The Night Carte

An irregular collection of Scott Base doings for May 1998

Mork, Ray, Eric, Helen, Chris, Pauline, Mike, Herm, Dave, Steve. Johno and Geoff enjoy morning tea This is not our normal morning tea but we thought it would be interesting to get a group photo. The buns look yummy but where extremely messy and its just as well we where wearing overalls.

Ross Is. Plunges into Darkness

Ten people from Scott Base and about twenty from McMurdo took the Polar Plunge on Sunday afternoon, 3 May. The sun had been down now for ten days although dusky light still graced the midday. With an ambient temperature of -30°C and a slight breeze, conditions were near perfect for the plunge. The water was, as usual, about -1°C.

Another plunger (Chris from McMurdo) takes to the water at Scott Base

The Scott Base Lido was abandoned in favour of the more easily constructed RO (Reverse Osmosis) hole extension. Swimmers used the traditional costume, sometimes called the "3 S’s" (socks, sneakers and a smile). A universal case of language degradation prevailed at the swim hole... something to the effect that "it is, indeed, very cold out today!". Veteran plunger Eric Trip, with 10 previous swims in the briny, was heard to say "concentrate, concentrate" as he put his Bunny Suit back on with numb fingers (so many zippers, so little on).

Tales of bravado and silliness abound in the bar afterwards as the plungers warmed up with soup, fresh bread and mulled wine. The next plunge happens at midwinter, when a larger number of people are expected to make the leap.

Engineer Rides on the Wild Side

In a spate of Teutonic efficiency, the Engineering Manager decided to pioneer a new route between McMurdo and Scott Base.

Having gone to Spanish at McMurdo, he was returning to Scott Base, as the much awaited Herbie of Friday 29 May 1998 was building. Mike ‘Z’ eased to a halt as visibility dropped to virtually zero, 80m past CosRay. He had just passed a marker and was going straight ahead, which proved to be an error, as the road curves up and to the left.

Under the cover of snow he inadvertently began his explorations. The vehicle gently tipped towards the right front wheel, which was hanging out in space, and slowly slipped over the edge of the road. Mike knew he was in serious trouble as the vehicle accelerated wildly and began to rock ‘n’ roll. All of a sudden, he was part of a ‘Crumpy’ ad. Bracing himself in the cab, he waited each time as the vehicle launched itself for another cycle and crashed to the ground. Rolling half a dozen times in 100m did little to improve the panelwork of T1, a Toyota Hilux. The vehicle came to a halt on its roof, intact, but a little crumpled.

This was what T1 looked like before Mike did the bouncy thing with it. You will have to use your imagination from now on.

Mike says he got out of the cab easily but his fingers rapidly became numb as he looked for his survival clothes. Careful not to let gear blow away in the 40kt winds he put on his salopettes, gloves and hat. The vehicle electrical system had died and with it, the radio. Mike decided to head back up to the road and walked into the base as people were getting worried and inquiring into his whereabouts.

A visit to the Doctor at McMurdo confirmed that he had got off very lightly with a scratch to his head and a sore shoulder. Indeed a night of small miracles for Mike.

I think I’ll take the high road Mike!

Work front.

One winter over person is happier again, now that the Tonka Toy is bright and shiny (we guess his affinity for playing in large yellow vehicles is a classic case of Tonka Toy deprivation).The Front End Loader got a new coat of paint this month and is back on the road, so pedestrian’s and buildings better watch out for Tonka Boy.

Beautiful Scenes

David Rosenthal, an American at McMurdo, exhibited some of his wonderful artwork at the MacTown Library on May 1.

David displayed about 15 small oil paintings, featuring ice and mountain scenes that would be very familiar to summer residents of Ross Island. Also on show were water colour paintings of the Dry Valleys and his sketch book from which he develops his paintings.

David wintered in 1996 as the resident artist at McMurdo. Although he is working full time at the BFC (Berg Field Center) this year, he finds time to teach drawing classes. There are eight paintings in the McMurdo Galley (dining room) which were co-operative efforts between David and his students in 1996.

