Spring??

We are having wonderful warm sunny weather, tempting one to think it's spring, although the start of that season is still more than a month away. The bulbs are all poking their green little shoots above the ground and one daffodil is actually flowering! I have seen a few lambs already but, as happens every year, we can bet on it that once more lambs are born there will be a cold snap or even snow.

We are also enjoying the most amazingly beautiful blood red sunrises. And the sun is rising earlier every day. Amazing how much difference that can make to one's mood. I find myself waking at 6.30 instead of 7.30, which is also nice. To make the most of the nice weather Paki pup and I go for many afternoon walks.

To get back to my passion for Antarctica, I recently saw another movie about that place, very different from any documentary I've seen so far. This film, Encounters at the End of the World, is made by Werner Herzog, well-known German film maker who wrote, directed and narrates the film. He talks about explorers and travellers and what brought them to this far out place. He interviews scientists and other workers in the research stations, such a philosopy professors who drive forklifts, just because they wanted to experience Antarctica. Herzog is very critical of the environmental devastation caused by the many research stations and compares McMurdo Station with a mining town. But he is clearly also awestruck and enchanted with the place. Here is a section of the film in which two scientists talk about the strange sounds seals make under the ice on which humans walk and work. And here is the trailer of the movie, which is worth watching (not even two minutes long, but gives a good impression of the whole movie). The sound track, even Herzog's narration in heavily accented English, is also really wonderful. Recommended!!