Lasting Impressions
October is the ultimate month of maintenance operations for the 79th ANARE DAVIS CARPENTRY TEAM. As we wind up our final scheduled work orders, the focus shifts to our last opportunity to make quality-of-life improvements to our workspace. If we were to come back, what would make our time that little bit better? Re-organising the fixings storage? A new top for our workbench? What about the sub-par racking for the T-clamps? Is it finally time to categorise the dreaded bolt store?
In an instant, there doesn’t seem like enough time. The protocols for handover include vacating the sleeping quarters for a few weeks to enable a deep clean. The kitchen also gets treated to a thorough scrub down, along with the living quarters and all other workspaces. Plus there’s UPE to sort out, final field trips to organise, and of course, preparations for resupply.
The first impression is important. And just like the expeditioners before us, we’re determined to give the incoming caretakers a warm welcome. It will be a tight finish to get as much as possible achieved within the next few weeks. But as we trawl through the workshop and green store trying to clean up and organise, it’s hard not to find numerous reminders of everything we’ve accomplished over our time at Davis.
Thanks to a 5-yearly service interval for the green store compactus, the carpentry team took the opportunity to re-sort the construction aisle. With tools and material consolidated in to sections based on their specific job use, we’ve freed up a mountain of space for relocating lesser-used tools and materials from the workshop. This not only improved accessibility but also helped to streamline future stocktakes by minimising clutter and legacy items.
With multiple plastering jobs undertaken during the year, the plaster cage got a detailed cleanout and audit, enabling insightful recommendations for future product replacement and alternative solutions.
Using left-over and neglected material around station, the well-used but run-down greetings board got a makeover, along with a full alphabet of letters for sign-writing.
Recognising clutter around numerous areas on station, our station logistics officer and trades supervisor put in multiple requests for Angus to put his cabinetry skills to work. Now the plentiful storage options make re-stocking cleaning supplies effortless.
The focus is very much narrowed to what’s achievable this month. But it is also important to reflect on the body work done over a year. The ad hoc requests, the solutions born of frustration, the passion projects, the skill flexes for the sake of inner competition, the helping hands dished out for gift making and hobbies. These are the contributions that keep the betterment of Davis continual. Perhaps the best quality-of-life improvements are only made whilst living.