Good Darts

Members of the Scott Base darts team rushed back from an art exhibition too late to catch the Pole and Davis playing darts in the first week of May. Casey, however popped up on 7995kHz and what must be the quickest three games so far this season ensued. Scott Base drew first blood, aided by Geoff popping a whopping 122 to get us down from 501 quickly. Steve capitalised with the double 17 to finish. Casey replied with a staggering drop to doubles that still had SB above 100. Casey didn’t miss a beat and finished neatly with a 4, double 2. Thirteen proved to be lucky for Scott Base, taking the third game in the thirteenth round with Eric scoring a double thirteen to finish.

In the second evening of darts this month, only South Pole came to the shooting match. In the first game the Polesters got down really fast, and threw the three, double four they required for a win before Scott could break the ton. Scott replied with a rapid descent, Pole keeping pace but Eric pulling out a three, double fifteen to complete the game. The third round went even quicker with Geoff and Chris popping in some good scores and Eagle Eye Eric doubling out from 34.

After a break of a week (the teams have decided to play fortnightly) Casey, Davis, South Pole and Scott Base met on the airwaves again. Scott Base rocketed downward in all the games, Chris putting in 129 to high score for the evening. Eric and Geoff doubled out in the first and last games respectively while South Pole took a win in the second and then ran. Davis saw the writing on the wall early and left the show after the first game.

Volleyball

The Scott Base team got a severe dumping from the Fourth World Whammers in the first game of the month. Outclassed from the outset, the Kiwis didn’t find form until the third game, when we caught up with the speed of play but still didn’t put the points on the board.

Eric, Helen, Ray and Rebecca actually won a game on Friday 15 May. Playing four on four against ? we took the first two games. The win was due to improving teamwork and ball skills.

On 22 May the team met its match... literally. In an enthralling game of long volleys the lead changed several times. The St. Charles team took the first game. Scott Base came back in the second as Chris joined the regulars who had kept the US team of five honest. The final game was punctuated with hard fought rallies but eventually went Scott Base’s way.

The Wham Bams defaulted the next Monday. So a friendly game of four on four had all the team displaying some good skills, especially in the area of ‘saving’ plays where the ball was kept live in difficult situations.

Pool Tournament Draws Crowd

Several members of the Scott Base crew have been playing pool in a pairs tournament. Just so no-one could gang up on anyone else, partners were drawn out of a hat.

Each pair has to challenge the other pair in their draw and move up the tree. Unfortunately several teams are dragging their heels and it looks as though enthusiasm is faltering. Seems a good time to make a new rule... play or forfeit!

Aerobics.

The sweat’s still pouring off some bodies on Friday nights. Hopefully it’s helping the bodies in question gain, ah, in the long run, some err... ..that’s right !... Fitness!

They must be getting a bit hard-up in the old Aerobics department, as Steve and Chris have each been seen taking the class for a session.

Apart from arms and legs going in opposite directions to everyone else, the classes went as well as previous weeks.

Hydroponics

The month of May has been quite fruitful (excuse the pun). Helen and I (Pauline) have managed to get enough lettuce and tomatoes for a salad a day. Considering we were very much 'Hydroponics 101' when we started we are happy with the progress made in the last couple of months.

One drama presented itself early on in the month. Helen and I were changing the water filter in one of the units when it came apart in our hands. Unfortunately we thought (and that is the operative word) that the pump was turned off, well I can quite emphatically state that "IT WAS NOT". The sequence of events that followed would have made us very rich should we have caught it on video and sent it into Funniest home videos. To start with, I managed to get the hell out of the way while Helen was still holding onto the hose that was pumping out water. Helen, thinking to stem the flow, was putting her hand over the top which made for a great shower going in every direction. After getting hit with the water I squealed which only made matters worse for me, as every time Helen looked in my direction the hose inadvertently was pointed at me. After what seemed like an eternity, we managed to get the hose under control, but not before it had emptied all the water from the tank onto the floor. Sadly Helen had just put 50 litres of water in. It is truly a good thing that the hydroponics unit started life as water tanks.

