Can´t help myself - got to write a little more

I´m returning to Svalbard this weekend to do two things - go hiking and open a small exhibition in one of the local café´s (Fruene kaffe & vinbar). I´m exhibitng photos this time - you can see one of them underneath and more of them here.


And that´s all - I´m not starting blogging again, I´m not. Not now, anyway.

The heart of Longyearbyen

... is taubanesentralen. It is also one of the most photographed buildings in Longyearbyen, underneath you´ll find some of mine.




Yesterday, we had (together with a large group of other interested people) a chance to peek inside.

Taubanesentralen was the center of coal-transport for many years. The Central as it stands today was built in 1957 (and closed in 1987), but long time before that, the area where it´s situated (Skjæringa) was the heart of the coal-production in Longyearbyen.



As new mines were started in different directions, new lines into the central were opened up - here´s the line of kibbe-masts towards mine 3, with many of the "kibbe" still hanging.


Yesterday, strong wind and narrow, steep stairs made it perilous to leave the Central. Makes you wonder what it was like in the old days, in the dark season, during the winter gales!


It´s normally locked, and you enter at your own risk. Even though the building is preserved, along with most historical sites on Svalbard, it does seem to be crumbling apart. A pity, as it´s quite a magical place, with loads of history in it´s walls.

Shoes off, please

I´m not sure if I´ve mentioned this, but here in Longyearbyen it´s customary to take your shoes off when entering most public buildings. So the entrances might look like this:



During the winter, when crisp, clean snow was everywhere, it seemed a bit pointless to always take your boots of, but nowadays - with puddles and mud all over the place, it´s a recommendable idea.



This is a tradition going back to the time when the mines were still close to the living accommodations. So boots were left outside to prevent coal dust on every floor.




Today, there´s not much coal dust left, but it´s still the polite thing to do. And it´s a wonderful social equalizer, when everyone from the janitor to the manager shuffles around in their socks, or some old slippers...

The eiders next door

Not only gulls and geese, but also lots of Ærfugl (or Common Eider) have returned to Svalbard lately, after having spent the winter on the mainland and Iceland. It´s reckoned that as many as 20000 birds return to Svalbard in April, and leave in October.


Now that there are large patches of land without snow, they´ve started breeding. These pictures are from our neighbourhood, where an eider-colony has settled close to a dogyard. On this patch, they know that they´re safe from foxes and bears, who are their greatest enemies. The foxes and bears keep their distance from the noisy (and smelly) dog enclosure.


A sign next to the colony defines the area.


Somehow the birds know that the dogs can only look wistfully from their cages. Of course, if a dog was turned loose, there would be a massacre.


The white ones are the drakes - a lot more visible than the brown females. How many birds on the the photo underneath?

The seventeenth of May

Celebrating the seventeenth with all this snow around is certainly a new experience - but the weather has been perfect all day, so we haven´t missed the green too much.


As almost everyone in town joined the parade, we had noone to cheer and sing to, but we cheered and sang anyway.




Emma was one of the three to carry the school´s standard.


Thomas´class - Thomas on the far right.



Peter cheering.


Afterwards there were speeches in Russian and Norwegian, and salutes (by cannon or maybe dynamite, it was hard to tell).


And after that - entertainment and café in the sports hall.



I didn´t catch much of the entertainment-part, as Peter´s class (that is, the parents) was responsible for the café, and that was a lot of work.




We´ve now settled for the lazy part of the day - the one with the leftovers...

Blizzard-day

Also called whiteout.

Rubbish

One thing that I was curious about when we first came here, was what to do with the rubbish. I mean, so many people in one place - and we all know how much waste modern people produce - where did it all end up?

We quickly discovered these - charming, aren´t they? This is where the inhabitants of Longyearbyen get rid of their waste - quick´n easy.




Best thing you can say about them, is that you can carry out your waste any time you like - and there´s always plenty of room in them.

From the start, I had my doubts as to whether the conscientiously sorted stuff we deposit through the different slots marked "aluminium", "glass", "paper", "plastic" etc, stay sorted. I´ve had a feeling that all of it would just end up in one big jumble on the local rubbish heap. What I hoped was that maybe they burnt it in the power plant, that would make sense, wouldn´t it? I mean, it´s happily burning 24/7, so why not put the heat to further use? Not the metal and glass and stuff, of course, but the ordinary household-junk?

Well, they don´t, but they don´t dump it on the dunghill either. Most of the waste is shipped down to the mainland, to be taken care of there. The reason they don´t burn stuff (other than coal), in the power plant, is that it would cost too much to upgrade it for that use - or that´s what I´ve heard.

So metal, plastic, paper, wood, electrical stuff - plus all the rest is sent down. But not glass - that´s dumped on the local heap. I´ll have to go and have a look at that one day - a mountain of glass, what a sight!

So the rubbish-situation is better than I feared around here, and from what I hear, they´re going to make recycling even easier within the year. I hope so.

And here´s something that I hadn´t seen before: a "shop" where everything´s free! In "Bruktikken", you can leave stuff that you don´t need anymore, and others can come and help themselves to it. What an excellent idea for a community where people come and go all the time.


An idea hereby offered to the whole world, for free!

Solfestuke 2008 III

Today ´s the day when the sun shines on the old hospital-stairs - unless, of course, it´s like today, cloudy.

A large, optimistic crowd had gathered around the stairs - trying to lure the sun out with songs and chanting. It didn´t help, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood anyway.


Geir Schau was the host - standing on top of the famous stairs, he kept the crowd busy with the chanting.


Elias won the drawing contest - his sun is this year´s symbol of the Solfestuke.



There´s been some rumours that this year, the sun shone on the stairs yesterday - on the 7th - on account of this being leap year. If that´s the case, the stairs were brightly lit around lunch-time yesterday, when noone was around to see. Because yesterday, the weather was great.

Ah well - no visible sun today. But hurra! anyway, for the return of the sun - and for women all over the world! Gratulerer!