I’m going to start this post firstly by apologising for the tardiness, apologies Toms mum and aunt, and by saying that this was a Christmas I will never ever ever ever forget for a whole host of reasons, one of them being the wrong reason...
Since my last post not much has really happened on base and life has been ticking over in the countdown to Christmas. The only thing to note that I can remember was being on Gash last Wednesday. Gash can have a whole host of meanings...down here we use it in the same way as the Navy: rubbish. Each day we have someone on the Gash rota and it is this person’s job to help with all the cleaning tasks around base. When a person is on Gash they can be expected to help out with the cleaning in the kitchen, helping the chefs and doing a specific cleaning task for their allotted day. It might sound as though it’s not that fun but it actually is; you get to leave the Tower for the day and help out in the kitchen which is really enjoyable as well as getting to go round the base and chat to the people you don’t normally see during working hours. To be honest, Gash is a bit of day off!
The build up to Christmas here has been fun – decorations in the Tower, carols on Christmas Eve and a pub quiz. The decoration making was interesting: making paper chains in the Tower in between flight following is definitely not one of the things I thought I would be doing when I came down here. The Christmas carols on Christmas Eve were good fun too, although we didn’t really sing any but the mulled wine and mince pies we had really hit the spot and helped everyone feel a bit more Christmassy. It’s quite hard to get into the Christmas spirit here when the sun shines for 24 hours and you’re cut off from everyone else. It’s also hard to get into the spirit when you’re always working morning, evening for about 12 hours every day including weekends. Don’t get me wrong I’m not moaning about work, I love working down here in the Tower but it does mean you are always preoccupied with work. The pattern of work down here is much like the military: one minute it’s manic, the next there’s nothing to do – hurry up and wait.
Christmas Day was one of the best days I’ve had since I’ve been down South. Luckily we didn’t work because of strong cross winds but if it hadn’t been for these then we would have been up in the Tower slaving away whilst everyone else, except the pilots, would have had the day off. I woke at about 9am Christmas morning and called home to see what everyone was up to, it was about 12pm at home so they had all got back from church and were opening pressies. It was really nice to speak to everyone and it made me realise how much I wished I could be at home. It even helped me feel a bit more Christmassy speaking to them all and listening to them relaxing in front of the fire. After that we had some brunch at about 10am and watched some Star Wars in the briefing room on the projector. What a classic! You can’t get any better than that! Though there were an alarming number of people who hadn’t seen it before – Tom and I were appalled. Shocking! Then Vicky, one of the Docs, had the cheek to say it was one of the worst films she had seen! I feel very concerned for those wintering because it seems that their Doctor has mental problems... After that Tom and I spruced ourselves up and donned our Nos 2s for Christmas Dinner. This went down a storm with everyone and it wasn’t just the two of us dressed up – Dave Dive was wearing his tuxedo, a few others were in suits and Andy Boat was in his finest Highland regalia. After the meal we all went up to the bar which is where the majority of people stayed until about 3am when an incident occurred which marred the evening, shall we say... This is the event which will remind me of this Christmas for years to come and one that I probably don’t want to think about ever again. Obviously I’m not going to say what happened on here so you’ll just have to use some imagination...
The rest of the festive season has been good, although it doesn’t feel very festive, and the band is in full swing for Friday night. It’s the big one: New Year’s Day. The moment everyone has been anticipating. The crowning glory for the Savaged Ross Experience (the name changes daily...) it is now only a day away and I’m starting to worry. I’m pretty sure we’re good enough to be able to play but I want people to think: ‘Wow! Those guys rocked! And who’s the dark, handsome one on lead guitar...’ Not: ‘Very well done guys! It’s nice to see you out of the home and smiling. Are you with the Happy Foundation?’ (spoken in loud, slow, patronising voice). I’ll get some photos up and maybe a cheeky video of our performance if anyone is interested and then you can decide for yourselves. So far the set list reads: Muse-Plug in Baby, The Raconteurs-Steady as She Goes, The Dandy Warhols-Bohemian like you, The Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun, The Divinyls-I touch myself (don’t ask...) and an acoustic medley of Umbrella, Bad Romance and Maneater that Ross, Reit and myself are playing. It should be a really good New Year’s Eve – we are holding it in the garage and they’ll be a couple of guys who have brought their decks down playing and a cocktail bar. So hopefully a good night should be had by all, so long as a repeat of Christmas Day doesn’t occur... Oh dear.
For the last two weeks Tom and I have taken on the role of circuit master. Alan Hill, who usually organises circuits, is down at the Bluff and will be leaving and heading North soon so Tom and I have taken up his mantle. We have decided to give people a taste of Navy style circuits and so far people have enjoyed them. It does involve a lot of mincing but I think most people down here are pretty open minded when it comes to that sort of thing... Yesterday it was my turn to put people through their paces and from the looks of pain and groaning that I heard I can safely say: mission accomplished! In all seriousness though I didn’t make it that hard for them – I don’t think it would go down if we broke half the people on base through circuits. To make them even more Navy and Fleet Air Arm like we have made it mandatory that the Top Gun sound track is played always. No exceptions. This does make it slightly weird when you are doing squats to the song: Take my Breath Away... We have also been giving them a taste of PTI wit as well: ‘pair up in threes’, ‘short sharp bursts of endurance’ and ‘pain is just weakness leaving your bodies, so take control of your bodies’. On Friday we’ve got the New Year’s Eve 10km Race on the runway and I’m sure most people wouldn’t thank me for giving them an injury. I’m quite looking forward to the race as I’m hoping to get a time of around 40-45 mins; the runway length is 900m (not as long as some in Scotland!) so it is just over 5 laps.
Apart from that not much has been happening. The only thing that I will say is that the Christmas post came in which was a big morale boost – thank you everyone at home. The only annoying thing about this was that half the mail was left in the Falkland’s. This has left me very disgruntled as an eagerly anticipated parcel of delicious brownies should be all over my face at this moment but alas no. The beginning of Feb and the next lot of post can’t come round quick enough! Thank you Ellen, even though they aren’t here yet, the thought of your delicious but slightly old brownies should get me through January!
It doesn't sound as though you're doing much work
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