Well actually it’s not yet – it’s March, which is effectively autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, however, ever since I arrived here I have heard the following phrases:

• Wait until you’ve done a winter here, it’s really hard
• It’s so dark in winter, it’s dreadful
• It’s very cold
• You need to find things to do in the long evenings, to get through the winter

And ever since the solstice on 21st December people have been saying… the nights are drawing in.

Now, not to get too optimistic about my view of all this:

a) THE DARK – I’m from a country which is the same latitude north, as the Falklands are south – and I’ve looked up sunset and sunrise times here and for Oxford (same latitude as Stanley more or less) and the summer days are similarly long and the winter days are similarly short.

I’ve even spent some time learning about twilight and why it’s light longer after the sun has set in the summer, than it is in the winter. But that happens in both hemispheres as well.

So really I’m expecting it to be very similar to the way it gets dark in the UK, which I understand is distressing if you’re from Australia or St Helena or other places without the same level of change in daylight, but I do not think it is going to be like Finland or Iceland.

Remind me of this bold statement if I start to moan about the dark.

b) THE COLD – it isn’t going to be that cold. It is going to be colder than the city centre of Southampton and there may be more snow around than I’m used to and certainly more than my warmer weather friends are used to, but I think it’s going to be a bit like northern Scotland and Shetland. It is not going to be like continental winter in the USA or Canada or Europe – no one is going to find their eyes frozen shut because their eyes watered and their eyelashes got stuck together, which is an American friend’s yardstick for cold.

c) Will I need more things to do in the evening to occupy the hours of darkness? I don’t know – but I do know that I struggle to fit everything in at the moment and I have hundreds of photos to sort out, so I feel like I shouldn’t get bored. And I’m used to going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark, so I think it will be ok.

On the plus side:

I’m looking forward to finding out how much less windy it is in the winter – apparently it is, everyone says so, so it must be true (but then they also talk about the cold and the dark….)

I’m also looking forward to finding out which wildlife stays around and what leaves – I think King Penguins and Gentoos stay and I know the beaches look really good against dark, moody skies – so more photo opportunities perhaps!

And I’m looking forward to easier night sky viewing – because it will be dark early. A benefit of the Southern Hemisphere is that we look directly into the centre of the Milky Way (I heard Professor Brian Cox say that, so I really believe it to be true) and on a clear night it is really astonishing and gorgeous to look up into a carpet of stars – more of that will be very good.

So now, having belittled all the dread predictions about winter in the Falklands, I just have to wait and see and next September when spring arrives, I need to revisit this post and tell you what really happened.