Random Writings

Today was my last day at the office in Cambridge – I had to go in for a briefing on metereology, so I can now roughly sanity-check the met. reports that come in from field parties without having to refer them to a proper metereologist. It’s been kind of strange saying farewell to various people that I’ve met during my training: some people I’ll see again in Stanley or at Rothera, but many others I’ll only speak to on the phone or radio.

My flight details are all up-in-the-air (so to speak) again – according to the immensely patient Julia, the RAF flights to the Falklands have been operated by a charter contractor over the last few years (the TriStars are busy helping with some war, somewhere…) who uses a Boeing 747. Brize Norton is also having it’s runway rebuilt, so the planes are operating from RAF Fairford (better known as the base that hosts the USAF’s British detachment of B52s). Apparently, some ground vehicle has collided with the 747 (how? it’s big enough!) and damaged it, so they’ve got a much smaller Airbus aircraft that’s replaceing it until the 747 is fixed. This means that some civilians are being bumped from flights because there isn’t enough room. The MOD are assuring us that the 747 will be fixed before we want it, but it may just be that I don’t fly on the 25th with the MOD, but on the 27th with Lan-Chile or some other route.

The other excitements occurred over the weekend. In addition to my little brother getting married off, I also survived talking to various teenage students at a secondary school near Hull, and enthusing greatly about BAS. Most were amused by watching their classmates try on Antarctic clothing, and some (notably the yr 12s – lower sixth) were very keen to find out more about jobs… The staff were keen, too, so I think I may be invited back when I return from the South.

In other news, I’ve bought a pair of evil-looking red alpine-touring ski boots from the father-and-son team at Backcountry UK in Ilkley. They’re Scarpa Denali TTs, and Andy spent a whole afternoon with me getting them thermally fitted to my feet and adjusting the footbed to give the correct support. I’ll let you know how I get on with them when I start learning to ski, but I’ve been very pleased with the service they offered in getting them fitted.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2005 at 11:07 pm and is filed under Antarctica.