Underfoot in the underworld

Improvisation and the capacity for self-entertainment are important in an isolated, remote setting such as the South Pole.  That an old can of garbanzo beans would be used as a doorstop (for years on end) is just such an example of the former.

Similarly, regarding the latter point, that someone in the past used their welding skills to illustrate the jambs of other sets of doors down in the arches speaks to the creative urge coming out when the options of passive entertainment and distraction are reduced from the level present back in the rest of the civilized world.

“I find television very educational.  The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.”

~Groucho Marx