An issue of charge buildup

I expected it to be cold in Antarctica.  I knew it would be dry and windy.  I'd seen photos of the amazing scenery and even kind of knew what to expect from McMurdo.  One thing I did not expect: static electricity.

Every day I get an electric shock at least once.  Sometimes I'll get shocked a load of times in the space of 5 minutes.  It's pretty annoying!  The fact that the air is so dry down here means that static, that anywhere else would dissipate, builds up very quickly.

My bed covers always feel fuzzy, even from a few inches away, and every time I take off my coat (fleece lining really doesn't help) I can feel the charge stacking up.  So putting on any man made fibers, and then grabbing a door handle delivers a quick shock - the strongest of which jump through the coat lining, so covering up a hand before touching metal doesn't help.

The oddest static moment I had, however, wasn't from grabbing metal after building up static.  I was wearing my Big Red and listening to my ipod on the way to the outhouse.  Sitting down (on the can ... picture it!), I kept getting pricks of pain in my ear.  Now, my headphones had been playing up recently and had lost their protective rubber covers - so I thought the plastic was just poking into my ear. Taking the headphones off though, I realised the covers over the speakers were metal mesh - so each time this touched my skin some of the static build up was conducted down my headphone wire.

The best way to cope with this annoyance - carry a cup of water (or stand near a tap), every time a coat is taken off/put on, wet a hand!