Still learning....

I fear I have become a little blasé about life in the Arctic. So many things that were once shocking have now become the norm. Temperatures below -20°C are normal, looking out the window to a complete white-out merely makes me reconsider my clothing for the day, stepping on what looks like flat ground and falling into waist-deep snow barely breaks my stride.

So before leaving the house today I checked the little stick with numbers (I fear that my English is diminishing with all these foreigners!) and it told me that today was a balmy -22°C, I glanced outside and saw a gentle breeze blowing a little bit of powder snow about, so nothing dramatic.  My nonchalant attitude led me to dress in normal clothes plus a down jacket, just one face mask, a hat and a scarf.  Sadly my look out the window was deceiving, hiding the 20m/s gusts from my eyes, after no more than 5 minutes outside I had brain-freeze and hat to improvise (that one's for you Paddy ;) ) with my poor choice of clothing....

  

One thing I am certainly not blasé about (and I think it will take a lot to change that) is the return of the sun!  I can't take credit for this photo but it's so stunning I couldn't not share :) .....

Svalsat

Me, Karen & Rosie on a trip to SvalSat as part of AB-203 Arctic Environmental Management.

UNIS last Thursday enjoying the first hour of sunlight!!

Rosie & I got chatting to a local guy in Svalbar (Longyearbyen's very own Markie Dan's), when he found out Rosie was Scottish he asked if she could play the bagpipes and Rosie quickly responded 'yeah of course I'm Scottish'................much to Rosie's surprise ten minutes later the guy returned to the bar with his own set of bagpipes!! Needless to say the guy wasn't impressed when he found out Rosie couldn't infact play and he'd spent money on a taxi to go and collect them from his house!!

The weather has been pretty mild the past week but the forecast is predicting temperatures will be dropping to -29 on Friday, so I'm sure we'll have to get topped up on plenty of whiskey at Friday gathering to keep us warm before the long walk back to Nybyen!!

Things I love about living in Svalbard

·         Days with temperatures above -10°C are classed as mild.

·         Watching the mad Arctic fox that lives under the next barrack.

·         You can chill your drinks in under 10 minutes just by placing them on the windowsill.

·         After being here for 41 days I still haven't seen one drop of rain.

·         Finding an out of date sandwich on sale for £2.50.......BARGAIN !!!!!!!

·         When staying in the cabin you have to pee outside under the northern lights.

and best of all.......

·         going to class on my new scooter.