I'm posting this a bit early because I'm off to live in a melon hut at the Sky-blue station for a week……..I'll explain it all when I get back……..
Ok, in answer to everyone's question 'have you made any work yet?'………yes, but not in the way everyone 's expecting. I've transported piles of refractory bricks and materials all the way from the UK so that I can build a small glass furnace on the base, I'm going to try and get the temp to 1200 C and melt some of the waste glass bottles (no shortage of supply……..)to do some experimental work with the hot glass and ice. I've been allocated a space outside at the back of the base where I can build it away from other buildings for obvious reasons, but this needs to be cleared of a mountain of stones, making the area flat and building them up to provide some shelter from the wind. Everyone's been very busy with unpacking supplies and recycling the packaging since the ship left, so basically I've been helping around base and waiting for the JCB digger to be fixed. I've enjoyed having a period of getting to know how the base functions instead of launching straight in to making things.
The 'miracle span' is where all the recycling happens, and I've spent sometime working with Andy in there. All the paper, cardboard and plastic is separated and squeezed by a machine into manageable blocks which are then shipped all the way back to the UK. Everyone's really sick of how much packaging comes on stuff that's delivered, especially plastic. When you're living within a small enclosed circuit of consumption and waste, the problems of waste in the community becomes so much more glaringly obvious.
I'm actually quite drawn to the plastic, and have been using it to make some work – its transparency and abundance seem as much part of the base as the ice and snow.
I ran a 10k race dressed as a penguin, drank too much and danced in the sledge store on new years eve. The band was brilliant.
