Snow, Truck, & Northern Lights

My students and coworkers wanted to know how the military course turned out?  I replied it was very informative, fun, and I passed.  It’ll be a while before I sign up for another course in the CIC program.  I thanked the supply teacher again for looking after my class while I was away.  I spent the next several days reviewing the material the students learned. 

I was expecting Arctic Bay to be covered in snow when I returned in early October, but that didn’t happen.  Only the surrounding mountaintops were blanketed with snow.  That all changed on October 11.  (Snow does fall in the community as early as mid-September, but it usually melts right away).  I woke up on Thanksgiving Monday so see snow on the ground.  Everywhere.  And it wasn’t melting.  The snow was here to stay until June 2022.  I took several pictures on my way to school.  I didn’t see nor hear any skidoos driving through town.  The machines would “come out of hibernation” in another day or two.  I treated the day as a work day and spent most of the time in my classroom preparing lessons and correcting class work.

I’ve mentioned many times before that living in a small isolated community in Nunavut comes with challenges.  Contrary to what people may think, there are roads in Arctic Bay, and yes, people do own & use wheeled-vehicles.  It’s not all skidoos, qamutiks, and boats.  Cars, trucks, and atvs are present.  They’re used for the same reasons why people down south have them: transportation, shopping, and moving stuff.  For example, the airport is 5km out of town.  Nobody wants to walk and haul their luggage that far.  Where am I going with this?  Maintenance.

Unfortunately, Arctic Bay, does not have an auto repair shop and the stores don’t sell vehicle parts.  Thankfully, they do sell towing cables because there are no tow trucks either.  If your vehicle breaks down or gets stuck in the snow, you need to find someone with a powerful vehicle and cable to come rescue you.  On October 16, I witnessed and documented a creative way of moving an old truck.

A co-worker was giving me a ride home from school in the late afternoon.  I was riding in the back of the pickup truck when we came upon a slow-moving loader.  The loader was carrying and moving a pickup truck.  I think this was the first time I saw such a spectacle in Arctic Bay.  I quickly took out my camera and took several photos.  The loader driver moved off to the side and let us pass.  My guess is the driver bought the truck and was moving it to his residence.

I finally got around to photographing the Northern Lights in Arctic Bay on the morning of October 19.  Dark season starts on November 11, but by mid-October, the sun doesn’t rise until late morning.  I photographed the lights while walking to school.  When dark season arrives next month, everyone in town will be seeing the Northern Lights every day!  If I had the money and time, I’d travel to 11 other Nunavut communities, photograph their Northern Lights, and put together a calendar for distribution.    

(Google Northern Store or NorthMart).

(If you didn’t get the joke from the photograph, it’s not my fault).