tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196014592024-03-19T01:21:00.154-02:00Julius' Travels in the SouthBigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-76062242287926470542008-07-22T06:39:00.002-02:002008-07-22T06:47:08.971-02:00Back in the Uk now - Updates to resume and fill in the missing piecesWell, that's it I'm back in the real world having travelled back up through Africa and slowly made my way back to the Uk.<br /><br />My next task is to find myself a job. I also have to unpack my stuff and sort out my life. In the mean time there should be more time to do other things.<br /><br />I realise that there are a lot of missing holes in the blog and will make an effort to fill them in as soon as I can.<br /><br />Watch this space.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-68366408303957225592007-12-21T23:09:00.000-02:002007-12-21T23:29:50.312-02:00Sorry - Busy - The Past - The Shack Arrives - The FutureOnce again I have to say sorry for not updating the blog. I don't have any great excuses except to say that I have been very very busy. So busy that the only time that I have time to write an entry happens to be relief which is theoretically the busiest time down here at Halley. So here is a text entry of the past the present and the future. Hopefully I will get around to filling this in a bit more.<br /><br />So in short what has been happening? Well since my last entry I have been on my final winter trip and got some amazing photos (soon to be added). New people arrived on base and we had our first plane. I finally got down to see the penguins at Windy bay. Apart from that its been packing packing and more packing as we shut down the science here to make space for the building of the new base. The science team has packed over 5 tonnes already and I will be packing another tonne and a half before the end of relief. All this will be sent back to Cambridge or in the case of the AIS (which I looked after) Norway. Oh yeah my leg is fine, thanks for all the support. I have even been kiting again. More people arrived on base until it felt like a summer crew even before the ship arrived.<br /><br />The ship arrived yesterday and we got to have a lovely sauna and some fresh food. Relief started properly today but I am only helping in the background as I still have final packing of science equipment to do and field equipment to get ready for deployment later.<br /><br />Soon I will be out on fieldwork and being smelly in a tent.<br /><br />Planning to leave Halley around the end of Feb and then will travel back through Africa.<br />Hoping to be back in the Uk around May but you never know.<br /><br />Anyway Merry Christmas and have A Happy New YearBigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-22474751923372683242007-09-24T18:03:00.000-02:002007-09-26T08:59:26.504-02:00More Zen -Big Blows - First Post Winter Trip - Doc's Birthday - Leg Update - Neil's Birthday<div>In my <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2007/09/precious-bay-zen-stove-testing-leg.html">last entry</a>, I had been testing some <a href="http://zenstoves.net/">zen stoves</a>. These are tiny alcohol (meths) stoves that you can make out of coke cans. To make them smaller you can use tonic cans. One of the ones that I made earlier was a mini top vent one. The disadvantage of this, compared to the side vent also show in the last entry is that you have to have a pot stand. I have now made one using a tin that held kodak film chemicals. I cut holes to allow flames and air in and it works very very well.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZ0CoxrtOGcdVvJh3tVhjjrXgVtj1ttHap8aMYpI2NWOUtyOrzQVT_ZKzSm2S1g0lumwsiuzngqWhfqK9WhJShytO9_GggJ5Nz-kT_k2Tgrp1etb8M8WkQYquP1O55ILveCn7/s1600-h/DSC04155.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113887292865228338" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZ0CoxrtOGcdVvJh3tVhjjrXgVtj1ttHap8aMYpI2NWOUtyOrzQVT_ZKzSm2S1g0lumwsiuzngqWhfqK9WhJShytO9_GggJ5Nz-kT_k2Tgrp1etb8M8WkQYquP1O55ILveCn7/s400/DSC04155.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The mini top vent with pot stand.<br /><br />We tested it properly and it required about 20 ml of alcohol to bring 0.5 litres of water to the boil (boiled for 60 seconds) in about 8 mins. I think it is actually a bit faster than the side vent but you do have to carry the extra 30 grams of pot stand. The extra advantage of this is that the stove fits in the pot stand and is protected when travelling. I expect this one to last a lot longer that the purely aluminium ones.<br /><br />We have got more and more light and with this returning light we have had more and more blows. We sort of define a blow when the wind reached about 20 knots (we measure this about 10m above the surface), at this point working outside becomes nearly impossible. You can easily walk between buildings but actually working outside is not nice. At 30 knots you start to lose sight of the other buildings and for someone on crutches its not great. Above 40 knots its best not to linger too long outside. One thing that has happened is that this year's weather haven nearly blew away. The wind was above 40 knots and somehow it worked open a bit of the tent. The weather haven is a very very large tent that is used to store the <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html">blimp</a>. The blimp is filled with helium and the Simpson people use it to measure low level ozone by attaching special instruments to the bottom. Anyway the wind was so high the weather haven nearly blew away. The blimp inside was damaged so much that after we had fixed everything we were able to crawl into it through the gapping holes in the side.<br /><br />So we decided to have a wake for the blimp inside the blimp.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXW5vPVrcLh5CACtx8I_S0MmmhkKsWaNsK5BCR9PpF-nBH1UIduCGA6LMzfBjsSOPhKuUghwHdtmW2kEeqm1izb0Gf67RqHNX8sdpHhIgI1izfbUgPtu8Rb2zG1IzFnJxBQC2/s1600-h/Pano+-+Halley+September+404+-+8289x1971+-+SLIN+-+Blended+Layer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113883874071260610" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXW5vPVrcLh5CACtx8I_S0MmmhkKsWaNsK5BCR9PpF-nBH1UIduCGA6LMzfBjsSOPhKuUghwHdtmW2kEeqm1izb0Gf67RqHNX8sdpHhIgI1izfbUgPtu8Rb2zG1IzFnJxBQC2/s400/Pano+-+Halley+September+404+-+8289x1971+-+SLIN+-+Blended+Layer.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />It was a good celebration and very kind words were said about the blimp because it has been one of the most successful blimp seasons ever. This is all down to the good work of the Simpson met babes.<br /><br />With the returning light, it has also been time for the first post winter winter trips to go out. Luckily for them the wind died just before they were due to leave. They got out and spent a 8 days sleeping in tents with mixed weather.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAstoRrgbODci0N4dB2Wp8rhgkBfjGXYY_56nEtI9jhjtWaiBEjlNmX7O1NUAZJn7DCj8X5B07sWhBYKlc8VVvMXm6XcVSSF_JMWfyfhTZHs3QYjeYdJwQEJsaVAO27IvP7q31/s1600-h/DSC04188.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113883878366227922" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAstoRrgbODci0N4dB2Wp8rhgkBfjGXYY_56nEtI9jhjtWaiBEjlNmX7O1NUAZJn7DCj8X5B07sWhBYKlc8VVvMXm6XcVSSF_JMWfyfhTZHs3QYjeYdJwQEJsaVAO27IvP7q31/s400/DSC04188.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Tom warms up all the skidoos by sitting on them.<br /><br />As usual we have been trying to have as many parties as we can. This time it was Richard the doctors party and he decided that he would have London Underground party.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKVV-9xDeRdAsZr515jzKR5KcJrh4C4NTDFhnXzlr7cr51yhnFxL4MbJXrkKdikZn2oCfCiN7B-Gxb7f2ltG18KU82RLGfc5HgfNqq_LofVeEnNqNLy1h-Rh_lcxc6yFioTT6/s1600-h/DSC04223.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113883878366227938" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKVV-9xDeRdAsZr515jzKR5KcJrh4C4NTDFhnXzlr7cr51yhnFxL4MbJXrkKdikZn2oCfCiN7B-Gxb7f2ltG18KU82RLGfc5HgfNqq_LofVeEnNqNLy1h-Rh_lcxc6yFioTT6/s400/DSC04223.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />As you can see we made our usual effort. I am sure that you can guess the stations.<br /><br />Finally after weeks and weeks (well only 6 and a bit) I have my plaster removed. This was a bit of a traumatic experience. One of the problems with plaster of paris in the antarctic is that due to the cold it takes a long time to harden fully consequently people find it easy to damage. Richard decided that he would try to reinforce it and added more and more plaster over the weeks. His last reinforcement was when he added the rocker.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pRIFgxwyQDNBumJW3qABbAedPhHjxqUhh2JU4sTreenWSq6tEZa2hUPN0lUExE7KnpYYVLmHSK-TzX_xSUFb5j3Q17IUUNQsycok1E0R7uqiMXBO1EHBGMdyfmohLgUziZug/s1600-h/IMG_2098.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113883882661195250" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pRIFgxwyQDNBumJW3qABbAedPhHjxqUhh2JU4sTreenWSq6tEZa2hUPN0lUExE7KnpYYVLmHSK-TzX_xSUFb5j3Q17IUUNQsycok1E0R7uqiMXBO1EHBGMdyfmohLgUziZug/s400/IMG_2098.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The cast just before being removed. As you can see I have worn one edge of the rocker. All the white stuff is extra thick plaster.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzRiqdTU5_fM-1Lvqzg_kYVJu2hIbG1rZhou5_1DS30yotJeu_6yreb3wdeR7xoSoq01LL9sgyTVMNOXHBTPCZ1QsuG_1d3IVlWwGq_aXrkUaQ9Ejf2uMlSWFNGaffJHXMqZP/s1600-h/IMG_2100.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113883886956162562" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzRiqdTU5_fM-1Lvqzg_kYVJu2hIbG1rZhou5_1DS30yotJeu_6yreb3wdeR7xoSoq01LL9sgyTVMNOXHBTPCZ1QsuG_1d3IVlWwGq_aXrkUaQ9Ejf2uMlSWFNGaffJHXMqZP/s400/IMG_2100.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Richard fairly whipped through the unreinforced pink plaster in about 20 seconds then came the pain of trying to get though what felt like 50 layers of plaster. Richard is using some plaster shears.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsGn2FahoRXcDInBAjXzcP_GR_zg92Wpw2Pd5hHaiLLBeK6Q7dYqyrilZ-rbHeEk5ZmuFr53kYVxJ0sQ30e6Lr6aR2nXaps5D5M27iWcEmP6D2j78najHkuKjwkR-3xANLkZi/s1600-h/IMG_2104.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882911998586226" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsGn2FahoRXcDInBAjXzcP_GR_zg92Wpw2Pd5hHaiLLBeK6Q7dYqyrilZ-rbHeEk5ZmuFr53kYVxJ0sQ30e6Lr6aR2nXaps5D5M27iWcEmP6D2j78najHkuKjwkR-3xANLkZi/s400/IMG_2104.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />In fact I had to help him. I think he got a bit tired. What you can see me using is a set of pryers, we made a cut with the shears then pryed the cut open with this things.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxaXM5OfVGfKPKeDLVHmjtn1k5xEt7kfWWwKpZeG2WSnkSXAGkvfStnXM3mBn3xew83da0jnLWJ9lFkV9-ba4EqDZ6Nqdezrv_x7fZoVbPP5EJk2d3_6aQXuHmiJduviFyaFr/s1600-h/IMG_2115.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882911998586242" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxaXM5OfVGfKPKeDLVHmjtn1k5xEt7kfWWwKpZeG2WSnkSXAGkvfStnXM3mBn3xew83da0jnLWJ9lFkV9-ba4EqDZ6Nqdezrv_x7fZoVbPP5EJk2d3_6aQXuHmiJduviFyaFr/s400/IMG_2115.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Richard strains to break through the last bit.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJANwwnwpW3xMkKjDwJ8D3C5hKkDkcyCqS7gJtoPuDll3Hncz_50SOHeiMkbVqIQl1R3o56skWf-nFVmmu6mNZks5Lf1BvBTv6wZE_UFOZkwtJSFIpK5DTjy9XoyfREEYkFER/s1600-h/IMG_2117.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882916293553554" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJANwwnwpW3xMkKjDwJ8D3C5hKkDkcyCqS7gJtoPuDll3Hncz_50SOHeiMkbVqIQl1R3o56skWf-nFVmmu6mNZks5Lf1BvBTv6wZE_UFOZkwtJSFIpK5DTjy9XoyfREEYkFER/s400/IMG_2117.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Success! After 20 mins of hacking we got rid of the smelly pile of plaster.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNivIVYaPBLwAOVbiuMp-hbgjnRpybH4aoStECH5P4yQxcT50KwDciZgu4g2zqk7xySGeWNrMWAyHThjEYyilTa31hCp6e3O8Hb7N0Gy-WPHh3aiPWXaUiuRPHCNKUKhFnpqRl/s1600-h/IMG_2123.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882920588520866" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNivIVYaPBLwAOVbiuMp-hbgjnRpybH4aoStECH5P4yQxcT50KwDciZgu4g2zqk7xySGeWNrMWAyHThjEYyilTa31hCp6e3O8Hb7N0Gy-WPHh3aiPWXaUiuRPHCNKUKhFnpqRl/s400/IMG_2123.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The leg after a quick shower. There wasn't too much smelly skin and my leg wasn't too shrunken.<br /><br />We took some more x-rays and I saw how they are developed. Its exactly the same process (and chemicals) as black and white printing but with a large film like x-ray.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4Urk7uE1oKU3WBv_ynPRg5bbSx1XZZAaAcJxuyy6TMF7A_UrQHY7LrTPiRs_XIglW1c5ZPB2QuaJ6nJK49v4tadmA4iFuoB01z9jj1mkYDs6wDWN7s1ysC8XLcT-ZLyrRKT_/s1600-h/Julius-Rix-Ankle-L-AP-20th-.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113884363697532434" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4Urk7uE1oKU3WBv_ynPRg5bbSx1XZZAaAcJxuyy6TMF7A_UrQHY7LrTPiRs_XIglW1c5ZPB2QuaJ6nJK49v4tadmA4iFuoB01z9jj1mkYDs6wDWN7s1ysC8XLcT-ZLyrRKT_/s400/Julius-Rix-Ankle-L-AP-20th-.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Looking at this x-ray we can see where the crack was but it doesn't seem to bad. In fact it looks like it might have filled in a bit. From the other angle its not so good.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YDHBSUvRUPeyPbVaZq0lobQYmJQzFPOLzwumSB4VTDq-EENp2rptMLaLh4TAF4ecmPwRcllqjx1gRZTDujenjhNkVWr2WmoA1lTn7iq9zihwM1JXydXEtFje37JLiIiLq9PY/s1600-h/Julius-Rix-Ankle-L-Lat-20th.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113884363697532450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YDHBSUvRUPeyPbVaZq0lobQYmJQzFPOLzwumSB4VTDq-EENp2rptMLaLh4TAF4ecmPwRcllqjx1gRZTDujenjhNkVWr2WmoA1lTn7iq9zihwM1JXydXEtFje37JLiIiLq9PY/s400/Julius-Rix-Ankle-L-Lat-20th.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />From this angle you can see the crack is still very visible. This is not good and indicates that I still have a bit of a way to got before I don't have to worry about it. If I better healing I should have a larger <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrocartilage_callus">callus</a>, a bone growth around the break.<br /><br />Comparing these with my original <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2007/08/returning-sun-when-exactly-is-it-going.html">x-rays</a>, you can see that I have much more movement of the ankle which is great. Richard had a good feel of the bone and clinically it is all good, there is little pain and this apparently is more important, but because the x-rays don't show ideal bone growth its better to take it safe. I will still be hobbling around on crutchs and I can't get off base. I am however doing physio and already my ankle is becoming quite flexible.<br /><br />For some reason September is the month for birthdays, maybe its to do with the cold northern hemisphere winters and next on the list was Neil's toga or greek God party.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzdZAhZ66PkQ244a945TNsMoo7G-eaVZHyRVXtkDwtRnzVcjH2UTXJLsRJ52sSzVuIPjeCFXivg2dfclj0II5bYT1rjOZw0CCz8OoEZ506n60ZASDNEWcyjlEFxSYlwaIgu3Se/s1600-h/IMG_2130.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882920588520882" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzdZAhZ66PkQ244a945TNsMoo7G-eaVZHyRVXtkDwtRnzVcjH2UTXJLsRJ52sSzVuIPjeCFXivg2dfclj0II5bYT1rjOZw0CCz8OoEZ506n60ZASDNEWcyjlEFxSYlwaIgu3Se/s400/IMG_2130.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Zeus plays pool with Spartan Ant.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYNr2X0XBgveHFzwj4KHI1BaixuHIAY_7qNhwIky4oz2rt9ze3CHEg5QT0ilcaXhCynvVpF-ZquwxlHwK5g39q7ywR9KQvyepAuOB5MMaq2LZmsu4uVHWbKimGjWTxk9ZyzRS/s1600-h/IMG_2131.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882027235323170" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYNr2X0XBgveHFzwj4KHI1BaixuHIAY_7qNhwIky4oz2rt9ze3CHEg5QT0ilcaXhCynvVpF-ZquwxlHwK5g39q7ywR9KQvyepAuOB5MMaq2LZmsu4uVHWbKimGjWTxk9ZyzRS/s400/IMG_2131.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />A roman centurian trys to attach Hermes who had a bad landing and hurt his leg, hense the crutches.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQrrghkqxjHfXwxk4gBDuwbHfCu1wgBs0Z5zshdFPr2D25g_2mwpIRNO_pw-Jnx0GzZ9GFApcka9Izj2c7NPzRMH-z7ixU427yhfPX8ogPJ3XNuRVjTUrL2emO0Dzg6PT0EX/s1600-h/IMG_2137.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882031530290482" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQrrghkqxjHfXwxk4gBDuwbHfCu1wgBs0Z5zshdFPr2D25g_2mwpIRNO_pw-Jnx0GzZ9GFApcka9Izj2c7NPzRMH-z7ixU427yhfPX8ogPJ3XNuRVjTUrL2emO0Dzg6PT0EX/s400/IMG_2137.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The birthday boy himself showing off his body as usual. He is of course Atlas.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNdGjB-1Z9dVXsgoHSroJ45b3glsPqRCakk6OQQq2a6-z6PBbbJ4ywnqkGx7Xv60iKsT0bKcMjTHh25tJqn7O_P59NU-CIrfP-ZXP99dkmBIdv8yw9s26U4K6s1TcC9hJBSio/s1600-h/IMG_2147.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114465300973989442" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNdGjB-1Z9dVXsgoHSroJ45b3glsPqRCakk6OQQq2a6-z6PBbbJ4ywnqkGx7Xv60iKsT0bKcMjTHh25tJqn7O_P59NU-CIrfP-ZXP99dkmBIdv8yw9s26U4K6s1TcC9hJBSio/s400/IMG_2147.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty as Artemis, Godess of Hunting.<br /><br />The next day I had my first wander around outside without my cast and enjoyed the new sensations on my leg.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ3tmlZQMwkba9DiBN2cw52DfksEySwR8v2zLVjnc2w8deiNajBMHiqCYVEalFpf_e2ndRJTbvxVdfq6A74PxQ96UdNHAXNihUpma6_4WCrPQFWU_v0kz74eyu89sy_87hWjf/s1600-h/IMG_2154.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882040120225106" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ3tmlZQMwkba9DiBN2cw52DfksEySwR8v2zLVjnc2w8deiNajBMHiqCYVEalFpf_e2ndRJTbvxVdfq6A74PxQ96UdNHAXNihUpma6_4WCrPQFWU_v0kz74eyu89sy_87hWjf/s400/IMG_2154.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPtV6zmZl4fVEXRdleOyZlbR7ROxZbCyLNKjlniuQYKbiOUw3WwO8dVE21v0ggMPvgexiNK-Rxvf-3wzJYD1o_M-RpeN818JhyTIdlbWOvnp3Gq7VS2GXtV5kxZMTmz2yXJkK/s1600-h/IMG_2169.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113882040120225122" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPtV6zmZl4fVEXRdleOyZlbR7ROxZbCyLNKjlniuQYKbiOUw3WwO8dVE21v0ggMPvgexiNK-Rxvf-3wzJYD1o_M-RpeN818JhyTIdlbWOvnp3Gq7VS2GXtV5kxZMTmz2yXJkK/s400/IMG_2169.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Chris made me very jealous by kiting all around.<br /><br />My leg situation is due to be reassessed in 2 weeks and soon I hope to be kiting.</div>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-59489034232145107352007-09-09T14:32:00.000-02:002007-09-09T15:16:02.273-02:00Precious Bay - Zen Stove Testing - Leg Update 2Sorry again for not writing anything for a while, I've been a tiny bit busy with organising and sending out Tom and Neil to put up a remote instrument site about 20km away on the Precious Bay coast. This is west of Halley and is interesting because there is a polyna (weak bit of ice caused by currents) which opens up regularly. In spring there are low level ozone depletion events caused by chemicals produced when forming new sea ice reacting with sunlight and the ozone. The instrument put down there was an ozone detector and a spectrometer. The ozone levels are measured and the spectrometer works out what chemicals are in the air. Of course you need a power source for this and that is what I was supposed to be putting in. Then I broke my leg.<br /><br />Since I broke my leg I have had to do a load of modifications. Make sure everything is going to work, then write a method of how everything goes together so that Tom can put it all together.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8Ut2kbvr2wLPZ4hxBaikZ7hoo0vXibPl19B4Q1NptLnkJQ0I2pzxKMFPUxu1Bt15GxmT1Fmv-EjxCETNAB8qYeCgMST6cC7-2n2pJXjPPNljKf3QfHTtF9wYJ9d3sgIZV9wF/s1600-h/DSC_2230.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108245338795529042" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8Ut2kbvr2wLPZ4hxBaikZ7hoo0vXibPl19B4Q1NptLnkJQ0I2pzxKMFPUxu1Bt15GxmT1Fmv-EjxCETNAB8qYeCgMST6cC7-2n2pJXjPPNljKf3QfHTtF9wYJ9d3sgIZV9wF/s400/DSC_2230.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Photo courtesy of Tom.<br />The site at precious bay. The caboose and in front he wind turbines. The box on the right has a solar panel facing north and the tent at the far right is the loo tent. Neil's instrument will sit on the stand on the left. As you can see Tom has done a great job and everything went together as planned.<br /><br />Another thing I haven't been able to do since I have broken my leg is make much. Moving heavy stuff and standing for much more that 15 mins has been difficult. I have however been experimenting with zen stoves. These are little alcohol stoves that are made as lightweight as possible. The classic one is made from coke cans. There is great website called <a href="http://zenstoves.net/">zen stoves</a> with instuctions how to make these. They are pretty amazing. I have also been testing them to see how fast they boil water.<br /><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga26adOTYj3tZZoS9aHWbvC4FYjbSj8uvzj9swdjwS6Nadi5R8uBjubfEn4p7yYxVrNGk3gP0Kt3GSPB-3UiY1EjM6aw-MVvnEVr7QVmgvMArzgTJASwx7IRm7c0mz_309-LEG/s1600-h/DSC04138.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108244230693966594" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga26adOTYj3tZZoS9aHWbvC4FYjbSj8uvzj9swdjwS6Nadi5R8uBjubfEn4p7yYxVrNGk3gP0Kt3GSPB-3UiY1EjM6aw-MVvnEVr7QVmgvMArzgTJASwx7IRm7c0mz_309-LEG/s400/DSC04138.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Photo courtesy of Kirsty.</div><div>This is the mini-zen which is a hybrid side vent burner. It has holes in the side and I made mine out of schwepps tonic water cans. Holes drilled in the side and a double wall mean that as the alcohol (meths in this case) heats up it pressurises and comes out the side. It weights 8 grams and the pot just sits on top of it. It boils a cup of water in 3 mins from lighting which is fantastic.</div><div></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlaJS1beqolrRP7QomCleJnsg1gmVgmSsuBLHA-WJ92bg2svhTP98XTQQNqHCNeL-xBKTKDzUE5HYWcLhaH3zqC-Tyy7LJf_3YXLGVmogdHpIfCQHaUeAwbvkBba_sfFpG1rU/s1600-h/DSC04139.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108244239283901202" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlaJS1beqolrRP7QomCleJnsg1gmVgmSsuBLHA-WJ92bg2svhTP98XTQQNqHCNeL-xBKTKDzUE5HYWcLhaH3zqC-Tyy7LJf_3YXLGVmogdHpIfCQHaUeAwbvkBba_sfFpG1rU/s400/DSC04139.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Pete the WBC and me watch as the coke can top burner burns. Sune the GA is behind me. Photo courtesy of Kirsty.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6EOVOBC-GMyHO7J99LH4v_4PJw5kDpBfZpjQ-zawcsKW1HdDOVr5LERKLxWHYHUSvwe_XQlEMLMQUe-7YpBy_j6rhALQbVbAdPomCr5JQkD2E7_ZxCrA9uTlsVfyc8mg1TGKW/s1600-h/DSC04142.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108244243578868514" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6EOVOBC-GMyHO7J99LH4v_4PJw5kDpBfZpjQ-zawcsKW1HdDOVr5LERKLxWHYHUSvwe_XQlEMLMQUe-7YpBy_j6rhALQbVbAdPomCr5JQkD2E7_ZxCrA9uTlsVfyc8mg1TGKW/s400/DSC04142.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Another shot of the coke can top burner (24 grams). In the foreground you can see the tonic can top burner (8 grams) and mini zen side vent burner (8 grams).</div><div></div><div>I can now hobble around and put weight on my leg. I need to do this now since it will trigger the bone to get stronger. Of course I need to be careful so that I don't rebreak the bone. I have to be very careful, even so I can now put all my weight on the broken leg.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkueBimNNfMPkcBf83JRmMSDgs7xdF2CUgTGBCwjWPg4g_9W0vJkUzGab4vPbGhqkc8RZbYffYiOk4DoRXd3UZhzbPYFGMwzY_DhKl3E7tfj3qWwcwECkupnta9hz-Qt3spKpF/s1600-h/DSC04144.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108244243578868530" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkueBimNNfMPkcBf83JRmMSDgs7xdF2CUgTGBCwjWPg4g_9W0vJkUzGab4vPbGhqkc8RZbYffYiOk4DoRXd3UZhzbPYFGMwzY_DhKl3E7tfj3qWwcwECkupnta9hz-Qt3spKpF/s400/DSC04144.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Me showing off my cast with the rocker on the bottom. I also have had a hair cut and apparently look 6 months younger, yay! Photo courtesy of Kirsty.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fu1gqzpHNAEn5DEW5Mn-Uxsy1Xt3nOlbRYvNtMQMspMTPtd7PYKpzthHzQ2vC7DVQrzDFOOsGmTcKnJxf4rt2cJCU2iUykB7w3ht8dse5hfQJJaXWdMbRbDPA69QYQwdD8z6/s1600-h/DSC04149.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108244247873835842" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fu1gqzpHNAEn5DEW5Mn-Uxsy1Xt3nOlbRYvNtMQMspMTPtd7PYKpzthHzQ2vC7DVQrzDFOOsGmTcKnJxf4rt2cJCU2iUykB7w3ht8dse5hfQJJaXWdMbRbDPA69QYQwdD8z6/s400/DSC04149.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>The rocker.</div><div></div><div>The rocker is essentially a roll of plaster that is then plastered onto bottom of the cast. The cast is then stengthened. This was done by the Doc last weekend. I can now walk with only one crutch and have been hobbling to the Piggott on my own twice a day with no help. Thats about 2km on crutches a day which makes my wrists hurt. Oh well no pain no gain.</div><div>I should be out of plaster in a week and a half. </div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-2942807251457177932007-08-20T17:01:00.000-02:002007-08-20T17:37:37.067-02:00Leg UpdateSo here are the latest x-rays straight from the lab. Well the first couple are actually from last week when I had the proper cast put on. This x-ray is taken immediately after the full cast is put on to make sure that the bones haven't moved too much in the process of putting the cast on. Of course now that you have a cast on made of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster">plaster of paris</a> the x-rays are not as clear. In fact the x-ray machine settings have to be tweaked to increase the power to get good pictures.<br /><br />Anyway on the x-rays. Apparently there was a bit of concern that the bones might have moved a little and that the gap was getting bigger. The alignment was great however. We have great backup from a hospital in Plymouth and the verdict was that it looks good.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgikEBnl7ZPleiIcKHMCSI6CEZuCXgUMDyFP9fGM6Yv7JXlbuQAZaPMRPEbwKy0bdQIBJ7G5UdBvELg22QwB4WsNhcATTrPNqY6hTC_ClzpthXK5TKiCgutPSNLzMbRuKCCyjUc/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+AP+9th+August.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100861443905147586" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgikEBnl7ZPleiIcKHMCSI6CEZuCXgUMDyFP9fGM6Yv7JXlbuQAZaPMRPEbwKy0bdQIBJ7G5UdBvELg22QwB4WsNhcATTrPNqY6hTC_ClzpthXK5TKiCgutPSNLzMbRuKCCyjUc/s400/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+AP+9th+August.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Front view from the 9th of Aug.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkfcPJweBYUiMS4JZKO6-4BfL_9lmzRpcWAU9seYWSmDjE7nzzGpslk1kslAt7JQLXyDpLNwUtXaJ5LmLY9qPOGkBj1ixwyWRxIaJP9LmmmjogQ_co7Wi1Rmn_7toU-3mupYL/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+9th+August.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100861448200114898" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkfcPJweBYUiMS4JZKO6-4BfL_9lmzRpcWAU9seYWSmDjE7nzzGpslk1kslAt7JQLXyDpLNwUtXaJ5LmLY9qPOGkBj1ixwyWRxIaJP9LmmmjogQ_co7Wi1Rmn_7toU-3mupYL/s400/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+9th+August.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Lateral view from the 9th of Aug.<br /><br />A week later to check on progress I had another couple of x-rays. Once again through the plaster.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhRmzLBthKLDSsThxieRj6BGH2HQrHdfEyH5GHU5P9RdkXUZjlh388ptj6xZ73gqChZK6A8TTKbzBi2A3bkIl1gnUMHcr4PQleAMZzlx6BSWG6hOtd3CKBdmXfvlFFxoB6cWW/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+AP+16th+August.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100861448200114914" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhRmzLBthKLDSsThxieRj6BGH2HQrHdfEyH5GHU5P9RdkXUZjlh388ptj6xZ73gqChZK6A8TTKbzBi2A3bkIl1gnUMHcr4PQleAMZzlx6BSWG6hOtd3CKBdmXfvlFFxoB6cWW/s400/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+AP+16th+August.