Winter Solstice in Antartica

[Anonymous]

I remember when I worked for the Bureau of Meteorology I spent time with a guy who had been to the Antarctic for 12 months on a posting, and he mentioned that he had cross dressed for some function or specific event which they apparently did each year, some of the other stories surrounding this practice were hilarious, it would seem that a few beers dressed in drag and for some that was all that was needed to open up their feminine side, and make for some interesting times in the months ahead, I believe his stories to be true, the funniest one was when he was dressed in drag for this occasion, he needed to go to the toilet, which was outside, so he got on his big thick furry outdoor clothes which was according to him a one-piece thing, and they would rush outside to a sheltered area and unzip quickly squat, do whatever, and quickly pull the hood back up over their head, and zip up and rush back inside, on this occasion he apparently didn’t clear his hood, and when he went back inside there was his deposit in his hood, fortunately he said it was quite hard, but nonetheless very embarrassing for him and those around him, hope this provides some further information regarding the essence of your post

Kind regards

Rachel

[Deleted User]

Caty wrote:

Hi to all on TGR
I had a coffee with someone in Hobart who was an ex Antartic expeditioner, Caty

I knew this dear lady well. A lovely, generous person who lived full time as a retired lady and was well known for dinner parties thrown for her lady friends among the Sandy Bay community. she also had many friends among the CD community and did a lot in those days to improve the relationship and legal status within the cd and gay community and the law. At that time it was still illegal for a man to wear the garments of a woman between the hours of sunset and sunrise. I broke the law quite a few times. ‘Claire the crim’!
We had been pen friends for a while, sharing an interest in the old English Music Hall traditions and theatre. She invited me to stay with her when hearing of difficulties I was going through and this time was my first experience of being full time

She was indeed been a well seasoned Antarctic traveler, she shared with me some of the stories Caty referred to about her time down there. At one time she rendered assistance to the members of the Russian base, she showed me a medal, the ‘Order of Lenin’ given to her by the Russian government as thanks.
A lovely person.

[Anonymous]

Dear Rachel and Clare

So the “old gray mares’ memory was correct, ( at least in this instance, let’s not dwell on other matters of a smilar nature)

Many thanks to you both for confirming my recollections.

I dare say much of this would have occured in the days when staffing at these stations was almost exclusively male.

So one wonders what sort of fun and games were got up to when “packing for the trip” was undertaken. Only the good Lord and myself know what went on when I used to pack for a four week business trip, so the mind boggles at what was packed for a year away with no “quick trips to the mall” within a few thousand miles and being snowed in, no way of getting there even if you could go.

Just “how far” did any of them go??. OK anyone can stack on a dress and use a mop head for a wig, but I guess we will never know if any went to the extent to “pass” we do nowadays.

I’m also musing about the pre trip job interview sheets . Q1`/. How do you feel about dressing in women’s clothes?. q2/. If you answered yes to this question what is your bra size??

All very intruiging stuff, so thanks again to you both

Regards

Caty