Every year on New Year's Eve, a video called "Dinner for one" plays on German TV. It's on every channel, every year. It's tradition. What's strange is that the film is in English, and it has little if anything to do with New Year's Eve. The film is about an old woman's birthday. She is old enough that most of her friends have died, but she still insists on celebrating her birthday with the same old crowd around the table. She sets the plates and fills the wine glasses and then conscripts her butler to play the roles of her deceased companions. He spends the evening running from chair to chair, holding conversation and toasting his employer. Course after course, the butler consumes enough wine for 5 or 6 people, and as the film goes on, he becomes increasingly and hilariously drunk.
Since we left Polarstern's home port in Bremerhaven, Germany, my shipmates and I have felt very much like the butler in "Dinner for One." We hit bad weather in the North Sea on our first day out, so those new to sea-going science got a literal crash course in the necessity of tying things down. The waves subsided for a bit as we rounded southwestern Norway, but then we were back at it again with 4 – 5 m waves. The outdoor working deck was even closed for safety. My body has adjusted to the motion pretty quickly (thank goodness), but my steady stomach is unfortunately unable to help my legs. Walking straight down a hallway requires as much footwork as dancing the samba, and stairs are more like a carnival ride. We look like a bunch of stumbling drunks.
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| An oil rig and ship off of southwestern Norway |
We actually passed a field of oil rigs off the western Norwegian coast. Back when I lived in Stavanger, Norway, in 2014 – 2015, I heard all about life on offshore oil rigs (Stavanger is Norway's "oil capitol" and the home base for anyone who works offshore), but I had never seen one at sea myself. They were scattered across the horizon like an archipelago and just as industrial-looking as I expected. It was interesting to observe them
in situ.
We're still steaming north and will be for the next few days. Every day, the sun stays out a little longer, and every time I step outside, it's just a little bit colder. Arctic, here we come.
Every year on New Year's Eve, a video called "Dinner for one" plays on German TV. It's on every channel, every year. It's tradition. What's strange is that the film is in English, and it has little if anything to do with New Year's Eve. The film is about an old woman's birthday. She is old enough that most of her friends have died, but she still insists on celebrating her birthday with the same old crowd around the table. She sets the plates and fills the wine glasses and then conscripts her butler to play the roles of her deceased companions. He spends the evening running from chair to chair, holding conversation and toasting his employer. Course after course, the butler consumes enough wine for 5 or 6 people, and as the film goes on, he becomes increasingly and hilariously drunk.
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