Life up here: Part 1 of ?

So, it's been 2 weeks now and I've settled into the routine up here quite nicely. So much is going on with work and life that I don't even know where to begin with the stories. I guess that I'll use this post to talk a bit about living up here.

The station itself is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it's smaller :) The main building consists of 3 housing wings, a wing of office/work space and a wing that houses the mess hall, trading post, 2 bars and some games rooms. That may sound big, but from my bedroom door, walking at a normal pace it's:

-2 seconds to the computer room
-2 seconds to laundry
-5 seconds to the bathroom
-30 seconds to work
-45 seconds to meals
-55 seconds to the bars

It's not a big place is what I'm trying to convey here :) I'll take a little video walking through that I can show once I get back to let you all see it for yourselves.


My room is great. It's bigger than at home, has a nice bed, big closet, desk, couch, chair, TV/DVD player and sink. Communal showers and bathroom, but that's no big deal when you're only sharing them with 4 or 5 guys and they're 30 feet away. Great common room down the hall with tiered couches pointed at a huge flatscreen TV. Lots of movies for renting and junk food aplenty.

One anecdote I'll tell before finishing up will hopefully put to rest all of you e-mailing me saying how much colder it is in your part of the South then it is up here :) Ok, sure, Waterloo might be -28 while it's -27 up here. I'd like you all to remember that -28 for Waterloo is FREEZING, while that same temperature up here is a warm snap for us. Plus, you have SUN to give you some radiant heat. As well, the windchill is worse up here. The other night I was recruited into taking a manual air speed reading during a storm we were having (yes, I'd had a few beers when I was coerced into it). If any of you has been in a hurricane, picture that.....but then drop the temperature from +30°C to -30°C. We had sustained winds of 80km/h, and gusts up to 110km/h, which actually would have pushed me over if not for the lifeline! So, just envision that the next time you think you're all tough walking to you car with your little mittens on :P Alright...that's my rant for this blog!!

I think that's enough for this week. Hope life down South is going well for everyone. Miss you all lots,

Graham