The temperature has not dropped below zero for almost two weeks now, and there is hardly any snow and ice left in the streets. You can actually see the gravel! The icebergs are still my main source of entertainment – Each morning there are new ones outside my window, each morning new shapes and sizes. And in the afternoons the view is again different.
The last few days were sunny, and it just makes such a big difference. The snow on the mountaintops on the mainland seems to be on fire in the early morning hours, and with the clear air all the colours seem to be so rich and deep. It is just like living inside a postcard.
Last Saturday I went for a walk up one of the two hills we have here on the island. The trip itself was far from challenging – less then an hour from home to the top of the hill, with a lot of breaks on the way to enjoy the scenery. The hillside is scarred by narrow creeks of running water and frozen banks. Some of the creeks were nothing but a sleeve of ice with water running through it. Such a weird sight. Do you know those cheesy illuminated pictures of waterfalls where it looks like there is movement in the picture, supposed to look as if the water is actually running? The kind of picture that usually hangs in a certain kind of restaurants… That’s what the water looks like, running beneath the ice. By the time I got to the top I found out that snow was the best available surface to walk on. Unless it’s only a thin layer, that covers a much thicker layer of ice – than there is only one way to go – flat on your back.. Worse was the ice that looked thick, but was actually thin and covered a nice muddy puddle about ankle high. No need to tell you what happened there.
On arrival to the first of three tops I saw the red and white helicopter arriving to town, hovering above the water with snow covered mountain tops behind it. From that first top I also saw the whole town. Not that it is that big. I also see that the island was even smaller that I thought! Wouldn’t think that was possible really.
On the way to the second top I was too lazy to take the round tour on the rocks and chose to cross through the about ten meters long stretch of what looked like a thin layer of snow. I paid for it as well. As the snow reached above my knees I got somewhat angry at my own laziness. From the second top I saw parts of the island I haven’t seen before; I saw long stretches of mountain chains on the mainland and the occasional house-sized iceberg floating in the distance. It seemed like the whole world was blue and white. Such beauty!
From the third top I spotted a new way I could take on the way down. What a mistake that was! More ice covered creeks well hidden in short shrubbery. By the time I got down my socks were soaking wet. Fifteen minutes later I was home again.
A couple of days later, telling my colleagues about the trip, I’ve been asked if I’d seen the lake. A question I thought was a bit weird, since I’ve covered all that was to see up there, but… sorry, no lake. They insisted that there was a lake up there, where the kids bath in the summer time. Apparently the snow I sunk so deeply into melts in the summer and becomes a nice little lake. I chose not to tell them that part of the story. There was no need to make a complete fool of myself...
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