Bad Hair Day

The fact that it's almost summer time back home somehow makes the dark and exteme cold of the Antarctic winter feel all the more imposing. Still, there has to be something good to be said about temperatures further below zero than they'll ever get above it in Britain (global warming included). And this is it... in minus 40 and below all you have to do is go outside, dip your hair in a bucket of warm water, tip your head upside down, hold it there for 20 seconds, then stand up and hey presto, you've got a hairdo that would take a several tubs of wax and hours in front of the mirror to create back home. Hmmm. Maybe that's clutching at straws, but it was fun anyway.

The Light Fantastic

Last night's aurora extravaganza. The whole sky lit up and rippled with colour. I just lay on my back on the snow and laughed out loud.

Thanks to Tom for these first three photos.

Fireworks night came early this year. What with Christmas celebrations planned form June, we thought why not celebrate Guy Fawkes on the ninth of May. Sune, our field assistant, showed us how to set off the flares, should we ever need to signal for help out in the field. A great birthday treat!

Thanks to Richard for this lovely picture. I has the telescope pointed at Jupiter. You could see three moons, and just about make out the red spot. Then, as you stepped back from the telescope to let someone else have a look, you could turn and marvel at the sparkling AUrora over the southern horizon. This is early evening last night. Little did we know what these little lights would grow into (the top two photos)!

E.R.? Holby City? No, it's Halley Bay

Yesterday I stuck a needle into someones vain, and injected them! I was very scared (not as scared as them) but they only nearly fainted afterwards, so it all turned out ok. It's not that hard, this medicine lark! 5 years at medical school, nah, I feel my training with 5 series of scrubs and ER has prepared me well. Here's me trying not to kill ALex, under the watchful eye of Richard, the Doc. Cheers to Pete (Base Commander) for the photo.

Cheesey Birthday, mmmm

My cheese-tastic Birthday cake and card (thanks to Richard and Dean)

I had a cheese and wine night to celebrate with the slightly challenging fancy dress theme of cheese and wine to match. In the back of the photo you can see Sune as the devil (that's what cheese is to him) attacking Richard who came as a blue nun (after that classy variety of wine). Then there's Neil as the cheese board, Dean as a (slightly scary looking) French maid, Pete as a box of wine, me as Heidi (Swiss, like the cheese! yes, there were some slightly tenuous links), Mark as Edam and Dave in his welsh top as Caerphilly (and generally looking very cheesey), showing off his now extremely impressive mullet. Sitting in front are Jules the farmer trying to keep Kirsty, his prize cow, under control, Alex as a slice of La Vache qui Rit, and Jim as Friar Tuck.

Cheese and Wine!

There were cheesey nibbles to start with, a cheese tasting blindfold challenge, Monty Python's cheese shop game, cheese fondue, a cheese sculpture competition (see below) and the finest cheese boards on the continent.

During the cheese tasting, we tried feeding a clove of garlic to the blindfolded Doc, but he realised just before biting into it (although he thought we were trying to feed him a rubber, that's how fresh our garlic is!) and passed on to Andy Mac, our trusty generator mechanic, who happily gobbled it up.

The cheese sculpting competition prize winning entries: A skiddoo (Alpine cheese model) complete with driver, Battersea cheese station, The leaning tower of cheesa, Cheese henge and sponge bob cheese pants.

Later on, dosed up on that tasty yellow beef, it got cheesey on the dance floor.

2 blogs for the price of 1

I've not been very good at writing much about what goes on here day to day on this blog, so...I've started a second. 'The Inside Story' is made up entirely of extracts from my diary. Hopefully it'll give you a bit more of feel for my life down here. Follow the link to read more...