Home sweet home

Firstly, a big apology for not being up to date.  Its been a very eventful 2 weeks, and the station has been busy.  This has lead to impossibly slow internet, little time, and also a bout of man-flu!

I thought today I would answer a request for a bit of a virtual tour of the base, and show you how we live at KEP.  

The JCB telehandler with Luna attached

The base is currently home to BAS staff old and new (the out-going staff are here for a few more weeks) the government officers Keiron and Pat and their wives Ruth and Sarah, who are themselves gainfully employed with running the post office and working for the South Georgia Heritage trust respectively, the build team from the Falklands who are refurbishing an accommodation block at Grytviken, the Museum staff from the the Heritage trust, and one or two others.  We have also been playing host to other visitors, including tourists off the expedition ships, and visiting yachtsmen.  It is great having so many like minded people in one place, and everyone is genuinely excellent to talk to as there is a wealth of knowledge, experience and character in everybody.

Luna and Alert in the Boatshed

This does, I hope go some way to explaining why my communications have been delayed.  The internet link is very weak and the speeds are archaic, so with so many people wanting to use it, things can get very difficult.  It is a sentiment that rings true throughout King Edward Point, as without discipline and routine, things could easily get out of hand.  

My work at present is divided into coxswain duties, lots and lots of instructing to other base members and carrying out repairs and keeping up with a stringent maintenance schedule. Ashley and I have an office in the Cook Labs and we also have a working office in the corner of the boatshed (see pic) The evenings are spent in the lounge usually, and weekends see the bar get used (!) there is a dart board and things too, so it doubles as a social club.  We have had some great nights so far....

Expedition tourist ships are a feature of Summer here.

Our impact on the environment is key to the work BAS undertakes in the Antarctic regions, so recycling and waste management is an important feature.  Each item of waste is broken down into its component materials if possible, and segregated for loading on to ships periodically.  Very little of our rubbish goes to landfill.  It is also important that we recycle for other reasons.  Spare parts are easy to order via BAS HQ, however, it takes months, or in some cases a year or more for the parts to arrive.  For example, I have today finished repairing a smashed VHF aerial which was broken a long while ago.  In a UK yard, it is almost certain the aerial would be thrown away, but a few hours work and some glass fibre and she will do well on the spares shelf!

Prion in the boatshed for Jet maintenence

 We each take it in turn to manage cooking and cleaning.  We run an earlies and lates rota.  Earlies see you up at about 6am, you will start to make the daily bread,and while to dough is "proving" your off around the site doing safety checks.  The checks are looking for anything out of the ordinary, or hazardous,eg a leak, something overheating, a door or window left open (the winds in South Georgia can be extremely fierce and gust out of no where) etc.  General tidying up follows, the bread is baked in time for breakfast, then you turn your mind to dinner.  On early shift its your job to cook an evening meal.  Its up to you what you make, and it can be as extravagant or as basic as you like.  Its a challenge right now as you can be cooking for 20+ people, and everything is made from scratch.  If you want garlic bread to go with your lasagne, then you need to make it.  Theres cookbooks on every type of food of course, so never short of inspiration.  Nigella everytime!  Brownie points for original ideas, or for ticking off another country in the "conquer the culinary world" competition set up by the doc.  The obvious ones (Italy, France, India etc) have gone.  Turkmenistan and Yemen may prove harder!

Our boatshed office

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The Bar!