1 4 t h   j u l y   2 0 0 8   :  c a l m ,  c l e a r

 

 

 

above, the met tower which is home to some of the sensors and instruments associated with my job.  and the moon peeping round the side on a crisp day.  rime clings to everything after we had some fog move through yesterday...

 

a view from the met tower up on our little hill, looking WNW to the base and the ramp and reptil ridge behind.  the sea is freezing quite nicely now...  the GAs were out drilling to check thicknesses today and found up to 40cms in some areas.

 

above, looking over the hoar frost covered ground towards one of the prettier radio antennae and (incredibly!) a clear sky behind...  and below, on the not so nice day on saturday, i put in a few hours in the chippy shop to bandsaw, chisel & rasp the blocks of wood in the black & white pic below into something which is starting to resemble a guitar neck:

 

 

 

1 1 t h   j u l y   2 0 0 8   :  g u i t a r   u p d a t e

 

i'm once again getting on with my acoustic.  i have fitted the top and bottom blocks (the blocks of mahogany that join the 2 sides at the top and bottom) which you can see in the photo.  i am starting to glue reinforcing strips around the inside edges of the sides, although due to the lack of suitable clamps i have to do it in lots of little sections instead of in a few goes...  that is what is clamped near the bottom of the mould with 2 clothes peg style things there.  in the bottom right i have glued blocks together in preparation for making the neck.  back on track!  nice...  rob

9 t h   j u l y   2 0 0 8   :  m o t h e r   o f   p e a r l   o f  s k y

 

 

 

quick update - we had some cool clouds this morning, this is a bit of a crap photo but they give the general impression - they're much more impressive in real life!  you may notice too that the sea in the background is frozen too, although its a a bit hard to see.  this is looking to the northeast, and most of the sea is covered in some form of ice which is quite exciting, although the tests that the sea-ice has to pass before we can travel on it are very stringent.  the field assistants were out drilling test lines today, trying to monitor the ice growth, and they are hoping to get a hole chainsawed in one of the nearby coves before the end of the week.  luckily its been acting like winter recently with cold easterly and southerly winds....  winter trips start in a month and it would make a very large number of my days if i got to travel on the sea!  

another piece of recently recorded music which will be cleaned up for my soundtrack:

 

Carrying Stores Ashore.mp3  

(Right Click and Save As...)

 

7 t h   j u l y   2 0 0 8   :  a   y e a r   o n   f r o m   n u n a t a k . . .

 

below, a reminder (i'd almost forgotten!) that a year ago today was our old band's first and last appearance on the world stage...  did Live Earth do anything to help improve our attitudes towards our finite resources?  in my opinion (not necessarily shared by others in the band) probably not,  and the price of oil has likely done more already to force us towards the greener ways that we need if we're not going to totally ruin our only planet.  it was interesting to be involved in the project though, very instructive!  anyway, photos are thin on the ground; thin everywhere, so here you go (courtesy of mr. mike mailing i think)...  

also, i have been working on a 50 minute soundtrack to an old (1961-62) film of the pioneering work of BAS at that time in establishing the hut at Fossil Bluff.  Here is a link to one of the pieces of music i have completed so far for the film:

 

Seabirds Circling.mp3

(Right Click and Save As...)

 

left to right:  matt balmer, tris thorne, me, roger stillwell, ali massey (promo filming earlier in the year)

and below : delightful weather for one of the nunatak photoshoots! 

2 n d    j u l y   2 0 0 8   :  m i d w i n t e r

 

a northwards panorama from a month ago, a nice almost-sunrise....  pics have been thin on the ground recently but this is a nice one, if a bit out of date...

this was taken yesterday during on of the rare clearish periods - in general it has been a horrendous few months of weather.  still, it makes these little glimpses of colour and light (stratospheric nacreous clouds) all the more beautiful.  i seem to have too many projects going all at once; this is a partial explanation for my lack of updates.  in (very) short, we have passed the pschological landmark known as midwinter, the solstice, and we are heading for the return of the sun in 3 weeks time.  our last week (sin trabajo) was very relaxing, and included plenty of traditional rothera acitivities like the midwinter BBC broadcast, huge meal, the exchanging of winter presents, a winter olympics day; and there's nothing like a pub quiz, then a pub crawl to make up for the fact that there aren't any pubs here!  i'm afraid i am being frugal with my words this night, due to tiredness.  perhpas i will be able to scrounge some photos from others of the events of the week, and if so i will post them...  for now, hasta luego mis amigos 
website by rob webster -  two thousand and eight
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