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Front view 16th of Aug.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZNwS1NnksPAAUX-HtolubELz1f817If7VMt3RyPwGV8epaPlPmBeFIXgURNT85fRQrutQIOwzgTp55ZJaxvkbCjpik2YVz3ALheN__-JDqte2I05ULSPkM5k0o_N6GaOzTyM/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+16th+August.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100861452495082226" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZNwS1NnksPAAUX-HtolubELz1f817If7VMt3RyPwGV8epaPlPmBeFIXgURNT85fRQrutQIOwzgTp55ZJaxvkbCjpik2YVz3ALheN__-JDqte2I05ULSPkM5k0o_N6GaOzTyM/s400/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+16th+August.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Lateral view 16th of Aug<br /><br />As you can see there is hardly any difference between the position of the bones from one week to next. This is good news and doesn't change the prognosis. If everything goes to plan I should be walking on the leg partially weight bearing on by the end of the month. I will then have the cast on for 3 more weeks. The cast will be modified to have lump on the bottom so that there is a rounded bottom that I can walk on.<br /><br />This is what should happen if everything goes to plan. If I don't stumble on my crutches and do more damage. I did stumble today actually but luckily didn't damage myself, I just have to look after myself. I am looking forward to walking again, in the mean time I will enjoy being pulled about by the rest of the base.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-71972310896113913062007-08-17T17:59:00.000-02:002007-08-18T13:30:15.628-02:00Sun Up, getting plastered, Action Film PartyHaving said that I would have more time on my hands (this is technically true as I spend no time on my feet) and that I would update the blog, it appears that I have roughly the same amount of time free to do things. I now spend half my time at the Piggott platform (my work is there) and half the time on the laws (where I live). Every morning a couple of people get man-hauling harnesses on. I hop down the stairs and get dragged to work in a pulk sledge. There is a lot to do. I was supposed to be going out to setup an instrument about 15km away at Precious Bay but now I am not going. So I have to prepare everything and instructions how to do this for my replacement, Chris. Its all going well but its still a rush.<br /><br />Before I was allowed to leave the platform I had to first get my first 'backslab' replaced by a proper cast. The backslap cast allows the limb to swell up which it does over the first few days. After this a proper cast is better as it will support the leg better.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMiZwwlZ0uePqkvVYF_N0DxNQyzfAuTMt9CIRLaINXvhcpnkeiJg280V1nr-elW8JNqhHEtZ6ZbJBqzIjKHlqvBGVNPL0zUViW-MDkz_kLaNBZadGp-nhY_GuXwNLAzOrWb5f/s1600-h/Rotation+of+IMG_1557.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099782582480130706" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMiZwwlZ0uePqkvVYF_N0DxNQyzfAuTMt9CIRLaINXvhcpnkeiJg280V1nr-elW8JNqhHEtZ6ZbJBqzIjKHlqvBGVNPL0zUViW-MDkz_kLaNBZadGp-nhY_GuXwNLAzOrWb5f/s400/Rotation+of+IMG_1557.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Richard the Doc cuts off the backslap cast with the assistance of Nurse Dave.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XrrN1ZeHf1Px69xS72zufzeSrArbCI5qo9xx64JPUDXwbGEQrCN4gw101D6L1fSVgyjM9IUwfqZtwtr8JsYaKqL1qLKXGcU8nnlOKC7TIM58eokPia5gD65t7H4S8cL5-7V5/s1600-h/IMG_1562.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099782586775098018" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XrrN1ZeHf1Px69xS72zufzeSrArbCI5qo9xx64JPUDXwbGEQrCN4gw101D6L1fSVgyjM9IUwfqZtwtr8JsYaKqL1qLKXGcU8nnlOKC7TIM58eokPia5gD65t7H4S8cL5-7V5/s400/IMG_1562.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Richard measures out a thin tubigrip sleave which is all the padding needed in a full cast. The backslab has loads of cotton wool padding.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4Wk4NfzM-d1MHGs_JPwZ_DQXIOGLtXatA3F1_fgVrd4cVcs28stV5viYCYOn0N1AqBzNfvgVfXso4F6gT-I9pbm9Ivfhdrb2WXEN0yx-wzyUm3IQVWyRGhrBqTk5PSacVno4/s1600-h/IMG_1574.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099782586775098034" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4Wk4NfzM-d1MHGs_JPwZ_DQXIOGLtXatA3F1_fgVrd4cVcs28stV5viYCYOn0N1AqBzNfvgVfXso4F6gT-I9pbm9Ivfhdrb2WXEN0yx-wzyUm3IQVWyRGhrBqTk5PSacVno4/s400/IMG_1574.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Removing the backslab and supporting the leg. This is actually very tiring as the leg is surprisingly heavy.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8B2djZ7QPhQ7ZM_XrF4wDOeKEaASsPAv_HluFIYlpqmpIMyARLv31Hhsd5D9wVWafWWS-cW_UjMh10TLbWwyChRdSjHR9WaGxA-eKvzQ8AntKA85MC-OG34kYJs5yVfRX3VR/s1600-h/IMG_1578.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099781573162816098" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8B2djZ7QPhQ7ZM_XrF4wDOeKEaASsPAv_HluFIYlpqmpIMyARLv31Hhsd5D9wVWafWWS-cW_UjMh10TLbWwyChRdSjHR9WaGxA-eKvzQ8AntKA85MC-OG34kYJs5yVfRX3VR/s400/IMG_1578.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The swollen ankle.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUlWFkudFZqbI-bQgLsZj7Q-0KK3ogMAdOSxDz_QA4zC0DbCRUnwKURiBn9yw7BdLvG-4omjfuSqsVlNxJv4jKRg71_TUxkNBsTM0uQW2bOwma4m4nfH2Vrxgrnv_foplT62x/s1600-h/IMG_1582.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099781577457783410" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUlWFkudFZqbI-bQgLsZj7Q-0KK3ogMAdOSxDz_QA4zC0DbCRUnwKURiBn9yw7BdLvG-4omjfuSqsVlNxJv4jKRg71_TUxkNBsTM0uQW2bOwma4m4nfH2Vrxgrnv_foplT62x/s400/IMG_1582.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Nurse Dave points to the place where the bone is broken, whilst Richard gives my leg the last wash it is likely to have for 6 weeks.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyT-NhKu_XoCEx7yLbOnP-iopZdtZ2r5B_bCtOloUxwMVyijUkeBvr2UQWPjirDVs_7bVewRGbTL6rmUZUzrOpKq-yORsblFQaT8XoeXyreI0HLpStpWkgXmNuceixoTP5H5S/s1600-h/IMG_1655.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099781577457783426" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyT-NhKu_XoCEx7yLbOnP-iopZdtZ2r5B_bCtOloUxwMVyijUkeBvr2UQWPjirDVs_7bVewRGbTL6rmUZUzrOpKq-yORsblFQaT8XoeXyreI0HLpStpWkgXmNuceixoTP5H5S/s400/IMG_1655.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Arrgh! The Pain. It wasn't painful at all just cold and wet.<br /><br />We had this great idea to try to get the cast to be a bright orange (for those who know it we wanted the ventile orange of our windies and overalls). The plan was to mix in some yellow and red food colouring into the water used for the plaster of paris. Unfortunately the plaster didn't take to the colouring as well as Richards hands. Also when it dried it turned into a pink cast which was the one thing I was trying to avoid.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3PgiaZLq9lTx_hbeRA6dI4M5DLPp8xURE1WODOkgbUayOI8xbURjlzs_ILcbaBBZ5fbBSQLHmnFNhbdwBWS5lUNPpzKVysAN8QzxTStc-MpzuY5wCd-70Y8_2QnnPqUeAHZz/s1600-h/IMG_1684.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099779563118121506" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3PgiaZLq9lTx_hbeRA6dI4M5DLPp8xURE1WODOkgbUayOI8xbURjlzs_ILcbaBBZ5fbBSQLHmnFNhbdwBWS5lUNPpzKVysAN8QzxTStc-MpzuY5wCd-70Y8_2QnnPqUeAHZz/s400/IMG_1684.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />A job well done, what a lovely pink cast. Richards butcher hands tell their own tell.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_8LsmFelb1HoskRA-imPIktjqE47hyD_EOz9_9LmUoQPjRO3h3s76j6yurwxU1Wr6RzO1fPQUF08xLyKYgD_dneWi_xJHhjjgm4yJcndoaYg_AJNQN0QkxyRPTGK5-7Hx2rS/s1600-h/IMG_1688.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099779563118121522" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_8LsmFelb1HoskRA-imPIktjqE47hyD_EOz9_9LmUoQPjRO3h3s76j6yurwxU1Wr6RzO1fPQUF08xLyKYgD_dneWi_xJHhjjgm4yJcndoaYg_AJNQN0QkxyRPTGK5-7Hx2rS/s400/IMG_1688.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Having plastered the leg fully there was a period of cleaning before the taking some more x-rays to check whether the bones were in the correct position. A load of these photos were taken by Dean the comms manager.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bK6fkQac30cubhngFeX6whMP6VxL65CHCX63X7jke4QViW0P-QN7IaTSuAzdXHqcLcP_vVWbRMRkelEr-oe47S6bAkfOuBzxRBDXyNXoGS86pSizYHWekEuQB6piZTMX2Utk/s1600-h/IMG_1707.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099779567413088834" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bK6fkQac30cubhngFeX6whMP6VxL65CHCX63X7jke4QViW0P-QN7IaTSuAzdXHqcLcP_vVWbRMRkelEr-oe47S6bAkfOuBzxRBDXyNXoGS86pSizYHWekEuQB6piZTMX2Utk/s400/IMG_1707.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Setting the x-ray machine. I think Richard is becoming quite an x-pert.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN_NdeJa7bVouvZRfwOgG079c1-d0k69sqUPISWASov7T-34QVZrK0T40uljZRhBY_YTDFcrRoap3ioGxkN013Y1JZO97cpnCmbberHlCNje0EyPvs75k67D-soWhAB1veqI6/s1600-h/IMG_1708.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099779567413088850" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN_NdeJa7bVouvZRfwOgG079c1-d0k69sqUPISWASov7T-34QVZrK0T40uljZRhBY_YTDFcrRoap3ioGxkN013Y1JZO97cpnCmbberHlCNje0EyPvs75k67D-soWhAB1veqI6/s400/IMG_1708.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Left alone while the x-ray is being taken.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtA4VJdcK3WHihrdHyuMlcTwePMFjwa_KSRYXbn82Sl-6YR3727E3HIN8aWDGKna6N3Ni-qHc6-F5slgRd8rHnlb_62XadUlJXd-qkVTPLvg7IZEjIhwhUMg2W2Qij2WpKk_8M/s1600-h/IMG_1713.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099777548778459634" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtA4VJdcK3WHihrdHyuMlcTwePMFjwa_KSRYXbn82Sl-6YR3727E3HIN8aWDGKna6N3Ni-qHc6-F5slgRd8rHnlb_62XadUlJXd-qkVTPLvg7IZEjIhwhUMg2W2Qij2WpKk_8M/s400/IMG_1713.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Richard finishing off developing the x-rays.</div><div> </div><div>The x-rays were a success and I will put them up as soon as possible. I have had another set since then and I will put them up as well to show my progress.</div><div> </div><div>One of the other big things that has happened is that the sun reappeared. This was predicted to happen on or around the 11th of August. Last year it was seen 3 days early due to miraging during an early penguin trip. This year it arrived on the 10th at lunch time. In our sweepstake Tamsin guessed the correct time.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZfRXBVlffv15LMEnKGEClBVfnRw3TdR6hFHAuLzzgjLzmbgVb7Fk2WNcuvDfM4prazow0-QUnU-qf-C_xmMCifblXi3ZR9nEz2zmGWf8SPMrNNWhqwL2MqINMb1yEjWckqa5/s1600-h/IMG_1719.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099777553073426946" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZfRXBVlffv15LMEnKGEClBVfnRw3TdR6hFHAuLzzgjLzmbgVb7Fk2WNcuvDfM4prazow0-QUnU-qf-C_xmMCifblXi3ZR9nEz2zmGWf8SPMrNNWhqwL2MqINMb1yEjWckqa5/s400/IMG_1719.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>A contingent of sun worshipers went to prostrate themselves and offer thanks that the great eye in the sky has returned. I took these from the north window of the laws where I was waiting for my cast to dry.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzOd3d8xOF0iuTLxc8wbzFDn3EIeMQlRdHCUIU8M-AAjuUdFIX7PbMjw_3yfA88jWjFbetv32nCXKrsk7yE0NH26RcmZmgpEqjDrs1UIuI_VWnYZX9VW_AUi-EcUG-hsAA7rM/s1600-h/IMG_1722.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099777557368394258" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzOd3d8xOF0iuTLxc8wbzFDn3EIeMQlRdHCUIU8M-AAjuUdFIX7PbMjw_3yfA88jWjFbetv32nCXKrsk7yE0NH26RcmZmgpEqjDrs1UIuI_VWnYZX9VW_AUi-EcUG-hsAA7rM/s400/IMG_1722.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>The sun's disk pokes up above the northern horizon.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEy0v3pg5CAsPNRNYtWTrT9mZUnIInv4NYVatYdNXssQT0_OkuVGMV1RNRdsUQqQTzFxfzZPKbtMaHvswcm8OPcVRrRmxmoFor-fqixfwSHE_CaFBQgPmTzB_FwdA4F59Ox58D/s1600-h/IMG_1737.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099775994000298434" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEy0v3pg5CAsPNRNYtWTrT9mZUnIInv4NYVatYdNXssQT0_OkuVGMV1RNRdsUQqQTzFxfzZPKbtMaHvswcm8OPcVRrRmxmoFor-fqixfwSHE_CaFBQgPmTzB_FwdA4F59Ox58D/s400/IMG_1737.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>About half an hour later we all gathered for the sun-up ceremony where the youngest member of the base raises a new flag.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQSiAsy-6Dg7JxkJVNt7UWpuM2pguQYGkNckJeFr7afVjaJFoSiZpF9qUNUPv-srJmqT6lLW7Gv__a5iitC8LahPxIcEl8ti_ecxhhfbcf0evAAXdKdUPITbKyyHudItDTBo6/s1600-h/IMG_1740.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099775994000298450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQSiAsy-6Dg7JxkJVNt7UWpuM2pguQYGkNckJeFr7afVjaJFoSiZpF9qUNUPv-srJmqT6lLW7Gv__a5iitC8LahPxIcEl8ti_ecxhhfbcf0evAAXdKdUPITbKyyHudItDTBo6/s400/IMG_1740.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>This year the youngest member is Jim the Chippie. In a typically Jim show he first pulled the flag up up-side-down and then the flag nearly blew away.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZK4CP_9WvHtaGizjDK_Nk_wOoCFUAdnyDMVYQufejJnrfcsBRnYV20CgcE_rcndQmJyXY3RNr_5j6pssugleGSeU6DdyU16_tEilRrX55YLKa5NvPx0KHw5vZ1B-sBnaXEvY/s1600-h/IMG_1747.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099775998295265762" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZK4CP_9WvHtaGizjDK_Nk_wOoCFUAdnyDMVYQufejJnrfcsBRnYV20CgcE_rcndQmJyXY3RNr_5j6pssugleGSeU6DdyU16_tEilRrX55YLKa5NvPx0KHw5vZ1B-sBnaXEvY/s400/IMG_1747.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div>Jim fights the new flag.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5uP9Nh6JLaLUGK8a7W1ks51mleq184SUC1GSsEoUdzQWjCusU4HjyXiazHSL-2RzgmBpMHNg5sLZm4GQ-Rs6v4vYARZUfABp5xoaweZ9_pSHLCQbDE3w9ClWXHbPaZkww4wO/s1600-h/IMG_1768.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099774301783183778" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5uP9Nh6JLaLUGK8a7W1ks51mleq184SUC1GSsEoUdzQWjCusU4HjyXiazHSL-2RzgmBpMHNg5sLZm4GQ-Rs6v4vYARZUfABp5xoaweZ9_pSHLCQbDE3w9ClWXHbPaZkww4wO/s400/IMG_1768.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>The Flag the right way up finally and in the right position. Its not going to last long and in a few months will have been tattered by the wind.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMpwURZNHa9BHun9dpwCb0tEROKJmvVSj29ZXSNC5iMKAPz80eksBkE59kJFxwgYSxm0TMjTpM888lPJmYDMVlh7kC09wOCsY-hCpHT7ih58OtSRxLhNpFL2JDxnXqb4e86E6/s1600-h/IMG_1770.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099774318963052978" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMpwURZNHa9BHun9dpwCb0tEROKJmvVSj29ZXSNC5iMKAPz80eksBkE59kJFxwgYSxm0TMjTpM888lPJmYDMVlh7kC09wOCsY-hCpHT7ih58OtSRxLhNpFL2JDxnXqb4e86E6/s400/IMG_1770.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Jim and his flag.</div><div> </div><div>We had a nice cocktail night to celebrate the sun returning (we had this the day before the sun returned). We then had a BBQ on sun-up day which was nice. I only spent a few minutes outside as I hadn't worked out how to keep myself warm outside with a broken leg. </div><div> </div><div>On the saturday we had Kirsty's birthday party. She decided that the theme would be action film characters. So everyone dressed up mainly as action heros.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBIvWqfaj5OyOQqTFZexGX22-EfMQjDD0dewHRx-PcwAislXIZOloJYkIesuLKDip9vbWvgQ2C9Kcml9mxerP765emn3sA_s1Lw99MZI8YuqFLr2PEsOdwuEl4-nBhDrldenL/s1600-h/IMG_1780.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099770350413271378" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBIvWqfaj5OyOQqTFZexGX22-EfMQjDD0dewHRx-PcwAislXIZOloJYkIesuLKDip9vbWvgQ2C9Kcml9mxerP765emn3sA_s1Lw99MZI8YuqFLr2PEsOdwuEl4-nBhDrldenL/s400/IMG_1780.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div>Mark the electrician as Col. Jack O'Neill stargate command.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcKwKiAJhhbq7ue8da9To75hqDXGJnesZItxZDUEhWY68Wjgb4OUG2NCZuOoP9VaXU3q6v7Wu2ieznIzUJtu1AFT7v6DfBC41tVxrXG7HzZDESPFl1cpxRjyuTu3sC0cUK12r/s1600-h/IMG_1785.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099770354708238690" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcKwKiAJhhbq7ue8da9To75hqDXGJnesZItxZDUEhWY68Wjgb4OUG2NCZuOoP9VaXU3q6v7Wu2ieznIzUJtu1AFT7v6DfBC41tVxrXG7HzZDESPFl1cpxRjyuTu3sC0cUK12r/s400/IMG_1785.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Alex as the Dread Pirate Roberts (not Zorro) and me as the Ugly one in The good the bad and the Ugly.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkDMgZAIgBQJNpFNJvNNP8BUv-_2IpG7hWC4d213L3Pu3T6V_sucziFowCaPgzjXPjJ0qRMNoCHbs1YFr2f0pHOIODy5nk1nLI6_OCjGBOLXGB0VFygLZ3kGnXSVOtrO7EQON/s1600-h/IMG_1793.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099770359003206002" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkDMgZAIgBQJNpFNJvNNP8BUv-_2IpG7hWC4d213L3Pu3T6V_sucziFowCaPgzjXPjJ0qRMNoCHbs1YFr2f0pHOIODy5nk1nLI6_OCjGBOLXGB0VFygLZ3kGnXSVOtrO7EQON/s400/IMG_1793.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Dean an Richard decided to show me sympathy for breaking my leg and got plastered as well. Dean was 'Jules' Bond, an injured bond, and Richard was an injured stunt man.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC59RVmInySBuo7ssbJsxyTYExSEZOqiWGJgQdCLHm1vSWRKU069J34WnjcLML1rwRBaAGlPwDkITljaYoA5i7uq9xdPlwzcabo7DNefZFhUYebxiqeEQRl4OYOqQzQLHRlPj/s1600-h/IMG_1858.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099770363298173314" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC59RVmInySBuo7ssbJsxyTYExSEZOqiWGJgQdCLHm1vSWRKU069J34WnjcLML1rwRBaAGlPwDkITljaYoA5i7uq9xdPlwzcabo7DNefZFhUYebxiqeEQRl4OYOqQzQLHRlPj/s400/IMG_1858.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div>The whole crew.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxFeI87QDiEMAYCvZ9AKppOe_GSHLROe3eS_vDeRNgSmfO5cFnxIPoHkBNktp2OC4PZ06eCxG6o373uHZx1toreUv5IsEfYuixnrj8wkEk_Bb2IJQ7CnXODkyki9bdC089cCAV/s1600-h/IMG_1903.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099770363298173330" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxFeI87QDiEMAYCvZ9AKppOe_GSHLROe3eS_vDeRNgSmfO5cFnxIPoHkBNktp2OC4PZ06eCxG6o373uHZx1toreUv5IsEfYuixnrj8wkEk_Bb2IJQ7CnXODkyki9bdC089cCAV/s400/IMG_1903.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>We also played some games including the cardboard box game. You have to pick up a cardboard box with your teeth and only your feet on the ground. The height of the box becomes less and less. Richard above showed an interesting by flawed method.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwe9pNCG2TmsrjB7oQALhsmvsOxHlKpvy4NJzgiXB_8sfbPWN5I5VW1JhE-noS_9N5f-0hkKZZgSpv83vyeKJob5y4rtG9-puzVY2hazvH3WT4llxJQqrpizLqf-WbBgqdA_SI/s1600-h/IMG_1947.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099768688260927746" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwe9pNCG2TmsrjB7oQALhsmvsOxHlKpvy4NJzgiXB_8sfbPWN5I5VW1JhE-noS_9N5f-0hkKZZgSpv83vyeKJob5y4rtG9-puzVY2hazvH3WT4llxJQqrpizLqf-WbBgqdA_SI/s400/IMG_1947.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Pete the RAF man claps as Neil (Jack Sparrow) shows how flexible he is.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQueGx2HGLZ4qPor-HdEl-AF7TYiS6bksCpTYPPsZrk-eImkYm7CAGLgOwL_q2HgKgjiZQ5w9UQh-UKjg1dYYeN5g-v-nWvcLq-oz4Dqj2HtXmrtzB-KQg7fscagDafpaRVW0/s1600-h/IMG_1963.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099768692555895058" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQueGx2HGLZ4qPor-HdEl-AF7TYiS6bksCpTYPPsZrk-eImkYm7CAGLgOwL_q2HgKgjiZQ5w9UQh-UKjg1dYYeN5g-v-nWvcLq-oz4Dqj2HtXmrtzB-KQg7fscagDafpaRVW0/s400/IMG_1963.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Ant the monkey man was very very flexible and used a number of methods.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2jfrlJdVyjhJWh85fhbuYmjJydU5uQvf3kknt_AQ91plTs8tgZX5-ik9j16zSRJiE3CC5QZ3jfJhp5MK2Q1H-yqYccaK3AidVBybPUCnvTPkRcd4X2DxYm6yybABXA28dSsl/s1600-h/IMG_1968.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099768696850862370" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2jfrlJdVyjhJWh85fhbuYmjJydU5uQvf3kknt_AQ91plTs8tgZX5-ik9j16zSRJiE3CC5QZ3jfJhp5MK2Q1H-yqYccaK3AidVBybPUCnvTPkRcd4X2DxYm6yybABXA28dSsl/s400/IMG_1968.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div>Andy the generator mech was also great at this.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLei7SAPooKDCE0jcXj9ct-KYKysHhQ9Ty8jfc0H0io7gmPPzGRl2SDNvaB2g1y8l57WLLqO1dQeS_nmehhyaZg5__BEj7RWHdM3ycpET_JePcmF54Cy-1k83dD7nULwxoMF6o/s1600-h/IMG_1989.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099768696850862386" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLei7SAPooKDCE0jcXj9ct-KYKysHhQ9Ty8jfc0H0io7gmPPzGRl2SDNvaB2g1y8l57WLLqO1dQeS_nmehhyaZg5__BEj7RWHdM3ycpET_JePcmF54Cy-1k83dD7nULwxoMF6o/s400/IMG_1989.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Tamsin (the Power Ranger) watches as Dean looks serious.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FR6XjIychZHpHUKPC6XpceJvnQ_1ZL2dVA30RWLkYy49kuetkYbYRz1B3XjeVW7HW64B68Zm4ShLMCALX0V1Atp0KdiVeRtHGH-YLqJvz-4R9ivU_XNMZ-ujazA4jlZvD8XM/s1600-h/IMG_1994.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099768696850862402" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FR6XjIychZHpHUKPC6XpceJvnQ_1ZL2dVA30RWLkYy49kuetkYbYRz1B3XjeVW7HW64B68Zm4ShLMCALX0V1Atp0KdiVeRtHGH-YLqJvz-4R9ivU_XNMZ-ujazA4jlZvD8XM/s400/IMG_1994.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>Kirsty the Birthday girl demonstrates how to be a tomb raider.</div><div> </div><div>The party was great. This weekend we have a pub crawl where I will be dragged around which should be fun. I will hopefully have an x-ray update soon as well. </div>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-13876517079146541052007-08-06T17:11:00.000-02:002007-08-07T10:47:17.153-02:00The returning sun (when exactly is it going to happen?). I break my leg.So the sun is coming back. Its amazing how bright it is already. The sun is supposed to reappear (according to my calculations) on the 11th of August. So its coming fast. Already it gets very light during the day if there are no clouds and I know from last year that as soon as the sun reappears you wish that it would go away because it is so bright that you have to immediately wear sunglasses.<br /><br />Anyway onto the more interesting things. How did I come to break my leg? Funnily enough our last Doc School lesson was on how to deal with broken bones. We were supposed to be doing plastering in the next session on thursday. At least Richard the doc will have had some more practice.<br /><br />Well it was a lovely sunday afternoon and the wind was light but for my kite perfect. It has been a while since I have been out kiting but you never forget what it is all about. I ran out after lunch and launched the kite. I have got this down to fine art and it only takes me 5 mins to launch. I then spent a lovely 30 mins kiting up and down one the eastern side of the base near the memorial (to those who have died on base). I did a few jumps. As you know I kite ski, that is ski with a big kite. I think people might have seen the "Top Gear" where they race to the "North Pole" (magnetic), the lady in it was kite skiing. I have a bigger kite than her and I use a harness and bar instead of handles. Anyway kiting is awesome.<br /><br />After about 30 mins I was getting a little tired and after a tiny jump had fallen over. What you normally do in a situation like this is to use the kite to pick your body back up and you ski off. What happened this time however was that the kite picked me up and somehow the skis crossed and I fell and rotated forward over my left leg. The ski binding didn't pop out and instead I heard a sound a bit like that sound when you pull a chicken leg off a roast chicken. It was pretty aweful. I lay down and crashed the kite on purpose. I undid the ski binding and felt a lot better. I still knew it was bad and called for help. Luckily Dave and Chris were close by just about to head off kiting and they got to be quickly. The Doctor and Tom arrived quickly and brought a pulk sledge in which they dragged be back to the plaform.<br /><br />An hour later and we had the x-rays. They have a vetinary x-ray here as they are the only mobile x-ray units that are made nowadays. I am apparently equivalent to a large goat.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDccJAfNvE-7HwUL0VfAyaO8jCoG3I9LTO_av8_MpmkfBqmCZOesZFusGKTd7o1ZY9MakERQ8hL3PfxZFeWUeS_2nGjSTTNtrG4h5zJuBdIP7UC1syxwStKPL5HXLT9GG7mBj5/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5095671734471860834" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDccJAfNvE-7HwUL0VfAyaO8jCoG3I9LTO_av8_MpmkfBqmCZOesZFusGKTd7o1ZY9MakERQ8hL3PfxZFeWUeS_2nGjSTTNtrG4h5zJuBdIP7UC1syxwStKPL5HXLT9GG7mBj5/s400/Julius+Rix+001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A front on view as you can see it is the outside smaller of the lower leg bones that has a nice crack running up and the right.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyM8vlpnnOy555FAsmTXKo_6HAPrQDayCnwKc7LkyUaPUxKbKqZo280DI0NSdL37HkrOch0E4VZ8md48_ALAl4QIvTlk3W1eGyFt4M-IQEmz4Zn40gUpnnSKRAr7Rwbkt4XN7_/s1600-h/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+5th+Aug.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5095671738766828146" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyM8vlpnnOy555FAsmTXKo_6HAPrQDayCnwKc7LkyUaPUxKbKqZo280DI0NSdL37HkrOch0E4VZ8md48_ALAl4QIvTlk3W1eGyFt4M-IQEmz4Zn40gUpnnSKRAr7Rwbkt4XN7_/s400/Julius+Rix+Ankle+L+Lat+5th+Aug.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Side on view of the foot. You can see the crack is in the smaller bone (the fibula) about an inch above the ankle and continues up about 2 inches in a diagonal direction up and rearwards of the leg.<br /><br />So what does this mean. Well I will be in a cast for about 6 weeks. 4 weeks of which I can't put any force on the leg. I can then hobble about on it. Then I have to strengthen up. I will still be ok for my winter trip holiday and should be strong again for the summer season. It does mean taking it easy for a while and no kiting for a bit. It also means the deployment of a remote instrument that was supposed to be carried out by me is going to be covered by someone else and I don't get to go on penguin trips for a bit.<br /><br />Its not the greatest of things but it happens. I should hopefully have more time on my hands to keep you updated. I should have some more pictures soon.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-33460124442391854642007-07-23T20:31:00.000-02:002007-07-26T19:11:51.759-02:00Midwinter - Sorry I am so rubbish/lazySo I haven't been the best blogger recently. And this is even after I had promised to be better. Well here is a little update. I have been busy. Before midwinter there was a massive effort to make the midwinter presents. In the middle of this the instruments have been playing up. But that is the challenge of living here. You get an amazing environment and at the same time opportunities to make loads of things with the guidance of the various tradesmen here.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsc_zAWuzT7SXtmhxAAsl0ydJVYlCbWfz0UlnKIIp7XCU1pIOnqGx4wIUO2w7Bt_DPtEG-YkB0ahsTfMHmg-TW2uR2b3FnQWKjSj-dQ-2SFtZ25n0iQi3tYQZb08oNYXmXTH5/s1600-h/Resize+of+IMG_1217.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090526020053869138" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsc_zAWuzT7SXtmhxAAsl0ydJVYlCbWfz0UlnKIIp7XCU1pIOnqGx4wIUO2w7Bt_DPtEG-YkB0ahsTfMHmg-TW2uR2b3FnQWKjSj-dQ-2SFtZ25n0iQi3tYQZb08oNYXmXTH5/s400/Resize+of+IMG_1217.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />One of the things that we made was a 50th birthday present for the base commander. This was a brass coin etched to commemorate the occasion.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_eq81S8DH_PT0RX7wg9MZxkZcw5-p1cllOZgysolhYHHoQQyZUg3j9xhkJJMvVZIq_cav3oLd1qz2ZAEQMz6umDYNBZs1RYDLTqVcW6ypnmCh-9kqb1Uw6WzT_fHGxyQtR4bn/s1600-h/IMG_1212.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090524581239824738" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_eq81S8DH_PT0RX7wg9MZxkZcw5-p1cllOZgysolhYHHoQQyZUg3j9xhkJJMvVZIq_cav3oLd1qz2ZAEQMz6umDYNBZs1RYDLTqVcW6ypnmCh-9kqb1Uw6WzT_fHGxyQtR4bn/s400/IMG_1212.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />As you can see it fits nicely in a miniture sledge box.