End of June

Today I woke up to an amazing day glow, the sun below the horizon reflecting off
Nacreous clouds.
Yet on the other side of the base the full moon was lighting up the sky.

Yesterday the sea was nearly completely frozen, but due to a blow last night the ice broke up.

Above you can see the slabs of ice broken up and blown on to the shore.

Full Moon.

My son Ashley

Ashley is now 15 he loves sport especially football and rugby.
He plays rugby for Strathendrick rugby club in Fintry.
These next two years are important for him at school he wants to join the Army when he leaves.
Ashley usually comes walking and climbing with me and I can't wait to go with you again.
I miss you and will see you soon.
Remember DO YOUR HOME WORK.

Nansen Sledge repairs

Just before our Mid Winter week off I gave the GA's a hand repairing the sedges we use for our winter trips and field parties. It was good to see how they were constructed nothing much has changed since Fridtjof Nansen designed and used them for his expeditions to the Arctic.
They used to be pulled by dogs but now they are pulled by skidoos.

You can never be to serious

This picture was from the Halloween party ,I meant to put it on earlier it was taken when Mark Borin, sorry Gorin was talking about the different properties that bicarbonate of soda has ,as you can see Andy was enthralled but Mark was so busy telling us the chemical compounds he never even broke a smile.
You Party Animal Mark.

BBQ at the Boat Shack

On Friday Jim nice but ,anyhow he put on a BBQ for us all down at his pad.
He is very strick on what happens in "The Shed" Kenny and I got told off for throwing snow balls.

Ming and Mong

The kiss of Life

Tris trying to revive the piglet he affectionately called Babe, unfortunately he was to late the only decent thing left to do was cook it.
Mid winters dinner being prepared by Tristan.
A great feast was laid on by Cyril.
5 courses.

Breakfast In Bed (Service with a smile)

On mid winters morning Mike our Winter BC brought us a full cooked breakfast in bed in his now all to familiar blond wig and pink dress. If he wasn't a cross dresser before he got here he is now. I can just imagine him back in his old job turning up to board meetings in corporate America discussing the sales of Viagra.
Anyway the breakfast was great,a good start to the day.
My wife will be getting jealous if she finds out I've let a blonde in a skimpy dress in my bedroom.
Don't worry I only have eye's for you.

Winter Olympics Antarctica style (Silver medal team)

The Sliver Medal Winners (Scott,Me and Ali our team Captain.)
We are kneeling in front of our snow sculpture which was one of the events we all had to take part in the others were Abseiling off the control tower,Bog chisel throwing (a bit like javelin), Muklok throwing ( a bit like a Wellington) and Skidoo time trials.

Each member of the team had to take part in every event.
Pictured above me abseiling from the tower.

An action shot throwing the Bog Chisel.
Below Scott driving his skidoo like a Old Age pensioner on an electric wheel chair.

Happy Mid Winter Solstice.

From all the Base members at Rothera we wish you a happy solstice whether it be winter or summer.
(click photo to enlarge)

The last two Kitchen cocktails and Robs Coffee bar.

Robs Irish Coffee bar.
At this point most people had quietened down apart from Mike who was whizzing up and down the corridor on a office chair.

Hotdogs and Tabasco sauce Cocktails if you didn't feel sick before you definitely did after.
Most of the folk were inebriated by now may be even pickled.

Tris in good form.

Dickie telling Birgit his troubles and she does look as if she is listening.

A & E

Alistair put on a good show with his concoction of test tube drinks and drips containing alcohol.

Tastey

I think Dicky though it was going to be an enema, he was so disappointed.

Pete taking it in the old fashioned way with being held down and nose pinched.

It was good to see the Winter Base Commander leading by example from the front, not letting his troops do anything until he tried it first.

Dive Inn

Boat full of snow and drink, mmmm I wonder what type of fight happened here in the end.

One of the games played here was the Snorkel drinking game, Here Kelvin takes the cocktail of Lucasade and Vodka.
I'm sure he regret it later.
The Dive Inn ended with a snowball fight.
By this time we all went to the doctors.

O'Bonners Pub.

