Old friends and new horizons

We have just finished a run of five ships in five days and are starting to enjoy a week of ship-free life here at the Museum. On Monday 31st Jan, the German ship 'Hanseatic' came in, and on board as Expedition Leader was a very special friend I knew when I worked for BAS in 1975 - Dave Fletcher! I had a really bad crush on Dave then and spent the whole time following him round, fluttering my eyelashes at him but to no avail, sigh, so I was looking forward to meeting him again after all this time (35 years!) We had a chance to talk for a while and yes, he was just the same lovely man that I knew all those years ago. He doesn't seem to have changed at all, but this time he let me near enough to give me a great big hug! This job is GREAT - not only have I been able to meet up with old friends from many years ago, but as I wander around the Museum I see photographs of others I either worked with or knew well - life here is just one big sentimental journey for me!

To balance things the other way, I am always meeting expedition staff from the ships who have worked with Chris, and all the women rave about how great he is, and ... "give him my love!!!" so I think this makes it even!!

On Tuesday 'Ocean Nova' came in and we were invited on board for dinner before they left to continue their cruise. After dinner we were invited up into the bar where Keiron, one of the Government Officers here, talked about the South Georgia fisheries, and then we were all asked to introduce ourselves and say what we do here. I said I was a Museum Assistant, and hope they had noticed the clean mopped floors and loos during their visit, and they gave me a big round of applause, which was funny! (By the way, that isn't ALL I do, we are all involved in the cleaning routine, and I am getting to do bits and pieces for the Museum Curator, which I really like doing. as well as general Museum stuff and admin.)

On Wednesday morning I was offered the chance to go out on one of the BAS jet boats to take some people across the bay to survey the hut at Sorling, which is needing some attention. The crew came across to Grytviken and we met them at Tijuca jetty, near the Museum, and put our boat suits on, before going on board and hanging on tight!! Once clear of King Edward Cove near the base we picked up speed and just about flew across the water - these boats can do up to 30 knots, but as we were accompanied by one of the RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) we had to travel slower so it could keep up. I'm not very good at getting photos in the right place on my blog, but all the icy ones are from this trip, together with the picture of Hugh and Ashley on the roof of the hut. We landed at Sorling via the RIB and while Hugh, Ashley and Rob inspected and measured the hut, I wandered round looking at lichens, and evidence of reindeer presence on the Barff Peninsula (antlers, skulls, poo etc!) and took photos. Then, leaving Ashley and Rob to walk over to St Andrews Bay where they were camping and taking some time off, Hugh and I got back onto the jet boat to set off home, diverting slightly to have a closer look at the Nordenskjold Glacier and take lots of pictures. It was stunning - we got to within about half a mile of the glacier front - any nearer and we risked being swamped should a large chunk of ice calve from the glacier while we were there. This trip was such a treat for me, and I hope I can get out on the jet boat again soon.

There are two other blogs well worth looking at:

www.southgeorgiajournal.blogspot.com - is from Matt, one of the Boating Officers. He explains more about the BAS base and work, and

www.racingyachtmanagement.com/blog/ - is from Ashley, the other Boating Officer.

Both these blogs make me look a bit of a wimp when you see what they get up to, but as they are just about half my age I'm not too embarrassed!!!