One more night

Nothing quite as romantic as that old Phil Collins song, but today is the last full day of summer at South Pole if all goes to schedule. The fire brigade is getting organized to provide outbound for the last LC-130 flight, which will carry away the final 36 (3 depart Tuesday) folks still here that are not in it for the long haul. The sun is getting lower every day, but it still seems pretty high in the sky. Even so, temperatures have cooled off some, but we do not seem to be as cold as years previous. I suppose that is not really surprising during a season that set an all-time high temperature record.

Berthing arrangements are being settled as people transition to their winter rooms and the A4 wing of the station is gradually cleared out so it can go not cold but cool for the winter to save on heating costs. I went from having Twin Otter pilots and visiting grantees as neighbors to having boxes of potatoes, apples and other fruits/veggies, since my winter room just opened up yesterday and I have not had a chance to start relocating.

Hopefully I’ll get some more pictures as we bid “adieu” to the summer folks tomorrow and start the shoulder season lead-up into the long night of winter 2012. With luck, by the time the sun has set and risen for me once again, I will have gotten The Call from NASA that they’re going to do like Dirty Harry and make my day selecting me for astronaut candidate.

“Please give me one more night, give me one more night,
One more night ‘cause I can’t wait forever.”
~Phil Collins