Nothing moves this morning.  Even the wind speed had dropped to 0m/s – everything had come to a grinding halt at Concordia.

For the first time, waking up in the usual haze, it felt like Groundhog Day… Realisation of experiencing and insight that you have felt the same feeling at the same time everyday, not knowing if anything had changed.

Its at times like these that you could be dangling upside down and you wouldn’t even know.  Like an astronaut floating in space.  Or when you do a deep Nitrox dive underwater into the big blue… everything is blue and anyway could point back to the surface.  Only the bubbles you release track back up to the surface.

In a few months I guess we will ‘return to the surface’.  Until then, we will carry on floating in time and space, and I guess I will keep holding my breath.  But while the visibility is limited, you are holding your breath, no bubbles are being let out, and therefore you don’t know which way is up and back to the surface.

You soon realise, that the change in your mind and body caused by the months of darkness is slow, insidious and hidden.  Its not dark yet, but it’s getting there.

Interesting Useless Fact of the Day: 

The Groundhog –Marmota monax – is also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, land-beaver is a large ground squirrel (or marmot).  It is one of the few animals to undergo ‘true hibernation’. Interestingly and unrelated, when infected with Hepatitis B virus, Groundhogs have 100% susceptibility to developing the Hepatic Cancer as a result, making them a population of study for new Hepatitis & cancer therapies.  Poor little beggars.

Song of the Day:

Not Dark Yet by Bob Dylan

This is a song I have listened to for many years.  Bob Dylan has never over-wintered in Antarctica, but he certainly comes the closest to describing it… having nearly died from Histoplasmosis and Pericarditis in 1997, this is one of the songs he wrote…

Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day

It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
I know it looks like I’m moving, but I’m standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there