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The Saturday night UNO game with the required nose wear.
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Beach party with the wall of Canada Glacier in the background.
From Andrew Fountain, 22nd January 2000
Dear All,
Its another week of work. Robin and I have been on the disabled list as we have had some variety of flu and or cold. We have been working at less than full pace. However, we have been able to map out much of the channel on Taylor Glacier. Robin will write more on this later. The weather has been good, a few degrees below freezing and generally clear skies. This has made for cheery field work. For this note, I would like to concentrate on one aspect of our field experience that is little talked about - entertainment. One is often asked, what do you do for entertainment? We are lucky in that we have a nice heated hut for meals and working on data (we sleep in tents). The hut acts as the entertainment center on Saturday nights. Helicopters don't fly on Sundays and work in McMurdo also ceases. So we have light duties on Sunday, taking time for ourselves, maybe work in the lab or on data, take walks, and so on. Most importantly, Sunday is shower day. Showers are limited to a bag of hot water with a mini shower head. One stands in a drip pan, originally used to collect oil drippings from a generator, and pour water from the water bag suspended from the ceiling and wash your hair and body. Typically, only a gallon or two of water is used.
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Click on image for larger version The Saturday night UNO game with the required nose wear. |
Click on image for larger version Beach party with the wall of Canada Glacier in the background. |
Although Saturday is a full work day, we relax in the evening knowing that Sunday is light. The entertainment changes from year to year. In past years, Saturday night activities included the table traverse, where one traveled from the top of a table, across the underside, and back to the top along the length and/or width without touching the floor. This year its the game of UNO. The major variation to the game played in camp is that each participant has to wear an animal nose (see photo). Don't ask me why, its just camp life. In addition to UNO, and like past years, we relax on the beach if the weather is warm enough. The beach is sandwiched between the Canada Glacier and Lake Hoare. The 20 m high wall of the glacier provides a wind block in addition to a reflecting surface for the sun. At about 10 pm, the sun shins directly on the wall and if the winds are light, the beach becomes a comfortable lounging spot with great views over the frozen lake. It is usually warm enough to take off your shoes and some times one can strip down to shorts.
Andrew