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXBmktd_GkfPglGTpHJB9_GTVFM0Ei48nzhxKp9SMEtOCzBWJl8SUEY95T0Awcz6rfWryQ9rtfNkhyphenhyphen7MCU2gN8jbP4CH_0awrOM85bglEVA7imswlEo4yQhij6w5IeTJM0ZcH/s1600-h/Resize+of+IMG_1218.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090524581239824754" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXBmktd_GkfPglGTpHJB9_GTVFM0Ei48nzhxKp9SMEtOCzBWJl8SUEY95T0Awcz6rfWryQ9rtfNkhyphenhyphen7MCU2gN8jbP4CH_0awrOM85bglEVA7imswlEo4yQhij6w5IeTJM0ZcH/s400/Resize+of+IMG_1218.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />We even managed to etch a likeness of his face into the face of the coin.<br /><br />As usual we had our midwinter photo competition. These are the photos that I entered:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQ_5V_5vzj3DqoTznK2gtkDc9zK7CDopICH-CoRVojRAiI0AvOhgQ9gGip59k8XzJwEGVfBHHqAhTABttujmWS4ajFngMyAm9Jg84Myu7u-EUCoany6xEnnPo5BrMMge0Sd3g/s1600-h/JRix-Environment1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525753765896722" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQ_5V_5vzj3DqoTznK2gtkDc9zK7CDopICH-CoRVojRAiI0AvOhgQ9gGip59k8XzJwEGVfBHHqAhTABttujmWS4ajFngMyAm9Jg84Myu7u-EUCoany6xEnnPo5BrMMge0Sd3g/s400/JRix-Environment1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This was the environment one and shows the whole base. The nearest building is the Piggott.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI38fR5LXjbkJm5jityceQfeQBjgzBiiPTFThlhblhCbb9joyHY_e7f3WCv5R0Y0sDmBeCWTnFT4Ybn6yemS9fyJkrP1bGW6YQsTkqg7YgALVxbW3aM2MznwKRJirrIABuuKX9/s1600-h/JRix-People.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525753765896738" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI38fR5LXjbkJm5jityceQfeQBjgzBiiPTFThlhblhCbb9joyHY_e7f3WCv5R0Y0sDmBeCWTnFT4Ybn6yemS9fyJkrP1bGW6YQsTkqg7YgALVxbW3aM2MznwKRJirrIABuuKX9/s400/JRix-People.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This was my people photo. It is of Rich, one of the steelies during the summer. As you can see he was a little mad.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNB8ZkBd9MM3bXRKZoar-cDeot1FyirGSdxDZrS8yeRPsP-A_O06ubt0DYAjEzAILrlxE3sKMpQjdnyz06YPd5prUJ6GV2Rp6Dt_HdQ2oFtJXfryzQH5IDlrrxMWsOl2-VXQ0/s1600-h/JRix-Whatever.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525758060864050" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNB8ZkBd9MM3bXRKZoar-cDeot1FyirGSdxDZrS8yeRPsP-A_O06ubt0DYAjEzAILrlxE3sKMpQjdnyz06YPd5prUJ6GV2Rp6Dt_HdQ2oFtJXfryzQH5IDlrrxMWsOl2-VXQ0/s400/JRix-Whatever.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This one is of Mat the vehicle mech who was operating the Nodwell crane whilst Chris and I were in the basket fixing the Share Antennae.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWwgn6XhCU1WYZDp1Lq0OJxpOmXkiaiCmihyVq97kjGVKD5UDvUHaxoAfA3izsd54TZDfn_0BTIPQ8RxTR5aBRQT6da3HVPmcZihNUaAPLjTmWHpDnLYsE2C47c9Q0oTY42uW/s1600-h/JRix-Wildlife.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525758060864066" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWwgn6XhCU1WYZDp1Lq0OJxpOmXkiaiCmihyVq97kjGVKD5UDvUHaxoAfA3izsd54TZDfn_0BTIPQ8RxTR5aBRQT6da3HVPmcZihNUaAPLjTmWHpDnLYsE2C47c9Q0oTY42uW/s400/JRix-Wildlife.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This was my wildlife photo and is I think my favorite penguin. He kind of looks like he is just about to kick a small football of snow to me.<br /><br />Midwinter hit suddenly and the mad rush to finish the presents was just as horrible as last year. You might have thought that I should ahve known better being a 2nd year winterer but I didn't. Others on base were just as bad. We had a lovely week off as well but it wasn't that much of a week off. When we have time off here someone immediately organises something. This year we had a biathlon (x-country skiing and throwing snowballs), photo competition as mentioned earlier, a murder mystery night, a film day, a pool competion and a crazy golf day. The crazy golf was amazing with everyone building holes and clubs and then spending a few hours putting.<br /><br />Of course the high light of the week was the midwinter day itself. The usual naked run around the base and massive meal topped with an enormous meal and the giving of presents. The presents this year were if anything more amazing than last year.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzBkwAjLngZhYRo-eZ8ReHJEsEZ1jsB23TpcyyTg1xhmgbgt5gNlsppuf8L2raS69CfwYPdkhGypQKX9un2F54dFzjoE9KPeithEBb8yykYfsn1fWcd5aCUsGtnqMGOxcdbAqa/s1600-h/IMG_1288.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090524585534792066" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzBkwAjLngZhYRo-eZ8ReHJEsEZ1jsB23TpcyyTg1xhmgbgt5gNlsppuf8L2raS69CfwYPdkhGypQKX9un2F54dFzjoE9KPeithEBb8yykYfsn1fWcd5aCUsGtnqMGOxcdbAqa/s400/IMG_1288.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Andy receives his cheese board and knife made by Dave.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGLDFG7Fnfw98kJPlum2hIbOzieWEKXH5tsCcAKSBOrMof5HjzINwEq17qCYUdqGQB4H2xHTN19dFQ1YIUqEyf6f7EA9NspXl-hkgrP20221l8CgyklHvry9FNxIaJwKa5NOR/s1600-h/IMG_1380.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090524585534792082" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGLDFG7Fnfw98kJPlum2hIbOzieWEKXH5tsCcAKSBOrMof5HjzINwEq17qCYUdqGQB4H2xHTN19dFQ1YIUqEyf6f7EA9NspXl-hkgrP20221l8CgyklHvry9FNxIaJwKa5NOR/s400/IMG_1380.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Mark was not happy with his bucket.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyabLgLpdDzfP2Xk7HPjycl4KBA0851rywHJe-2edBwPR6jnVwuBcx8nW22OB0028GK-jZaOROxZlvDMRujle4ulqfDbV2LT8CzH-bgRQpx6dlQhHjUyOHdszsR4IMeNC-gw-/s1600-h/IMG_1408.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090524589829759394" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyabLgLpdDzfP2Xk7HPjycl4KBA0851rywHJe-2edBwPR6jnVwuBcx8nW22OB0028GK-jZaOROxZlvDMRujle4ulqfDbV2LT8CzH-bgRQpx6dlQhHjUyOHdszsR4IMeNC-gw-/s400/IMG_1408.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Dean was amazed with his present from Ant.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZJH7X7K_I6Al2aEqc82qJpj8Yn01sxLC8nGs2elmTfQtTXc1Shg4gfbzkIfB4kZzY9SKQFxuMhDMKOdb7zJ8NMjyWO4vthiyJZR6ZTgUHlfMBOZE5k3aWKUkzuZcKKlC9I3G/s1600-h/IMG_1426.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525251254722994" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZJH7X7K_I6Al2aEqc82qJpj8Yn01sxLC8nGs2elmTfQtTXc1Shg4gfbzkIfB4kZzY9SKQFxuMhDMKOdb7zJ8NMjyWO4vthiyJZR6ZTgUHlfMBOZE5k3aWKUkzuZcKKlC9I3G/s400/IMG_1426.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Mark finally gets his proper present. A miniture primus stove from Andy.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtG70jPLkToAoNu1o83XgD1ibbyGRGgRWdIHw5rjXNZcfdpbzbPCLWG4SGMacHZmt79Iq-MR0A7458iPXYLqGmAPwH8nJBJlFPTMHfR5ZYGlr_vU9sWSJxdZjmEbW74ciBn2Y1/s1600-h/IMG_1430.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525255549690306" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtG70jPLkToAoNu1o83XgD1ibbyGRGgRWdIHw5rjXNZcfdpbzbPCLWG4SGMacHZmt79Iq-MR0A7458iPXYLqGmAPwH8nJBJlFPTMHfR5ZYGlr_vU9sWSJxdZjmEbW74ciBn2Y1/s400/IMG_1430.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />My present was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbine">tesla turbine</a> made from broken hard disks and powered by steam. I gave it to Mat and he decided never to fire it up because it looked so good. I think he was just scared that it would blow up.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg889z83M1oE49JfB-2qjR8hsjA6zAJzfDJCb_vo2LGSwMZ6c6Z2GKzLy1nYXd_E5ZJQj2CK1QgNSpELK3NXuZxmESGzDKnJqCVBQgSL1N5EOXi6SIXRCoXxtlKhdtS0Z_ARiLn/s1600-h/IMG_1437.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525255549690322" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg889z83M1oE49JfB-2qjR8hsjA6zAJzfDJCb_vo2LGSwMZ6c6Z2GKzLy1nYXd_E5ZJQj2CK1QgNSpELK3NXuZxmESGzDKnJqCVBQgSL1N5EOXi6SIXRCoXxtlKhdtS0Z_ARiLn/s400/IMG_1437.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The pool table showing all the amazing presents.<br /><br />Other presents of note were: Kirsty's brass model of the laws for Tamsin, Mats sculpture of a man skiing for Richard and Alex's poem for Brian.<br /><br />Since midwinter we have been back working hard.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4ivtrXZ0vHet6oF6Sd6gl6sbU9xagaTJ2LbFJ_kSWyWGjBNXd2bZ9k3qAuMXsEg8dKYhx8fu9IKptPCviEjf1J2Le2bEv09N_pbSpop9pFCSFMxrCM_rtuEbM754dQagqU6Z/s1600-h/IMG_1522.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525259844657634" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4ivtrXZ0vHet6oF6Sd6gl6sbU9xagaTJ2LbFJ_kSWyWGjBNXd2bZ9k3qAuMXsEg8dKYhx8fu9IKptPCviEjf1J2Le2bEv09N_pbSpop9pFCSFMxrCM_rtuEbM754dQagqU6Z/s400/IMG_1522.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The light is coming back and its lovely.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLnV1RvIw8f4m6SnnDhjD9qRsJeliqe0IFQvzdxXJ8HRfS_mN4BTpSBCirTyBDNBNRhVtMmizHTx3_dH2CsoBWpE_lU8YOlA2s58dvC-gAXiaC3tAu0ZsA59BAXcA_DTOfGI8/s1600-h/IMG_1545.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525259844657650" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLnV1RvIw8f4m6SnnDhjD9qRsJeliqe0IFQvzdxXJ8HRfS_mN4BTpSBCirTyBDNBNRhVtMmizHTx3_dH2CsoBWpE_lU8YOlA2s58dvC-gAXiaC3tAu0ZsA59BAXcA_DTOfGI8/s400/IMG_1545.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABdxFKpoxbn0z_LPZs1IqCldtOWojOCQjMLxn9oTd3Qr-B-GrSA4Ds3GIJDXU-CgHnLeBJSWPRAcri28MqtxCjllsO3MNT_Gq_MzePNTmaPgKeCrniKVVYvCBK5zmrCjRTpjC/s1600-h/IMG_1547.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090525753765896706" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABdxFKpoxbn0z_LPZs1IqCldtOWojOCQjMLxn9oTd3Qr-B-GrSA4Ds3GIJDXU-CgHnLeBJSWPRAcri28MqtxCjllsO3MNT_Gq_MzePNTmaPgKeCrniKVVYvCBK5zmrCjRTpjC/s400/IMG_1547.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The girls spent a night at Wonky and did some light writing.<br /><br />I will be better.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-30304200874885032672007-05-24T18:05:00.000-02:002007-05-24T19:28:19.287-02:00Aurora Australis-last nightJust a quicky. This is a video I just made. Last night we had an awesome auroral display. It was the bestest ever. I really mean it, I wanted to get naked and dance around. It was trippy. Anyway the video is not finished but it sort of is. I have some fiddling to do and sound to add.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ByHyKsh-Ywg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ByHyKsh-Ywg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />I made it using my digital SLR taking 5s exposures. I then added up the photos and made them into a movie today. Enjoy. I will post the final version soon.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-50391341665878832582007-05-13T14:27:00.000-02:002007-05-13T16:04:36.015-02:00Sundown - More Fixing Radars - Starting Mid Winter Presents - Tamsin's BirthdayAs usual my blogging plans are never as good as they should be and as usual my blog is way out of date. Everyone else here seems to have the time to blog. I like to think that I am just busier than everyone else. Of course this can't be 100% true. My new plan is to try to at least keep up with what has been happening and then retrospectively catch up on stuff that I missed since the last entry (January). This of course is still likely to fail but I will try my best. So keep looking back because new entries may appear after this one at a later date.<br /><br />So what has been happening recently? I guess the most significant thing for us is that the sun has gone again. At Halley we have approximately 105 days without the sun. This isn't to say that there is no light, there is alway light. But what does happen is that we don't get to see the actual sun for that time, we just get a glow that appears on the horizon. As is traditional at Halley we have a sundown ceremony where the oldest member of the base lowers the flag. Then in the evening we have a sun related party. Somehow every year there are arguements about when sundown actually is. This is because there are a number of optical instruments here and they all use different definitions of when the sun is actually down. Then of course there is miraging which will can cause the sun to appear above the horizon when it actually isn't. Anyway it is a good excuse for a party.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9GGCA6cQLEa02MPXzfLF6p7O3BKN6B1e6CNWHBzTIYlokVDF_dEXwSSGUDNLzaTcbhWPBi0FmLlGoLHCQ-eDwF1cw8H5DZkowMJLVN9v7Rg_mg62ODzo0wTX20zYXoEJNQqR/s1600-h/IMG_0814.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098359594785490" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9GGCA6cQLEa02MPXzfLF6p7O3BKN6B1e6CNWHBzTIYlokVDF_dEXwSSGUDNLzaTcbhWPBi0FmLlGoLHCQ-eDwF1cw8H5DZkowMJLVN9v7Rg_mg62ODzo0wTX20zYXoEJNQqR/s400/IMG_0814.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The laws platform taken whilst walking to lunch just before the sundown ceremony.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIu0y0G7Cj0g8pOUsuh818rChosyrwl81Ab0kNsU5MaJO2NZ-ZJf5n6p8Qc1THLCcA0cMKyRdApc6lBWKntbTJFJONDBokLvzZwoXpwA28a5mOwcDdFnXfKuQ4isVKQTa3mARY/s1600-h/IMG_0821.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098359594785506" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIu0y0G7Cj0g8pOUsuh818rChosyrwl81Ab0kNsU5MaJO2NZ-ZJf5n6p8Qc1THLCcA0cMKyRdApc6lBWKntbTJFJONDBokLvzZwoXpwA28a5mOwcDdFnXfKuQ4isVKQTa3mARY/s400/IMG_0821.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />A view of the sun at 2pm about 10mins before the flag was lowered.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxTlTt-Dg50K4XCWq6FWLx7IwNFy-53dJP4KatMcU86lms1YzsRhWO0qC6RUVjCbwi3BW7EPkRR3JoPtmqLJIydel4UYYiZtO7DJU-LmmXPx-En0txaLIV_lBC788O9Bk6Fl4D/s1600-h/IMG_0830.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098363889752818" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxTlTt-Dg50K4XCWq6FWLx7IwNFy-53dJP4KatMcU86lms1YzsRhWO0qC6RUVjCbwi3BW7EPkRR3JoPtmqLJIydel4UYYiZtO7DJU-LmmXPx-En0txaLIV_lBC788O9Bk6Fl4D/s400/IMG_0830.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /> Chris stands to attention as we wait for everyone to gather on the laws open platform.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7RNoMmMRZch4JOjB97WnRv0fZRxtmCMfueLAgkybmodR-rhwypBKtGAufAyawcNLPKvzUEi32Hz1tIM3MGap4QBEtqJltWNAUsmyHBUOodbiD6GkMFKnOwCFLrOpajaypY6uj/s1600-h/IMG_0832.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098368184720130" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7RNoMmMRZch4JOjB97WnRv0fZRxtmCMfueLAgkybmodR-rhwypBKtGAufAyawcNLPKvzUEi32Hz1tIM3MGap4QBEtqJltWNAUsmyHBUOodbiD6GkMFKnOwCFLrOpajaypY6uj/s400/IMG_0832.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Mark and Brian wait at the back. What was really nice on that day was the lovely moon over the Piggott platform.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCkcHZnZ9SQyXchqTwlzGPCUt42kBp1TGSuK3VtBq6Ojf0TQxeGNHHZo6fSVxlCQaSdkNK7xbOuL4tZVdped-WpuPnOu7e2U09CeHWsKfIUAO9vz3k-1bcoh8SdLh3sGggBXK/s1600-h/IMG_0836.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098368184720146" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCkcHZnZ9SQyXchqTwlzGPCUt42kBp1TGSuK3VtBq6Ojf0TQxeGNHHZo6fSVxlCQaSdkNK7xbOuL4tZVdped-WpuPnOu7e2U09CeHWsKfIUAO9vz3k-1bcoh8SdLh3sGggBXK/s400/IMG_0836.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Jim the Chippy (and the youngest on base, who will be raising the new flag at sun-up) finally makes it. He had a good excuse in that he was on nights but got up specially for the ceremony.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xIwEScKyq8ZfYX6Xhlk44bupFx2McqnMrM-rgEU-ZjfmxSORFQiDwJRFqBx-09Jmslp7pjAQOf0VGPXoOaCkNGxe4SIRaG-x0EBu-fmFPIo_6DgOzhHcyXxRNTcvKMIiaoxM/s1600-h/IMG_0844.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098844926090018" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xIwEScKyq8ZfYX6Xhlk44bupFx2McqnMrM-rgEU-ZjfmxSORFQiDwJRFqBx-09Jmslp7pjAQOf0VGPXoOaCkNGxe4SIRaG-x0EBu-fmFPIo_6DgOzhHcyXxRNTcvKMIiaoxM/s400/IMG_0844.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This year it turned out that our Winter Base Commander, Pete, was the oldest on base and had the honour of lowering the flag. He gave us a lovely short speach before the lowering in which he revealed that he would be celebrating his 50th birthday. He did a fine job.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqQvia-vPwo_pjIrqJ_REa3zxV_PAd7xRonKQ3puimittFJk9pf77fRR9zvE4aX65_9hkvo3oU0qrAJEhWUxFfw8plDcQaKjndwWvNrQK-j8rsI_W9_z0FizhUpNpOGgUzvj8/s1600-h/IMG_0851.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098849221057330" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqQvia-vPwo_pjIrqJ_REa3zxV_PAd7xRonKQ3puimittFJk9pf77fRR9zvE4aX65_9hkvo3oU0qrAJEhWUxFfw8plDcQaKjndwWvNrQK-j8rsI_W9_z0FizhUpNpOGgUzvj8/s400/IMG_0851.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Everyone looked on.<br /><br />I then wondered back to work this time taking a few photos.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5nllvUSiyLa8UYM2PVNKyZ-cuLfR3ACHKwWUFs7C2QYv8ahbw6-pNogO7otPZLU94Xl0JtAr26-waJGRveQJZfeIZ1nHJyAQbUk9qqHsIIECGVbMD8Byk5xL1n_kV-qLvdcV/s1600-h/IMG_0859.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098849221057346" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5nllvUSiyLa8UYM2PVNKyZ-cuLfR3ACHKwWUFs7C2QYv8ahbw6-pNogO7otPZLU94Xl0JtAr26-waJGRveQJZfeIZ1nHJyAQbUk9qqHsIIECGVbMD8Byk5xL1n_kV-qLvdcV/s400/IMG_0859.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />It just amazing the sort of colours you get because of the low sun. The moon as well was awesome.<br /><br />That day I had to carry on working hard trying to get the new MF radar working again. This radar is located in the optical caboose about 1.5km from the rest of base. Now that winter has really started properly we walk most places because it is more hassle to get a skidoo started and these are all at the garage getting serviced for the next summer. Luckily its a very nice walk (unless you have a load of equipment to drag) especially on a beautiful days.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIPNOmOTq0jm3kHGBenlg2d7eCXwJ5pVVHUZV3D8bpvIVJ5PdOqAs2aJgofvm5SvFYLlRHb9pxBJpBfTC4pAOb35RhPdZm-tQKlZ0Nl0XELIiczHlIHwkIoKFUqw7thBLluwz/s1600-h/IMG_0868.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098849221057362" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIPNOmOTq0jm3kHGBenlg2d7eCXwJ5pVVHUZV3D8bpvIVJ5PdOqAs2aJgofvm5SvFYLlRHb9pxBJpBfTC4pAOb35RhPdZm-tQKlZ0Nl0XELIiczHlIHwkIoKFUqw7thBLluwz/s400/IMG_0868.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The view of the base about half way to the optical caboose. The small building in the foreground is the piggot and the larger one in the background is the Laws.<br /><br />The radar that I have spent a lot of time fixing is the newest radar on base. It has buried antennae. It seems that a lot of my maintenance on this radar is to compensate for the changes in snow properties as it builds up and compacts above the antennae. The properties change and therefore the tuning of the antennae changes. This change is really bad for the radar and we get a lot of energy reflected back into the transmitters. This results in blown up components and overheating.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6hEUqqSiBm3ZywRtoYEmz7Cd5mwvgypX1IzuFVCUupYhyphenhyphenhGmDHpv2EcNRkFDyw8bp6HnH5QG6kxcc8wbnjPlqxLUIfuUoLV6p9P-DDiFTjFZLehCZDWqywbD8DDrUBON0VUW/s1600-h/IMG_0883.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064098853516024674" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6hEUqqSiBm3ZywRtoYEmz7Cd5mwvgypX1IzuFVCUupYhyphenhyphenhGmDHpv2EcNRkFDyw8bp6HnH5QG6kxcc8wbnjPlqxLUIfuUoLV6p9P-DDiFTjFZLehCZDWqywbD8DDrUBON0VUW/s400/IMG_0883.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />One of the chips on one of the Power Amplifier cards that has blown up.<br /><br />These components are all new which means they are all surface mounted. So lately have learnt to desolder surface mounted chips by using gas soldering irons. Its a tiny bit scary, basically using a blow torch to remove components but it actually is less damaging than trying to use a conventional soldering iron.<br /><br />Hopefully I will have got the MF radar running alot better as I understand it more and more.<br /><br />I have also been spending a lot of my time making my mid winter present. This is taking up all my spare time but I am starting to believe that it might just work. Not long now either. Mid-winter is less than 6 weeks away so I have to get working. My idea this year is very different from last year and I think one of my problems is that my idea last year was so good. I couldn't do the same thing (it would not be that exciting for me) and so I have gone a little crazy. I hope it will work.<br /><br />I also realise I haven't been very good at keeping in touch with people this year. So from now on I will be making more of an effort to write my blog and also get back in contact with other people. Give me a call if you know my number.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-70895649497713928752007-04-10T18:44:00.000-02:002007-04-24T20:24:12.240-02:00January - At last<div>Sorry once again for being so rubbish at keeping my blog updated. It seems that I have either been too busy and maybe a bit too lazy.<br /><br />One other mishap that happened was that the hard drive on my laptop decided to kill itself. One second it was fine and the next it was making those "knock knock you know what has happened" noises. So I have spent the last week rebuilding my computer. Luckily I had a small external hard drive. I took everything off this and then sacrificed it to the laptop gods and now it is living as the laptop hard drive. I still don't know quite what I have lost but I will slowly discover it I am sure.<br /><br />What is certain is that I now have no excuses for not updating the blog. Of course now I can't remember what the dickens happened in January but I will give it a try. I also had the honour of writing the base <a href="http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/Living_and_Working/Diaries/Halley/2007/01/index.html">Web Diary</a> which was not really up to the normal standard. So if I am repeating what I talked about in the web diary you must forgive me.<br /><br />Unlike last year, when relief finished by New Years Eve, this year the madness started on New Year’s Day. After a week of the ship being stuck 50 miles from N9 in heavy sea-ice and everyone on base on standby for relief, it was a relief when the wind changed direction and the ship eased its way to N9. N9 is the site that we used last year which is 59km to the north-east of Halley and is used because there always seems to be either good sea ice or if that has disappeared then there is low shelf ice. There is low shelf ice there because there is a massive crack there that runs for about 100km all the way to the hinge zone. N9 was chosen, as there was too much sea-ice at the creeks this year, once again very different from last year when it was chosen because there was too little ice at the creeks. This meant that we had to prepare ourselves for the long drive there (max speed of a snocat pulling a sledge is about 15kph). For some strange reason I was the only winterer to be assigned to work shipside for relief. It was very exciting not to be on base but at the same time I was so used to being around a small bunch of winterers that not being with them was very odd. There was a good carnival atmosphere as we drove to the ship just because we were going to see loads of other people.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ796aD7HL0YK7YCp8jHvhK__Bb4dGVBMqq3H36Qlrz83DFlgmkbSSVnTp_H1SOpq0699xqFQ7kzY3ZI0NgiwIgzSMucgldAVSOCHwchiT38AfMPLtl9jQAfCT0leJ6eYFA0a0/s1600-h/IMG_7759_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057116163544518722" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ796aD7HL0YK7YCp8jHvhK__Bb4dGVBMqq3H36Qlrz83DFlgmkbSSVnTp_H1SOpq0699xqFQ7kzY3ZI0NgiwIgzSMucgldAVSOCHwchiT38AfMPLtl9jQAfCT0leJ6eYFA0a0/s400/IMG_7759_1.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div>Our first view of the ship as we approached N9. The twin otter plane is on the left.<br /><br />As usual everyone was split into day or night shifts so that relief continued 24 hours a day. I happened to be on night shift which I can now say is not as good as day shift. It is summer so we have 24 hour daylight but its still colder on night shift. Having woken up early in the morning to drive the snocats to the ship, I found out that the next night shift was when relief started. We ate some lovely salad on the ship and I tried to get some sleep. Of I couldn't really. We then started our shift and drove a number of people and some sledges to the halfway point. It then turned out that the snocat from the Halley end, that we were supposed to meet halfway, hadn't even left. So we stayed in the halfway caboose and played scrabble. It was a pretty tiring day and after that relief just sort of blended into a blur of driving in poor contrast and then helping loading beside the ship on the ice.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>This year saw the arrival of some new vehicles: 2 Challengers and 2 John Dere tractors. However to begin with the snocats took the brunt of the work load.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4aONIZnsyIsGCb9AZkU57no5eyC7w-fosH27C3ZEeDmuag9SXJKySH5YuXntfGeyBeHlm5pv2_4tEHaYVoR17rmCdO8bi2fb8oiWncvilsFLXcoeX-vXkWH5RqStLeF2rfvh/s1600-h/IMG_7822_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057116167839486034" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4aONIZnsyIsGCb9AZkU57no5eyC7w-fosH27C3ZEeDmuag9SXJKySH5YuXntfGeyBeHlm5pv2_4tEHaYVoR17rmCdO8bi2fb8oiWncvilsFLXcoeX-vXkWH5RqStLeF2rfvh/s400/IMG_7822_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Jim the new wintering Chippie who was my driving buddy filling the transit tanks with avtur from the ship. The big green tractor is a John Dere with a track kit.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Lx5iJHThNr8DwEsQWa2uLj99UOfcRA_3Kjg0xJ453OwCp6at52hzOIHpszicVRXJ1WdE3Q4O-1fl211JyeU040SHD0JqCOPNvDFVJHI1keHqPfIzymhDAYhXs5jrnoqa2oCb/s1600-h/STA70290_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057116167839486050" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Lx5iJHThNr8DwEsQWa2uLj99UOfcRA_3Kjg0xJ453OwCp6at52hzOIHpszicVRXJ1WdE3Q4O-1fl211JyeU040SHD0JqCOPNvDFVJHI1keHqPfIzymhDAYhXs5jrnoqa2oCb/s400/STA70290_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The new Challenger showing that it can do the job of three snocats.<br /><br />As the new vehicles came on line the snocats were slowly retired until only the new vehicles were running. The weather was not nice either for a few days and this slowed down many of the shifts. There wasn’t that much wildlife this time at the ship except for a trio of Adelies that kept on turning up.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUKoPJ7TficdI8AiU72-aZ6u0mVOwVsPI-WgsvAZHGR541zeGx9pM0sVgqrAGD6dO83TSWvjbUkp3TvNUei4ImxCOIWsMIZl-KgNHd0G4xzsA9NJK6nfjHs0mwni-ogQEfZ7C/s1600-h/IMG_7797_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057116172134453362" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUKoPJ7TficdI8AiU72-aZ6u0mVOwVsPI-WgsvAZHGR541zeGx9pM0sVgqrAGD6dO83TSWvjbUkp3TvNUei4ImxCOIWsMIZl-KgNHd0G4xzsA9NJK6nfjHs0mwni-ogQEfZ7C/s400/IMG_7797_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />During relief the first few 2007 winterers arrived at their new home for the next year. Hopefully they weren’t too shocked. Even with the bad weather and only four vehicles performing the relief, the fact that they could all pull a lot more than the snocats meant the relief was over in a week.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8Rze6RfTQRXeslVN089gHc4wHHH6a8LgvJiov1Y02PR5bGLvE9hmS5GtxaYGYzbvstijQX7YseR2U1uZu2cbnFQHiCFZXizBJgSoE0HGd8L5MAxWNZVlco1ih_PnKXh9b53k/s1600-h/Mat+not+Martin+with+seven+sledges._1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057116172134453378" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8Rze6RfTQRXeslVN089gHc4wHHH6a8LgvJiov1Y02PR5bGLvE9hmS5GtxaYGYzbvstijQX7YseR2U1uZu2cbnFQHiCFZXizBJgSoE0HGd8L5MAxWNZVlco1ih_PnKXh9b53k/s400/Mat+not+Martin+with+seven+sledges._1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Finally everyone arrived on station and we could all get back on days and get on with the summer season.