I learned a very valuable lesson a few days later. All the water that gets mopped up from the floor (about two buckets a day), was getting tossed out the door in front of the unit. Well, as it's water and as it's kinda cold outside, it turns to ice almost immediately. I had mentioned to Helen in the morning that maybe it wasn't such a great idea as it was getting really slippery. Well, you guessed it, I was walking past the unit on my way to the freezers when I hit it. I did a great Charlie Chaplin impersonation, trying to stay on my feet, and finished up sliding like a penguin right across the expanse of it. Since this incident we are NO LONGER throwing the water outside the door. We cleaned up the slippery patch too, so I no longer have to worry about getting laid out again. Phew !!!

SB gets Second Channel

A mixture of American goodwill and Kiwi ingenuity saw Scott Base get a second channel of television.

The Telecom Tech at Scott Base installed the American receiver only to find that the sound output had died. A bit of investigating showed that while the sound circuit in the receiver didn’t work, the sound was available on the video output at a different radio frequency. Not to be put off by this small problem, Eric modified a walkman radio to receive the sound signal and viola! words to go with the pictures.

A cable between the Telecom Room and the Mess carries the now complete TV signal to our ‘Lounge’ corner. The original, slowly being improved, Movie Channel appears on the same TV. Now... who’s going to control the remote?

"Hey guys...."

This, the third exciting update on the Q Hut refurbishment, is somewhat shorter than previous epistles. This is not because there hasn't been much achieved - au contraire - it's just that the project has reached the stage where not much is seen for the same amount of effort.

The plant room has been the major benefactor over the past month. It not only contains the new superbly efficient air handler, and all its necessary piping attachments, but also has the sprinkler tank installed awaiting connection. That'll occur as soon as the ducting taking air to and from the handler is in place.

Johno's delightfully small cell is decorated in the new resort colour scheme. For a while it was a lovely fire resistant pink colour, but now the ceiling is pure virgin white with the walls a contrasting almond ivory. Add to this an aqua blue door (probably next month) and we have the most upmarket plant room at Scott Base!

The upper storey has been plastered, and in some places painted. It has doors fitted to the library and carrel area. Timber mouldings to the windows and doors complete the picture. Ray has been hard at work making sure that all his wires are in place before they are covered over but not always succeeding. Hence the plaintive cry "Hey guys , any chance of taking that sheet of gib down before the plaster dries?"

All in all we must be getting somewhere if the grunts of approval from various visitors are to be believed.

Scott Base People

Ray Young

Hi, I’m Ray, the electrician at Scott Base this year.

Born in Wellington, my youth passed in various places around the North and South Islands, finally settling in South Canterbury.

I went to Temuka High School where I gained a healthy hatred for homework and study. After 5th form and School Cert., I went into the work force in search of an electrical apprenticeship. Several jobs later: milking machine fitter / farm equipment engineering, mobile sheep dip, squash picking , fish filleter, farm labourer etc, I became apprenticed to the South Canterbury Electric Power Board. Six months after completing a 4 year apprenticeship I was running the department I was trained in.

During those, and the next three years, I took up Ballroom Dancing where I met my wife to be, Sandra and we were married five years later. I also went on an Outward Bound course, helped set up a Young Lions (Leo) club, learned how to shoot a .22 and shotgun (demolishing many rabbits and possums in the process) and did my first parachute jump. I love doing the odd wild thing. Bungee jumping is still more scary than jumping out of an airplane.

While with SCEPB I started some computer systems maintenance (hardware stuff) and a bit of industrial control maintenance. I found I liked the work and was reasonably good at it. To assist me in my job, I completed three advanced trade courses: Industrial Electronics, Heavy Industrial Electrical and Process & Control Systems. I then started working for the Pareora freezing works and found I still had a lot to learn. I got as much experience as I could in industrial maintenance over the next three years, and did a little PLC programming besides.

After hours, I took up Rock 'n' Roll Dancing and found it a great way to meet new people while having a great time. Later I landed a job at the Tui Milk Company, in Pahiatua, just out of Palmerston North. A milk processing and butter plant, it was a modern, automated facility with various high tech, computer and automation control systems. It was like a dream come true. In the first two weeks I learnt more than I had in the previous two years. I enjoyed every minute of the year and a half I was there. In some of my spare time after work I would help a friend of mine who had started up a computer repair and software installation business. This was another field I had always been interested in and assisting him complemented my other electrical skills.

