New Beginings - 8. NB Chapter 8

Heading away from the harbour, I continued on, then turning in the direction of my accommodation. Once I was far enough away, I slowed to a walk, as I found my way back onto Ross Road, and I soon came up to the lodge, and I went to my room to rest for a while, before going to the living area and helping myself to a cup of tea. For the rest of the day, and the following day I slowly explored different parts of Stanley, but I didn’t go back into the cathedral until Sunday morning to attend the church service.

I made sure that I was near the very back, and I kept my singing to a whisper, so that I wouldn’t be noticed. Near the end of the service, the minister began to make some announcements, “In conclusion, I just want to say that on Friday afternoon, I received a surprise visitor, a young man with an angelic voice, began to sing in the cathedral.

When I began to play the organ, I was pleased that he continue sing the remaining two verses of Pie Jesu, this is nothing against our talented choir, I just wanted to make everyone aware that we have a mysterious singer on the islands, and I would very much like to have him join our choir, if anyone learns who he is, that is all the announcements for this week...” the minister said, and the organ to play some music, and I recognised the tune as Hallelujah, and I thought what the heck I might as well sing properly.

Stepping out to the middle aisle of the cathedral, and I waited for the first chorus before I began to sing, and as expected my voice was noticed almost right away, and most of the congregation stopped singing, so as to listen, and I continued to sing, thankfully the choir also continued so I wasn’t on my own.

When the hymn came to the end there was a moment of silence, before a few began to applaud, then soon everyone was applauding, I had remained at the back of the cathedral, and not wanting to hang around, I exited the cathedral and dashed off once again, like I had two days earlier, and I made my way back to the accommodation, where I retreated to my room, and turning on my computer and I downloaded the recording I did the other day, before adding it to an email to Annette.

“Dear Annette and Kyle, I hope all is well there in Western Australia, after a lot of travelling, I arrived here safely, and although it is summer time, it is still quite cool, averaging around 15 degrees C. I found the Christ Church Cathedral here, and the acoustics are fantastic, I have attached an audio recording that I made on Friday afternoon my time.

I think it is 11 hour’s-time difference, and it is 11.15am Sunday here, so I guess that it is about 10pm there. I will send you another email in a few days, with some photos of my day of checking out the city of Santiago, it is a incredibly beautiful city, I hope I can spend a bit more time exploring there, when I make my return journey, which I estimate to be in March or April, before it gets too cold here, Regards H.D”.

About an hour later, there was a knock on my room door, “Lunch is being served in the dining room” I heard the owner announce, “Ok, I will be there in a minute” I replied, as I shut down my computer, and made my way to the dining room. “So, Mr Devonport, we heard you sing today, and I must say it is a delight to hear such a magnificent voice, the Minister is still asking if anyone knows who the mystery singer is, and Eric here, wouldn’t let me say anything until we have spoken to you” Mary said to me as I sat down.

“I would prefer to keep it a mystery for as long as possible, so please don’t say anything until I give the say so” I said to my hosts, as I was served my lunch. After lunch, I did some more exploring of Stanley, and I made some enquiries about renting a car for the duration of my stay, and I was only able to rent a very run down land rover, but at least now I was able to do some more explore further out from the capital.

On the way back to the accommodation a few hours later, I passed the main store, where I found a large public notice board, and I spotted a notice of interest. “Wanted, farmhand for family owned and managed Beef and Dairy cattle farm for the remainder of summer season, Contact Tom and Margaret at Douglas Farm” and there was a phone number. I memorised the number, and headed back to the accommodation, and grabbing my mobile, I wandered outside for some privacy to make the phone call.

“Good afternoon, my name is Huon Devonport, I am staying on the Falklands for at least the remainder of Summer, I am a farmer’s son from Western Australia, with experience with Beef and Dairy cattle, I saw your notice on the board in Stanley, and wondered if the position is available” I said when the call answered. “Well hello young man, yes the position is available, and you sound like you have the right qualifications, how old are you, and were are you staying at the moment” Mike said in reply.

“I am 18 years old, just finished my final high school exams a few days ago, and I am staying at the Lafone Lodge, my father passed away a short time ago, and I have leased out the farm for ten years, so I decided to do a little travelling, before I decided what to do with the rest of my life” I responded.

