The other day, my husband commented that our bean bag could do with more beans, and I scowled. We have a bean bag with a long and mixed history. It was given to my husband by a rather beautiful friend of ours, which – I suspect – is why he remains attached to it. Otherwise …
The audible THUD, over the sound of the engine, was accompanied by a heavy shudder. What on Earth is he doing? I wondered, peering over the bow at the creature only inches below the foaming water, streaming past between us. THUD… He seemed the most enormous dolphin I had seen. A great grey beast, tearing …
It wasn’t a promising start. I opened the official-looking letter to find only a few lines of text. I had been judged “unqualified” for the position for which I had applied – making geological maps of Greenland. Rather harsh, I thought. But it was true. The PhD that was required for this position was still …
I was away for work last week. I missed my family. And sometimes work just gets me down. Sometimes I am ambivalent, indifferent, dispassionate. I don’t like to be that way, but sometimes it’s a struggle to feel like I care about what’s going on around me. I suppose everyone feels like that at times. …
*Image from the National Snow and Ice Data Center It’s a blistering nineteen degrees Celsius on what seems to be a stunning summer’s morning in Nuuk. Coffee on the balcony proves too much for me in the intense morning sun and I retreat indoors. It’s hot. It’s already six degrees hotter than the average high …
A white orb shimmers in and out of watery focus, framed by liquid blue that shields this pale sun from reflected clouds in the silvery, mirrored surface of the sea. The inlet that leads to the old settlement of Kangeq narrows as we approach, rocky walls closing on both sides. Irridescent green vegetation clings to …
I like to wander over the rocky pavements, linger on an outcrop, examine each crystal on the rough surface, run my fingers over them, feel their texture, note their individual shapes. When I press my palms against their cool surface, I imagine that I am feeling some sense of their history, their unimaginable past, in …
We were getting sick of having our boat in the main marina in Nuuk. The draconian rules were designed to take advantage of every opportunity to squeeze more extortionate fees out of boat owners. Any change of ownership, common here where friends often co-own boats, required payment of a new full registration fee of about …
There’s a lot of weirdness in Greenland. Some of it is funny. Some of it is sad. Some of it is just weird. Here are some air transport-related snippets. The Camp Raven airstrip on the Greenland icecap, close to the site of the Dye-2 base, is a training airstrip for C-130 aircraft landings and acts …