Wednesday 22 June 2005
Midwinters Day
Midwinter's Day started early for me as tradition dictates that the Winter Station Commander cooks everyone breakfast in bed on Midwinter's morning. Requests varied, from smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and a glass of fresh orange juice to a slice of toast or a bacon butty with extra brown sauce. One of the other early risers was our chef Kev, who started cooking up a storm for the mid-winter meal.
The highlight of the day was the arrival of Santa at 2 o'clock to hand out the mid-winter presents. We all pick a name at random at the beginning of the winter and make a present for them. Traditional they have always been of the highest quality and this year was no exception. Some of the highlights included a puppet of an Antarctic explorer, a clock made from the wheel of a sno-cat and an electric table lamp made from the body of a kerosene burning tilly lamp.
I received an incredible working steam engine, made by Jamie our plumber, which was not only spectacular to watch in action but a work of art too. I made a brass weather vane for Steve which powered a moving figure digging the melt tank. It took a lot of polishing but I'm pleased with the result!
After all the excitement some people settled down to watch "Scott of the Antarctic" while the preparations for the meal continued. Kev had produced a truely amazing six course menu offering no less than 28 separate choices from Roast Patagonian Toothfish to Baked Alaska with Raspberry Coulis and everything in between. The quality more than matched the quantities and that was saying something - there was a LOT of food!
By the time we'd finished eating it was all we could do to roll ourselves into the lounge and await the midwinter broadcast on the BBC World Service. This is an annual half hour show which includes messages from our friends and families and an interview with a celebrity. Now we're online we were able to listen to it over the web, which improved the quality significantly compared to trying to pick it up on the HF radio. You can listen to the show here.
After that we called one of the other BAS bases on the satellite phone then settled down at the bar for a few drinks to finish off another very memorable midwinter's day. You can see a gallery of all the events of the day here.
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