Helen