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This is my second turn to write a piece for the Halley diary and the time seems to have flown by. Midwinter has been and gone and the days will begin to get lighter from now on. Halley feels more like a home now during the winter months than it was back in January when there was a much faster pace.
Here, finally, is our group photograph!!!
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During the first few weeks of June though there was a lot of industrious activity and people rushing about with hidden boxes and mysterious bits and pieces as everyone finished off (or started!) their midwinter presents. A few months before we had all drawn the names out of a hat for the people we would be making presents for and the quality and variety of the presents produced was amazing.
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| Midwinter Presents. |
Richard Borthwick and I organised a programme of events for midwinter's week and lots of people put in a lot of effort making various things and organising the events. Ricky decorated the lounge with all the Christmas decorations and the tree was put up. In the dining room huge flags were put up around the walls of many of the member countries of the Antarctic Treaty. Liz organised a treasure hunt and even made shortcakes wrapped in foil as the 'treasure'. We had a 'Generation Game' where someone would demonstrate their skill before everyone else had a go and were marked on their results. Tom, the doc, did some forearm plastering, Karl, our GA, demonstrated splicing and Neil (Munki) showed us soldering, square lashing some mast work. The winners were Tom and Liz who then had to overcome the 'conveyor belt game' - a tough test their memory as various items of junk sailed across the dining room table.
To see the programme of events click here!!!!
Everyone made costumes for the medieval banquet to celebrate Jamie and Karl's birthdays, we had a couple of knights, a monk, a court jester and damsels - although not 'in distress' until Tom turned up with his 'cod piece' (a hard hat!). To top it all off Richard cooked an amazing meal including wild boar and pigeon!
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| Some go further than others in the name of fancy dress!. |
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| Rich Casson setting up the cine film projector. |
There was a midwinter black and white photo competition with some fantastic entries, most of which were taken and developed here at Halley.
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On Midwinter's Day itself we were all offered drinks of our choice in bed by the Base Commander, although most people could only face a cup of tea after the pub crawl the night before around each of the platforms, the garage and the melt tank. Dave also cooked us all breakfast. At midday there was a streak around the Laws platform in a temperature of minus 36 degrees C.
Liz and I had our own 'girlie' streak around the smaller Simpson platform. Mark had radio scheds with many of our 'neighbouring' bases and several of us chatted to Rothera, Bird Island and King Edward Point bases. We had Midwinter greetings emailed from many of the Antarctic bases and even had special messages from President George W. Bush and the Presidents of India and the Ukraine!
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| Richard Turner preparing the Midwinter dinner. |
Richard Turner had prepared a fantastic 11-course meal. I was very proud of managing to eat something from every course and most people had the Christmas ritual of needing to undo the their top button due to eating too much.
And, Even on Midwinter's day there was still a feint red glow on the horizon to the North.
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In the evening a special broadcast was sent out by the BBC World Service with a few messages from our friends and families. Even though it was broadcast from the UK (with extra power) we still managed to make out peoples voices, it was a really special moment. Later on we had our present giving by 'Santa' alias Doctor Tom.
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| Santa (Tom Rieley) giving out our Midwinter prezzies. |
Unfortunately our outdoor olympics were cut short due to a blow but we have plans still to complete the skidoo trialling, curling and crazy golf events. It is blowing as I write this page, the temperature is -30 degrees C, but with a wind of 34 knots the wind chill is more like minus 50. All the buildings shake slightly in a blow and picture frames, tools and even the water in the toilet bowls wobble, giving a very bizarre feeling, a bit like being on a ship. Even in weather like this though the melt tank still has to be filled by whichever 4 people are unlucky enough to be on the rota at the time.
At the end of midwinter's week there was a 'scrubout massive'. The Laws platform got a complete clean from top to bottom:
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Even during the Midwinter festivities the work has to continue to keep the base running. This month Karl brought Wonky caboose into the garage for a refit. The name 'Wonky' is due to a merging of the name "one K caboose" which is its distance from the base, rather than any structural design fault! Liz helped out with repainting the inside. Karl has also been mending some of the Pyramid tents we use on our field trips.
Dave Glynn has been busy raising the drums that make up the perimeter line around base. Due to snow accumulation these drums need to be raised about 3 times a year. Liz, Tom and Neil spent a day using the dozer to move the fuel drum sledges. The sledges also get buried in the snow and need breaking out. They also built a new drum wall where the empty fuel drums can be stored until the summer.
Paul Sharp has been PAT testing (Portable Appliance Testing) the electrical equipment; he's also been checking fire extinguishers, fixing one of the fridges, and the platform's humidifier. The humidifier is needed because the air is particularly dry here; the relative humidity is often less than 70% and has sometimes been less than 60%, which is termed 'dry air' by meteorologists. A side-effect of the humidifier is that it causes ice to form on the inside of the pitroom windows giving them a truly 'Antarctic' feeling.
Andy McConnachie has been kept busy this month too following two power-downs on the Piggot platform. This platform has its own generators for it's power. The generators are now running smoothly again. He has also been servicing and refitting an exhaust heat exchanger for one of the generators on the Laws. The three generators on this platform also supply heat and power to the Simpson building via underground tunnels.
Everyone is now looking forward to the days getting brighter and our forthcoming trips to see the Emperor penguins and their chicks.
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| My hair, frozen, after going outside with it wet at minus 35! |
Best Wishes,
