Process (and poetry)
Today was occupied with the essential (but largely boring to you, dear reader) task of working out and refining what we are loosely terming 'processes'. We're trying to shave as much time as we can from the day-to-day tasks that make up much of expedition life. Melting snow to make flasks of energy drink, putting the tent up and taking it down, cooking breakfast, cooking dinner, packing the sledge etc.
To inject some interest in to what would otherwise be a lacklustre dispatch, I'm going to do two things: first I'm going to tell you about the books we're reading, and then I'm going to throw caution to the wind and publish some of our more printable limericks (see if you can spot the recurring theme).
Books: I started out re-reading 'Icetrek' by Eric Philips, the story of his 1998 journey to the South Pole with Jon Muir and Peter Hillary, a frank account of how team dynamics can hamstring an expedition. Eric has a great writing style and he has a knack for conveying the 'inner journey' that goes on on expeditions of this scale. I'm now on Tony's copy of 'Samuel Pepys – The Unequalled Self' by Claire Tomalin, which sounds boring but is in fact one of the best books I've read in yonks. Tony is racing through Apsley Cherry-Garrard's 'The Worst Journey in the World', certainly my favourite polar expedition book and a contender for my favourite book of all time. He has a massive 'Naval History of Britain' in his sledge as a backup. I kid you not.
Now what you've all been waiting for (apologies to any sponsors if I've overstepped the mark of proprietry, but if you don't like the occasional fart joke, you're sponsoring the wrong man):
Ben's insistence on food stuffed with carbs,
Gave him the most pungentious farts.
He dug out a trench,
To be rid of the stench,
And caused an earthquake in these parts.
(By Tony, age 28)
Ben raced Tone up the hill in great pain,
But his efforts it seemed were in vain.
Ben cursed 'you're cheating Tone,
Up the hill you've been blown,
By your very own supply of methane!
(By Ben, age 27)
Ben was crossing a tricky snow pass,
When he tripped and fell down a crevasse.
He uncovered his ass,
And let out such gas,
That he rescued himself with great class.
(By Tony, age 28)
Sensible blogging will resume tomorrow…
— Filed under Greenland