Beautiful morning. Credits: ESA/IPEV/PNRA-B. Healey
Night fever. Credits: ESA/IPEV/PNRA-B. Healey
The long polar night lasted 105 days at Concordia Station, far longer than an Accident and Emergency night shift I had previously complained about while working in Chelsea, UK! It is a strange thing to miss something so often taken for granted in our day-to-day lives.
On 10 August we saw the sun again rise above the horizon. We greeted it as if it was a long lost friend and I immediately felt its energy surge through me. I felt reconnected with the ‘real world’, knowing that I am looking at the same thing many others would be around the world. Like the dawn of a new year its return also marked the next and final chapter of our winter.
Fire and evacation drill. Credits: ESA/IPEV/PNRA-B. Healey
Everyone was in high spirits, physically looked stronger and chef Luca made a Sun cake to celebrate its return. Over the following week I also felt my sleeping pattern start to return to normal as the days gradually grew longer.
‘When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome’
Wilma Rudolf
Beth Healey
ESA-sponsored medical doctor in Antarctica
Sunday at Concordia. Credits: ESA/IPEV/PNRA-B. Healey
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