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJtR2VcSIxEDztVKM3gGh6CGKkRai7Svg3g_llpZj7byP4NpAA2vPbKMU3v5zmX1JV-y6UjjB5APfsVQkbkFtBw9S6qhTCXm7NW6i3QA-LEU1f4QgRfnWYdXJvS5nnRHsbqDG/s1600-h/garagepull_1_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057117490689413266" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJtR2VcSIxEDztVKM3gGh6CGKkRai7Svg3g_llpZj7byP4NpAA2vPbKMU3v5zmX1JV-y6UjjB5APfsVQkbkFtBw9S6qhTCXm7NW6i3QA-LEU1f4QgRfnWYdXJvS5nnRHsbqDG/s400/garagepull_1_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This year the major changes to the base seem to be the moving of the Garage and the Drewry buildings closer to the Laws. As well as that there is more Halley 6 sledge testing and a garage refurbishment. This is on top of the usual caboose, tunnel entrance raises and usual summer maintenance. On the science side we are installing a number of new instruments, lots at the CasLab, a new MF radar, and the flying of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs).<br /><br />One of the experiments used scale models of the Laws platforms and models of the new Halley 6 buildings to investigate the wind tail profiles that may form at the new<br />Base.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBLta-vLySaJsIlwAPSJ8MswC3G7cl034vj7PwbU6RxHk2jIhAHXTsEQ7oB73wZKDCX14UnEeumD_ypFD82sTJjvhERb2VnEFrOGnH9QhojdLg3oCEjDB3MaBfdzMFJYEMcZw/s1600-h/IMG_0074_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057117490689413282" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBLta-vLySaJsIlwAPSJ8MswC3G7cl034vj7PwbU6RxHk2jIhAHXTsEQ7oB73wZKDCX14UnEeumD_ypFD82sTJjvhERb2VnEFrOGnH9QhojdLg3oCEjDB3MaBfdzMFJYEMcZw/s400/IMG_0074_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Simon measures the snow accumulation around the model of the Laws platform.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JONNPKB1L_3K9Ynp4gl9xinJ-fU6FAyK-2Epfa53UqB88ii39RGNfjElZxj5WIXXrA1lHCjuwTuaYwxG8dSf8NIuRN9SvQq5HRwRKbQZnuoodZfO7NJxNjfaB8LIOV1eK5yV/s1600-h/IMG_0050_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057117490689413298" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JONNPKB1L_3K9Ynp4gl9xinJ-fU6FAyK-2Epfa53UqB88ii39RGNfjElZxj5WIXXrA1lHCjuwTuaYwxG8dSf8NIuRN9SvQq5HRwRKbQZnuoodZfO7NJxNjfaB8LIOV1eK5yV/s400/IMG_0050_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Looking at the snow levels around the new Halley 6 modules.<br /><br /><br />All this adds up to a very busy summer especially when you consider that the summer season is less than 6 weeks long.<br /><br />The aircraft was very busy, firstly carrying out the servicing of remote science equipment on the continent towards the pole. Later it was being used to remove empty drums from some of the field sites close by.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTJDF6FQ9j5I9lAmTbVSrH0gxvyqqnScw4LIflY_nmmFhmPDHhFlhqIiVyhNl09_b1_6nyPC6_wwJg5ZfsTSU523fW18zxFOl_abuhyphenhyphenwSC8WHvI2FE99wxgFnQ7jb25zw8RoG/s1600-h/IMG_8326_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057117494984380610" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTJDF6FQ9j5I9lAmTbVSrH0gxvyqqnScw4LIflY_nmmFhmPDHhFlhqIiVyhNl09_b1_6nyPC6_wwJg5ZfsTSU523fW18zxFOl_abuhyphenhyphenwSC8WHvI2FE99wxgFnQ7jb25zw8RoG/s400/IMG_8326_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Alex services the instruments at A84.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-yYYnMSP7QM1Cz_8D773wJpFn0pfIR7DVBlDDAYVY-n1g1oSBN2R3XOzL7toZqqc38W2GYaFicqxVo3KI8-fSTAFXhqFBE4iXE6unmirNvDDzu3V_YbkT0nokuKT3-kTMRRo/s1600-h/IWP_1617_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057118581611106530" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-yYYnMSP7QM1Cz_8D773wJpFn0pfIR7DVBlDDAYVY-n1g1oSBN2R3XOzL7toZqqc38W2GYaFicqxVo3KI8-fSTAFXhqFBE4iXE6unmirNvDDzu3V_YbkT0nokuKT3-kTMRRo/s400/IWP_1617_1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Drum loading at Site 5.<br /><br />Somehow the new faces seem to have boundless energy (maybe we did last year) and are out every night skijouring, kiting or x-country skiing depending on the wind.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KpYscRWfjZMhxLLnoa2bBQ3YPoN1iJZ-JaoJRJZca0ITX5g2UNV4l6Askkb_HqP4XE-YuvN-1SFcPO6KPNijq301IAHWtTXlMBop11AC_6xf7Km0rjku7a6MVTSDM25ZY1Cd/s1600-h/Skiduring+027_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057118581611106546" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KpYscRWfjZMhxLLnoa2bBQ3YPoN1iJZ-JaoJRJZca0ITX5g2UNV4l6Askkb_HqP4XE-YuvN-1SFcPO6KPNijq301IAHWtTXlMBop11AC_6xf7Km0rjku7a6MVTSDM25ZY1Cd/s400/Skiduring+027_1.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div>Judgie showing his skills just before he took a bad fall and hurt himself.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DGRamV06ArN8NFUjA3dflxyu3Vy5alV_1rjRYsNHFPTlU_CKiVKRWcsZvknDpy3wZUeg5IRDV0taVHKGuOv3z3hr07E_SobWt-FpPlRSbFCsJ9b_0DqfFLJLaSCkxFEIJE1b/s1600-h/Kites+12Feb07+031_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057118585906073858" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DGRamV06ArN8NFUjA3dflxyu3Vy5alV_1rjRYsNHFPTlU_CKiVKRWcsZvknDpy3wZUeg5IRDV0taVHKGuOv3z3hr07E_SobWt-FpPlRSbFCsJ9b_0DqfFLJLaSCkxFEIJE1b/s400/Kites+12Feb07+031_1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div>So many kites and so many good kiters. I thought my skills and a year down here would allow me to show off but all the newbies are naturals. Its just so unfair.</div><br /><div>As usual there was the summer football match, with no injuries for a change.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliHiwA70zd7XsA6q4ZAsKdUqotlbBFnc_uGjMcEGWRr3r0W4ZFfc-asttT7bHeLgcIB3JjPyeqh9BzDmoOJonAR_5Lrm8Kw3mHAQ20xGoUNfikFYS-dDJVMFQEqYeIdo5-1Ae/s1600-h/IMG_4894_1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057123559478202642" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliHiwA70zd7XsA6q4ZAsKdUqotlbBFnc_uGjMcEGWRr3r0W4ZFfc-asttT7bHeLgcIB3JjPyeqh9BzDmoOJonAR_5Lrm8Kw3mHAQ20xGoUNfikFYS-dDJVMFQEqYeIdo5-1Ae/s400/IMG_4894_1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>What you see there is me on the floor having just been pushed over by John (ex Winter BC and fouler) who has the ball.</div>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-54134875589249232972007-02-25T18:05:00.000-02:002007-03-10T14:07:55.033-02:00Catchup 2: A brief journey through JanuaryWill add pictures etc... from January, but here is a little video from one of my summer jobs which was to move the search coil magnetometer from one of the cabooses to the Simpson platform. The sensors (coils) were buried in the snow in a 1150mm x 1150mm x 1150mm box that I built. I made the movie using my digital camera set to take photos every 6 seconds and then compiled the photos into this.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f497LeXPDZI"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f497LeXPDZI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />The other person helping me is Simon Coggins ex Halley Winterer and current Science coordinator.<br /><br />One of the other things that I have done is cut off my beard. As some of you know I have been growing a pretty disgusting beard since Sci-fi night and have tried to take a photo of myself every night. Here is the result.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L8fxkzO-HXE"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L8fxkzO-HXE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-78064206899494974782007-02-23T02:03:00.000-02:002007-02-23T04:38:49.773-02:00Catchup 1: A brief journey through DecemberLooking back at my blog I can see that I have a lot of work to do to catch up with what has happened in the last few months. This is the first attempt that I have made since the beginning of december and as usual the reason for not being able to write the blog has been that I have been amazingly busy. As usual my nights haven't been enough to catch up on everything. But hopefully this is a start. At the end of the <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/12/whats-been-happening-for-last-month.html">last entry</a> I mentioned that a second Basler aircraft flew in and with spares etc... in order to fix the broken plane. That plane disappeared and we resumed our time digging up things burind in the snow and raising them in preparation for the summer.<br /><br />For me, as mast officer, this involved a lot of raising turnbuckles as the snow just keeps on falling here.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAw2znwx-tij3Y3el8kv1S0XDQBnTkXmVTF70Y242hBqNdEMXJZO7tMju1jgIb9qsD2rKzOj9hLPJU3sMIf6aeq3Jbgkz_MQr2kQSZ9p2c_EyB2CE5e9laltWgyYin97xdUvE/s1600-h/IMG_7431001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034586457769367826" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAw2znwx-tij3Y3el8kv1S0XDQBnTkXmVTF70Y242hBqNdEMXJZO7tMju1jgIb9qsD2rKzOj9hLPJU3sMIf6aeq3Jbgkz_MQr2kQSZ9p2c_EyB2CE5e9laltWgyYin97xdUvE/s400/IMG_7431001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Dave the Comms manager struggles to get a chicago grip attached to the stay. You essentially use two chicago grips and a chain hoist to take the strain off of the turnbuckle so that you can shorten the turnbuckle and add in a 1.5m strop. This then raises the turnbuckle about 1m off the ground. Nearly all the turnbuckles on the comms masts had to be raised this year.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5pPFXWnlWuF5GGdugC30weZRsdllFdBcyD8k72Fab4eUtf1Rr0sbF0ef7m7dWLZwRBSX3qNe7gakhONMx3KLmt8I0biX8IkBRyOUrsPIEv15muYLfkfYrWVfb3gy6cbxMrxGR/s1600-h/IMG_7433001.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq4zMVzaDpakAMu2mr5yztpqwNUMxgUWgvurRiSrWJiBrBpRxuLcasXtq_nUdz_cdqBpnADQYqAjcBLFIAKgaJ6h3-XDzbQeB2BROgWOxRKjtlBZb8nFg7uSZiRGwdmq_NeFhz/s1600-h/IMG_7434001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034590675427252594" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq4zMVzaDpakAMu2mr5yztpqwNUMxgUWgvurRiSrWJiBrBpRxuLcasXtq_nUdz_cdqBpnADQYqAjcBLFIAKgaJ6h3-XDzbQeB2BROgWOxRKjtlBZb8nFg7uSZiRGwdmq_NeFhz/s400/IMG_7434001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Once they were all raised we then used a theodolite to carry out a mast survey. This allows the RAF summer masties to come in and decide what work needs to be done.<br /><br /><br />One of the new things that we have done is to start ice carving. We had some blocks of ice and a few old chisels from Liz the chippie and just started to chip away. As expected we immediately started to carve penguins. Then Fran came out and started to carve a snocat. (These carvings were never completely finished and just before relief, Kirsty and I took them to the Maggy shaft where the temperature hovers around -10 degrees C for safe keeping. Hopefully we will finish them off and I will get some good photos to show you)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tScbwWADXZgGyk_yhTai16Dq7VuPjfwVdzCOeWIQT3-LMrSUZ_hyuY89ym6KGzkeRlFxuw0sWQSTVbJokyT31drLMTkj95IN839Oa9HxerK9K2wvqSH5J_pK8IJ2Q8bzuwy8/s1600-h/IMG_7445001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034586466359302434" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tScbwWADXZgGyk_yhTai16Dq7VuPjfwVdzCOeWIQT3-LMrSUZ_hyuY89ym6KGzkeRlFxuw0sWQSTVbJokyT31drLMTkj95IN839Oa9HxerK9K2wvqSH5J_pK8IJ2Q8bzuwy8/s400/IMG_7445001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Kirsty and Fran show off their carving on the Laws south platform. The most surprising thing is how soft the ice is when you have a sharp chisel to use. It just cuts like some sort of plastic. I thought it would be really hard and tough. You can do very detailed work.<br /><br />One of the other things we have to raise is the catenaries. The catenaries are what we call the cable runs to the antennae. These cables hang on large fence posts.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhiTX-CF8BBR2Yc3vsHHwhRu_VkVgIWPTqxoiEeGm02AvcWNkRRBkiwsgJT1kayPlXlU89lAWM6xmWK3KI2YV17SA4F3Djd_jllnJi9XJKSPl2A-XREcqQ_WDQm9BQa35hife/s1600-h/IMG_7482001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034586466359302450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhiTX-CF8BBR2Yc3vsHHwhRu_VkVgIWPTqxoiEeGm02AvcWNkRRBkiwsgJT1kayPlXlU89lAWM6xmWK3KI2YV17SA4F3Djd_jllnJi9XJKSPl2A-XREcqQ_WDQm9BQa35hife/s400/IMG_7482001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here John shows how low a catenary can get. When these are raised they are about 8 foot above the snow surface.<br /><br />With the expected coming of summer we also had our final winter party. Its all a bit sad that we are saying goodbye to so many people. And after a year we really got used to each other and made some amazing friends. Of course six of us were staying which was good. We have also had a year of samba playing with our drum guru Dave (Band Name: Drum line) and the Halley band had also been practicing for at least 6 months. This was our last opportunity to show off to each other. Another interesting contruction was the making of Vodka luge. This massive block of ice was made by taking a bucket of water and leaving in outside.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeSEr8hbc5-OMO1K0CMmfZOiXRjiJiYP6lwvcSu9jQaOozuFvPdgNOz4g97wUS7nfoe88LP3cFDNnN3z_8d_jBD4isv778N4GOFOlmeQJ0RJzqJsZsowQZw0MBMfURZ0dIpk8/s1600-h/IMG_7491001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034586470654269762" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeSEr8hbc5-OMO1K0CMmfZOiXRjiJiYP6lwvcSu9jQaOozuFvPdgNOz4g97wUS7nfoe88LP3cFDNnN3z_8d_jBD4isv778N4GOFOlmeQJ0RJzqJsZsowQZw0MBMfURZ0dIpk8/s400/IMG_7491001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Fran samples the vodka.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghp56fHZc7arDpjFc4FcJK7pQs4LC7ostGbkaYMglySllex-9A8g7AZ3atJK2XK4OIeIlSyvnKyW5RuCSMMVEjBAcB9vDKnmFDUnD4WjpP5oEb5uriG6u8rxctgtjXVySIu38X/s1600-h/IMG_7494001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034586474949237074" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghp56fHZc7arDpjFc4FcJK7pQs4LC7ostGbkaYMglySllex-9A8g7AZ3atJK2XK4OIeIlSyvnKyW5RuCSMMVEjBAcB9vDKnmFDUnD4WjpP5oEb5uriG6u8rxctgtjXVySIu38X/s400/IMG_7494001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Halley band run through their greatest hits.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYm0IC1CSIhxdQ-HN6gNnrsZBuEC7J5FlB8jhvbhfuZQjFAFpJtho8zzeVVo5DI7ee2vi9ckWYOpqEAc02IfR3x2RFzXK5sFigMt_eBv-L4Vc_-EwbC1r0iu7OQb-Qp43V2g8e/s1600-h/IMG_7495001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034600390643276242" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYm0IC1CSIhxdQ-HN6gNnrsZBuEC7J5FlB8jhvbhfuZQjFAFpJtho8zzeVVo5DI7ee2vi9ckWYOpqEAc02IfR3x2RFzXK5sFigMt_eBv-L4Vc_-EwbC1r0iu7OQb-Qp43V2g8e/s400/IMG_7495001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p>Me playing the surdu with Drum line.<br /></p><p>One of the more interesting raising jobs was the raising of the Halley 6 Automatic Weather Station (AWS). This AWS is sitting at the site of the new base and is about 15km away from Halley 5. One of the interesting things here is the accumulation at the site. There seems to be more accumulation here that nearly anywhere else I have seen.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP83wlq7jlg2GXM0TbVYRWe3C2Yo3uKSenBPNeucRfP_Ge6ph6lJE0dpgJUAPWTJBwqKRZ6Ek-3fhCWA01UpjkeV44NUL14GeaVCPU5ki-umyoSpSGR4sCy2XRq40dw7nZipr5/s1600-h/IMG_7495001.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sG1p5FzGFKeGsWDfAm1vbozC4dK9XsuBNca91IjNzI-EgIWr4BHgUZcL5Qiju9hAagRy0FohIr6nrJMHkAK0UHYfvM4hSRFRxeq6ndyY4nqipGu5erR0Wtq9xH9cDEWhVXtv/s1600-h/IMG_7547001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034599471520274834" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sG1p5FzGFKeGsWDfAm1vbozC4dK9XsuBNca91IjNzI-EgIWr4BHgUZcL5Qiju9hAagRy0FohIr6nrJMHkAK0UHYfvM4hSRFRxeq6ndyY4nqipGu5erR0Wtq9xH9cDEWhVXtv/s400/IMG_7547001.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p>On arrival at the site we realise that the accumlation has been so large that the solar panels are no longer available and that there is going to be a lot of digging to do. Chris shows how low the sensors are. Luckily it is a wonderful day weatherwise and its a lot of fun. I feel sorry for the Halley 6 winterers if this is the accumulation they are going to get every year.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxMrwl30nmtE3I-rGgS5_f8_aV_BvdndtZ2YIPbJuBv-cyFBa89a9psH_WJGrzNgqlNsayDq8B4S5ICFD4hgJhKk9RyM0AazLEEOKlVn1smEfMkjLqL-BjAAcwXUjoMoAslYs/s1600-h/IMG_7558001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034599475815242146" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxMrwl30nmtE3I-rGgS5_f8_aV_BvdndtZ2YIPbJuBv-cyFBa89a9psH_WJGrzNgqlNsayDq8B4S5ICFD4hgJhKk9RyM0AazLEEOKlVn1smEfMkjLqL-BjAAcwXUjoMoAslYs/s400/IMG_7558001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Liz shows that you can read Cosmo anywhere during one of her breaks. </p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfO_TTaCmD8qaKwa-TunCm5iOLxrAmRj7xgZCa2uFFNAlIMbN4j05kkvjdyStK6XSrCZ1-ndzxHbnq6UVj7WH_ylXmFX6uqHzYuk4-IiKUml5HPXlNijlx_5LLWceYJMMG1jV/s1600-h/IMG_7566001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034599480110209458" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfO_TTaCmD8qaKwa-TunCm5iOLxrAmRj7xgZCa2uFFNAlIMbN4j05kkvjdyStK6XSrCZ1-ndzxHbnq6UVj7WH_ylXmFX6uqHzYuk4-IiKUml5HPXlNijlx_5LLWceYJMMG1jV/s400/IMG_7566001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Digging seems to be all we do here before summer. As you can see the weather was really great which meant that we were digging and sweating in our t-shirts. We excavated a massive hole in order to get the wires and batteries up to the surface again.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpcjy_YP3YxG-4w18VbdOp0B6AshkvTBi59P5yVYpAaER1pG1ABLqmAmk5H_QgKOVMFi4hJ8exOog7Au93aGxJxShJEc0SRfzkQw3yIqWTi-3vWX-CDE3prjNUvF-3H62_W2j/s1600-h/IMG_7573001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034599480110209474" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpcjy_YP3YxG-4w18VbdOp0B6AshkvTBi59P5yVYpAaER1pG1ABLqmAmk5H_QgKOVMFi4hJ8exOog7Au93aGxJxShJEc0SRfzkQw3yIqWTi-3vWX-CDE3prjNUvF-3H62_W2j/s400/IMG_7573001.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p>The raising team after we had got everything out. Reading from left to right we have Andy, Chris, Liz, Kirsty (team leader) and me. We actually moved the Halley 6 site 5m closer to Halley 5 as the AWS is the only thing that marks the new site.<br /><br />During this time we had the damaged Basler repaired and then flown out via us. So once again we saw the canadian pilots. We finally also had the Germans fly through with their Dornier 228. They returned a few days later with Pat the Summer BC, Martin and Ben (Vehicle Division) in order to prepare for the arrival of the ship. We also had the BAS twin otter arrive from Rothera. On board was the head of my division Mike Pinnock and Mark Maltby one of the Rothera Electronic Engineers who came over to help install a new medium frequency (MF) radar. This was to be one of my summer projects, that is to install the MF radar.</p><p>The ship then got stuck in heavy sea ice and couldn't make its way through. Luckily for us this meant that we could have one more penguin trip. I like to think I had something to do with persuading Simon to organise the trip as I was the main person bugging him to do it. </p><p>This also allowed the some of the summer people to get to see the penguins, which is something they rarely get to do. One of the crazy things on this trip to windy cove was that when we got there, there were juvenile penguins actually on the ice-shelf. These curious little fellows had climbed up the slope right to the top. It was true that the slope had become shallower, but even so it was impressive.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMgsFpaZ09XQ4LKVccrw1zNwVwP9TK5VcqMJ4V77Kr6YKaCX5nEU9zb8dZg7xTJXecfqaufFFdiE3hh6LXl3WPzksyukYtC0osfGKGOWR6G_rZpj18g08tguuSumjHcTOt114/s1600-h/IMG_7586001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034604582531357154" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMgsFpaZ09XQ4LKVccrw1zNwVwP9TK5VcqMJ4V77Kr6YKaCX5nEU9zb8dZg7xTJXecfqaufFFdiE3hh6LXl3WPzksyukYtC0osfGKGOWR6G_rZpj18g08tguuSumjHcTOt114/s400/IMG_7586001.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p>Anto and Ian the pilot snap away at the penguins at the top of the slope.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-3uNOsmDJBPkdIgxV1amqrrWAeQQSCUKB3o8uZfX3cHd6aOQhljBSUbPAfDC9xfdcZIqvGwTQkkx1rc5A4xUZavXw9sQfsYk33C8rOR4ezDCLtvLMBy1cTj5766tp3TDIXV4/s1600-h/IMG_7594001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034604586826324466" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-3uNOsmDJBPkdIgxV1amqrrWAeQQSCUKB3o8uZfX3cHd6aOQhljBSUbPAfDC9xfdcZIqvGwTQkkx1rc5A4xUZavXw9sQfsYk33C8rOR4ezDCLtvLMBy1cTj5766tp3TDIXV4/s400/IMG_7594001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>From the top we could see that the whole colony had dispersed. There were still loads of them but they were completely spread out. Very different from the two other times I had come. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQKxs98IO10WiEJGPtGiMUmbkzCn9pUv3B7iSNj6foKY7kEt3jyP5anMDAnisFJ0yQCes684KhxsegRYKUSYZQmLgeYkJ13SZoYT2kTqwJl6pW97BJgwxCOeqE_WUHHMTCasA/s1600-h/IMG_7599001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034604591121291778" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQKxs98IO10WiEJGPtGiMUmbkzCn9pUv3B7iSNj6foKY7kEt3jyP5anMDAnisFJ0yQCes684KhxsegRYKUSYZQmLgeYkJ13SZoYT2kTqwJl6pW97BJgwxCOeqE_WUHHMTCasA/s400/IMG_7599001.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p>I also caught this adult going to the loo.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKJ_RlhgkL0WsnG8WZA3WnKlmaavBDznZ_8mZijZjEW01itTSgi93My6dSPLjUQwoXSwtxadUKfNkDlHBW783zkH6IdpTmnQ4IMwL-htWbL0Hk8FsO71LdEs5Zj35fzGwJLve/s1600-h/IMG_7614001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034604591121291794" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKJ_RlhgkL0WsnG8WZA3WnKlmaavBDznZ_8mZijZjEW01itTSgi93My6dSPLjUQwoXSwtxadUKfNkDlHBW783zkH6IdpTmnQ4IMwL-htWbL0Hk8FsO71LdEs5Zj35fzGwJLve/s400/IMG_7614001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>It was a pretty amazing evening, to be down on the sea-ice in only -5 degrees with sun dogs and penguins. It just reminded me how luckly I am to be here.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lweiU-K5063ayrk1-MHDmVitLVlmv9_yx-6n6483BNMeuSNJfwVU9VjNVl4Bky6go9o3u5YSBQeqm6r1hyphenhyphenlEEXeR9RYAyQqjd3rVTKFpUwCKxwL-P7EOUzCKIFnWAg7KptKb/s1600-h/IMG_7651001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034604595416259106" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lweiU-K5063ayrk1-MHDmVitLVlmv9_yx-6n6483BNMeuSNJfwVU9VjNVl4Bky6go9o3u5YSBQeqm6r1hyphenhyphenlEEXeR9RYAyQqjd3rVTKFpUwCKxwL-P7EOUzCKIFnWAg7KptKb/s400/IMG_7651001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />As usual the adults looked well groomed.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCICkZ9b05m5lIeduyTX_Q90xmgKexVQRI3IRWYja3IhzoYDKnR8OPaMdLXp9u7x3Fgvv4huCZUAHhqL1ZArjvIWWuAzWFZbp0-49wzj5KbYlngjHuOeoWwgmPM0YkGfZoM9gx/s1600-h/IMG_7653001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034608448001923634" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCICkZ9b05m5lIeduyTX_Q90xmgKexVQRI3IRWYja3IhzoYDKnR8OPaMdLXp9u7x3Fgvv4huCZUAHhqL1ZArjvIWWuAzWFZbp0-49wzj5KbYlngjHuOeoWwgmPM0YkGfZoM9gx/s400/IMG_7653001.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p>The adults are now the less flighty birds. And the chicks that used to be so curious and who used to wander right up to you are very very flighty. Here a returning mother wanders over to me.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlx6ApazWostjk9giRaHdXTiRwnw77ZdmibzecdrzpnXCiD4pweiCYhF4-onXhi53KcMzVeWmcpwxeEt1zongLnWHzAQ11LjgCRnIeTV2fmbAUliAh3W5LjPzlUG56mf1aoh-/s1600-h/IMG_7673001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034608452296890946" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlx6ApazWostjk9giRaHdXTiRwnw77ZdmibzecdrzpnXCiD4pweiCYhF4-onXhi53KcMzVeWmcpwxeEt1zongLnWHzAQ11LjgCRnIeTV2fmbAUliAh3W5LjPzlUG56mf1aoh-/s400/IMG_7673001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>The chicks are also nearly as large as the parents. I much prefer them when they were tiny little things what were cute instead of the big ugly scardy cats that they are now. They are also starting to loose their feathers and so they look even worse.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTnn89hWAboVPbjpgmyxdu14IwpI2skiUG4xC9rmKstiEUNrbPpVWaLUq7h3B-ANQeuT9ePGhwtBS1epIBGto92gRdYaJ4KnpkeIx6z73C2wHgNdoYWDzInZaUsQ95CUiq4-h/s1600-h/IMG_7693001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034608452296890962" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTnn89hWAboVPbjpgmyxdu14IwpI2skiUG4xC9rmKstiEUNrbPpVWaLUq7h3B-ANQeuT9ePGhwtBS1epIBGto92gRdYaJ4KnpkeIx6z73C2wHgNdoYWDzInZaUsQ95CUiq4-h/s400/IMG_7693001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Fran walks underneath the chicks that made it to the top.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi777GaYzyxjU8-TpaYML51UXOM5ZKgHrp8C4WfjEQo86wlmWNfAbWOjEphw3jFQViWc0SFnp1cr9vHSB1336dW8ne2Rr8W76KxeTU3k52uA55BBJmliWSk_I8TwgNMk2YIF_Zt/s1600-h/IMG_7704001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034608456591858274" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi777GaYzyxjU8-TpaYML51UXOM5ZKgHrp8C4WfjEQo86wlmWNfAbWOjEphw3jFQViWc0SFnp1cr9vHSB1336dW8ne2Rr8W76KxeTU3k52uA55BBJmliWSk_I8TwgNMk2YIF_Zt/s400/IMG_7704001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Some chicks hanging out under a cornice that is starting to thaw.</p><p>The trip to the penguins was amazing as usual. The ship was stuck in ice until new years eve when the wind finally changed and blew some of the ice out of the way. On base we had a subdued new year's celebration. As we knew that relief would happen the next day. At least we had a good christmas dinner and party where we played the samba drums again. The ship ended up being 8 days late which meant that the summer season was shorter and therefor busier. But that is another story for another entry. Hopefully will get an entry for January in very soon. </p>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-12196603188899631172007-02-15T22:57:00.000-02:002007-02-15T23:29:02.695-02:00Still AliveJust thought I would make a quick post as I am just about to go on nights and in the next week should have enough time to catch up on the blogging side of things. The ship has come for second call. Which means that summer is nearly over and all the summerers will have left us in the next two days. Over half of them have left already and are staying on the ship. All us winterers got to go to the ship and have our teeth checked by the dentist. After that there is only one last plane (the Basler) on its way out of Antarctica to go and then we shall have our 10 months alone again.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIMlFfavaeZo2acehGvACgBLKmJxAY2imm-EuS41hth7KssIK_sVnXTb0KLM6EXHJK7A7_is6K1ozn7PWQHtY13D8Kiicfl3oMnrpFY9o7w8xcD4e6xwT5jsD0N-xVWR2bv4_/s1600-h/Resize+of+IMG_7963.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031936991870808450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="Me and my beard and tash" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIMlFfavaeZo2acehGvACgBLKmJxAY2imm-EuS41hth7KssIK_sVnXTb0KLM6EXHJK7A7_is6K1ozn7PWQHtY13D8Kiicfl3oMnrpFY9o7w8xcD4e6xwT5jsD0N-xVWR2bv4_/s400/Resize+of+IMG_7963.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Watch this space because I will be blogging to try to catch up all that has happened.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1170454070955690282007-02-02T20:06:00.001-02:002007-02-02T20:32:48.884-02:00Alive.Hi. Long time no post. Have been busy working which is good and playing which is also very good. I will finish off and update this blog very soon as I am now getting myself more organised. There is a bit of news I guess and that is I am going to be the deputy winter base commander. I am not quite sure what this involves but it should be interesting.<br /><br />I am also writing the january webdiary for the base.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1165165541332441322006-12-03T15:05:00.000-02:002007-02-02T07:10:59.356-02:00Whats been happening for the last Month? - Planes - Cranes and Getting ready for the SummerSo its been ages since I last posted and the main reason for that is that there has been too much happening. Now that its getting a lot warmer it means that we can go out and do a lot more outdoor work. Another thing that has happened is that the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) in the Uk delayed the BAS planes for some reason (something to do with cargo weights and the stength of the wheel skis that they use) that I'm not really sure about. They are coming but later than expected. This means that new people (Pat the base commander and Ben and Martin (vehicle guys)) won't be coming in so early. The <a href="http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/Living_and_Working/Transport/Ships/RRS_Ernest_Shackleton.php">RRS Ernest Shackleton</a> is also required somewhere else in the North earlier than usual which means that this summer season is going to be shorter than normal. So we are being urged to get as much work done as possible.