Organised chaos

Today has been a day of domestics. Well, in between catching up on sleep that is! I've also been trying to get things organised for packing on Sunday. Easier said than done! I have a tendency towards being a little chaotic and so organisation is not one of my strong points. Add to that the fact that I get distracted easily, and you do not have a recipe for effective packing! So today, I've spent the time wandering around the house moving things from one place to another, in the hope that at some point, all the things that I want to take with me will end up in the same place. Up to now, that's not happened! I still have things that I'm taking strewn around the house - boots at the front door, rucksack in the spare room, water bottles in the kitchen, etc. It would probably help if I could decide which room I wanted everything to end up in - ie which room will play host to the eventual packing extravaganza, but that seems to change on a regular basis.

Tomorrow I'm going for my expedition hair cut and pedicure........ so what if my toes won't see the light of day for 2 weeks - at least I'll know they look nice!! It feels as though I'm going away for a really long time, much more than the 2 weeks or so that I'll actually be gone. It's probably because the preparations have been quite significant in comparison to a holiday of the same duration. So much kit to buy, things to read, arrangements to be made etc. It'll be a relief to finally set off!!

Boogie with the penguins

I've now arrived back home from China, so the countdown is well and truly on. I had a really lovely surprise when I got home. There was a good luck card in the mail from my cousin Clare and her two boys, Piper and Patrick. I was really touched!! There was also a photo of them with a note asking if there was room in my bag to take it with me. So, Piper, of course I'll take it to Antarctica, and will do a little "Happy Feet" boogie with the penguins.

I know this is a short message, but I've been up for about 23 hours, and I'm shattered! Only 4 more sleeps until I set off again for Argentina!!!

The 3 degrees

Well, this is my last night in China! Felt quite strange today as it is the my last proper day at work before I go to Antarctica. The team here were really funny, joking about me getting frozen in time and someone discovering me in about 3000 years from now, with the Asia Pacific risk profile still on my computer! But, this is it!! I'm on my way home tomorrow, then next stop Antarctica!!!!

Today I've been trying to find out when the rest of the Akzo Nobel team are arriving in Buenos Aires. I was sure I was going to be the first so just wanted to know when I would have company. One of my colleagues from the US is arriving just about the same time as me, so at least I'll have someone to explore the city with on my first day there. The rest of the team are arriving at different times during the day after, so I'm sure by the end of the day we'll all be sitting in the bar toasting the adventures to come.

I've been checking on the team already down in the south and they have posted some more film footage. It was quite amusing to watch them erecting the E-home. Especially as there was some time lapse footage of them furnishing the place! It's a rather balmy 3 degrees down there at the moment - bet it's colder than that in Consett!!

Solar panels aplenty

It's been great being over here in China for the past couple of days. Everyone seems to be really interested in our expedition to Antarctica. I'm forever being asked questions about it, which is good as it shows that there is real interest in what we are doing. It also shows that the publicity is working!

One of the things I've noticed over here is the number of apartment buildings. I was in a city called Suzhou for the first part of the week, which is less metropolitan than Shanghai, and there were rows upon rows of tower blocks, like you would see rows of terraced houses over in the UK. You think of China as being such a vast country, but in the cities, population must really be an issue. But, more noteworthy than that was that every tower block and house had solar panels on the roof. Is it out of necessity, or is China streets ahead of the West when it comes to renewable energy? Either way, we should take a leaf out of their book as I can't remember the last time I saw solar panels in Europe.

I've also taken a little time to catch up on what's going on our team members already in the south. There isn't any new film footage on the site, but there are some photos and a diary entry which show that the e-home is now up and they have moved in. I also checked out the temperature and was rather pleased to see that it was 1 degree Celcius. Well that must be a first - me being pleased with a temperature just above freezing!!!!

The dreaded Drake's Passage

As part of the Inspire Antarctica Expedition 2008, Robert Swan was going to live at the e-base at Bellingshausen station, for 2 weeks before the rest of the expedition arrived, and survive solely on renewable energy. The advance party arrived there yesterday and are trying to set up their home. Unfortunately, it's proving a little windy, and so things haven't gone quite to plan. However, they are there and they are broadcasting, so check out http://ebase.2041.com/ .

It's quite a good site - there's some photos of the team that are out there now, plus some film footage. It's quite amazing to think that they are there now, and in a week or so, I'll be there to join them!! I got really quite excited when I saw the film. It made it all a lot more real.

There were pictures, however, of Drake's Passage, which is notoriously rough, and it made me think about how I'm going to handle the sea sickness. I know for sure that I'll suffer, but how I deal with it is up to me. I can take some sea sickness tablets and know that I'll be pretty much knocked out for a couple of days, or I can grin and bear it, and suffer for a couple of days. I'm just not sure which direction to go in. I do have some of those sea sickness bands, but can't help thinking that they're for the occasional ferry crossing that might get a little bit lively, not for the roughest sea crossing known to man!!

Morning people

One of the good things about travelling and being away from home is that it gives you a little bit of time to yourself. The domesticity of normal life is removed, because someone else cooks dinner, prepares breakfast, makes the bed, drives you to work etc, and you don't even have to consider what to wear because that decision was probably made when you packed. So once you remove all those daily chores, you are left with some (granted, not a lot!) time to do some of the more indulgent things - relaxing in the bath, reading in bed and watching tv. Well, they're my indulgent things anyway! With that in mind, I brought myself a couple of books to read. One of them is one that I was lent by a work colleague - The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Gerrard, who was part of Scott's expedition to the South Pole. I've been trying to get around to reading it for a while, but just don't seem to have had the time. Hopefully over the next couple of days, I'll be able to make a start. The other book I brought is one by Robert Swan - Destination Antarctica. I've got a couple of his books and I've been trying to get through them before I go. Maybe I'll just take them with me instead.

I've been trying to imagine what the expedition is going to be like and how I'm going to handle it. The thing I think I'm most worried about is how I'm going to manage being with so many people constantly for 2 weeks. Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm just not a morning person. But more than that, I struggle if surrounded by people who are. To me, morning people = noise and that's one thing I can't handle when I've just woken up! Actually, it's not just the noise, it's being expected to respond. I've learnt some tricks over the years to help me deal with morning situations where I'm surrounded by people who are more awake than I am. They usually involve looking intently in another direction, or wandering off somewhere, or if all else fails, pretending to be asleep! Maybe this expedition will teach me tolerance! I was going to say that I may come back a morning person myself, but no, that would need a miracle!

Giant memory stick

It doesn't seem that long since I last wrote my blog. Because I'm flying for most of the day, I thought I'd write this quite early. So, I'm sat here in the lounge at Newcastle airport awaiting a delayed flight to Amsterdam. The flight is delayed so much that it is making my connection to Shanghai really quite tight. But, I'm trying not to get concerned about it. After all, there's nothing I can do, so there's no point worrying! Well, I might just treat my self to an early afternoon gin and tonic!

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to decide whether or not to take my laptop to Antarctica with me. The main reason I would want it is so I'm able to download other people's photos. But today I think I have found just the gadget - an external hard drive that will store up to 45,000 photos!! Perfect! And really quite compact too. Like a giant memory stick!