O'Bonners run by the Beakers was an Irish theme bar with Irish coffee and a interesting cocktail called Mint Mud Slide which was Baileys , after eights and Nido cream. Most were slightly sozzeled by this point and a whipped cream fight broke out.
As you can see in the back ground in true Titanic style in the face of adversity the band played on. Good one Tris and Rob.

Poor Cyril.

This is how it started. Looks innocent enough but you should have seen the end,very messy death by Nido Cream.

Next stop the Dive Inn.

The FA X treme Sports Bar

This Bar was the most fun. We all took part in the bungee bar we took it in turn to be harnessed up to a large bungee then we ran up the corridor and tried to get the best drinks of the floor at the other end of the sledge store.

You can see all the effort on the faces of the competitors.
Cyril did the best getting a bottle of Port.

Scott nearly grabbing the can.

Once you had run as far as you could the bungee pulled you back usually in a uncontrolled and undignified manner.

Drift Inn

The Drift Inn had been cut out of a large snow drift by Tristan and Matt there was enough room for the 22 of us it also had a separate bar. The Bar Drink was a White Russian.
With good music and atmosphere it was a great success.
next on to the X treme GA Bar at Fuchs house.

Pub Crawl (Tech Services 90 minute club)

After Dinner the Pub Crawl started of at the Tech Services 90 Minute Club.
With Drink,music and a light show it was a good start to the night and it could only get ,well I will let you decide, Look at the peoples faces as the night progresses.
Then on to the next bar which was run by Tristan and Matt B.

Start Of Mid Winter Holidays

Well Mid Winter Holidays have started, there are events planned for the week. Last Night a number of the inmates went sleeping in snow holes up at Vals, they woke up to a blizzard but all had a great time.
The base is decked out in Christmas decorations so it is looking very festive.
We have a fox hunt, Winter Olympic games, movies, themed meals and Pub Crawl to look forward to.
It is Fathers Day tomorrow so I look forward to seeing the children via web cam.

A world wide Readership.

This blog is being read regularly by people from Sweden, Pakistan ,USA, Shetland and now Bulgaria .
There are three Schools that also follow my blog and send in questions for me to answer they range from weather to what we eat.
I hope that I can share a bit of my experience of living here through my blog.

Sea Creatures.

Ali (Alius Massious)
As you can see the water here is very clear although very cold. Ali collects sea creatures so they can be studied by Biologists so they can see whether global warming is affecting these creatures.
You can see more of the Diving side of Antarctic life by clicking on Alison's Blog link.

Crinoids (Promachorinus kerguelensis)
These are just a couple of the creatures that live in the cold water around here they survive temperatures as low as -2. A lot the the creatures look like the ones you get around the coast of Britain.

A Star Fish. (Odontaster meridionalis)
In these dark winter days the divers still go diving and even when the sea freezes over they will cut holes in the ice to go diving.

A Sea Squirt (Cnemidocarpa verrucosa)

Its official, NO sun up.

The Sun now officially does not rise at Rothera.

Meaning that it never comes above the horizon.

The only light we get is what is reflected .
The most light we get in good conditions is about 2 hours.

Keeping busy

I have been keeping myself busy in the dark night by making presents for my family.
I have made the picture above for my daughter Iona.
The frame is walnut, the photo is of a Adelie Penguin and the First edition stamp are of William Speirs Bruce.

The new Bransfield House, Rothera

The building to the left is the new Bransfield house and what a great backdrop.
Another quite week on base apart from Alistair AKA Rambo taking on the Winter Base Commander (Mike) in a wrestling match, for fun of course, there was a clear winner "Rambo Simpson".
Shame on you Mike!

My Son Euan

June 7th
Euan fell out of a tree house today and broke his arm, What a boy.
Get well soon.
I can't wait for us to start adventuring again when I get back, I have so much to show you and tell you about.
My wife asked Euan what he wants to do when he's older he replied "I want to go to Antarctica to finish the work dad and the scientists have started". It made me feel good about what I am doing here.
Well done Euan for doing so well at school I am so proud of you.Keep it up.

Sun Pillar

This is the most we see of the sun at mid day, today was particularly good as it was reflecting in ice crystals in the air.
Life goes on people busy making there winter presents ready for mid winter.

Mid Day

Jenny Island at mid day.