ice, ice everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

We wake up to cold, cloudy and windy weather. Three more days of sanding
and painting - a bit of a challenge as each coat takes two days to dry -
it is above freezing indoors, but only just. We are making good
progress, the kitchen is done, the ionospherics room also. We tidy up
again - the Nordnorge is due to visit us - but another email again
brings bad news! Apparently there is a lot more ice around - the sea is
clear where we are, but it seems the change in weather and wind
direction has brought ice out of the Weddell sea and blocked the
Gerlache and Bransfield straits. So they aren't coming! We were looking
forward not only to seeing the staff again, and also to the possibility
of some fresh food, getting our clothes washed and stocking up on water.
And another of the large ships, the Orlova, has cancelled too and the
film crew that were coming out to stay with us for 5 days are also not
coming! Begin to wonder how long it will be before we see another
person! We have a long gap in the schedule now, the next ship is not due
in til the 13th, and who knows if they will be able to come either?

We rally round and cheer each other up and decide that we can do lots
more decorating - much of it hasn't been done since the base was
renovated in 96 by Rick and the other team members. But first we have to
brave the snow and strong winds and go down to the shore with buckets
and ice axes to chip pieces of ice off the beached bergs for our water.
It's pretty wild and windy out there, and we come back with alot of
spindrift down our necks. Got enough for a couple of days though - just
need to encourage it to melt now!