Tick...tock...

My flight leaves at 4:00am tomorrow. That's about seven hours away.

You'd think that when you're the only plane at the airport; indeed, the only plane within 500 km, you could schedule a departure to be at a more convenient time.

But it's for a good reason that I support - we're trying to get to Cape Town at a respectable hour, so we can get a full night's sleep. Before, we were going to have to overnight it from Novo - the Russian station on the outer edge of Antarctica, close to South Africa. Since I can't sleep on a plane, I don't want this.

So, we are all debating - go to sleep, or stay up?

I think I shall try to sleep. And I can with a clear conscience - my desk is clean, my bags are packed and loaded on the plane. I shall make one last trip to the Simpson, to look for anything I've left behind. Then I shall nap.

And then, to quote REO Speedwagon, I believe it's time for me to fly!