Alas, all good things come to an end and a merger with another company saw my job disappear. On my final day at Tui Milk Products, I was told that I had the electrician’s position (tentatively) at Scott Base (another wish come true). Sometimes good things come to those who wait !!

Now at Scott Base, one of my winter projects has been learning how to create an internet web page to answer many of the questions that people ask me about the life down here. It’s partly finished and covers several topics at this stage. I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. The Web address is: www.pageplanet.com/coolrunner/

Sandra and I will be going on an overseas holiday when I get home. Christmas will be with friends in Scotland (as if I haven't already seen enough snow and ice) after which we’ll go around Europe and Hawaii until mid February. Beyond that, who knows where we’ll be, or what I’ll be doing this time next year.

Cheers!!! Ray

A Day in the Life of the Geek

So ya wanna know about the day of the geek? Well chances are that you aren't really that interested, but Eric has been asking me to do something for a few months now. Guilt has finally got the better of me (a rare occurrence), and I will now fill you in on the mysterious and spiritual world of the Scott Base Science Technician.

So if you are Herm, the day starts ugly, very ugly. Speech is not an option, breathing difficult, combing hair completely out of the question. That "just hopped out of bed" look CAN be maintained with a little effort, and so the stylish image of the geek is established. Practical yet creased, almost colour co-ordinated yet scruffy. It may look like I have thrown on what ever occupied the floor of my bedroom, but keeping up this level of sophisticated attire is no easy task.

Hermione Binnie

So looking gorgeous I stumble into the mess. This is the low point of the day, and it is imperative that a fake smile is cemented to your face before pushing open the door. Why? Simple answer - Mork the Mean Morning Man and his Masochistic Music!!! But really, I do enjoy 100 Yodeling Greats sung by Billy Bob and his Farmyard Herm's Hard-Case HairCats, especially at high volume. Character building to say the least. That horrific hurdle overcome, I stagger up to the Hatherton Lab ready to give my all to the world of data.

Some of the equipment in the Hatherton Lab

My job here is to maintain and run any science equipment left at Scott Base. What the engineers do for the buildings, I do for science. At this point any attempt at detail will just make you flip the pages quicker. Admit it! If I actually started writing about disk and tape changes, calibrations and scales - you would stop reading and go on to the next article. But ya know, some of the stuff is pretty darn cool. Earthquakes, Auroras, Storms, Ozone Holes, Poo Sampling, Alien Encounters (just checking to see whether you are still reading) - I mean that's quite exciting isn't it? Well, I can think of things that are much more dull, like doing dishes or shoveling snow or cleaning the fluff from under your bed.

So abandon your personality, throw away your fashion sense, give up your social life - become a geek! You may not have many friends left, but you can always talk to your equipment. It hardly ever answers back and never makes you pay for lunch. Embrace your nerdy side, you know you want to......

This article sponsored by Science Techs Anonymous, our motto "you can never have too much data".

And another Base Personality...

Pauline Nunns

Hi, my name is Pauline Nunns. I have a lot of nicknames but none that I'd care to divulge. I am the chef here at Scott Base.

Like Eric and Mork I am from a large family. I was born in Wellington, one of four girls and sister to four brothers. I am extremely proud of my family and we are all very close. Some more than others, my parents, two brothers and a sister all live in the same street!!! My parents are still in the same house that I grew up in.

After all my years of schooling, I had a fairly mediocre result and had absolutely no idea what I wished to do. My Mother suggested cooking as I was relatively competent at it and helped with all the home cooking, and I said "why not". After some rejection (being a female seemed to count against me) I decided the best course of action would be to get some kind of experience so that it would be easier to obtain a traineeship. After several years working in all kinds of establishments I eventually put myself through the London City and Guilds course, three years part time.

At the age of twenty four and in my last year of my course, my Father set me up, financially, in my own bakery.

