A COUNTY Clare man is in the running for a chilly job in the world’s most southerly post office.
Anthony Galvin, who lives in Cork, is one of 1,000 applicants currently being considered for the five month seasonal job, based on Goudier Island off the Antarctic Peninsula.
Despite a lack of running water and mains power on the island, Mr Galvin claims he would relish the opportunity to spend his time among the thousands of penguins which call Goudier home.
And he is no stranger to the cold - as he travels to Lapland every year to take up seasonal Christmas work.
“I love the snow, the cold, the northern lights, the wilderness,” he said this week. “I have been out in temperatures as low as minus 45c and love it. You throw a cup of coffee in the air and it freezes before it hits the ground.”
The job - which pays £1,100 a month - will see a team of four running a shop, post office and museum operation, as well as overseeing general maintenance, at the former British naval base Port Lockroy on Goudier Island for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.
“Twenty years ago I got the chance to work at Lapland, in Arctic Finland and now I go there every December,” he said. “I work as a magician at a Santa village. The main attraction is living in the Arctic, sometimes for up to six weeks.”
It may not be everyone’s cup of tea – but the Arctic lifestyle seems tailor made for Mr Galvin.
If he manages to get through to the top four applications of the 1,000 received, he can add postman to his already impressive repertoire of magician, author and children’s entertainer.
