Monday, June 11, 2001

The Pace of Winter

It indeed the dead of winter. The dark, cold wind and horrific chill that sprawl for an eternity in every direction begin but a few feet from where we dwell. Yet we are consumed in a comfortable, warm, and homey atmosphere within the respite of the South Pole station.

Last week we had a cribbage tournament. As it came down to the final few players, there were many Poleys scattered around the Upper Galley, lazily engaged in various card games while keeping an eye on who was poised to fill the final brackets of the big tourney. The air seemed embalmed with a cozy late-night cabin feel. Cheery prattle filled the room.

This is how I had envisioned a South Pole winter: a place where the abundance of torpid time is filled with card games and easy conversation

However, this moment struck me not for its exemplification of winter, but for its aberrance. Boredom is rare here and I have seldom sought relief from monotony. The winter months are not long, like one might expect, but only seem to fly by faster and faster.

From the journal entries I have made, one might assume all we do here is throw parties and have fun. But work is by far the dominant possessor of our time. For me it is unrelenting. I must make weather observations and send out summaries and reports every day. Then there are other tasks that need to be finished during the winter, a period that management seems to think brims over with spare time. With midwinter fast approaching and time showing no sign of abating its rapidity, some of these tasks seem all the more urgent to complete.

In addition to job responsibilities, there are surely many personal goals I have set for the winter. I had hoped to improve and update my web site far beyond its current state. There are books I brought and hoped to read, correspondence courses I need to finish, and many other personal undertakings I had planned to at least begin.

Some of these things I will finish. Others I will have to let go. There are of course priorities, and the wants will have to be separated from the needs.

I suppose my rants are nothing new to most people. Everybody feels the pressures of time no matter where they are. But it seems significant to me that even as I spend a winter of tremendous isolation at the South Pole, I am not immune to the profound pace of time.

This is not a bad thing. I am glad to navigate a swift current through the winter rather than tack in unbearably stagnant boredom. But it would be nice to slow it down just a notch once in a while.