A friend of mine told me similar tales of his days in the British Antarctic Survey.

They held regular 'fancy dress' parties. One chap arrrived stark bollicky duff, but covered from head to foot with red paint. He claimed he was going as a 'redskin'.

I think that they were driven more than a little 'potty'. One chap would drive them mad by constantly scuffing the ground, whilst he shuffled around the base in a pair of loose fitting and ancient carpet slippers.

They settled this one morning, by using six inch nails to nail the offending slippers to the floor.