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From : Sarah Brice Yacht : Concert Date : Sunday 8th December, 1996 Somewhere in the Southern Ocean. Could be anywhere. I've just finished the most talked about, least glamorous job on the boat - cleaning the heads. Even amidst the thrills and spills of the Southern Ocean you can't get away from it. Today is "Care Bear" day for me, and I've now time to sit down with a cup of tea and write to you before its time to feed the rabble again. I sound like a matron already, it's a worry. The 24 hours as Care Bear can be a relaxing day in the warmth, when you can use your imagination to create something slightly different out of the same freeze-dried powder (toay was cheese scones - delicious, though I say so..). Alternatively, it can be a day from Hell, when creativity goes out the companyonway. In big seas you usually end up wearing half the food you cook, and spend your time juggling huge pans of bubbling pasta and dodging flying kitchen utensils. A nice Victoria sponge tuns into three Toblerone-shaped wedges in the oven: two in loaf tins, one nestling in the bottom corner of the oven. With several tacks there's an interesting tumble drier effect. As well as cooking and cleaning, and providing a steady supply of scoobie-snacks and tea,the two bears also offer a valet service to help zip people into and out of dry suits and get their layers together going on and off watch. A routine that takes about twenty minutes and burns a thousand calories from the moment of downing knife and fork to appearing on deck. I should perhaps explain why we're called "Care Bears" - apart from being extremely caring, obviously. It stems from objections raised back in the mists of training to the term "Mother Watch". So called because when on "Mother Watch" you do all the things mothers do, and that'll be cooking and cleaning then, won't it? Well, the crew were alarmed when I threw myself onto the deck, beating my fists and bemoaning the sexist world we live in. They leapt to come up with suitable alternatives. "Parent or Guardian Watch" was dismissed as rather cumbersome, several other suggestions were dismissed and unrepeatable, but "Carer" fitted the bill. It grew from there to become the bears we know and love. I think it makes us even more caring and cuddly, don't you? And anything caring and cuddly in the Southern Ocean has got to be a bonus. More of that next week.
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