Midwinter Swim and a load of bull.....

 The 19th June was the Midwinter Swim.  It had been cancelled from the 18th due to poor weather.  Basically everyone heads down to Surf Bay for a swim in the water.  It was cold!!

Simon and John (science teacher) looking cold before getting into the water

Waiting expectantly for the starter's gun.....

It was blooming freezing!

 Several weeks ago,  we ordered a half side of beef, and it arrived in the back of a trailer about 30 minutes after we got back from the midwinter swim.  The cost was a mere £115 for half a prime bull!  The meat was fantastic quality, and had some really nice fat marbled through it.  The meat we get here would actually be marketed as Organic in the UK.  We set the beef on the table and then realised that maybe this was not a good idea!

We sterilised the tiled kitchen floor and set to butchering the carcass.  Our friends Ben and Hien had ordered some beef too, so we had a house full of beef while it was butchered.  Ben decided to wimp out though, and took responsibility for getting rid of the bagged up fat and bones to the tip while Hien and Simon spent the next 3 and a half hours on their knees!  The meat is now sat in the freezer.  We have a 3/4 size chest freezer, and it is full with nothing but beef!

Tell you what though, it was well worth it!  We had fillet steak for tea, and it was so tender it virtually felt apart in your mouth!  Tea on Monday night....Lamb chops from a whole lamb we had bought the previous week!  I guess we were sick of the sight of beef!

Lamb here is classified differently to the UK.  Lamb is anything that is old enough to be weaned, up to about 6 months old at the most, everything else is classed as mutton, so the lamb is very tender and pale, whilst some mutton can be very tender, whilst others can be tough, so you rapidly get used to the different ways to cook mutton.

Liberation Day

Liberation Day is held to commemerate those who fell in liberating the Islands from Argentine control in 1982.

The parade consists of a church service, followed by wreath laying at the Liberation Monument and then there is a reception at the town hall.  After that, everyone hits town, with every single pub packed out with people.

The run up to Liberation Day saw some fairly still weather...it is rare to see the harbour this still and mirror like!

Simon collected his set of FIDF blues, and Harry announced that he was claiming Simon's beret as his own, picked up his toy gun and Simon's sunglasses, so cue some Che Guevera style poses!

Liberation Day was quiet cold, and perfectly still.  The wreath laying is a very solemn affair, but this year was affected by the ash cloud from the Chilean Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano which meant that there very few veterans from the conflict in attendance.

After the wreath laying, the parade marches off, turns round and then marches back past the Monument.

After the parade, there was a flypast by the RAF, although they were a few minutes late, and everyone had left Liberation Monument and was busy making their way to the Town Hall.  Pictured are Typhoon, Hercules and VC10 tanker.

After the parade, Harry came running over wanting to "hold Daddy's gun".  Also in the picture is one of Harry's close friends, Zoe Catton.

After the Town Hall, we headed home and went down to our local, the child friendly Narrows Bar.  The place was absolutely packed with people, all out enjoying themselves, although I guess there were a few sore heads the following morning!  Simon and Harry had their dental check up at 9am the following morning, and he felt sorry for her having to endure a whole morning of people with hangovers!

Time for some photos by Harry!  He is getting better...at least there were no fingers over the lens this time!  Just need to work on getting the camera level now!

A 4 year old's view of the parade!

One point to sour the day (click here)....this has caused some upset and outrage for many on the Islands....

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Winter is finally here, and we've had some snow recently.  It hasn' been too deep, only 3 or so inches, but enough to get the kids out with their sledges.

Video here!

Harry loved trying out his new sledge on the school field where there is a steep bank.  All the kids congregate where there is snow and a bank for sledging.

With the sun setting we got Harry up the bank and ready for his go at sledging

But he wasn't sure at first.....

Several goes later and we couldn't stop him!

As ever, necessity is the mother of invention, with some using servery tins as sledges.....

 

Zoe and Noah arrived, so it was then time for some races!

Then Harry and Noah announced they wanted to sledge together.  The hospital is only 50 yards away so.....

....another lunatic decided to have a go.......  By now the light was fading fast, and the camera was struggling to keep up, despite adjusting the aperture and speed settings!

So it was time for one last climb to the top.....

.....in the moonlight.....

....before heading home to warm up!!

Harry is all confused now though, he wants to know when Santa arrives......

Face Painting and Boxes

Harry came home from Kidzone last week when they had been having a facepainting session.  He was Spiderman!

A not very attractive picture with him scoffing some chocolate!!!

Meanwhile it feels like Christmas with snow on the ground.  We got the phone call to say that our Asda order was ready for collection.  Opening the 13 boxes made it feel even more like Christmas, the only clue to  the contents of each box are words like "fragile" or "liquid".  Of course, we knew what was in the 13 boxes, just not the contents of each box!

We are saving a fortune by shipping food down in this way, and many other people also do this too.

While we unpacking the Asda order we had knock on the door...another box!  This one contained a whole lamb butchered and bagged.  A bargain at £30 compared to the UK!