“Well Huon, I will be in Stanley tomorrow, so if you like I can take you back to Douglas Farm, once I have finished with my business, I can collect you from your accommodation” Mike said, “That will be fine sir, thank you for the opportunity, I will see you tomorrow” I said and we ended the call, and I made my way back inside, to find my hosts, to break the news to them.

As expected, they were not happy about losing a long term guest after just a few days, and I offered to pay them one month of accommodation, as compensation, which they accepted. After dinner, I had a shower and packed my bags, so I was ready to go to Douglas Farm, then I realised that I had no idea where this farm is, so I went into the lounge where there is tourist information, and I located a map of the Falkland Islands Group, and after a brief scan of the map, I found the farm’s location.

Located in north west of Stanley, the road to the farm looked to be about 80 kilometres long, and knowing some of the out roads are not in very good condition, I estimated that it would take about 90 minutes to travel. The next morning, I drove into the centre of the settlement, firstly going to the owner of the land rover that I was renting, and I offered 200 pounds to buy it, which he accepted.

Next, I took the land rover to the mechanics, and asked him to give it a good service, and if he can replace anything that is worn. The mechanic asked how long he had to do this, I said a week, and he happily agreed to do all that he can do in that time. Once that was settled, I walked to the main general store, where I bought some work boots, some jeans and cotton long sleeve shirts, some more woollen socks and a couple of woollen pullovers for warmth, a couple pairs of work gloves and a wide brim hat.

With all my new supplies, I walked back to the lodge, and asked Mary, if I could wash all of my new clothes, which she kindly offered to do for me. While this was being done, I went to my room, turned on my laptop and logged into my email account, where I found an email waiting from Annette. “Dear HD, it is wonderful to hear that you are having a wonderful time in South America, and I hope the people there are treating you well.

Kyle and I listened to the audio clip that you sent us, and we both agreed that it was your best singing so far. The Sunday programme is doing very well, and has caught the attention of the general media, I have attached a couple of news clippings for you to see. We are looking forward to your next email with photos.

I have spoken to Mr Wagner, he came to the church late today (Sunday), asking for information regarding your whereabouts, I informed him that you had gone on an extented holiday overseas, and that I was not sure when you would be returning, and he was very dissapointed and a bit upset with this news. I hope we are doing the right thing by keeping him in the dark about your location, I have a feeling that he really wants to be friends with you. Anyway, take care and we look forward to you next email. Annette and Kyle”.

I decided to send a reply right away, so I opened a new email, and attached a dozen photos, that I had downloaded to the computer from the phone’s memory card, and attached them to the email, “Dear Annette and Kyle, thanks for your email. I am still not sure how I feel about Sebastian, he is very forward with his approach to me, and I am not sure how to take that, I guess I need more time to think about it. I have attached some photos of my visit to Santiago, there are some incredible buildings in that city.

I managed to get a job on a cattle farm, about an hour and a half northwest by rough road of the capital, I will be travelling there tomorrow with my new boss, who will be in town on business. I am not sure if I will have mobile or internet coverage from there, I am trying to avoid using my phone as the costs are very high. By the way, how are Kyle’s colleagues in the choir taking the televisions specials, is he getting any flak from them, I do hope not” I will email again soon once I am settled into the new job. Regards HD”.

After dinner, I retired to my room for an early night, as I was not sure how long a day I had in front of me tomorrow, and in the morning, Mary gave me an extra large cooked breakfast, and I gave her a big hug in thanks for all the care she had given me while I had been there.

She had washed and folded all of my laundry, which earned her another hug, as I gathered it after breakfast, and made my way to my room, to squeeze it into my suitcases, which were almost bursting. I went for a short walk around town once my bags were packed, and I called into the mechanics to check on the progress of my vehicle, whoch I found the engine in lots of peices, and I was assured that it would be running smoothly by the time he has finished.

At the main store, I found a small suitcase for sale, which I bought, to try and spread out some of my clothing and other belongings, and as I arrived back at the accommodation, Mary had my two suitcases on the bed open, and she was trying to think of a way to fix the problem, and I laughed. I have the solution right here Mary” I said to her, and when she saw the extra bag, she got to work to repack my luggage for me.

