Booster Shot

Only in the past day or so have planes (carrying mail and fresh food) been flying. it's been about a month since we've gotten package mail (christmas presents are still sitting in NZ) or anything fresh (9000 pallets of fresh food rotted in Christchurch waiting for the planes to fly down here). it seems that everything was going wrong, but the clouds have cleared, broken down planes are fixed, the ice breaker is chopping up the channel again after being broken for over a week, so maybe things are turning around. i just got a package today (mailed December 9), and that has made my month so much brighter. my friend Liz got christmas cookies from her mom, but she was unable to enjoy them with all the green fuzz on them. however, she got a nice sweater as well... that's two sizes too big. oh well, it's a package and that's all that matters these days. carrying that package home under your arm is like winning the lottery.

the mail we got in last night was less than half of what is still there, and there are rumors that we will have fresh food by the end of the week. so things are definitely looking up as the summer season winds down.

another pick-me-up was that i was able to get out on a snowmobile to pack the trail to Room With a View. it's really just a long trail up towards Erebus to the top of a hill to look out at the peninsula where McMurdo is set. there really isn't any room- there's lots of wide open space, though. it was just my friend Deborah and me, we took off after work, and there was no wind whatsoever- except the wind we made for ourselves by riding. it was beautiful, and in one area, the trail dipped down into the low lying clouds. riding through the fog was pretty awesome. we didn't get back to town until around 2am, which made for a long next day, but it was worth it.

and right up there in things to make me happy, is the blasting that's been going on behind the building where i work. i get a front row seat everyday at 2:30 when they blow up the frozen rock. friends from other workcenters even come over to visit me and see the show. my replacement is flying in tomorrow, so i'll be starting my "new job" next week sometime already. it's funny to think where i was mentally this time last year. i had traveling on my mind, and i was just itching to leave. this year, i see planes flying north, and it doesn't even occur to me to wish to be on one. i just think, "plane in the sky". that's it. lots of good friends will be here, and i'm excited for my 25-pound bag of granola to get here that i ordered online last week.

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so i've been writing this email for a couple days now, and it's another day. the line above is me sleeping.

fresh fruits and vegetables came in last night! it's all anybody could talk about. no more greetings of "hi" or "how's it going"- it's all "hey, freshies came in!" and "i can't wait for a banana!" i had a discussion in the shuttle on my ride home from skiing out at Willy Field about what i would rather have to eat, a salad or a banana, because it just doesn't occur to anyone that we could have both.

i know some people who actually set their alarm clocks to get up in the middle of the night to go to the midnight meal for night shift workers. why? because they knew there would be fresh stuff served there. i didn't go because i thought i needed sleep more than anything else after staying up so late the night before, and i blew it off thinking the galley wouldn't be that quick to put it all out there. but i talked to some friends this morning, and they told me tales of gorging themselves on salads and apples. "are you sure you aren't thinking of last October?" NO! they would say, insisting it wasn't a dream. they showed me their stains on their clothes- the drippings of fresh tomatos. dang.

so at breaktime this morning, i went to the galley in hopes they would put out some fruit like they use to back in the day when big working planes were plentiful. no fruit. but then, my friend Marnie (who works in the galley) came out to say hi. we chatted, i asked about fruit bowls for break, and i was told that at only certain mealtimes will they be available. i asked wether or not they'd put out bananas. Marnie told me they were still not ripe enough. Ripe Schmipe, i said, bananas are what this place needs. so she offered to go get me one. she brought it out in a brown paper bag. as if i were involved in a drug deal, i finally got my banana. i will let it ripen for a day or two... maybe. i might just eat it.

take care,
Phil