Wednesday 13th February 2013

Today we had a day off and a sleep in and it was great. We had a team meeting at 10:00 (Chris was late which pissed Cookie off no end. We were given our permanent rooms and I basically spent the whole day cleaning my filthy bathroom, toilet and bedroom. I don’t think they had been seriously cleaned in years, and after all the summer’ers and visitors during resupply, the whole station is an absolute mess. We have loads of washing to do and piles of rubbish to burn or recycle which will take weeks to get on top of. 

Saturdays we do communal chores, so a lot if the mess will be cleaned up then and each day we will tackle a little bit more. Also we have to tidy everything up outside in time for when the snow and ice returns and covers everything up again. My operations building is a mess too and this also will take a long time to fix up. But at least I can now relax in my clean comfy room and sleep warm in my nice feather doona Putu snuck into my belongings. I also now have my humidifier setup and working. The air is so dry down here for the last three weeks I have been suffering blood noses and bad sinus problems, also my feet have dried out and have very painful cracks so I have to rub lanolin into them twice a day, and my hair feels like straw. (Starting to look like straw too) Humans are just not adapted to live in these conditions. 

Putu also snuck several presents into my gear which was a very nice touch. I think I have brought way to many cloths with me, but it’s very hard to know what to bring. The other good thing to happen is I have now got all my booze and personal effects. It is so nice to enjoy a nice red after dinner. I just realized I have been so busy unpacking and cleaning today that I haven’t gone outside. The forecast for Saturday is for a blizzard and 60 knot winds.