Once I was packed again, we sat down for some morning tea, and Mary assured me that Tom and Margaret are good people, and that I would be well looked after, as they were not able to have children, so it is just them and one other farm hand, Old Jed, who work on the farm. Mary told me that she was close friends with Margaret, and that the farm I am going to is 16,500 acres in area, and that at least twice a month Tom and Margaret come into town to do some shopping and to visit a few friends.

“Are you talking about me again Mary” I heard a voice behind me, “Just filling in some details for young Huon here, on what to expect on your farm, that is all” Mary replied with a smile, as I stood up and turned to face my employer, who held out his hand. I’m Tom,, nice to meet you Huon” my boss said as we shook hands, and he was sizing me up as we did. “Good and strong I see, how are you with horses?” Tom said to me, “Well I have only ridden a few times, as a teenager, we never had horses on our farm, just 4 wheel motorbikes” I replied.

“I see, well at least you have a little bit of experience, my other farmhand, ole Jed, he won’t go near them, and he is drunk for most of the time, so he would probably fall off if he ever tried” Tom said and we all laughed at the little joke. “I hear you have your own vehicle now, and that it is in for repairs, we can come back Monday next week to pick it up” Tom said to me. Thanking Mary for her hospitality, I went and collected my luggage, and followed Tom outside to his farm vehicle, which looked worse than mine.

A very rough 90 minutes later, we arrived at the Douglas Farm homestead. During the trip, Tom informed me that the farm is on the north west end of Teal Inlet, and on the north side of the Douglas River, and that the nearest farm is just 5.7 kilometres by road south, just off the North Camp Road, on the south side of the river. We stopped at a small cottage, that is just before the main house, which has a stone wall aroound it and a few large trees.

The cottage however was all on its own, with no fence or trees around it, and about 300 metres behind it, I notice a shed and some yards. This is your cottage, the stables and yards behind are now your responsibility, I will give you the rest of today and tomorrow, to get familiar with the surroundings, you will find plenty of horse feed and hay in the shed next to the stables, everything is written up on the pinup board on what to feed the horses, we have five in total.

The pure black gelding is mine, his name is King, and doesn’t like anyone else riding him, but he will let you feed and groom him, be warned he can be a rascal at times. The black Freisian mare is named Princess, she is Margaret’s horse, and can be ridden, although Margaret and I often go on afternoon rides most days. The Grey stallion and Bay mare Shire horses are Soot and Paddington, as you may know they are usually used for pulling loads, we are breeding them to sell overseas, so great care is given to them, and finally Sophie, she is a Quarterhorse mare, we try and ride her as often as possible, so maybe you can start getting use to her and ride her” the boss said to me as he helped me with my luggage into the cottage.

“One bedroom, small lounge and kitchen/dining room, plus bathroom and outside laundry on the back patio, you will be having meals with us in the main house. Old Jed perfers to keep to himself, so he eats at his place across the road there from yours, We will give you bread, cereals, oats and accompaniments for your breakfast, lunch is at 12 noon and dinner is at 6pm, we usually start work at 7am, and you get Saturday afternoon and Sunday’s off.

Margaret usually milks the dairy cow that we have, but now you are here, you can do alternate days with her, say Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and afternoons, she will do the other four days. I will let you settle in and go and say hello to the horses, I will see you for lunch in an hour” the boss said to me and he exited the cottage. I took my time unpacking, my bedroom was a reasonable size, with a double wardrobe, dresser table and chair, double bed, bedside table with a small light, and my window looked out directly towards the stables.

The bed was made, and the whole cottage smelled fresh, which made me think that Margaret had been busy getting it ready for me. The bathroom had a bathtub with a shower above it, a good size bathroom bench and sink and the toilet next to that.

The lounge room, has a double lounge chair, and two single chairs, and a bookshelf with a couple dozen novels located against the wall, there was no television, but a good size fireplace, and a mantle clock sat on the mantle above it. The kitchen diner was basic, with a solid table in the centre of the room and four chairs, there was an electric stove, and an old fashioned wood burner oven, which was going, and a kettle was sitting on the edge of it gently steaming away.