I wake up in my curtained cubicle in a shared Jamesway (50-year-old canvas and wood structure built for the Korean War), evict myself from under the pile of lovely warm blankets and dress in a rush (heater or no heater, the floor is still below freezing). Quick hustle across to the bathroom building and then in towards the dome. Landscape is flat and white. I cross crunchy snow past the cargo area, vaguely Mayanesque Balloon Inflation Tower, and into the new garage arch, dodging dozers and forklifts. A couple turns through the new garage arch, old garage arch, wave at the new power arch, in through the old power arch. They're upgrading the station chunk by chunk. Décor is strictly modern industrial.
Inside the dome is dim with light filtering down from the holes at the top. The air is cold but still. Buildings consist of three large orange blocks with a few small blocky outbuildings and additions. It's really smaller than you would think.
I grab some food in the galley and head in to Comms. Diana, the night operator, fills me in on what's going on. The commercial Cessna started taxiing without talking to us first, which was bad because a Herc (one of our planes) was on its way in. We don't really want any squished Cessnas on our skiway, they're heck to clean up. Diana yelled at the pilot, but nicely. The Russian-organized International Millenium Expedition, making its way here in snowbuggies, called in a position report. A normal enough night.
I take over as the station slowly wakes up. We do have three shifts, but the majority of people still work day shift. The shuttle driver picks up his radio; I field shuttle requests, relay operational information on the radio, and respond to a minor alarm in the power plant. I set up a couple of radio calls between people here and people in McMurdo. I drink coffee and respond to email.
At 9:00 a Herc leaves McMurdo, coming here. I copy down its departure and position information and announce its ETA on the all-call (PA). The second daytime operator, Tracy, shows up: right now it's not too busy but when we have multiple airplanes whizzing around we need more than one operator. Alex, the South Pole Admin, shows up and exchanges Pax (passenger) information with her counterpart in McMurdo. Tracy relays our cargo information to the plane and receives theirs, including height, weight, and offload order. McMurdo Field Training calls with a radio check and we chat briefly. The airplane gives a position report to MacCenter (McMurdo air traffic control) at predetermined points and we copy down position, fuel, wind and weather information. We also relay our weather information to the plane once an hour. Normal tasks keep us going until lunchtime, when we take turns to get food from the galley.
I announce on the all-call and local radio channels when the plane is about 25 minutes out, and at 10 minutes I turn on the blinky light that tells people not to cross the skiway. This is an act of faith since we have no windows and no view, skiway or otherwise. The flight deck crew call us on the radio when the aircraft is on-deck, and I turn off the blinky light when the aircraft is parked. We relay information to and from the plane and even joke a bit. We repeat the blinky light bit when the plane leaves, and continue to keep the flight following information for the return trip although we don't care nearly as much now. We've lost our satellite connection for the rest of the day, so some of the information that would get passed to McMurdo by email now goes by RTTY (radio teletype). We have an elderly computer and radio modem setup that transmits text, which involves a bit of a production on both ends. More messing around with knobs and dials and buttons.
Mid-afternoon my shift in Comms is over, but someone needs computer help so I spend a while showing her how to format some documents. The documents fight back but I win in the end. Rah! Mighty Computer Help Person.
After that I deserve a baked good, and the galley comes through. I read for a bit in the library/poolroom. The balls clacking off each other make a nice background noise. Then it's dinner time. This is my one chance to sit down in the galley for a meal and talk to people.
After dinner I wander back to Comms and sit on the couch for a bit. There are people chatting quietly and drinking beer (but not to excess of course). I suddenly remember that it's my shower day so I walk back to the Summer Camp bathroom building. We're limited to 2 per week, 2 minutes of water per shower - honor system, but if we bust it somebody runs out of water in the middle of a shower so people really do it.
Bedtime and here are my tips for comfort: first of all change your socks! After being in boots all day your socks are not dry, trust me. Second, put your boots up on the table if you have one. Remember that the floor is below freezing. Third, keep your pillow underneath the blankets during the day. If you still have trouble getting to sleep a hot-water bottle at the feet sure helps.
The Jamesway is dark and quiet. Remember to turn your VHF radio off so you don't wake up your neighbors with the local chitchat and announcements from Comms.