Red coats and berms

I am very happy to answer any particular questions people want to send me, either by e-mail or as comments to these blog posts. It will actually help give me ideas of what to post. So ask away! A couple Q/As to start.

F.M. from Portland, OR, writes: "I am hung up on how people find their coats after a trip to the coffeeshop. Is there just a mountain of red suits by the door? I kind of wish people had to have their names on their coats in regular life. It would help me out of a lot of awkward encounters."
So true, on all counts, dear F.M. At McMurdo, there were three or four alcove areas near the galley for people to hang their coats in, and it was just a sea of red, and several times it took me five minutes or more to find my coat after eating, as I couldn't remember where I'd hung it. Now that we're at Pole, it's not so complicated as the elevated station is ground zero for pretty much everything and lots of days I don't even go outside at all, so my coat just stays in my room. But it is super helpful, when people who have been outside come in with their coats on, to quick check their name tags to be reminded of their names.

To round out this post, I thought I'd offer up a picture of the "backyard" of the station, in particular an area called "the berms." this is basically a storage area, though there is so much kept out here that no one is 100% sure what is there and where, and there's someone working here this summer who has a job that half consists just of trying to figure out how to organize the berms. Kind of crazy, but also comforting that there are YEARS worth of supplies here to keep people going in case of an emergency.