Tradegy Strikes!!!

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Ok, so it isn’t actually that bad, or really bad at all for anyone else apart from myself. In fact, it’s kind of trivial and in all honestly, to be expected. The thing is, ive only gone and twisted my knee and ripped a few ligaments after what I can only say myself, was an absolute beauty of a wipe out while snowboarding on the hill at the weekend. The thing is, I obviously thought I was much better than I actually am and that it would be a really great idea to join in with a race down the hill with the boss and Jake, who, I must add, are quite good. The inevitable happened and the resulting face plant into the ice also managed to twist my knee and damage the ligaments. Doh!
Luckily, the base doc was on hand to look after and issue some TLC. After limping out of the surgery with my 400mg ibuprofen in one hand, I decided to go into the bar and take some of my own painkillers, about 10 bottles of Stella!! Unfortunately that only seemed to make matters worse on Sunday and I had to unfortunately take the morning off in bed recovering.
What made it even worse was that the ship was arriving on Sunday evening for relief to restock the base and my injury meant I would have to sit out the traditional base versus ship grudge footy match!! Bugger. Obviously the bases 1 nil loss was put down to my not being able to play and I even made it to the front page on the bases daily newspaper. Oh well, hopefully all will be well for the ships second call along with the HMS Endurance which is arriving in January with none other than Princess Anne on board. More about that one in future issues though, I still need to find out whether or not she can find room to bring her daughter Zara along.
Some good news came out of the ship obviously. We now have fresh food on base!!! Woohoooo. Up to now, due to the main Dash 7 plane being broken and not flying in, our meagre supply of goodies dwindled and disappeared pretty damn quickly. No fresh fruit or salad, no juice, more importantly seriously rationed on the alcohol front as well. All that has changed and all at a cracking time on base with Xmas and New Year just a few days away. The chefs should all look after us on that front and we have actually been promised Xmas day off, only we have to work for most of Sunday to make up for it. However, the large supply of Christmas crackers and decorations which have suddenly sprung up should make for a good one. Piccies and report to follow im sure.
Anyway, back to the real world, well kind of. The job in hand. We now have what resembles a building, what with all the side panels going on and giving Bransfield House some walls at last. Also, our fellow workers arrived when the Dash finally flew so we are now fully loaded for a month or 2 and need to get cracking, or so the boss keeps telling us. Never an easy job with the conditions we have here but we are struggling on none the less.
The sea ice has completely blown away from all sides of the base as well now, opening the coast up to a lot more different animals. We were blessed with the presence of some chinstrap penguins the other day, just chilling by the runway. Along with Adelies as usual and yesterday we watched from the top of the building as a leopard seal stalked the coast hoping to find some little pingoos to munch up for his dinner. Scary looking animals I can tell ya.
Ok, that’s me updated for a while. I shall write again some time after xmas but don’t forget to keep in contact yourselves and let me know all the goings on wherever you may be.

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Photos

Leopard Seal
Looking for dinner on the beach

Headline Grabber!!
Desperation after i bust my knee.

James Clark Ross
The ship, more importantly, fresh goodies arrive.

Footy Match
Playing on the runway, while i ref in the background because of my knee. Bugger.

Weddell Seal
Sound asleep on the beach