Day 127 Week 18

Well what a worry. Unbeknown to most of us apparently the Falklands may well kick off again, but this time the Navy has shrunk to half the size of the nineteen-eighties fleet. It's all to do with the black gold that lies behind most of the world's squabbles, ie oil.

For those of us who remember the Falklands war, the knowledge of mineral rights affecting our interest in those bleak little outcrops in the South Atlantic comes as nothing of a surprise. It was always felt the Mrs Thatcher's somewhat belated reaction to the Argentine invasion (Lord Carrington actually resigned as a matter of honour over what he regarded as the Foreign Office cock up by sending mixed signals to Argentina), was spurred on by the presence of hydro-carbons and carbons in the portion of Antarctica which sovereignty of the Falklands gave us claim to. But now it seems the previous speculation has turned into a likely stash of approximately three trillion dollars worth of oil reserves.

British companies have been exploring the geology for several years and it is only recently that confirmation of the extent of the wealth lurking beneath land and sea has come to light. The response from Buenos Aires has been to produce a new map of the area with the Falklands returned to being named 'las Malvinas', and the Argentinean Foreign Ministry has lodged a formal complaint with the British Embassy warning they will not tolerate any removal of minerals from Argentine territorial waters - implying they do not recognise British claims to jurisdiction. American press sites are full of the story but we have heard nothing about it over here. Britain has recently cranked up the number of soldiers stationed on the islands considerably, under the auspices of training them for deployment to Afghanistan, and it is strongly supposed the Navy has submarine presence in the area but oh my goodness not more conflict on the horizon.

Here we go again.

The party was brilliant. Such good fun. Caught up with friends and the atmosphere and food were both terrific. Everyone was so supportive and sent lots of love and positivity re C and it's genuinely overwhelming to know that so many people care so much. Strangely enough met someone who was involved with making Harry Brown and explained that whilst I thought it was a brilliant film, as someone who works with teenagers whose life isn't that far removed from the subway kids, it was uncomfortably close to the damaged lives of swathes of our youngsters today.

Had a long chat with H. He doesn't think being a submariner is conducive to having a girlfriend as the endless stretches of time at sea would prove intolerable. Assured him that there are some girls who could stand such endurance, but he emphasised that submarines weren't like the surface fleet and that once under the water there is absolutely no communication for possibly three months at a time. Oh dear, that means Mother's are out of contact as well as girlfriends. He's enjoying the course enormously but as this is the first time the new condensed training has been applied there are technical glitches and some quite unrealistic expectations of what can be done in such a short period of time. He's desperately hoping for a mine sweeper for his practical stint as you get to do much more on the smaller ships than on the big ones. He's missed a call from C and was gutted, but is looking forward to seeing him soon God willing. R home and have just taken her breakfast in bed. No news from C but at least I know he was OK yesterday because he tried to ring H.

The rugby was brilliant with England hammering Wales 30-17. I'm off for a lovely long walk by the river and please God today will be as good as the other hundred and twenty six.

Speak soon. A soldier's Mum x