Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Several times during the day I saw hands with one single
outstretched, pointing, finger and frilly cuffs at the wrist that
looked exactly like the illustrations sometimes used as bullet
points to emphasise lines of text. The hands, completely
disembodied from any other anatomy, floated at eye level and
urgently prodded the air ahead to show me the way. Occasionally
the hands appeared as applauding pairs, hovering to one side
to give the impression of supportive spectators. In retrospect
it seems bizarre that these inchoate hallucinations didn't cause
me to worry or even pause in my pace. I registered the fact that
I'd just seen little men running around Antarctica (with and
without dinosaurs) and I replayed the visions in my mind as I
skied on but the incidents didn't feel at all remarkable. I had
become so accustomed to the fact that the world I travelled
through didn't obey any of the normal rules of experience that
the hallucinations took on as much significance as the sensation
of floating when I slept, sastrugi transformed by mirage into
mountains, or the falling of snowflakes from a blue sky. So
many things about my journey made my mind boggle that it
seemed easier not to think too hard about any of them. Even
the normal division of day and night couldn't be relied upon.
The day I skied through had begun long before I arrived on
the continent and wouldn't end until long after I had left. (The
first sunset in Antarctica would occur sometime in February.)
My only point of curiosity about the hallucinations was why
they had occurred now. I had been through worse weather that
had deprived me of my sense of place for longer. Perhaps it
was down to my level of exhaustion. Or maybe a reflection of
my desire for company - though in many ways I felt less alone
now. Firstly, I was no longer on the 'wrong side' of Antarctica
which meant that help would be just a little bit closer should
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