<br /><br />One of the people put under a lot more pressure because of the delayed planes is Anto the vehicle mech who has to prepare all the vehicles for <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2005/12/beginning-n9-relief-first-day-driving.html">relief</a> on his own. So some of us have been giving him a hand and learning to drive some of the vehicles around a bit more. I seem to have become an expert at dozer driving.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7074.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7074.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Picture of the D4 dozer that I drove for a day helping Anto the vehicle mech move stuff around. In the background you can see the Nodwell crane parked by the Laws platform. We were transfering propane gas stillages up the the platform and getting rid of the empty ones. That day I think I worked until 11pm. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The other thing that has happened is that the skiway has been laid down. On a bearing from the <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/10/raising-4k-marker-2nd-penguin-trip.html">4km marker</a> that we raised the other day. And the first planes have been through. The first was a <a href="http://www.baslerturbo.com/">Basler</a> which is essentially a DC 3 that has had turbo props added instead of the usual piston engines and its also slightly stretched at the front. This plane came through nearly a month ago bringing with it fresh veg and new people.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7407.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7407.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Basler being refueled. This is actually the 2nd Basler, I didn't make it down to the skiway either time but Vicki the Doc took my camera when the 2nd plane came in. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The plane dropped off its food, refueled and headed off the the Shackletons (mountain range) and then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novolazarevskaya_Station">Novolazarevskaya or Novo</a> as most people call it. A few days later we heard that the plane had crashed. We were not allowed to tell anyone for a bit as they hadn't informed next of kin etc... No one was injured and a search and rescue (SAR) was launched. The SAR plane came from Patriot Hills and flew through Halley. The SAR plane turned out to be a twin otter just like the BAS planes.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7104.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7104.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Twin Otter from Patriot Hills as it approached Halley. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I did make it down to the skiway this time and even though we knew that the plane was here for a SAR there was a bit of a buzz as we were going to see new people. It was a lovely day and we spotted the plane a long way away. When it came close we started to hear the UHF radio talk between Dave the comms manager and the pilot. So you can picture the reaction from some of the men at the skiway when we heard the female voice of one of the pilots. Some of them (not me of course) suddenly became all shy and started grooming their beards. Of course this was understandable since they hadn't seen a different lady for a long while. Not that you would call any of the ones on base ladies anyway (only joking).<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7137.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7137.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Twin Otter, taxiing in. This plane is pretty much exactly the same as the BAS ones except that they have full skis instead of the wheel skis that BAS favours. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7184.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7184.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The plane being refuelled at about 10pm, although it is 24 hour daylight the shadows can still get very long late at night. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7179.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7179.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me (don't I look dashing) standing next to the nose ski of the plane. You can see how robust the ski landing gear looks. They are alot stronger that the wheel skis that BAS use but then again you can't land on gravel runways with skis. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The crew of the plane, had a leisurely dinner and didn't seem in too much of a rush for a SAR but that might have been due to slow communications with some of the other bases. They seemed to enjoy the base and I don't think we scared them too much. At one point, whilst Brad the mechanic was eating dinner, however, about half the base was sat at the other end of the table asking questions. We were probably staring because we haven't seen new people for a long time. We then helped them refuel.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7189.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7189.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Amy the copilot (who caused quite a stir with some of the men on base) checking the fuel levels in the two massive ferry tanks that they had fitted in the back of the plane. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7215.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7215.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The plane heading off finally heading off to resue the people on the other plane. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The next day after the twin otter left, despite it being a saturday we spent the whole afternoon drum raising. These drums were 44 gallon (205 litre) drums of Avtur (aviation fuel) which nearly everything down here runs on. They are piled in to heaps of 200ish drums and you have to use the Nodwell crane to hoik them out of the snow. Once they are out of the snow they are dropped onto sledges and flipped upright by hand. Thankfully I didn't have to do too much digging or flipping as I was the designated dozer driver for my shifts.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7222.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7222.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Raising drums of avtur out of the ground and loading them onto sledges. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7228.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7228.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me and Kirsty just before we did our double shift (I think because Anto thinks I am such a good dozer driver). <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7241.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7241.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />More raising, this time its the AIS receiver antennae. Because of the snow accumulation we had to raise them 2m. As you can see <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7247.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7247.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Once they are lowered to the ground, we checked that they were ok. We attached a new bit of scaffold of then craned them back up and slotted them on. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7254.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7254.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me tidying up the cables whilst Liz sets up the theodolite in the background so that the poles are vertical. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7270.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7270.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Nod 4 with the basket attached. This allows us to lift 250kgs to a height much more than a cherry picker, but relies on the man on the ground to safely move us around. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7285.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7285.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The view of the SHARE array from way above tower number 4. This is from the basket at full extension and being on a flat ice shelf its really odd to look down on anything, especially these antennae. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/MapPreciousBay.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/MapPreciousBay.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Precious Bay is the bay to the south west of Halley and it is this sea ice that is thought to break up and reform causing ODEs (Ozone Depletion Events). The ODEs trigger sensors and Halley and then the Simpson team launch their Blimp to get a profile of the ozone. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7330.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7330.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Simon putting on his crampons before our walk down to the ice cliff edge of Precious bay. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/Jules%20at%20Precious%20Bay.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/Jules%20at%20Precious%20Bay.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me near the edge at the bay. Photo courtesy of Simon the GA. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7344.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7344.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Simon the GA checking out the magnificant view. It was amazingly beautiful with this massive bay and the sea ice stretched out unbroken for miles ahead of us. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/WeddelSealCropped.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/WeddelSealCropped.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Right out on the iceshelf we saw this black dot probably 2km from us and all we could tell was that it was an animal. I put on my big lens (70-300mm) and zoomed in as much as I could. The above picture is cropped and you can make out that it is definetly a seal. So given the state of the ice its probably a Weddell seal (they are the only ones to keep open holes in the ice) but it could have been a leopard seal that had travelled a bit on the ice. From the distance we were away it was just life. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7366.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7366.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me next to a marked flag planted at the Precious Bay experiment site that should tell us about snow accumulation. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7391.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7391.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />More raising, this time it was the catenary posts that hold up the wires the antennae. You take of the wires then get a dozer and use the a chain attached to the blade to pull the posts out of the ground. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7397.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7397.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Chris posing after we had put all the posts back in the ground in their raised positions. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7404.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7404.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />And finally the catenaries are back up. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7412.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7412.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Basler again. Its a fantastic plane. You can see the person on the wing (Francis I think) who is holding the fuel pipe that is pumping fuel into the wing tanks. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7416.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7416.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The plane heading off to Novo to move people around and to resue its sister plane nearby. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1164663372044147652006-11-27T19:35:00.000-02:002007-01-26T10:56:49.846-02:00Penguin VideoSorry about not posting for so long. I have been trying to get around to posting a video for ages and hopefully this will work.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/va-GJiuZtFM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/va-GJiuZtFM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1161637735543046422006-10-23T19:08:00.000-02:002006-11-28T08:06:19.830-02:00Raising the 4K marker - 2nd Penguin Trip - Digging out Vehicles - Nights againAs I mentioned in the <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/10/post-winter-trip-sledge-flash-rumples.html">last entry</a>, I went on my post winter trip. It was great to get off base and we had a few amazing days. The one thing that we didn't get to do was get to go and see the penguins at Windy cove (see <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/MapWintertrip2.jpg">map</a>), this was because the weather was bad. There was also a thought that we had already all seen the penguins at least once so it wasn't a priority. Having got back from the trip we realised that we really hadn't seen the penguins since the chicks have been hatched. So for a couple of weeks I had been wanting to go on another penguin trip. Most of the time when we go off base we go with the Field GA, Simon. Now that the post winter trips are in full flow he spends most of his time off base. Because of this he nominated people to stand in his place. Its actually more complicated than that, he decided that there were some people who were good at the rope work and climbing up and down and that others were better at being responsible and deciding if it was ok to go down onto the sea ice. As long as a penguin trip has at least one of the rope experts and one responsible person you can go. I happened to be one of the rope experts.<br /><br />Once again the weather proved to be a decisive factor and for nearly two weeks we waited. Then the next weekend looked good for a penguin trip. Bob, the genny mech, Liz, Kirsty and me got organised and started to get everything together for the sunday. The weather then took a turn for the worse and John the Winter BC decided that if we worked on the sunday raising the 4K marker we could go to the penguins on the monday.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_3832.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_3832.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The 4K marker before we pulled it out and repositioned it. The marker is 6 avtur drums welded together and is used by the planes to help them find the skiway. They can use their radar to find the drums and then take a magnetic bearing from there. The sledge behind is a glomaxs sledge with a Fasi crane on the back. We didn't actually need the sledge but took it just in case. Photo courtesy of Bob <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />From the base you can normally see the 4K marker unless the weather is bad, as we had to move the marker closer we decided to test our GPS skills and navigate to the marker using last years GPS reading. What was quite interesting was that using the GPS was fairly easy but that last years GPS reading was 450m out. We then remembered that of course we are on a floating ice shelf that is flowing so of course the old reading will be out. So it seems that since the last GPS reading of the marker, it and the whole base has moved about 450m. As you can see from the above photo the years accumulation is pretty large. You can also see the amount of snow that we shifted. It wasn't too bad and at one point we thought there were another set of drums lower down which would have made it very difficult. In the end we could push the drums ove, we then attached a sling to the top and dragged them out of the hole. We repositioned the marker so that it was exactly 4km from the Laws building. We then pushed it upright, dug holes and burried some dead men (lumps of wood to attach guys to) and attached some new guy ropes.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_3840.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_3840.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The 4K marker in its new position. Liz and I tighten up the stays while Bob took this picture with the sun halo behind. Photo courtesy of Bob <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/Rotation%20of%20IMG_3846.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/Rotation%20of%20IMG_3846.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me after finishing tidying up. As you can see the warmth advantages of having a moustach and beard are somewhat offset by having moustachticles and having your balaclava frozen to you hairs. It looks cool though. Photo courtesy of Bob. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The next day the weather had settled down and we set off for Windy cove for our penguin trip. The trip was pretty uneventful, but somehow more relaxed than previous trips, maybe because we had got everything ready the day before or maybe because we were on our own and could set our own pace.<br /><br />The trip there was uneventful except for the fact it felt more like a holiday down to the coast instead of a fieldtrip to the zoo. Once again I think this was due to the fact that we were on our own. Once we got to windy we relaxed a while got our selves kitted out in the warmth of the snocat. We then roped up as usual and made our way down to the abseil point. Since we had last been down there the abseil point had changed quite a bit. The whole thing had sort of slumped. Of course as the rope expert I was leading the group and the most likely person to fall into a crevass is the person at the front.<br /><br />We got to the abseil point and as we couldn't see over the edge we decided that I would abseil out on a short bit of rope (we were still roped up) and down a little bit to see if it was good. Of course there might be no nice ramp down to the ice and by abseiling out onto a cornice I was putting myself in danger. I abseiled out and realised that I didn't have enough rope and I still couldn't see if there was a drop into nothing or a nice bank of snow that would be easy to climb up. So in the end I climbed back up and we looked at the abseil point from the a promontary to the west. This is truely walking in an unmarked unexplored area and its very scary when you are not with a trained GA. We survived and got a good view of the abseil point which turned out to be perfect. We then made our way back and all of us quickly made it down to the sea ice.<br /><br />On arriving at the sea ice some penguins immediately came and greeted us. It was amazing. We wandered past these and headed for the first big group. When we first came here all the penguins were all huddled in one group about 1 1/2 km away from the abseil point. The colony had now split apart into about three groups and had got bigger, probably because the mothers were back. Once we were fairly close the birds just came to us.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6654.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6654.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of the first chicks that waddled over to us. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6720.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6720.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />They really seemed to like Liz, and these two wandered right up to her until a couple of adults decided that the kids were getting too curious. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6772.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6772.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />You get so carried away by how cute the chicks are that you forget how lovely the adults are as well. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6779.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6779.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another cute chick sporting the cowboy saddle walking stance. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6807.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6807.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another good looking adult. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6868.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6868.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This one wandered right up to me and was probably only 30cm from my boot when it decided to stop. I got a few photos off and then my battery died on the camera, which is typical. Instead I was just at one with the chick and I like to think we shared a moment. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyway we had a fantastic day down with the penguins and after a few hours down there we made our way back up. Once again it was a bit scary doing all this without an expert about. We got back after what seemed a perfect day.<br /><br />A few days after the penguin trip I helped Anto the vehicle mechanic start the long defrosting and servicing that he has to perform on all the vehicles that have been laid up for the winter.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6982.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6982.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The winter vehicle line. All the vehicles were originally placed on mounds about 1.5m above the snow surface. After the winter there are no more mounds and most of the tracks of the vehicles are covered. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The first thing we did was replace the batteries. Once these were replaced we removed as much snow as we could from the engine and turned on the webasto engine preheaters. These run on avtur like the vehicles and heat up the coolant which in turn heats up the engine. Once this is done and the engine is heating we dug out the rest of the vehicle.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6986.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6986.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />K21, as you can see the job of digging it out and getting it going is a bit more involved than getting the car out of the garage. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Once the engine has been heating for about an hour and there is no snow in delicate places like the radiator fan, we started them up and surprisingly they fired very easily. Not bad for a vehicle that has been frozen for 10 months. We then rocked them backwards and forward to free the tracks. It took us the whole afternoon to get two vehicles out. But it was very satisfying at the end of the day. With the vehicles returning the preparations for summer are starting.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7011.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7011.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The end result K16, the Fassi crane sledge and K21 in the normal summer sledge line. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The summer is returning and we have loads of work to do to get the place ready for the summer season. Its also scary that there are going to be all these new people arriving. We now know who is coming down and we have been sent photos of them from their conference in Cambridge.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_7025.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_7025.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of the fantastic sunsets that we have enjoyed. It seems to happen when we have this particular type of cloud. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Next entry I hope to get some video of the penguins up.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1161200172533297862006-10-18T17:36:00.000-02:002007-01-03T21:41:20.433-02:00Post Winter Trip - Sledge Flash - The Rumples and the Gin Bottle CreeksIts been just about a month since I left on my post winter trip and as usual its taken me a bit of time to get this out. Since then another trip (sledge gladiolia/golf/gnome) has been out and returned and currently the third set of trippers is out on the ice shelf. Its a bit strange, on our first winter trip we all went to the Hinge zone which is the crevassed area about 40km to the south of Halley, where the Brunt Ice Shelf joins onto the antarctic continent proper. We went there because there it was a good training ground for everyone to learn how to travel on foot in crevassed areas, it was also really interesting. Our <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/04/winter-trip-sledge-alpha.html">pre-winter trips</a> were for 4 nights, these post winter trips are for 9 nights out and we were allowed to choose where we would go. So the strange thing is, is that with all this time available and no restrictions on where we can go every sledge wants to go and visit the Macdonald Ice Rumples (camping), the Gin Bottle Creeks (Creek 2 Caboose) and the penguins at Windy Cove (Windy Caboose) all of which are within 20km of Halley. So where has our spirit of adventure gone? Maybe it disappeared over the long winter. No I think the real reason is that people don't enjoy driving skidoos for days on end. The 3 hours to the Hinge zone was bad enough and the reason for this is the throttle design of the Alpine 3. I know I am putting a lot of blame on a bad bit of design. The throttle on skidoos is a paddle thing that you push with your right hand thumb. Essentially at the safe speeds that we travel at (20 km/h) you have only open the throttle partially, and this makes your thumb ache after a while. I have found out on the internet that you can fit a <a href="http://www.skidoo-parts.com/viewitem.asp?cat=Accessories%20-%20Handle%20Bars&subcat=CM-003-18SP">special cruising finger throttle</a> but ours don't have them. Anyway this is the reason I think we all chose not to go somewhere more than 20km away.<br /><br />For us (Kirsty, Liz, Simon and Me) our trip really started the day before we were due to get set and off. As the first post winter trip we had to dig out and make up our nansen sledges which had been stored down the container line. We then made up our half units and full units and got our all our equipment together. The next day (the 18th of September) we got our final belongings together, went and collected our skidoos. We had a leisurely lunch and then set off to the Macdonald Ice Rumples.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/MapWintertrip2.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/MapWintertrip2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Brunt Ice Shelf around Halley. This shows the location of the Creek 2 caboose and the Macdonald Ice Rumples. The ice flow is also shown and can be seen by the striations which are perpendicular to the ice flow. The ice shelf flows off the continent, sweeping around at the top it hits a sea mount and the ice is thrust up forming the MacDonald Ice Rumples. This sea mount slows the ice up, pinning it back at the rumples. Because of this the ice along the coast is constantly being stretched which causes the Gin Bottle creeks to form. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/06_rumples_scogs.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/06_rumples_scogs.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The MacDonald Ice Rumples from the air. As you can see the ice flows and is rucked up, by hitting the sea mount, into a number of concentric rumples in the ice. Under the wing you can see the Gin Bottle creeks. I've been told that Halley is only where it is because the Gin Bottle creeks provide good access for the ship to relieve the base, the creeks are formed because of the rumples. So we have to thank the Rumples for Halley. As you can imagine when the ice gets rucked up like this it forms lots of crevasses. This is what makes them interesting. I found this photo on <a href="http://simonc.f2o.org/south/">75 degrees south <img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6381.