Christmas on the JCR

It seems unlikely that I will ever again walk into a bar that contains someone wearing a fleecy penguin onesy and someone else with a condom on his head, with eyes drawn onto it, who is dancing like he's at his own private rave.  Probably no bad thing, but it made for an interesting and memorable Christmas this year.

Airstrip and dock area at Rothera - lots of busy people

Evening sun over the runway

The days running up to Christmas were also pretty awesome as much of the time was spent at Rothera, a truly delightful place with many exciting things to do and lovely people to see.  Admittedly, much of my time was spent in the ship's galley helping to prepare for Christmas dinner.   I don't think I've ever cooked a proper Christmas dinner at home, but if I have done then it wasn't for over 30 people and definitely didn't take me 5 days to prepare for.  However, I had a most enjoyable time learning how to make many exciting things (including pinning a salmon and de-boning a chicken), and although I'm fairly sure my presence was in no way vital to proceedings (and at times may have hindered them), I think I may have provided a certain amount of amusement to the chefs with my total and utter lack of culinary knowledge and skills.  Highlights of the meal included salmon cured in beetroot and vodka and haggis and pork stuffing, as well as a nice glass of red wine.  The happenings after the meal were more 'interesting' and probably not suitable for sharing here.  However, due to various issues with the Christmas tree, I am now in possession of a set of fairy lights and my cabin looks amazing!  I haven't opened the blackout blinds since I acquired them as I don't want to ruin my sparkly grotto by letting the daylight in.



Christmas Day was actually spent at sea in the end, and we are now making our way (very slowly) through a lot of ice on our way to Signy to refuel the base.  However, prior to leaving Rothera  some exploration of the base was possible (when I wasn't slaving away over a hot stove and all that).  More importantly skiing was possible, and this skiing was a little different from your average alpine ski trip.  As always, I was reminded that I am in no way a natural skier and should most definitely stick to the boarding, even when this is on a borrowed board with boots two sizes too big.  However, when you are being towed up a slope behind a skidoo at quite a pace with bits of icy snow going everywhere and a view of mountains and sea to ski down to, who cares whether you look like a French ski guide or not (ok, so I did care a bit that I didn't, but much less than I normally do!) 

Outings with BAS staff are invariably a very orange affair - snowcat included!

Not a great hair day but I guess you can't have everything!

I also made it out for a couple of morning runs around the airstrip.  In normal circumstances it has to be said that doing laps around a gravel track would do little to inspire me, but when you have to change course to avoid penguins and see massive chunks of iceberg breaking off and crashing into the sea with an enormous splash, it's all just a little less tedious than your average 10km jog.  I also managed to get Mike to take me on a trip up one of the masts - no small achievement and definitely a highlight of the trip.  I've essentially been pestering him to let me up the main mast since we joined the ship, but apparently there are bits of paper that need to be signed and also the fact that he doesn't trust me not to hurl myself off it into the sea (less of a risk I would say now that we are out of the tropics).  Anyway, I have now been allowed up the radar mast and took lots more pictures with a silly lens to make it look even more impressive than it actually was.





We should be arriving at Signy fairly soon, but the amount of ice we are encountering along the way means all estimations of times and even date of arrival are proving tricky.  It may be that we can't get into the base at all, which will no doubt be more than a little annoying for the people we are due to drop off and pick up, so fingers crossed this is not the case.  More pictures of ice to follow soon now the sun has finally come out again! 

Also, Happy New Year!!!