Head in the clouds

It's tough working in a place so beautiful and having an adventurous spirit. Cause often times you won't be able to satisfy that deep craving for adventure due to work commitments.
Aaaah, responsibility! That thing we pride ourselves on when we actually meet expectation, yet so often want to wish away when it suits us. 

Cirrus cloud capturing the light of the setting sun

And if I am honest this week was one of those. I sit here now, whilst on my first night of night shift, having just finished 5 days of day shift, and I think of Karen, Sylvain and Marius who at this very moment are asleep in their tents having headed out on their expedition to the north of the island to complete the Tristan Albatross census.
Something I am so desperate to do is get to see the northern end of Gough. But, I'm being responsible. I'm doing what I have to do. My work!
At least I can say with certainty that each and every one of you reading has been in this position. Never easy, but always worth it.

So, is there a point to my little story! No, none whatsoever. I do hope it will serve as a satisfactory excuse as to why I have so little to say this week. And further, why I have so few photos.
Because I'm being responsible. Haha :)
Well, it's never done with a grumble or moan. I'm happy to do it. Why should I complain when I get to spend a year with my head in the clouds and be told that's the responsible thing to do.

Sometimes I find it a stretch to find something to write about when I have had a week such as this.
But drawing inspiration from the most arbitrary of things comes with time, and I  came up with something. Clouds!
Makes sense! After all that's a large part of why I am here.
Inspiration this week came in the form of a photo. A photo sent by a good friend, Jonathan, of a particularly interesting cloud which had formed off the coast of Brazil.
A rolling arcus cloud. Which is in fact just your common stratocumulus cloud which has been shaped by wind to give it a truly unique shape.

Inspiration. Rolling arcus cloud.

Funnily enough, the very next day after receiving this photo I saw a cloud which showed the same phenomenon of shaping.  Sadly I was unable to get a photo before it had dissipated. But I'm certain we will see it occur again soon, and hopefully I will be better prepared.
But this did inspire me to share more about the clouds we observe here. So I will keep a close watch for the really spectacular ones and share them as and when they are observed.
It may sound dull to many of you, so I will keep it to a minimum, but hopefully it will spark an interest in the puffy marshmallows that we all enjoy making shapes of when we lie on the grass and watch the world go bye.

With the change of season we should be seeing a very diverse display of cloud types forming and some of the light phenomena that are associated with them. So I will be keeping a close watch on this and will try and show exactly what it is like for one to live with their "head in the clouds".

So next time you hear someone making use of this charming expression, just think of the beauty and the science that they find themselves surrounded by.
Makes you think that maybe it's not such a bad thing. As for me, I'm happy to admit I've got my head in the clouds. And hopefully, in time, I will be able to persuade a few of you to join me. 

Condensation trail (contrail) fromed by the SAA plane we see twice a week.

Cirrocumulus