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6381.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />On our way to the Rumples, or as we have been learning in Spanish Los Rumples. We stopped to rope the skidoos together as we were entering the crevassed area. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6389.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6389.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me on my alpine 3 skidoo at the back of the group as usual. The whole winter trip I seemed to be at the back. You can see that the front of my skidoo is attached by a thick rope to the nansen sledge infront. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6398.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6398.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Just outside our camp site we stopped while Simon checked for crevasses. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6408.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6408.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This photo shows Liz and Kirsty on their skidoos in front of the second wave of the Rumples. If you look closely at the bumpy areas you can see massive bridged crevasses.<br /><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6411.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6411.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Setting up camp. It takes about 2-3 hours to set camp, pitching tents (pyramids and loo tent), tarp the skidoos and organise everything. It all seems like a lot of effort but at least the doos will start and the tents won't blow away. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Having set up tent we settled down to some quality tent time. For some reason being in a tent out in antarctica is really fun. It can be a bit cold at times but maybe because we have been cooped up with 15 other people for ages its nice to only be cooped up with one other person. Its just nice and relaxing and an opportunity to relax. Maybe the carbon monoxide poisoning also helps you relax. The next day the weather was bad with rising winds and no contrast which meant that we could go out and wander about in the rumples. The day after that the weather got even worse. Instead of just sitting and reading in our tents we got out and practiced a few crevass rescues and then as the wind really got up. The next day there was a major blow with a peak wind speed at Halley reaching 63 knots (the instrument may have been broken). Being tent bound was quite nice I read a complete book and relaxed. Its also nice to get out and the day after the blow it was a fantastic day.<br /><br />We roped up and started to explore the rumples. It was a bit strange getting all roped up and I had forgotten how heavy everything felt especially your feet once you have your crampons attached. The rumples is so crevassed that all four people roped up to a single rope can be standing at four different crevasses. Its therefore pretty dangerous and a bit frustrating because you get to dead ends with too many crevasses quite a bit. To begin with we just tried to get to a high point in order to get a view of the whole place. After a few wrong turns we got to a place where we could look down on nearly the whole ice shelf.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6416.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6416.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The view of our campsite and Halley in the background from the first high point in the rumples. Its amazing how far you can see on a flat ice shelf when you are slightly elevated (50 ft). We are not used to it. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We also happened to reach this high point at about 12:30 GMT which luckily coincided with the <a href="http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/image1/SE2006Sep22-Fig5.GIF">annular solar eclipse</a> on that day. I knew about it and had brought some welding goggles. We all say the eclipse (partial for us) and its pretty amazing, it a sure thing that not many people have seen a solar eclipse from some ice rumples in antarctica. After looking around a bit we then explored the rumples a bit more and abseiled into and jumarred out of a smallish crevass. All in all it was a fantastic day out. We returned knacked to the camp.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6423.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6423.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty trying to keep warm in the tent. As you can see we have our primus stove on low. Our other heat source is the tilley lamp which is hanging down on the left of the photo. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6425.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6425.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The tilley and all our stuff hanging up at the top of the tent. This is the warmest place and so you put all your gear up there to dry out and get warm. You can also hang up your frozen food so that it defrosts. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We spent one more night in the tents and then upped sticks and headed to the Creek 2 caboose. Moving to a caboose after getting used to a tent was difficult. For a start a caboose takes ages to warm up. I guess this is because it is larger that a tent but also because there is a lot of material in a caboose that needs to warm up as well. Cabooses have fantastic refleks stoves which do a good job of heating so good that once you have heated a caboose you have to have them set very low. The problem is it still takes about 4 hours to warm a caboose to bearable temperatures. You also seem to have less room in a caboose. After arriving we had a quick check down at the creek to see if there was easy access to the ice. We couldn't find any and the weather started to turn bad.<br /><br />We had another bad weather day stuck in the caboose, the wind howling outside and covering all our boxes and belongings in snow. The day after that was fantastic, probably the clearest and sunniest day since winter. We had a little dig to find all our stuff in the snow but we got roped up and headed out onto the ice shelf.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6428.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6428.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another fantastic day walking along the Gin bottle creeks of the Brunt Ice Shelf. This heading from creek two to creek 6. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6438.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6438.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty and Liz with Simon behind them. Antarctic explorers. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We walked along the ice shelf until creek 6 and then found that there was a very gentle ramp down onto the sea-ice.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6450.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6450.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty abseils down onto the sea-ice at creek 6. Simon looks on from the bottom. It was a very gentle slope down to the sea-ice and you can see why these creeks are used for the relief of Halley, if they have formed and there is sea-ice when the ship arrives. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6459.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6459.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Liz attached herself to her abseil device on her way down, while Kirsty and Simon wait down below. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We got down to the sea ice and then went exploring, heading further and further toward the rumples. Walking on the sea ice is one of those things that doesn't seem that exciting but when you realise that you were last pretty much in that position off the same coast in the RRS Ernest Shackleton on the way down in December last year its very odd. The other thing we saw is penguin tracks. These must be Emperor penguin tracks from birds heading to or returning from the Windy cove colony, Simon the GA thinks that there must be a polynya or a lead in the ice where the penguins are coming from as they need access to the sea to feed. The have been known to walk hundreds of miles to get to the sea. We didn't actually see any of the birds (oh except an <a href="http://www.ericwpreston.com/AntarcticPetrel_1.html">antarctic petrel</a>) but we did follow the freshest tracks and they just lead to one of the creeks and then turned back. The penguin must have been confused.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6466.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6466.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The view of creek 7 from the sea-ice. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6468.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6468.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Looking back along the Brunt Ice Shelf. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6476.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6476.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty poses beside a nice bit of the ice shelf. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We turned back at about 4pm in order to get back to the caboose in good time. We had walked all the way to the entrance of creek 9 I think.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6483.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6483.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Having made our way back up we take a last look at creek 6 before walking back to creek 2. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6485.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6485.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty stops while I take a photo of the creek 2 caboose and our tarped up skidoos. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6490.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6490.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me posing with the Coleman's mustard while Liz watches the syphoning of the parafin. Having just started to read about Scott in Ranolph Fiennes book, we were trying to recreate photos that Scott's expedition had to take to satisfy their sponsors. As you can see the inside of a caboose is pretty nice. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had another night and were trying to head over to Windy for the two final days of our holiday but bad weather prevented us. Instead we headed back along the drumline (which you can travel along even in poor weather) to Halley, refreshed and ready to get back to work. The pre and post winter trips are great and are our holidays giving us a taste of what the antarctic was like and is like for the real explorers. I am already looking forward to next years holidays.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1159461603812081332006-09-16T14:40:00.000-02:002007-01-14T23:31:36.136-02:00The Sun Returns - Blimp flights - Work - Preparations for Post Winter TripsHere's the sun. Finally after more than 107 days (for me because I was on nights immediately after sun up) I got to see the sun. I had just come off nights and looked out of the rear window on the Laws platform just after lunch and got blinded. You forget how bright it is. Throughout winter it was dark, but even at <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/07/fids-night-midwinter-and-naked-runs.html">midwinter</a> there was a glimmer of red on the northern horizon. It then gradually got lighter and lighter but when the sun actually rises it is so incredibly bright, we have also probably forgotten not to look directly at the sun. I ran and got my camera.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5934.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5934.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />My first view of the sun after on the friday after my nights finished. This was the view out of the back door of the Laws just after 2pm. I know it doesn't look like it but the sun was incredibly bright. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I then went outside and wandered around looking at shadows. If look closely at the next photo (click on it) then you can see my shadow on the right hand side of the Laws building, its probably the length of the building on the snow because of the low sun angle.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5947.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5947.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A view of the Laws platform on friday after nights. You can see the Dozer under laws with a sledge attached. This is because there is a gash run every other friday to remove rubbish from the platform. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I think I then started to get a little giddy with excitement at seeing the sun that I tried to get some artistic shots. I didn't expect to miss it that much and maybe in reality I didn't miss it but it is really nice to see the sun again.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5964.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5964.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Halley signpost with the Laws and the sun in the background. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Of course now the sun is really annoying. Annoying because it is too bright and we now have to go back to wearing our tinted goggles and sunglasses and if you look in the wrong direction you get blinded by the sun reflecting off the snow. We have even had to pull down the blinds to look at the computer screens. Overall the sun is better than no sun. And the sun returns extremely<br />fast. From sun up (10th of August) until 24 hour daylight (29th of October) is not very long.<br /><br />With the return of the sun the weather has got worse, something to so with more heating of the air. So we have had a lot of cold windy days. We seem to have very few days when we can do outdoor work. So things such as mast maintenance, or fixing or raising equipment outside has sort of piled up. On the rare good day we just try to get as much done as possible because we don't know when it will be good again.<br /><br />One of the interesting things that has happened is the erection of a weather haven (big tent) to serve as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rigid_airship">blimp</a> hanger. A load of us helped build the weather haven and then the Simpson team filled up their blimp.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6096.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6096.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The first attempt at flying the blimp. The Simpson team launch the blimp to try to measure tropospheric ozone levels when there is an Ozone Depletion Event (ODE) caused by newly forming sea ice. You can see that the tail of the blimp was a bit flaccid for this attempt. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6107.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6107.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another photo of the Blimp being launched for the first time. Its pretty cold work as they have to let it rise to 500m at about 5m/minute and then they have to bring it slowly back down. All this time they are standing out is the freezing temperatures checking the winches. I helped them once and it was nithering <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So every now and again an alarm goes off and the Simpson team have to fill the blimp and get it raised. As I mentioned earlier the tropospheric ozone (low level bad ozone) is depleted when sea ice forms, so when the wind has swung around from its usual easterly direction to a westerly, it brings a packet of air that has been sitting over Precious Bay (in the Weddell Sea) where there is a polyna (russian word describing area of open water surrounded by ice) for some reason and sea ice forming. The alarm is triggered by ozone monitors near the ground at the CASlab (Clean Air Sector laboratory). The blimp flights give the scientists back in Cambridge a profile of the ozone levels at different heights.<br /><br />For me its mainly been routine maintenance work, this consists of fixing antennas that have snapped in the wind. Just checking that the instruments are doing what they are meant to be doing. Refocusing the optical experiments. One of the things that the light and occasional good weather day has meant that outdoor jobs are carried out. As mast officer I have to check all the masts we have on base. These masts (varying from 5m cable gateway masts to the 45m AIS masts) are built on the unstable ice. One of the things that happens is that the snow accumulation builds up and this compresses the snow which in turn tightens the stays. So we go around every few weeks and loosen the stays, this is done by undoing the turnbuckles. Sometimes there is so much accumulation that we have to <a href="http://chillydave.blogspot.com/2006/07/snow-sledges-and-stitches.html">raise the turnbuckles</a>. Now that there is enough light and I can see the top of the 45m masts and I can also check them for straightness. The straightness doesn't affect the AIS much but potentially the mast can lean too much that its not safe enough to climb and therefore you can repair things on the mast or the mast might even fall down.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6069.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6069.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The AIS masts are still standing which is good. I got around to surveying them with a theodolite. I found that they were both pretty straight. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />When there has been bad weather I have tried a bit of electronic engineering. This isn't as easy as it sounds because I am not really an electronic engineer but rather a mechanical engineer with some electronics knowledge.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6200.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6200.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of my winter projects. To make a cloud monitor, simply an infra-red detector that can measure the temperature of the sky. The idea being that clouds are warmer than no clouds. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So this is pretty much my the first circuit board that I have etched. Its all very interesting.<br /><br />There has also been the birth of the Halley running club. This came about because I had heard that many of my friends back in England were running a half marathon. And after a few discussions it was decided that we might try to have a Halley Half Marathon. A lot of us then got down to training in the gym and for a few weeks it was in constant use. Then the light arrived and we started to think about running outside on the snow.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6136.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6136.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Setting off for our first freezing training run. All of us got cold bits. We nearly ran around the whole perimeter, about 5km. The temperature was about -35, but we felt warm most of the time until the last section where we were running into the wind. Dave (leading in photo) and I (second in photo) got frozen bellies and Liz and Vicki (following) got cold thighs. Apparently you get cold where you have the most fat. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Having run around on the snow and taken into account how cold it is, we have revised our plans and have decided to on run a 10km. Running the snow is like running in sand and the 10km will take us about 2 hours by which time we will start to freeze. The 10km is quite good because its about the distance from creek 2 (gin bottle creeks) where there is a caboose. So the idea now is to run back from creek 2.<br /><br />We have also started our preparations for my post winter trip. I am going out on the first and therefore coldest trip with the same people that I went on <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/04/winter-trip-sledge-alpha.html">my first trip</a>, that is Liz, Simon and Kirsty and this time we shall be called something like sledge foxtrot or something beginning with f. I should be off base from the 18th until the 28th of September.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_6362.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_6362.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another Blimp flight. This time tail of the blimp is more turgid. In the background you can see the miraging of the ice-shelf and the icebergs near the Rumples. This is where I should be heading out for my post winter trip. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hopefully I will have some photos of the trip soon.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1155525919820347742006-08-14T01:25:00.000-02:002006-09-24T15:56:09.996-02:00Penguin Trip - Sun Up - Back on NightsSo as promised here are some pictures taken on my first penguin trip. This is one of the unique things that you get to see when you overwinter at Halley. The penguins in question are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Penguin">Emperor Penguins</a> and there is a colony of them on the sea-ice at Windy cove. Windy Cove is approximately 20 km North West of Halley apparently the penguins like it because they come here every year when the sea-ice forms in March. Kirsty and I visited them at the end of April just before sun down (<a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/05/windy-weekend-and-final-sun-pillars.html">click here for blog entry</a>) and we walked along the ice-shelf and saw the colony forming. There were all these penguins arriving on their belies and it was an awesome, if somewhat cold weekend.<br /><br />So every year as it gets close to sun up you start to get a lot more light and the temperatures increase. At this point the Simon the GA gets all excited and starts to think about penguin trips. For these penguin trips you have to basically abseil down the ice cliff and onto the sea-ice. Once you have chilled out with these crazy animals you have to then jumar back up. You also have to be careful when walking on the sea-ice because if the wind changes it can break up easily. So Simon has been got us practicing our abseiling, jumaring and gave us a talk about how to survive on the sea-ice. He then had us practicing hauling ourselves out of an imaginary crack with an ice pick or warthogs and finally had us throwing hand lines to each other if the worst did happen and someone went through.<br /><br />A week before sun up Simon and Andy (Metbabe) went out on skidoos to check out the cabooses at Creek 2 and Windy, and the access down to the sea-ice at Windy. It was a really cold clear day. So there was excellent visibility but it was freezing. At the time I was raising more turnbuckles on the Comms masts with Dave, the Comms Manager. At the time Simon had radioed base at 2pm to say that he and Andy were going down on to the sea-ice and that he would call back at 4pm when they got off the ice. We heard nothing. At 5pm John, the Base Commander, got concerned and started to get ready to a Search And Rescue (SAR). The plan was for Anto, the Vehicle Mech, and I were going to get our equipment and head out in a snocat to find out what had happened. It was sort of exciting to be on a SAR but at the same time a bit scary that something had happened. In the end, just before we were about to leave (6pm) we saw lights on the horizon. It took them an hour for them to arrive but we knew they were ok so we stood down the SAR. It turns out it was so cold that all the radio batteries failed. The GPS units got so cold that they didn't work. They tried to light the stoves in the caboose but couldn't get the paraffin to light. They decided to get back to base. Apart from that they had a successful trip and had found out that there was easy access to the sea-ice.<br /><br />A few days later the first group of sightseers went down onto the sea ice and came back with fantastic tales about how difficult it was to get down and up and how amazing the birds were. A couple of days later the next group went down to see the penguins, this group came back with even taller tales of giant cracks in the ice and immense ice climbs. The last group was mine. Like on the winter trips you can all just leave base when you want. People with similar jobs have to cover each other and so can't leave the base at the same time.<br /><br />So we got our equipment together (P-bags etc... for camping out) and loaded everything onto a sledge and jumped into the snocat. In my group were, Kirsty, Bob, Simon, Andy and Me. It took just over an hour to get there along the familiar drum line and windy caboose, with Bob driving (it was his birthday). We woke up, jumped out and immediately got into our harnesses and roped up as an alpine five and made our way along the ice shelf to the abseil point.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5768.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5768.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Our view of the Penguin Colony from the abseil point. This was at about 12 GMT two days before the official sun up (local noon is at 13:45 GMT) and you can already see that we have quite a bit of light. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was pretty cold just getting here and once we got here we stood around and set up the equipment to get down to the ice. <br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5772.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5772.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Setting up our abseil anchors. You just get two stakes and push them into the snow. Its amazing how strong the anchors are and then at the end of the day you just bend down and pull them out. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />You then have to stand around and freeze even more while each person clips onto the rope and abseils down. Really cold.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5787.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5787.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty starts her decent onto the sea ice. We are abseiling on a dynamic (stretchy) rope with no safety line. In order to make it safe we abseil with a french prussic below the abseil device so if you let go of the rope the prussic will catch you. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5794.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5794.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />As Bob sets up for the abseil, Simon swings his arms around to keep warm. It was a cold day. Apart from the cold there are a lot of dangers going onto the sea ice. In the background you can see the ice-shelf, and the sea ice. Just at the bottom of the ice-shelf where it joins the sea ice there is a tide crack, this is caused by the differential movement of the two sheets of ice. The sea ice also can be blown around and breaks up easily. Its exciting going on it. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally its your turn and you realise why everyone seemed to take so long getting going. Because your hands are frozen its really difficult to get the figure of eight on the rope properly and you fingers have no feeling. Once you get going its wonderful and once you are leaning back on the rope you know everythings going to be ok. The abseil point was chosen as there was a nice bank of snow that had formed against the ice shelf. The only difficult bit was the lip at the top. Once you get on to the sea-ice proper you have to still go quite a distance to make sure that you have passed any dangerous tide cracks. You then unclip from the rope so that the next person can get down. Its amazing how much warmer it is once you are down on the sea ice.