Life in Stanley
I thought I’d try and explain a bit about Stanley and the Falklands. The town is on the side of a hill and the centre is fairly grid-like in arrangement, though in the eastern and western fringes it gets a bit more haphazard as the bay curves. The houses are mostly detached houses or bungalows, and a variety of building materials are used but the most common is wood. The gardens are mostly just plots of land with few flowerbeds and only very hardy trees and bushes. A few have vegetable patches growing cabbages, etc, but again, these are few and are between. The grass is not lawn grass and the gardens are often lumpy as the land is quite boggy.
Stanley is bigger than I was expecting but this is due to a building boom in the last decade or so. There are grocery shops located throughout the town, called Kelper Stores and are numbered 1 to 4. The main store is the West Store which is found on the main road, Ross Road, in Stanley. It is the biggest store but that does not mean that if the West Store doesn’t have it no other store will. There is also the Chandlery which is on the outskirts of Stanley which is a grocers and small computer shop.
Food is, as you’d expect, expensive. Fresh fruit and veg is the worst, with 2 tomatoes costing £1.50!! There is a couple of fruit and vegetable shops but their produce is not always of good quality and it really depends on what they can get in. The surprising thing is that even canned and dried goods can be much more expensive than in the UK. And the prices can be very strange, for example PG Tips are three times the price of Tetley, which is a bit of a pain because I don’t really like Tetley. I suppose I’ll get used to it!
Everyone drives Land Rovers. I think I’ve seen about a dozen ‘cars’ since I arrived. Land Rovers are essential if you ever want to leave Stanley because even the road to the airport is mostly unsurfaced and is very bumpy!
The TV is pretty basic. There is one channel provided free, called BFBS or British Forces Broadcasting Services. It shows a range of programmes from the UK, so you can get ‘Coronation Street’ followed by ‘Eastenders’ followed by ‘Hollyoaks’. Apparently the Falklands are the only place where this channel is provided to the civilian population for free. The good thing is that there are no adverts. The weird thing is that the news is not the ‘BBC World News’ but the ‘BBC News at Six’, or the ‘ITV Evening News’. I’ve been told it’s because the channel is to let people keep informed about the UK when they’re away, but it is quite surreal to be sitting in Stanley watching the news and hearing it say, ‘and now we go to the newsroom in your area’ or whatever it is they say. Luckily the weather is a bit more useful, covering all the bases around the world. Unsurprisingly really, the Falklands are last.
I think that’s enough for one post. If I think of anything more to add, or if there’s anything you’d like to know let me know and I’ll write some more.
Stanley is bigger than I was expecting but this is due to a building boom in the last decade or so. There are grocery shops located throughout the town, called Kelper Stores and are numbered 1 to 4. The main store is the West Store which is found on the main road, Ross Road, in Stanley. It is the biggest store but that does not mean that if the West Store doesn’t have it no other store will. There is also the Chandlery which is on the outskirts of Stanley which is a grocers and small computer shop.
Food is, as you’d expect, expensive. Fresh fruit and veg is the worst, with 2 tomatoes costing £1.50!! There is a couple of fruit and vegetable shops but their produce is not always of good quality and it really depends on what they can get in. The surprising thing is that even canned and dried goods can be much more expensive than in the UK. And the prices can be very strange, for example PG Tips are three times the price of Tetley, which is a bit of a pain because I don’t really like Tetley. I suppose I’ll get used to it!
Everyone drives Land Rovers. I think I’ve seen about a dozen ‘cars’ since I arrived. Land Rovers are essential if you ever want to leave Stanley because even the road to the airport is mostly unsurfaced and is very bumpy!
The TV is pretty basic. There is one channel provided free, called BFBS or British Forces Broadcasting Services. It shows a range of programmes from the UK, so you can get ‘Coronation Street’ followed by ‘Eastenders’ followed by ‘Hollyoaks’. Apparently the Falklands are the only place where this channel is provided to the civilian population for free. The good thing is that there are no adverts. The weird thing is that the news is not the ‘BBC World News’ but the ‘BBC News at Six’, or the ‘ITV Evening News’. I’ve been told it’s because the channel is to let people keep informed about the UK when they’re away, but it is quite surreal to be sitting in Stanley watching the news and hearing it say, ‘and now we go to the newsroom in your area’ or whatever it is they say. Luckily the weather is a bit more useful, covering all the bases around the world. Unsurprisingly really, the Falklands are last.
I think that’s enough for one post. If I think of anything more to add, or if there’s anything you’d like to know let me know and I’ll write some more.
Comments
It's very interesting reading about the Falkland. The photo's are excellent, You were saying about the price of tomotoes!! does any one have greenhouses or is the weather too changeable What are the rent of the house speak to you soon
Love Anne