Wednesday, 30 May 2007

auroras



































































The dancing veil

Gliding, glittering, greens, gracing the blanket sky,

Growing, grafting, grounding the night air, -32 just hue,

The dancing veil covers the sky,

Jupiter and its mooning children are hidden for a brief time,

captured in the misty green veil that flows aloft like smoke in a breeze,

hidden like birds in the trees.


Eternity beckons, earth comes a calling, the telephone rings and the dancing begins,

The shepards sit upon a burning bush, fire rages, earthquakes abandoned,

the sky is alight by the dazzling witch,

who covers the sky in the most translucent mist,

Gathering up her web of decite,

she blinds the mind in veil of kind,


The cold is forgotten, the trumphet blares,

the sound dimishes and the veil declares,

I am the goddess and show my might,

I come here to wander and to take your sight,

I fell in love, captured with awe, for the dancing veil has come once more.

It leaves me gasping, dying for breath, I feel its pull, its shudder its test,

Amorous, lofty, high up above,


This night of shadows and dances alone,

has extended the lease to all of my bones,

we dance when merry and sing out a tune

we love to play in the glare of the moon,

the winter gets deeper, the temperatures drop,

and the dance of the veil will it never stop.


A magnificent dance, a piece of class,

Next to the laws and under the masts,

Above the caslab and around the Piggott,

She dances happily for now and time past.

Thursday, 10 May 2007

sun at halley




sun dogs







sun down







sun gone

Tuesday, 8 May 2007

other happenings




a semi artistic shot...nice.






another warm day so another BBQ. Ant in his summer gear.







a pre-winter group photo.







Tamsins birthday and a cheese and wine party,
sculptures are all the rage at Halley especially the cheesy ones.
Cheese henge, cheesdoo, leaning cheese tower of halley and many more....





Footprints

my footprints are my own design,
they trod and squelch all in a line,
a wind that blows, hides the track,
lost am i, no way back.

Thursday, 19 April 2007

Deans Birthday party

The big saturday showdown


My turn for a day in the kitchen, saturday night, the best meal that Halley has seen...but it wasn;t this saturday but i did my best and nobody choked on the olives so i was happy. Three courses for 17 people takes a bit of planning and you know how i love to plan things in advance. Nice apron though.





well i have to say the colour of this fellow had nothing to do with my food. At least i hope not.

As it turned out it was the comm;s managers birthday and so the theme was cartoon characters. so who is this????







then we had somebody with a box on his head and a face like a cat.

we all know who these are?







tamsin the turtle, as ever battling to save the planet or her beer.











mmmmm, a smurf, can anyone guess the other? standing outside at -30 for 10 minutes can make you this colour. Don;t try it at home.









hey its that guy with a box again and a guinness but can he dance?






And last but no-way least, the group as a whole....since i was spending many hours during the week deciding what to cook and prepare for saturday's meal then i didn;t have much time to prepare a costume, yeah right, so i picked up what i could and went back to prehistoric times...

Monday, 16 April 2007

team echo sledging winter party

Camped on a solid plateau in the middle of the brunt ice shelf, with temperatures -20oC, a gas stove and sleeping bags to keep us warm. Its amazing what you call home.

It was me, mark (electrician), andy (vehicle mechanic) and sune (GA).



This was the coldest yet sunniest trip so far. It was assumed that as the season progressed then the weather would get colder and harsher as compared to the earlier trips. The trips were always weather dependant and lasted upto 5 days, although one group stayed in the tents for mush longer. Here we enjoy the sun with and without shirts for 10 minutes (its all about the best tan down here) although its still -20.


Once the sun goes down then you feel the cold the most. The sunsets are amazing and clear but once you are settled in the tent with stove and tilly lamp going you do not want to leave the tent for anything.
We ponder whilst we decide who goes first for the abseil into the abyss. At -20 its all hard work.





A super silly hat and glove shot of me.









Walking the line, roping up as we walk across the ice shelf which is full of crevasses. Its an interesting and daunting time. We go in pairs a rope's length between us and an ice axe at the ready should anyone fall into a crevasse.




someone has fallen in...

Nope, its just an ice cave. Down we go to have a look and see what we find???????





This is amazing. Its a bit of squeeze to get in but it all seems so delicate and brittle.

The ice is really so blue and the crystal structures so fine and detailed. Its like being in the centre of a million chandeliers. A tug on the rope and its time to let the next one down.

Tuesday, 27 March 2007

health and safety scenario



Evacuation from an explosion scenario.








help is at hand to immobilise and save the injured people








all happy in the make shift hospital.







well maybe not everyone









All hands to help the injured to the surgery








some have seen better days.

party days


The MELT TANK party...who hasn't been to a melt tank party? Well, when all of the summer staff leave after there hard work and sweat we all relax and enjoy the splendour of the melt tank with a few beers. The melt tank is actually where they shovel the snow for there water in the summer so best not to tell them what we do after they have left....



Not to worry it is thoroghly cleaned out afterwards....how many do you think we can fit in there? we;ll this year there was 13 and most stayed in until the sun went down which of course it didn;t so they made there way home in the early hours





Daves birthday party with a fancy dress 80's theme.

This is where it starts with a button moon showing the directions to other cities in the world, alas none close by, SF far far away.








Costumes, so what do they have on base that typifyes the 80's for me....well it would have to be modern romance







quick change into miami vice, forget the blue hand....








the met babes








the whole gang of winterers with a couple missing of course, can;t get everyone to join in all of the time.