Odd title indeed! We took Matt Boat and Sue across to the Barff and dropped them at Sorling this morning for holidays. I went with Sam in the RIB and put Ali and Katie on the jet boat as I need to sign him off as a coxswain. On the way out Sue and Matt were on the jet boat – just before leaving the dock I told Matt and Rob not to worry if he heard strange things on the radio.

On the way back we waited till Ali was a distance ahead of us and I told Sam to stop the RIB. We sat there and drifted while waiting to see if Ali would react. He did a good job and stopped the jet boat after about a minute and half. We then waited to see if he would call to check on us which Katie did. We ignored the first call and then took the next call. I told them between fits of giggles that we needed assistance as our propellors had fallen off and there were ping pong balls in the engines! Before you all think I am completely nuts it was Sam who came up with the ping pong balls after watching the guys play in the boatshed and seeing the balls all over the shop!

So Ali, Sam and Katie had a lesson in setting up a side tow which we did for about 1/4 mile before starting our engines again. After lunch I taught knots to the group followed by some basic chartwork for Rob and Katie who had missed last weeks session. Basically a day of boat school on and off the water and cooking. I decided it felt like a roast sort of day so tonight we are having roast pork with crackling, roast veg, potatoes, roast parsnips, brussel sprouts sauted in bacon fat with bacon bits and last but not least cauliflower cheese. Oh and dessert is marble sponge with sticky chocolate sauce.

No interesting or exciting news today. No need for those snow chains and studs after all as it started to rain this morning. A day of indent, attempting to find instructions on how to fix our Italian made horn on the jet boat and getting ready for boat school tomorrow.

Knots for everyone and chartwork for those who missed the session last week. Mr Boat and Sue are off on holiday to the Barff tomorrow till Monday so I am taking his boat school session. The last fishing boat for inspection left Punta a few days ago so will probably be in Cumberland Bay sometime this weekend. Otherwise all is quiet in snowy, rainy South Georgia.

I spent the afternoon on the sewing machine making little covers for the manual bilge pumps as the diaphragms perish quickly in the high UV down here and also making a bag for HMS Dotty’s spares.

This morning I woke up and it was a little bit too icy for a run I thought maybe as the day went on it might soften however, it stayed just as bad. I fell on a sheet of ice outside the boatshed so maybe if it is like this tomorrow it will be time for snow chains on my boots and studs in my running shoes!

I spent the day finishing off rebuilding the Mariner and tested it out much to my surprise it ran like a champ!

Shelves of spare boat parts in our boatshed.

Also the annual indent is due mid month so I started going through all our stocks.

In the evening I went for a walk instead there are icicles all along the track and hanging off the grating going across Gull Lake dam. For a short period we had a small patch of blue sky and sun but it didn’t last very long. It is not getting light now till around 8am and gets dark just after sunset at 5pm.

The walk helped me walk off some frustration I had with a comment from someone about Americans reactions to Osama’s death as being rude. I bit my tongue and reminded myself that I am on a British base and the person making the comment was a teenager in 2001 maybe not able to comprehend the devastation of 911 to many families especially New Yorkers.

Some people find the Darryl Worley song distateful but it shows the sentiments of many Americans including my family members in the US Military.

I hear people saying we don’t need this war
But, I say there’s some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn’t get to keep ’em by backing down
They say we don’t realize the mess we’re getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn’t worry ’bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it’s too disturbing for you and me
It’ll just breed anger that’s what the experts say
If it was up to me I’d show it everyday
Some say this country’s just out looking for a fight
Well, after 9/11 man I’d have to say that’s right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And we vowed to get the one’s behind bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

I’ve been there with the soldiers
Who’ve gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they’re fighting for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don’t you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?

It is sad to see how divisive the incident has been within my group of friends outside South Georgia. As the British primeminster said his death was ‘justified, lawful and right’. Enough politics as that is not why people read my blog.

The world outside KEP has had quite a weekend with the Royal Wedding on Friday and Osama’s death on Sunday. The picture above was taken on the Clyde by Matt Boat (I think) of the celebrations on the actual day in the Petty Officers mess.

For the Osama news we even had a special 2 page addition this morning on top of our normal mini newspaper. Whether or not his death makes a difference to terrorist attacks it has a psycological impact on all Americans drawing a line under the events of 911 for all the families affected – similar to a serial murderer being brought to justice. It is the end of an era as one friend put it – similar to the ”end” of the Troubles in N. Ireland – which unfortunately continue on a lesser level today (I hasten to add for individuals still effected it is not a lesser level). This doesn’t seem the time to let any guards down and I am not so sure about the necessity to ‘dance’ on the grave but than that is probably my British side coming out. I have friends with all different opinions we are lucky to live in a society that allows freedom of expression and everyone should respect that.

On Saturday Alastair downloaded the highlights of the wedding which a group of us (more boys than girls!) watched. There are a few people who don’t believe in Royalty so they didn’t watch however, I believe it to be something the British should be proud of. The Royal family is a large part of culture and heritage of Britain and for the 63p per year (according to my brother) it costs per person in Britain I would say it is well worth it. The amount of money that poured into London over the weekend I am sure more than made up for the costs. Besides that the pagentary is something that I feel proud to see and hope continues! So this weekend I was in a great position with my dual nationality as I was able to say that both countries did me proud.

Meanwhile as it was yet another bank holiday weekend the weather was atrocious with 60 knot winds blowing snow horizontally so I decided to postpone my monday off for a better day and worked instead. Hopefully we will have a nice sunny day soon to go back to exploring the local peaks. Instead we have been hitting the gym hard and now lead the 6000km race across Antarctica by 1698km which is over double what the distance the second place team has gone so far! We are over half way across the continent with 7 weeks left before midwinter. So much easier than actually manhauling to the South Pole and on across!