Yuletide on Antarctica was as stuffed with treats as your Christmas turkey. On Christmas Eve morning, whilst your families were enjoying nativity scenes at their local churches, we flungour tent door on our own glorious and symbolic scene. The curtain of clouds had parted and gone their busy ways to reveal the Thiel Mountains in all their splendour. This is a significant landmark in our expedition, representing as it does the more than halfway mark and less than 300 miles to go - what a Christmas feast for our bleary eyes!
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No rest for us, however, on Christmas Eve from our relentless marching day. Except that, toward the end, when the rest of the world were awakening to their Christmas Eve and all its inherent shopping panic, we came to a calm halt, a couple of miles from some crevasses to our east, sat down upon one of our pulks and put a Christmas call through to HRH The Prince of Wales - as one does. Relaxed, obviously having got all of his Christmas shopping in the bag, we passed the BT Iridium in turn to talk in a relaxed mode to our Patron who was both keen to know as much as possible as well as showing concern for our safety and welfare. We all feel immensely proud to have such a patron, who is keenly interested and very supportive.
Later that evening in our tent we passed around the BT Iridium once again as each of us gave our loved ones and family a Christmas call - diplomatically dodging Queen?s speech time. Needless to say everyone sounded rather tipsy, with the exception that is of Ann?s triplets who were much more interested in their Christmas chipolatas and toys than Mummy?s long walk.
To add to the sense of occasion, Caroline and Rosie, giddy with bonhomie, offered to take Ann and Pom off the boil and take over snow melting duties that evening, albeit questionable as to how much relaxation this offered them as nervous observers.
Christmas ?dinner? in the tent was our normal fare of soup, accompanied by a lump of cheese, followed by rehydrated beef and potato stew, with plenty of extra butter, and a pudding of a couple of cubes of chocolate for those who could manage it. By the end of any day for our ravenous appetites this spread consitutues a veritable gastronomic feast. But on this auspicious occasion came a deluxe affair of fresh parmesan cheese, Duchy original biscuits, extra chocolate cubes, and the ultimate indulgence – an extra slice of Mars Bar.
To heighten this depraved sense of luxury each of us further indulged in a little pampering. Ann washed herself with snow and a little soap she had specially saved before dabbing herself with a little perfume. Rosie had one dip of her one herbal teabag – to be saved for recycling for the millennium. Pom selected for herself a fragrant new pair of socks. Zoe, being from Yorkshire, allowed herself nawt but half a fig, although that was not so much a luxury as a necessity, and Caroline got to choose the evening?s supper dish.
To save some of you weeping into your Taylor?s 63, it should be said that we have each secreted away in our re-supply box a little, light as a feather, matchbox sized gift for one another, so in fact we?ll be celebrating Christmas twice. We need for nothing - we even get to hang up our pulks every night and Antarctica itself gives us a different surprise every day. We?ve got it wrapped.
[Editor?s note: The M&G ISA Girls are unaware that the following surprises have been included in their re-supply box: a Christmas cake provided by Marks and Spencer; extra soup; hot chocolate and Mars Bars from Mars and Duchy originals - fudge and chocolate and ginger].
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