Contact!

Yes, its true, it's true, it really is. And you had to hear about it from someone elses web diary! Apologies. The winter is officially over; we've had our first visitors. It's true. Bizarre, odd, quite nice to see friendly faces and wonderful to see mail... strangely normal, just right, and then they left.

Two Dornier planes arrived at 18:32 and 18:40 zulu last Saturday each carrying two pilots and an engineer on their way to the German station, Neumayer. We knew they were meant to be coming but didn't really expect to see them as the weather was pretty rotten here all day. Truth be told, I don't think British planes would have come in similar conditions, especially considering what great weather we've been having lately.

Anyway, they flew from Punta Arenas to Rothera on Friday (6 hours?), Rothera to Halley on Saturday (5 hours) and then left us an hour later to reach Neumayer about three hours later. Suddenly made me feel very close to the rest of the world, very accessible, not at all isolated. And I missed the comfort of isolation. It is over. Have we been this accessible the whole time? Was the darkness just on our imaginations? No, I reminded myself, no, we were inaccessible, it is remote, in the winter Antarctica is twice the size it is now and the sea ice, darkness and temperatures would make it nigh on impossible to visit. Phew. I don't know why I was glad to know that but it seems I'm not quite ready for the reality of reality quite yet. Soon, but not yet.

Where was I? The Dorniers. Ah yes. Yes, it was exciting. We all bundled off to the skiway, the skiway that has been created in the past few weeks. Drums have been laid as a runway, a caboose fired up for the air mechs and poor old Gareth has been lovingly grooming that patch of snow to make it nice and flat for weeks it seems. And then someone pointed to the sky. There it was, just like a toy plane. It was a toy plane! Low contrast and lots of whiteness around us meant it really looked like you could reach out and pick it up. No perspective, remember? Then we heard the buzz just before it dropped out of the sky and stopped. At the second drum. Gareth was not amused! Plane number one tootled off to refuel and plane number two eventually appeared. This one seemed to confuse which drumline was the skiway to start with and we thought he might land on the Laws by mistake. But no, around he came, lower and lower, a beautiful descent and long cruise past 10 drums before turning off. Much better. My favourite part is when the pilots or passengers wave to you while still in the air. It's all so close!

After the whirring stopped they all climbed out, smiling and friendly. A box of bits, a bag of post, stories of the other world (nothing has changed) and then huddle off to phone Neumayer and discuss matters of import. We had flown the flag, made the beds, prepared for a party.. but no, they were going to try and continue on to Neumayer that night. Fair enough, it was great to see them for the hour or two they were here and they'll be popping by on their way back anyway.

By the time they left, I was cold. I hadn't dressed right for standing outside not doing much. I was cold, but I was also happy to be cold – it's been so warm lately I feared I would never be cold again! I wear the same clothes as I did the last two summers but am literally dripping, melting. T-shirts under overalls are now all you need outside. It's funny to notice yourself change – last year I didn't understand these people who wore only two layers at -10 or -20C, I thought they were showing off but must be cold really. Now really, I am melting on my way back from the lab in the clothes I wore last year. Funny.

We came back, we warmed up and ate some dinner. And then to the post. I received letters sent last January, letters sent a few weeks ago, birthday cards, christmas cards, hello cards... lots of smiles, a few happy tears, everyone was a bit nostalgic that night. And it's true, when the planes come in, the summer starts, you know it all will be coming to an end soon... it does change things. In some ways for the better: there have been more social evenings, more time spent really talking, more time spent actively enjoying our current peace. In some ways worse: we all become that bit lazier, a few more home-truths come out, that extra effort exerted early on is gone... but it's ok, it's comfortable, thankfully we have a very solid team of winterers this year. Still, the time is coming, I feel it and to my surprise, I'm ready for it. I'm ready to leave now.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

PS Thanks for all the great cards from all around the world!

Posted by Rhian at 23:36 EST

Comments

Hi Rhain,
I have been thinking of you as our days become shorter and more blustery, knowing that yours are filling up with light and warmth. Strange how the same sun that nourishes us gives us such a different perspective on what a "day" is. I look forward to your visit to CA (whenever that may be) to have some long nights staying awake discussing whatever and drinking tea. Let's make it a date. Put it in your calendar, sometime in the next two years.
Big hugs to you, Dorkus

Posted by: dorkus at 5:34 EST, December 11, 2004