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5809.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5809.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Simon makes his way down the ice-shelf as you can see Simon our guide chose the easiest slope to get up and down to the sea ice. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Once everyone was down we made our way to the colony itself. This is about 500m from the abseil point. On the sea ice you don't rope up but rather stick close together and have easy access to throw lines. If you actually went through it would be absolutely freezing so we also carried a whole rucksack full of spare clothes.<br /><br />As we got closer to the colony we passed a few cracks in the ice that had refrozen but weren't that dangerous, Simon was checking them with his bog chisel. We got the colony itself and after a briefing from Simon just wandered about taking photos. My camera decided to take a few photos and then packed up. This must have been from the cold. Later it suddenly started working again, really odd. Anyway this is one of the reasons I came to Halley and I was finally here among the craziest creatures on the planet.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5823.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5823.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The penguins doing their stuff on the sea ice. The snow underfoot is browny-yellowy and is stained with Penguin guano. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5825.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5825.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The penguins are very curious and will come to within arms length and then stop. At the beginning it seemed that they really liked Bob. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5836.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5836.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Most of these emperors are males and haven't eaten for 3 months. They weigh about 20kg now and have lost about 10kg since the beginning of winter. To me they look extremely healthy. Most of the chicks have hatched but are hiding on their fathers legs. The females are starting to arrive and they swap roles so that the fathers can go and get some food. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/DSC03542.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/DSC03542.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A few more curious chaps. The more curious ones are usually the males that didn't find mates or who discarded eggs (we saw a few of these). <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After about an hour we started to get cold and the temperature started to drop, so we decided to head back. Essentially we just followed the reverse procedure.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/DSC03555.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/DSC03555.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me just before I climbed back up to the ice-shelf. The moustache keeps you warm but it gets frozen and then sticks to your balaclava. Photo courtesy of Kirsty. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Instead of abseiling, we had to Jumar back up. In fact the slope wasn't that steep so you could just kick your boots hard into the snow and walk up. The jumar was just to prevent you falling back down if you did fall. Simon went up first and then Bob and I went up. We then roped up and headed straight to the snocat in order to get it heated up. We loaded up and collapsed back in the vehicle. We then tried to eat frozen sandwiches washed down with warm ribena. All in all a pretty amazing trip. Hopefully I will get to go on a some more and hopefully will see some chicks.<br />The last thing we did see before we left windy caboose was a faintly miraged sun. This was two days before the official sun up date.<br /><br />Two days later we had our official sun up ceremony, this was to greet the returning sun. Having not seen the sun for 100 days, its something we have been looking forward to.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5855.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5855.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Everyone standing around watching the Sun-up flag raising ceremony. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5858.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5858.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty being the youngest on base raised the flag. She did a very good job. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5861.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5861.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty ties off the flag and there it shall remain until next sundown. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5881.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5881.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Having done the job so well the local media (John the WBC) flock to get Kirsty's story. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5893.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5893.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Piggott platform just after the sun up ceremony. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5900.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5900.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Laws building looks better with the flag flying. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As you can see from the picture it was a fairly overcast day with a lot of cloud in the north so we didn't actually get to see the sun on that day. I also went on nights immediately after the sun up day so I didn't get to see the sun for another week.<br /><br />Nights is fine. There seems to be more and more interesting cooking going on during nights. So far I seem to be cooking new cakes every night. Donuts, croissants and bread which are all easier than I originally thought. I've also been more efficient in my night cleaning so I've had more time to watch the films in the Halley video library.<br /><br />Hopefully I will get some photos of the sun in my next entry.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1154562907902746192006-08-02T21:55:00.000-02:002006-12-18T22:30:58.090-02:00Cabaret, Super Hero night, Still alive after Midwinter -its also getting lighter - AIS explanationThe rest of midwinter was just as tiring as the first half but instead of making presents there was frantic preparations for cabaret night and the photo competition.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5471.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5471.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The photo competition run by Anto over midwinter. Really amazing photos, which took ages to vote for. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The photo competition was hotly contested there were five categories: People, Environment, Wildlife, Abstract and Bob (pictures people had taken of themselves). Everyone entered at least one photo and most people entered one for every category. Since we have all done pretty much the same things we all had very similar photos so judging was harder than expected. I got second prize in the people competition with a picture of Jacko the RAF mast officer taken at the top of the 45 m masts. All the photos were great and all of them are going to be made into a collage.<br /><br />The next big event was the cabaret. As usual with these sorts of things there are the people who can play instruments and sing and do everything and then there are the rest of us who just have to make fools of ourselves. Most acts were put together on the last day but the seemed to work.<br />It was a great night and inspired the formation of the Halley band which now meets on friday evenings (because all other evenings are taken up with other things).<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5510.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5510.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of the highlights of the cabaret was Liz cutting Andy in half. Liz couldn't help laughing hysterically the whole time which just so funny. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5515.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5515.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Bob, Liz and Chris start the meaning of life song just before Brian walks in. Really really good. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5526.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5526.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Samba band runs through its paces, so much fun. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The cabaret was just about the last thing that happened at midwinter and I think most people were fairly glad to get back to the normal routine of work after a week of lazing about and getting fat, you have to draw parallels with christmas again. Apparently the danger after midwinter is that you get depressed because its still dark and you don't have anything to look forward to for a month or two. I didn't find this at all mainly because I was incredibly busy. I know that I have kept on saying that I would have more time after midwinter to keep the blog up-to-date and that I would have more time to do my stuff but that doesn't seem to have happened.<br /><br />One thing I mentioned last time was the fact that we have had unusually high snow accumulation this year (maybe a consequence of global warming). This has mean that we have had to raise equipment out of the snow. I have more to do than most people because I am the winter mast officer which means I am in charge of making sure all the masts are nice and straight and not over tensioned etc... One of the jobs that I have spent a lot of time doing is raising turnbuckles. Turnbuckles are the attachments that have a right handed thread at one end and a left handed thread a the other and are used to tension stays. I have done quite a lot of this with Dave the Comm's manager since the Comms masts seem to be buried more and he has catalogued the process in his blog <a href="http://chillydave.blogspot.com/2006/07/snow-sledges-and-stitches.html">here</a>. I like to think that he was taking photos while I was doing all the work but thats not true. I have probably raised about 30 stays so far and have about 10 more to do. My main responsibility, the AIS radar, has been behaving itself so I have started some winter projects. These are some programming to extend the AIS radar's range and some hardware design to make a cloudmonitor. It keeps me busy when the weather isn't very nice outside.<br /><br />After two weeks of recovering from midwinter and digging in the snow we had a Super Hero's night. We preceeded this by watching the Incredibles in the afternoon.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5582.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5582.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Halley super heros. from left to right: Dave as Super Calf, Brian as Super Mario, Vicky as Electra, Nicola as Popeye, Kirsty as Haribo Girl, Fran as Caslab Girl, Liz as Super Gash, Mark as the Incredible Hulk, Alex as Batman, Andy as Bicycle Repair Man, John as Zorro, Simon as Thor. In the front we have Chris as Spider Man, Bob as Fat Man and me tucked in behind Chris as Kite Boy (special power making lots of wind). <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5576.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5576.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Mark was a bit too scary, and I think the showers are still a bit green. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The night was really good fun. After dinner the main corridor was cleared of dangerous items and a few people had a go at bar-room-bungie. Here you put a harness on and attach a bungie to you back. You then run down the corridor as far as you can until you are suddenly pulled back by the bungie. At this moment you slam you hand down and stick a postit to the ground marking how far you got. This happened a few times until unfortunately the attachment between the bungie and the harness snapped and the bungie flew down the corridor and hit Bob on the leg. Luckily he wasn't too badly hurt but he was in pain. That put a bit of a dampener on the evening but it was still a good night.<br /><br />The sun is slowly returning as expected after midwinter, so the base is getting ready for the post-winter trips that start at the beginning of September and last 10 days. On this trip we get to choose where we go. We seem to be sticking to the same teams which makes sense. The ones who went first (us) will go first so we had it the warmest last time and this time will have it the coldest. I think we are planning on exploring the rumples a bit. Before those trips we are going to have some penguin trips to the local emporer penguin colony at Windy Cove. Kirsty and I saw them from the top of the cliffs before midwinter <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/05/windy-weekend-and-final-sun-pillars.html">here</a>. This time we will be going in larger groups with Simon the GA and will abseil down to the sea-ice and I am told that the penguins come up to within a metre or so of you. It should be awesome. Once we are on the sea ice we have to get off it by jumarring back up. In anticipation of this we have been abseiling and jumarring back up off the Simpson platform.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5617.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5617.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The light is slowly returning. Sun-up is due on the 10th of August. We have already started kiting again, which was awesome as usual, but I haven't got any photos because I have been too busy kiting. I did get this photo of the memorial (to those who have died at Halley) when I went searching for it after reports that it had disappeared in the snow. The little blip on the left on the horizon is Wonky Caboose. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It getting light enough to kite as well, so now half the people on base are watching the wind speed for that perfect wind. Even though it is getting light its still pretty cold. Although it hasn't got below -50 degrees C (it hit about -48 degrees before midwinter) its sometimes below -40. When it started to approach -40 again about a week ago, Kirsty and Vicky ran outside with damp hair and let it freeze with their heads hanging down. That didn't work so well so they go a tub of warmish water and dunked their hair in it and then let it freeze (about 40 seconds) and then stood up.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/PICT0519.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/PICT0519.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Kirsty shows off her frozen hair. How cool is that. Photo courtesy of Dave <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/PICT0506.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/PICT0506.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Vicky's wild woman impression. Photo courtesy of Dave <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Another job we have been doing is helping build a Nansen sledge these are usually made by <a href="http://www.snowsled.com/polar/index.htm">Snowsled</a>, but we made ours out of spare bits.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P7060019.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P7060019.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Liz, me and Nicola working on the Nansen sledge, in the garage, that the whole base helped build out of spares. Its pretty amazing that we use these sledges made of ash, lashed together with leather and twine. So we had to learn to square lash and fettle all these wooden bits to make a fully working sledge. Photo courtesy of Anto<a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We've also had the return of the aurorae. Now for the science bit well and a bit to explain what I do. You might have gathered that I am the AIS (Advanced Ionospheric Sounder) engineer. The AIS is a radar that bounces low-medium (0.1-30MHz) radio waves of the ionosphere. The ionosphere is a charged region of the atmosphere (between about 100km and 800km up). These ions, charged particles, are created mainly by intense ultra-violet light and at low altitudes would just recombine with an oppositely charged particle. At high altitudes there aren't enought atoms or ions to do this so there is this charged region just sitting there. Radio waves bounce (actually they refract since the charge density changes with altitude) off the ions but the altitude that they do this depends on the frequency of the radio waves. So the AIS in it most basic sounding mode just sends pulse trains up at different frequencies and from this you get a picture of the ionosphere.<br /><br />What is the point of all this?<br /><br />Its all to do with space weather and how the Sun interacts with the Earth. The Sun is constantly sending out streams of particles which fly off and hit the Earth, or they would but the Earth's electromagnetic field protects us by deflecting these particles. The magnetic field is itself deflected out behind the earth into a long tail. Occasionally you get a coronal mass ejection where you get a flare on the sun and loads a particles are flung out of the sun. The Earth's electromagnetic field gets hit pretty hard and wobbles. Consequences of this are that satelites get knocked out and I think the North American electricity grid was knocked out by a big flare. Another consequence is that the charged particles get tunnelled by the magnetic field lines and dumped into the polar regions and you get aurora. The ionosphere gets affected by all this. You can see that if the magnetic field is fluctuating then the charged ionosphere is going to move about. The AIS is build here because Halley is near the auroral zone and it is one way of working out how the Sun affects us.<br /><br />Anyway we had some aurorae. Now auroral activity is linked to the activity of the sun. The activity of the sun can be measured by looking at the number of sun spots on the sun's surface. The sun spots go through an 11 year cycle and from solar maximum to solar minimum and back to maximum. The last solar maximum was in the year 2000 so this year should be a solar minimum year. So we don't expect that many aurora. We have only seen about 3 good ones. The main problem being that you have to have good weather at the same time. There have been quite a few times when we can see on the magnetometers that there is something spectacular going on with the magnetic field but haven't been able to see anything because there is a blow on at the same time. And then there is the moon, incredibly bright to our sun deprived eyes. I could go on ...<br /><br />It amazing when it is clear.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5707.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5707.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Halley sign post, with a faint aurora in the background. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5743.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5743.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A slightly more impressive aurora taken from the Laws looking towards the Piggott. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5749.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5749.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />My most recent "hair" picture. I'm trying to take a picture of myself in the same place everyday and will hopefully make a movie of my hair growing. I do look a bit disgusting. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hopefully next entry will be soon and include photos from our first penguin trips down onto the sea-ice.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1152050938337621012006-07-04T20:08:00.000-02:002006-09-29T09:04:10.320-02:00Fids night, Midwinter and Naked runsWe are all finally getting back into the swing of things after an excellent semi-relaxing week off for midwinter. Of course the lead up to midwinter was very very hectic as everyone got down to finishing off or starting and then finishing off their midwinter presents. At the beginning of winter, at our first sit down meal (<a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/03/beginning-of-winter.html">actually here</a>) we all picked out a name from a hat to decide who you would make you midwinter present. So for about 4 weeks before midwinter I spent nearly every evening making mine. We did have one party to releave our stress. This was Fids night. Fids are members of the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey and this was the old name for <a href="http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/">BAS</a> . Anyway we all tried to grow beards (I dont' think the girls did) and then dressed up in our finest old fashioned clothes.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_2961_bandw.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_2961_bandw.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Fids night. We tried to recreate a famous antarctic photo (by Frank Hurley) and also try to show off our beards. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As midwinter approached more and more we expect the darkness to completely descend. I mean the sun disappeared over the horizon over a month ago and it still hasn't got completely dark. That whole thing about 105 days without the sun is true but you still have light. Well just a little on the horizon. I don't actually use a torch except when I am going into a container or working on something outside and I actually have to see well. Most of the time you can stumble about and head in towards the lights on the buildings.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5214.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5214.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Piggott platform taken close to local noon on the 12th of June, thats nine days before mid-winter and we still have a lot of light. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Because it is dark I haven't been able to get out and safely kite, I did try about a month before midwinter but I could hardly see anything and the sastrugi was huge which made me fall over to easily. Maybe I have lost my touch. Because we can't get out so much we have to occupy ourselves indoors a lot more. This is good because we had to do our midwinter presents. The countdown to midwinter sped up and the present making became frantic. You have to remember that midwinter is like christmas (we actually missed proper christmas because of relief) and you get the same christmas rush. I have also done a few other things apart from present making. I gave blood, having passed out last time after 5 mins of digging in my arm Kirsty and I went to the surgery to take each others blood. Kirsty couldn't find my vein so in the end Vicki the Doc just used a syringe and got some blood. I then took Kirsty's blood. There wasn't any fainting which was good. I've finished watching all episodes of star trek enterprise, thats 4 seasons of trekkie stuff. The world cup has hit us and we are constantly talking about it and although we can't watch the games we listen to them through the internet.<br /><br />Then all of a sudden midwinter was upon us. We had a week off which was good and things were organised everyday. The first of which was film day. We all wrote down some films to generate a list of films that we wanted to watch. We then voted on for 5 films. In the end we watched: Its a wonderful life, To kill a mocking bird, The life of Brian, A very long engagement and The muppet's christmas carol.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5286.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5286.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Alex, Kirsty, Dave (cleaning a bowl of chocolate sauce) and Chris get ready to watch another film. Note the large video collection and the digital projector behind the leopard skin sofa. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We also played darts against King Edward Point at South Georgia and lost. I think they were cheating because we played with the whole base (16 of us) taking it in turns to throw out arrows, but they played with two people only in each game which means they got more board time and hence won. Anyway they are not really in the Antarctic being north of the arctic circle.<br /><br />We had a quiz night, which somehow Kirsty and I won. Kirsty was very excited because it is the one time in her life that she has won a quiz. Well she thinks it is.<br /><br />On midwinters day itself John the winter base commander delivered drinks in the morning to our rooms. And then cooked us brunch. The next thing that happened was the traditional midwinter's run. This is a naked run around the Laws building. The girls put us to shame by organising themselves and then running around before any of the boys had any idea what was going on. They actually did it before brunch. The boys (only four of us) then got ourselves together and performed our duty nearer 2pm. I did the run twice.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5260.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5260.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me just before my first midwinter run. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5281_edited.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5281_edited.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The midwinter run around the Laws platform. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5280.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5280.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The light around the Laws on midwinter's day during the naked run at 13.44 GMT (local noon is at approx 13.45 GMT, the temperature was -38 degrees. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />All I can say is that it was freezing and all your extremeties feel it (all of them). The second thing you feel a lot is that your breathing is really difficult and so you get about half way around and you just want to stop and sit down except that you know that would be a bad idea. So you have to keep going but your chest feels like it is about to implode. When you get back it the warm air sort of burns and you get the burning feeling on your skin similar to when you fall into an ice cold pond and then get into a hot shower.<br /><br />The rest of day was spent getting warm again, finishing off the presents and wrapping them to be placed under the christmas tree.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5247.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5247.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The presents starting to accumlate underneath the christmas tree. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />An amazing dinner was served at 7pm:<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5303.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5303.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We happy few, just before our midwinter meal. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I especially liked the spicy prawns, the deep fried camembert, the duck, the beouf en croute. We had so much food that I was the only person to clear his plate at the end of the meal. We were so stuffed that we retired to lounge to open our midwinter presents. Each person got opened their present, then guessed who had made it. It was surprisingly easy to work out who had made what. They then picked someone else's present and delivered it to them. The two opennings of note I think were Simon H's which he broke as he openned it. And I think to think that Anto openning mine was funny since he didn't have a clue what they were and I had to talk him through what to do.