What an experience!!! For the first three years I consistently clocked up 100 hr working weeks, dropping to an average of 70 to 80hrs for the next three and a half years. I got my cooking qualifications with good marks during the first year of owning the bakery. I completed an extra year, part time, doing a patisserie certificate. Much of those years seems to have passed by in a blur. When I wasn't working, I was catching up on sleep. In fact I got so good at catching forty winks, I managed to be able to do it while: driving the car (fortunately here to tell the tale), standing up with my head resting on the oven, in class with my head on my folder, and at a social function with 300 odd people dancing singing and generally having a good time around me. While I had the bakery, I diversified and went into catering and cake decorating. Cake decorating became a great way to apply my creative skills and I was quite well known in Wellington by fellow decorators for my particular style. In fact if the cake was different or unusual it was almost certainly assumed to be one of my creations. After six and a half years of the bakery I'd had enough and sold the business.

I traveled to the United States two weeks after selling my bakery and landed a job as a restaurant manager in South Pasadena. Bristol Farms was one of the most upmarket food stores in Los Angeles. We sold such items as Kobe Beef that retailed at $129.00 per pound (454gms), and truffles that sold for $60 per oz (28gms). It was an incredible learning experience and my management skills improved immensely. After six months I was relocated to the new store, in Woodland Hills, and spent a further six months with the company before deciding to come home.

Since being home, I have worked on a more casual basis. Prior to getting the job down here, I was tutoring, part time, at the Wellington Polytechnic for the School of Fashion and Food. I really enjoyed teaching and would like to tutor again sometime in the future.

I truly feel lucky to have got the position as chef down here at Scott Base. It's an amazing place and I couldn't have asked for a better crew to be share the winter with.

So, what happens when I leave here? I'm going to spend four months back home in Wellington upskilling in A La Carte cooking, and then I'm off overseas. I've thought about cruise ships, private launches or possibly even an oil rig. Who knows....? That's it from me!

What’s HOT and what’s NOT

Batteries left at a high charge rate for several hours are HOT. The smell they emit in this state is NOT... it is, however, strongly reminiscent of hotsprings. We’ve got the hot tub, we’ve got the smell... now, who’s going to be the poi girls in our Whakarewarewa of the south?

Dropping the water from the hydroponics on the ground outside is NOT, especially at -30°C when it freezes (surprise, surprise). We can add another to the ‘S’ club at Scott Base; we’ve now got Schleeve, Schlide, Schleepy and maybe the Hydroponics Technicians could be grouped as Schloppys. Mike makes a late entry as Schlip.

Chipping the ice away from the hydroponics is HOT, hot work that is, otherwise it’s NOT!

Storms from the South are HOT, well... at least luke warm at -5°C. Before a Herbie hits the temperature can rise to around -5°C as the dry air from the Polar Plateau gains about a degree for every 100m it drops (known as the Adiabatic Lapse Rate). As the Polar Plateau is at 3000m, a thirty degree increase in temperature occurs.

Chilly Con Carne for dinner on Saturday night was indeed HOT. Spending Saturday night cleaning up the mess in the freezer is NOT. The bag holding the remains to be frozen broke, emptying the contents all over Mork, the freezer, and leaving a trail through the kitchen.

Warm and Windy

This month saw temperatures peak at -5.1°C but these warm temperatures normally occur only prior to Southerly Storms. Herm got to ‘flick the switch’ on the anemometer as the winds of May gusted past 80kts on Friday 29. The switch doubles the scale on the wind speed recorder. The highest gust registered at about 92kts (170kph) while sustained winds of about 70kts drummed against Scott Base for about two hours.

The weather summary for May:

Max Temperature: -5.1°C

Min Temperature: -42.7°C

Average Temperature: -25.3°C

Rainfall: 0mm (the usual)

Max Wind: 92 kts, South

Bits and Pieces

The hockey players have reached new heights, in that they not only play the game but they've also developed a taste for watching American Ice Hockey on the box. They've even challenged McMurdo to come up with a team for the Nigel Cup (who's Nigel?) The Americans need to come up with three (real) females for their team, however, to match the Kiwi female trio of Bruiser Binnie, Plucky Pauline and Hel for shins Ryrie.

Ben Mann from McMurdo came over to Scott Base to pen a few caricatures. See if you can spot your Antarctic friend from these....

The Night Carte hard copy compiled and edited by Eric

The Night Carte HTML version edited and posted on the internet by Ray

www.geocities.com/coolrunnernz/

9-3-01