One thing I have adapted to in the Falklands is how planning for the weekend works. In the UK my weekends would often be booked up or have events in it months in advance. Arranging to see friends needed diaries and lengthy consultation about possible free dates.

When I arrived here I needed to adjust to the fact that this just doesn’t happen here, people do not fill up their diaries for weeks to come. To start with this made me anxious – what if there was nothing to do? What if there was something brilliant to do and I couldn’t go because I didn’t know about it and hadn’t planned for it.

Gradually I have adjusted and relaxed. The Penguin News (our weekly newspaper) publishes What’s On and the most advance notice of anything is about a month. It’s also true that many key events happen at the same time every year and you are expected to remember when they are. So I now know the Conservation Ball is always in mid September, the Christmas Races are when you’d expect, Sports Week is in February. The other thing I’ve learnt is that new things crop up all the time, about a week to a few days in advance – so there’s always something to do.

Fancy spelling a naval ship’s name in stones on the side of hill? It’s a tradition to remember the ships that have been stationed here. That was one of the activities for the King’s Coronation – when a group of volunteers and military laid out the Leeds Castle’s name on the Camber Penisula. The quarry provided the stones – which were surprisingly large and heavy. We heaved them up the hill and laid out the letters and they were painted. The sun shone, there were lots of willing hands and strong people for the big stones and it was done in a few hours.

Or perhaps you’d like to make a contribution to the environment? Then why not get involved with Tussac grass planting. There’s an ongoing effort to replant Tussac in coastal areas, where it should be and where it supports nesting birds and a variety of animals. In some places it’s disappeared due to 150+ years of commercial grazing, but now it’s being given a helping hand to recover. So one summer weekend, a varied group of volunteers learned how to do this. An expert showed us how to get “tillers” (small tussock plants) out of a main plant – inevitably he made it look easy.

We then had a go and were delighted when we managed to pull out a tiller, as we were fairly inept beginners.

And then we planted

And the good news is that a few months on, they seem generally to be thriving and growing.

And as well as these one off activities, you are spoilt for choice for sport (a weekly Park Run, football, rugby practice, ice hockey (not on ice), to name a few); or walks in the hills; or visiting outer islands; going to see wildlife and much more.

So a year in, I know not to over plan my weekends, to see what comes up and to enjoy it.