<br /><br />Immediately after the present openning we got to listen to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/midwinter_broadcast.shtml">midwinter broadcast</a>. This is a broadcast that the BBC do for us. Each of the bases gets to choose a song to be played and also our friends and family can ring in and leave messages. For me it was fantastic to hear my dad send me midwinter greetings from deepest africa.<br /><br />After the broadcast we all put our presents on the pool table and inspected them. We also started to have our pudding.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5400.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5400.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Everyone inspecting the midwinter presents. The present I got from Nicola is the draughts set in the foreground. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />All the presents were pretty amazing and you could tell that some of them took a massive amount of effort. Here are some that I liked, of course I have included mine in there.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5421.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5421.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Chris' amazing colouring pencil drawing that he gave to Bob the Genny Mech. Entitled "The wheel of life of a Genny". <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5423.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5423.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Bob's penguin carving that he made for Fran, and Simons penguin bottle openner that he made for Mark. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5406.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5406.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Another picture of all the presents on the pool. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5451.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5451.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The present I made for Anto, a box sledge (made out of Ash from an old Nansen sledge) with two Avtur drums (made of brass) that are actually salt and pepper grinders. The orange sacs in the background are travel pouches for the grinders and look like P-bags. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was a good night and it was nice to finally get rid of the presents. Hopefully the next entry will include pictures of the rest of midwinter including the cabaret night.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1149612929937663542006-06-06T14:55:00.000-02:002006-06-30T11:42:39.096-02:00Club Nido II, I faint at Doc School, Darts, Rime and DarknessAs you can see I've finally got around to posting some more photos. As promised in the <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/05/sundown-tunnels-and-pee-funnels.html">last entry</a> I have a picture of an actogram, this is the output from the actiwatches that we wear for Vicki the Doc's research project. Her research is to do with circadian rythms, and how light affects the resetting of the biological clock. Every month the light bulbs in our light boxes get changed between white light and a bluer light. The light boxes and bulbs are provied by Philips. It is thought that the blue bulbs will reset our clocks better and make us feel better. We also have to have two days of pee sampling (they are testing our Melatonin levels to check where in our circadian rythm we are) and questionaires about our physical and mental states. You can find out more about this by clicking <a href="http://www.ebrs.info/Newsletter0312.PDF">here</a> and reading the first article.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/jules%20actogram.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/jules%20actogram.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Actogram showing my activity and light exposure for a week. The graph is a bit confusing because the data is repeated each day. This is done because the most important times are the nights and by adding the next days data on the end allows the nights to be more easily studied. The yellow trace is the light exposure and the black trace is my acceleration. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As you can see on the above graph I get exposed to quite a bit of light and occasionally I do a bit of exercise. There is actually quite a bit of competion to see who was the most active each week, but this is really complicated to work out as some people are very active but only for a very short time. Also people wear their watching in different places so it is difficult to get a true measure of activity.<br /><br />We have also had a proper Club Nido (the worlds most exculsive club apparently). This happens in the garage. We did have one in the summer (<a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/03/blimp-club-nido-sunsets-kiting-no-more.html">see here</a>) but officially Club Nido only happens in the winter. It was very good, with Frances, Alex, Anto and Kirsty putting a lot of effort in to decorate the place. There was also a massive blow predicted so we all arrived as the storm started. The garage is about 600m from the Laws platform which in a big blow can be quite a distance. It was nice being inside a relatively warm garage while there was a storm outside but we also had that feeling that it would be best to get back to our beds at the end of the night and that we had to brave the winds.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/DSC03440.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/DSC03440.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Halley Base Babes (from left to right: Kirsty, Nicola, Vicky, Liz and Frances) initially segragrated themselves in the middle of the dance floor at Club Nido. There were shades of a school disco. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Things warmed up though.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P5120044.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P5120044.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Frances and Mark strutt their stuff while Alex poses. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P5120048.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P5120048.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Vehicle Mech (Anto) and Vehicle Mech Apprentice (Andy) read a tool magazine in the chill out corner with the Halley babes. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P5120791.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P5120791.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />There were a few intense twister sessions before the dancing got really going. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P5120800.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P5120800.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />There was also a lot of sitting around and chatting and eating. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A few people struggled back early but most people stumbed out into 50 knot winds at about 2am. I was in this big group and stumbled out near the front. We started to head back along the hand-lines with visability down to about 15m. I was looking back watching everyone else and as we got out I noticed that Mark stumbled worse than most and actually fell over. I went back for him and got him back to the garage. He was in a bit of pain and seems to have sprained something on the stairs out of the garage. After we had warmed up we tried again to head back but quickly turned back to get another set of goggles for Mark. We finally headed out about an hour after everyone else had left with me helping Mark along and him dragging himself along the hand-line. I don't know how long it took us but it felt like it took us about 30 mins to walk the 600 m back to the Laws. The last bit of the journey was around the Laws building itself and for this bit we just sort of held onto each other and slid along till we got to the stairs. It was great to get back. Mark every said that it was the first time he had held another man's hand for any lenght of time but he was willing to do it again. It turned out that he had actually broken his foot. He also had a bit of frost-nip. Anyway it made me feel abit of an antarctic hero.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/PICT0029.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/PICT0029.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Mark shows off his broken leg. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />With mid-winter approaching everyone is starting to build their mid-winter presents or at least crystalise their ideas. So this is one of the things that people are doing in their free time. We are also learning a great deal from each other. One of the things we have every thursday is Doc school. This is where we practice and learn advanced first aid and other things Vicki (the doc) wants us to learn if we have to treat someone if she is not available (if the patient is her or we or she is on a winter trip). So we have been going through our ABCDE etc... first aid until it has been drummed into us. So now we know how to put in a chest drain, take and type blood, perform a tracheoctomy. We have been going through the whole lot and also do scenarios which is all very good. One of the more interesting ones was on C the circulation system were we learnt about pelvic fractures and blood loss. We aslo practiced putting venflons (canulae) into each other. We took it in turns to stab each other and then the idea was to get a blood sample and type it (ABO rhesus etc...). So I got to stab Mark, and this was pretty good, straight in no mistakes, a bit of blood on the floor and didn't quite slide the tube in deep enough but still good. Then it was my turn and I got John the BC administering. I not normally bad with needles and I rarely faint but for some reason I did feel a tiny bit queasy on that day. Anyway the up shot was that John missed my vein on his initial stab by about 5mm and his sticking the needle in and out for 5 mins didn't get the vein either.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_2950.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_2950.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Me having a canula (venflon) fitted by John the WBC. After 5 mins of searching for a vein he withdrew the venflon. He was just about to stick it back in me when I fainted. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was very embarrassing waking up on the floor of the dinning room having just had the most amazingly vivid dreams. I think I was mumbling something about having been in the other place maybe the afterlife. Apparently I was also making heaving breathing sounds. Very very embarrassing. Enough said about that.<br /><br />We have also had GA school where we learnt to use GPSs better and recently learnt to splice. So now we can make eye splices, end splices and short splices. There has also been welding school run by Anto. Hopefully all these lessons will continue after mid-winter.<br /><br />We have had some contact with the other BAS bases in the form of webcam darts matches. Our first was against Bird Island and their wintering team of four. They just beat us. We then played the mighty Rotherans and soundly beat them. I think there is a trend of smaller bases doing better because of the increased board time for the players (We play 501 ending on a double with everyone taking it in turns).<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/P6020112.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/P6020112.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Simon the GA just about to throw a dart in the famous victory over the Rothera. Note the fancy webcam on the darts board to make sure we aren't cheating. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There have been a few questions that have continued to crop up in the comments and I have not been very good at answering them so here goes.<br /><br />One of them was what camera do I have?<br />I have got a Canon 20D with a 17-85mm zoom lens and a 70-300mm zoom lens. I hardly ever use the 70-300mm but will hopefully do so when we visit the penguins again.<br /><br />What is rime?<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rime_(frost)">Rime</a> is formed when we have fog here. Basically it is water vapour condensing out of the fog onto all cold surfaces (everything). It is similar to hoar frost but hoar frost forms directly from water vapour whereas rime condenses first. Needles of ice form on all the surfaces. Here are a few photos that may help.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_8522.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_8522.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Rime on the Share Towers and the AIS mast in the distance. This photo was taken in April when we still had light. The shadows were pretty amazing. If you didn't have the rime then the Share towers in the background would be silver. Photo courtesy of Andy METman. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/Rime%20ice%20on%20rope.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/Rime%20ice%20on%20rope.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Rime on the handline at the bottom of the Laws. As you can see the ice has deposited on the rope in needles. You get weird vibrations along the hand-lines when there is rime. I think it is something to do karmen vortex excitation and the rime provides weight (to lower the frequency) and friction (to help cause the excitation). This photo was also taken when we still had light. Photo courtesy of Simon H the GA. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There are a few more questions which I will dig up and hopefully answer in the next entry.<br /><br />We have also had a few aurora, I am determined that I will get a really good photo and movie of the aurora while I am down here.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5108.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5108.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />More Aurora (named after the Roman goddess of dawn), over the Piggott platform. Hopefully we will see some more soon. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I mentioned that we had a storm on the night of Club Nido, but it only reached its peak at about 10 am the next day. It hit about 65 knots (we don't now exactly because the anemometers broke), this was 2 min average wind. One of the consequences was that a lot of stuff got blown about. On the Share towers, about 5 out of the 16 towers had pieces of angle missing weakening them a lot. Chris and I climbed them and found missing bolts and most towers fairly wobbly, we fixed them in the freezing temperatures. We also found the stairs blown off on one of the cabooses where the optical experiments take place.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5168.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5168.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Chris at the bottom of the optical caboose, you can see the steps have been blown off and are deeply buried in the snow. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5169.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5169.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The steps once we had dug them out and reattached them. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />While Chris and I fixed the Share most of the rest of base when about picking up bits and bobs that had got blown of containers. We have also had some wonderful weather with beautiful clear skys. The problem with this is that when the sky is clear it gets really cold (-40 degrees C cold for me) but it gets warmer when it is overcast. I think I prefer it to be freezing and clear.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5198.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5198.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We still have light. This was taken at about 2:30pm GMT yesterday, thats about an hour after local noon. Its pretty dark but you still have enought light to wander without bumping into things. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5200.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5200.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />All the buildings have safety lights so you can navigate easily to and fro. The lights from left to right are: The Laws building, the melt tank and on the right the Simpson platform. The only time you can't see the lights is when there is a blow and then you can use the handlines. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a>Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601459.post-1147308022043696392006-05-10T22:40:00.000-02:002006-06-27T09:53:40.890-02:00Sundown, The Tunnels and Pee FunnelsAs usual the blogging process for me is long. I think I posted these photos three weeks ago and I have only just got around to writing about it. In the last entry I described my trip to Windy caboose and I mentioned that the sun was leaving us, well the weekend after the trip to windy the base officially celebrated sundown. Sundown is the day that the sun officially sets and does not rise again until sun-up (sometime in August). You can't predict exactly when sundown or sun-up will be although you can calculate it pretty well. The problem is that atmospheric conditions lead to mirages and then you can sometimes see the sun when it has already set. The mirages are pretty cool and once or twice I have been skiing and the sun is setting and then it seems to rise again (because of the miraging) and then it sets again. There was a small debate as to when sundown actually was, its more complicated when you realise that we are on a moving ice-shelf (moving farther north all the time). In the end we found a definition <a href="http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/RST_defs.html">here</a> and we used a programme that used to generate sunset and sunrise times for one of the optical experiments to calculate the exact day (we actually used decided to say the sun was set when it was 1 degree below the horizon and got an accurate GPS reading of our current position). Having calculated the exact day when the sun was likely to have set for the last time it was decided that we would have the flag lowering on the closest sunday.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4956.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4956.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Liz the chippy lowers the flag at the sundown ceremony. Liz is oldest person on base and traditionally is the person who lowers the flag. The youngest person (Kirsty) gets to put the new flag back up in August. Our names were put into a hat to see who gets to keep the flag and it turned out to be Simon the GA who got it. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4939.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4939.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The rest of the base stand around while Liz gets the knots on the flag undone. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4990.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4990.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Later in the evening we have the BBQ. This is officially the coldest barbie I have ever been to. It was freezing. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was a pretty chilly day that day. I remember because I went kite-skiing just before the flag lowering ceremony and had to wear bear paw mittens. I've also just had a quick look at the temperature data for that day and we were enjoying the BBQ in about -36 degrees C. Its a bit mad to have a BBQ in those temperatures but surprisingly the food was well cooked and tasted lovely.<br /><br />Its a bit odd now that we never see the sun, its not that we have total darkness and everyday around midday it gets light in the north. On really cloudy days you can hardly see anything but on clear days you get a lovely red glow that grows slightly stronger, peaking around 1:30pm before it slowly gets darker again. The moonlight is pretty impressive as well when it is full and is more than enough to go skiing with.<br /><br />On the work front, everything seems to be calming down and I have started to get to grips with all the bits and bobs of my job. One of the great things about this job is the varied jobs that you have to do. One of which was to help the genny mech Bob down in the tunnels again. We have two sets of tunnels here at Halley. One set, the Laws tunnels, joins the main Laws platform to the Simpson platform, the other, the Piggott tunnels just feed cables out from underneath the Piggott. In the Laws tunnels there is the Melt tank (this is just a big tank of warm water that we shovel snow into in order to make more water). The melt tank is actually heated using a heat exchanger and the exhaust gasses from the generators on the Laws platform. The tunnels aslo contain the flubbers (big rubber bags) which hold all the avtur (the same as Jet A1 which doesn't freeze at low temperature) that the generators run on. Around and under the flubbers are bunds, big tarpaulin pools which are meant to catch any spills that might happen. We were just securing the bunds a bit better. Whenever I go down there its just amazing how crazy it can be, you get amazing ice crystals. The best one I think is on a side tunnel between the melt tank and the main tunnels just under one of the lights, and must form because of the warmth of the melt tank and the light.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5072.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5072.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />My face distorted through the best icicle in the laws tunnels. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5074.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5074.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Bob strokes the icicle. How on earth did such a clear phallic ice crystal form? <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For information about the Halley building see <a href="http://www.bas.ac.uk/About_BAS/Cambridge/Divisions/ALD/Building_Services/halley_build.html">here</a>The force of the ice is also pretty amazing and in some of the older sections of tunnel the armco tunnels are getting crushed. In some places the steel is being ripped apart. Of course we monitor the deformations and temperatures all the time to make sure they don't get dangerous. You might also notice that we are wearing safety harnesses. On some of the access shafts you could potentially fall over 25m down so we clip onto runners that run a steel cable. There is also an emergency winch on the surface that can be used to winch people up, but it is manual and it wouldn't be nice to do if it was particularly cold.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5078.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5078.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The force of the ice is impressive. Here it has crushed a massive wooden beam as though it was a match stick. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_5081.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_5081.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The tunnel between the laws and the simpson is really long (about 290m) long. The heating pipes for the simpson run to and from the laws and apparently are really efficient only losing about 8 degrees on the journey. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So thats what has been happening. In fact since I posted these photos we've had a few more parties and we are really leading up to mid-winter which is on the 21st of June. Its not long now and then the days will get lighter and lighter and before we know it it will be summer again. At mid-winter there is a big celebration on par with christmas back at home. One of the main things to do before then is build our mid winter presents. I can tell you now that I haven't made much progress so I better get down to building.<br /><br />One of the things I was going to mention was the <a href="http://www.ats.aq/">antarctic treaty</a> this was a treaty signed by all the countries that had interests in the antarctic, it basically sets the antarctic aside as a place for scientific studys that can't be exploited by mining etc... It also says stuff like, no persons in a military capacity allowed, no foreign (to antarctica) animals allowed (this is why there are no Dogs anymore) and finally it tell you what you are allowed to leave behind. Basically you are not allowed to leave anything behind, so if you build something down here you have to remove it that is unless it is buried. All waste has to be removed except human waste. On the main platform our waste gets flushed and dumped into the ice and forms a big onion under the building. On the other platforms they found that the loos blocked up too much because they weren't used enough. So they found a solution.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4919.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4919.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The Piggott toilet. Note the chimney, this is a rocket bog, tradename "Incinolet", and it turns all your waste into ash and gas. We also have the urinal which is just discharged into an "onion" under the ice. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyway I just thought you might be interested. Another thing I have been doing slowly when I have time is to build my <a href="http://www.kyoshoamerica.com/Products/Nitro-Blizzard-C197.aspx">sno-blizzard</a>. Hopefully I will have it running around outside soon and will have some photos of it.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4999.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4999.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Running in the Sno Blizzard. How cool is this radio controlled vehicle with its 11cc engine. It needs 10 tanks of fuel to run in and I'm on tank number 8 now. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br />Someone requested a picture of a pee funnel, these are used by the ladies on base on winter trips or trips to cabooses since its too cold outside to expose yourself for too long. Anyway here it is.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4791.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4791.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Errgh!! As requested a picture of a pee funnel. This seriously grossed me out when I took it. I think the Doc also thinks I am a bit wierd for asking to take a photo of one. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our health is pretty good. I mean we were all given thorough medicals before we came down and then inoculated against every known disease because we might pick up on the way down. We also have a doctor, Vicki, to look after 16 of us I think that is a pretty good ratio. Most of the time she has little to do since we don't injure ourselves much. She also looks after the waste management with help from the winter BC. She is also carrying out a study into the use of light boxes. We have these light boxes (see picture half way down <a href="http://bigjuli.blogspot.com/2006/01/arrival-at-halley-day-off-x-country_06.html">this entry</a>) which are supposed to help us synchronise our circadian rythms and combat SAD.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/1024/IMG_4786.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/95/8918/400/IMG_4786.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The actiwatch. This measures our activity and the light that we are exposed to. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a><br /><br />She uses these actiwatches, pee samples every month, sleep diaries and questionnaires she is trying to work out whether white or blue light bulbs are better for us. In the next entry I will hopefully have some more details about this.<br /><br />I have also noticed that my blog has become a blog of note on the blogger front page which is cool. There seem to be a lot of questions about stuff and hopefully I will answer them in the next entry. Hoepfully that will be soon.Bigjulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089208658150290300noreply@blogger.com52