Lectures
We are still very stuck. The winds have dropped which has reduced drifting, but there is still complete cloud cover, the contrast is low, the forecast is poor and the runway will need two days of clearing. Thursday is now looking optimistic, with maybe Sunday a more realistic date for flying out. The team have spent their time sorting stuff, helping out around camp, visiting the ice cave (where the food stores are kept – see photo below) and becoming pupils at the regular lectures that are put on here. Since the lecture on Scuba diving we’ve learnt about Andree, a Swedish Ad
venturer, who tried to balloon to the North Pole and that Amundsen was the first person to see the North Pole (and he was the first person to the South Pole, beating Scott); we’ve also learnt that these adventurous types tend to perish before their 
time. Andree’s balloon came down before the Pole and, despite surviving the crash, the team died from illness (their bodies were found 33 years later). Amundsen died when he attempted to rescue another ill-fated balloon expedition. It’s a strong hint that we should stick to teaching, not get tempted by the expeditioner’s lifestyle. By the rules of camp we have to live off our own rations for the first six days of delay and then we can go and eat in the staff mess tent where they are provided with three, incredible cooked meals a day. We have enough food, but the problem is that we’ve been trying to avoid the chilli con carne throughout the trip. Everytime we pulled the chilli out of the bag – it went straight back in again and we chose something else. Unfortunately thishich means that the next four days are all chilli con carne … oh dear!
So now, as promised yesterday, to answer some of your questions…… I have four pairs of pants with me on the trip although I only have three of them in Antarctica. I have one clean pair waiting for me in Punta (when we eventually get there!). There are four teachers and two guides with two people in each tent. If you used the tents back in the UK you could probably fit three people in them but because we have so much kit with us here in Antarctica it would be too cramped for any more than two per tent. We have enough rations with us for 36 days on the ice and we have currently been here 31 days so we still have plenty of food left although it is mostly Chilli con carne which is my least favourite. The highest temperature has been 2 degrees and the coldest recorded air temperature has been -21 degrees. However if the wind is strong it makes it feel much colder. The strongest wind we have had is 68 miles per hour. If you click on the “weather comparison” page on the right you will see the updated weather stats. Yes we have got 24 hour daylight which is strange making it hard to get to sleep sometimes. We have two solar panels and a small generator which we use to power the laptop and the satellite phones. Happy birthday to Nia 12BF, Andrew 12HB, Meriem 11VB, Joe 11VB, Tom 10TB, Matthew 10JH and Kay 7KA.
