This is the start of my third week already (!!) and there are so many things I could tell you about – one thing you’ll notice is that I have started to figure out how to add photos to the site. Not well necessarily, but a start. In case you hadn’t guessed I’m teaching myself how to use WordPress for this blog. Now more easily accessible as my imac has now arrived in Stanley, so I’m not fiddling about on an ipad and also that I’m getting to grips with what chews up internet data and don’t think I’m going to run out this week!

So a big thing for anyone living in the Falklands is the situation with accessibility of the Internet. There are two issues – speed and cost. Both are governed by the fact that the Islands are entirely dependent on satellite provision of Internet, which makes it slow, limits bandwitch and is expensive. There is no such thing as an unlimited data package here.

But why don’t you have an undersea cable to the Islands? I hear you ask. Well the obvious place to run the cable from is Argentina, so that’s unlikely to happen any time soon. So we live with satellite and maybe one day Elon Musk’s Starlink.

It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s considerably better than it was when I came here in 2012. I haven’t yet wanted to throw my computer through the nearest windowwhen trying to post to this blog (which I did then). However, streaming video from the Internet chews up data and some sites work better than others. In reality it means adjusting how you use the Internet a bit and remembering that DVDs and CDs still exist and work extremely well with no data requirement.

And calling home on WhatsApp delivers a really clear signal (often better than my mobile reception at home) and is much cheaper than using mobile or landlines – ah yes, landlines, remember them? They do exist here, people use them and there’s a real phone book for finding people in. Imagine!