It was a still day, cold and quiet, as I walked alone over rocks and snow. My heavy boots crunched through the crisp crust into the softer snow beneath. I stopped for breath by a small lake, ringed by rocky outcrops and, after my breath slowed, I realized that my breathing was all I could …
The heavy afternoon sky reflected the lead-coloured sea. But nothing could dampen the glow of winter whiteness that blanketed everything – hills, houses, streets. The storm of the previous day had shed vast quantities of snow. In the early hours of the morning, the snow machine, all lights and metal, roared up and down the …
When we first arrived in Nuuk it was only two weeks after the winter solstice. Our flight arrived in the mid afternoon twilight and, once settled into our empty apartment, I took the bus into town to my new workplace. Out the window, streetlights glowed in the darkness. In the distance, the mountain carved a …
“We should get a car,” said my son, looking out the window at the morning snow falling on the dark, lamp-lit street. “Why?” I asked. Rapidly realizing that his personal comfort and convenience was not a good enough reason, he replied, “It will be faster getting to the shops. “Will it?” I asked. Together we …
I have always felt a reverence for libraries. As a child, a favourite outing was the weekly visit to the local public library. A squat, 60s, concrete building, it was nothing to speak of architecturally, but seeing it still makes me draw breath. We would enter from the brilliant sunshine of the street outside into …
We stood side by side, watching the helicopter soar over the hill and out of sight. When it was gone, we continued to watch the empty sky as the sound of the beating blades faded to silence. All the while, in the darkness of my pocket, I held the envelope in my hand, enjoying the …
Trudging across the sea ice – three geologists, returning from a day’s work amongst iced-in islands in east Antarctica – we spotted a dark slug-like shape in the otherwise completely white expanse before us. It was a Weddell seal, languishing by its breathing hole. One of my companions decided he wanted to know what a …
In Nuuk, people don’t worry too much about the weather. So last week, when I saw people preparing for an approaching storm, it was obvious it was going to be something unusual. On the day before the storm, a bus driver announced to passengers that we should check the website or Facebook page the following …
It was a lot of meat. I had stopped by the gate leading down to the pier to look at the large plastic bags, about ten of them, filled with dark red meat and pale bones. I assumed someone was returning from their last reindeer hunt of the season. But something didn’t quite look right. …