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... or the start is
nigh, if you prefer to approach it that way.
it's a glass filling sort of a time... we're
gearing up for the summer season which effectively
(how effective it will be remains to be judged)
starts in a weeks time when the first outsiders
effect their invasion. the dash 7 aircraft will bring in the
summer base commander, forecaster and other
logistics and high flying types and some normal
people as well - personally i am very much looking
forward to the stimulation of fresh personnel, as
well as the gastronomic delights that will be
arriving in the form of fresh food.
the last few weeks
have been busier than normal, i won't bore you with
the details, but projects for the summer season need
to be prepared for, and the spring deep-cleaning has
to be done to combat the grime of a winter free of
too much inspection or intrusion into our individual
workspaces. it continues...
it's
been pupping season for weddell seals for the last
few weeks - they're very photogenic when they are,
like the one above, a bit over a week old (photo by
roger).
i haven't been
taking very many photos again recently, partly
because i'm starting to run out of interesting
things to take photos of that i haven't already
snapped at. but a recent boat trip out to
lagoon island (so-called because of a nice little
sheltered bay that allows an easyish landing place
for the small RIBs at high tide) yielded some
excitement because after doing the science that
afforded the excuse for the trip (ali massey, the
marine assistant, had to locate and photograph some
pieces of plastic that had been dug into the bed in
some of the surrounding shallows), the wind had got
up too much for us to return to rothera, so we got
stuck there for the night! Here
are some pictures, all courtesy of roger - i didn't
have my camera with me:
dickie
and roger modelling makeshift waterproof shoes - for
wandering around inside the emergency hut on lagoon
island, which was built by a few winterers as a
winter project a few years ago. it's very
comfortable, with a kerosene burning stove, 4 beds,
and yellow walls! we
didn't have as much gear as we should have done for
a possibly extended stay on the island, so we opened
up the emergency clothing bags which were packed a
good few years ago, and provided much comedy!
here i am about to go and entertain some children... 
...
and dickie here entertains our eyes with a display
of a much feted (but sadly abandoned by
aestheticists) item of external underwear, "the
exo-fronts", much beloved of FIDS of the past,
and presumably deemed to have special effectiveness
in emergency episodes of enforced isolation on small
antarctic islands. as dickie demonstates, the
'fronts are equipped with an extra
pocket.
i am
now going to cut this blog entry short because
tonight is saturday the 6th of october, which means
it is the last proper saturday night of the
winter; the first plane is due in next sunday.
so tonight the band are playing to a packed sledge
store (numbers are roughly divided equally between
players and listeners....), and then we follow it up
with an oktoberfest combined with our film festival
tomorrow, last minute editing permitting.
shower and soundcheck, but not at the same
time. rob
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