White Snow

Ahh finally we have a 5cm layer of dry powdery snow. I am aware that the rest of Sweden also got snow but I doubt that will last whereas up here I am pretty sure it will now be white for quite some time. When walking outside you now get that distinct crunchiness under your feet from the crisp snow, I love that sound. I am going to Kiruna on thursday with Camilla to get myself some skiis and also to see the Dr as my cold is still lingering on and I am just fed up with it now as it makes me tired and irritable and it is a pain when being outside arghhh. It is getting pretty dark here as well you can deffo tell that the days are rapidly getting shorter.
No sign of viruses on my bacteria, big disappointment but I just have to keep on trying , if a scientist you can never give up and most things never work the first time around and if they do then you have to doubt the results so you still do it another time... I have been asked to write a review on polar viruses for a potential special issue in a journal called freshwater biology. This I was very happy about as it means that I am moving up in the science world and that my name pops up when it comes to polar regions, excellent!
Otherwise the station is pretty empty and I have nothing exciting to report from there. We did have a pub dinner with some people from the village on saturday night. I don't believe everyone from the village was there but it was nice to see the locals (I don't know too many of them still). Of course the later the night got the more "casualties", one thing the northerners like is their drink and unless you are legless you have not had a proper night out (of course not everyone is like this but there are quite a few..).

Tomato missing...

The funniest thing happened today at fika. Right the story goes as follows. Upstairs in the fika room there is a tomato plant which had one tomato growing on it and it was ready, I noticed it the other day. However today at morning fika, I found out that this tomato had been taken by someone ahh shock horror. Everyone got questioned but noone as yet owned up to stealing this little tomato. Why is this so funny then... well we had a tomato thief in the Antarctic as well and it just reminded me so much of this event that took place down south. Hilarous made me giggle.
So the last students from the Autumn course have now left and I think there is only about 10 of us left now working on the station (not 100% if that is the right number but there are about 10 people left at fika in the morning so they are the people I am counting).
I have innoculated some of my bacterial cultures with lake water in the hope of isolating a virus. I would be surprised if it worked but you never know... I will keep you all updated on this.

CO2: they call it pollution, we call it Life!

Just came across something worth checking out.... Check out the following vids available here http://www.cei.org/pages/co2.cfm

Reminiscence

I have spent the evening reading my Antarctic livejournal that I printed out tonight. When I was down in the Antarctic I wrote a diary, sort of similar to this one, about what I did and how I felt. It still fascinates me how touched I am about my stay in the Antarctic, I found myself being very emotional when I was reading some sections of it and also laughing at some of the things we did down there. I know it is nearly 3 years since I went down there now but I still remember it all so clearly. I am so glad that I wrote down my experience there as when I get old and maybe my memory is not as good I still can read it and it will all be like it was just yesterday….
I am very happy to go over to Australia again and get a chance to meet my old Antarctic family. Maybe because I am up here and the winter is coming and it is cold and sort of similar feel to it as in the Antarctic I am finding myself thinking a lot about my time in the Antarctic and the people I met down there.

Ice features

Sunday

The cold weather continues and on friday night it was minus 12. So when Camilla and I ventured back from Anders place after a lovely dinner it was a refreshing walk. I have had a relaxing weekend, done a bit of work on my bacterial cultures and also been out for a long walk today down to Torneträsk. I love being out in the cold it always feels so refreshing, the air is cold and crisp. I managed to get a few new photos of some ice features on the edge of Torneträsk. I am hoping that the ice will form soon. I heard the other night that in 1998 the ice had formed on Torneträsk the 20th of November lets hope that is the case now as well. I am gonna invest in some tourskates so I can go skating on torneträsk, I know they did that last year and it looks heaps of fun.
The CIRC crew have been discussing a pub crawl in Kiruna, there are about 6 pubs in Kiruna so that will be easy piecy. I am also planning to have a 30th birthday party up here as I got lots of decorations sent up from Claire in Sheffield.
Enjoy the new photos!

Recovering

Ahhh finally my head feels like it is working again all my build up snot has suddenly decided to evacuate through my nose so now I got a constantly running nose. Today I opened my blinds and got the biggest smile on my face as there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. The excitement is overwhelming! It has snowed all day and Abisko is slowly getting a snow cover, about bloody time I think. Snow, snow and more snow! I thought that we had a dinner party at work tomorrow evening but they had changed so now we are having dinner tonight and it is with the Abisko Scientific Research station crew and CIRC (my top team!). Reiner is cooking dinner with the assistance of Christer (the deputy station leader) and Camilla and I have made the dessert lingon parfait and we also made the punch (which I am very adept in making he he he). Anyhow I got little done today, workwise, as we had to help out for the dinner tonight. Hopefully I will get more done tomorrow. The days are just flying by where does time go....?

Sick =(

I am still ill and every morning I have been waking up with a banging headache which is focused in the front of my head. I reckon I have sinusitis (bihålsinflammation)as my head is not getting any better. Bit tricky being ill in Abisko though as the closest Dr is in Kiruna. I think I will give the Dr a ring on monday and talk to them. My left ear has still not popped from the flight either so that sucks big time. Anders is having a leaving party today as he is moving from Abisko at the end of October and I will miss this party buuu... but I need to focus on getting well. I really really detest being ill, it does not happen very often but really bugs me when I cannot get well on my own arghh....stupid old body!
I have more or less been in my flat since I got back from Nottingham, just been sleeping eating and watching tv. Lots of sleeping actually as I thought maybe my body will recover quicker then. But I suppose if I have heaps of snot up in my head that is infected then I cannot really do anything to remove it unless I get antibiotics. Maybe I go for a little walk outside later on.
Good news about Oz, Benny and I are going to Perth for xmas which will be great fun. I really like Perth and I am glad that I get to go there once more. So I will spend xmas with Benny and his family once more, excellent! We will get back to Melbourne in time to celebrate new year there so very good indeed.
Right I need to wash my hair as it is a massive grease ball and try and go for a little walk.

Pure Filth night in Nottingham

My fav Dj Chris Liberator - what a man!

Mrs and Mr Smith =)

Nottingham

So I am back in Abisko again. It was a very intense weekend in Nottingham and on the evening I arrived there I was off out with Dom to a fancy dress party we went as Mr and Mrs Smith and there were some real cool outfits at the party. I got to see my old housemate and heaps of other friends that I have not seen for ages. Big night on friday and feeling a bit hungover on the saturday but shame to waste a day when travelled so far so I got up and headed into town for some look around the shops. This was very hectic indeed and a bit overwhelming for me, now being used to small villages in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow after town we got ready for another night out at my fav club in Nottingham, the blueprint and the pure filth techno night. Once there I met up with even more of my old mates and they were mega surprised and happy to see me so that was good fun. Chris Liberator played a very good set of old acid techno just what I like to hear. Sunday (my birthday) I went out for a meal with some of my friends and I had a big steak he he he. Monday I went to see my friend Vicky with the twins and they were doing great and the twins had grown so much since I last saw them, they are absolutely gorgeous. Tuesday headed back to Abisko and I had managed to catch a real bad cold in the UK so I had a crap flight with my ears in pain from the change in airpressure. So I have been at home for two days now as yesterday I had a fever all day. I hate having a fever as you just feel so useless and can't do bugger all even if you want to. I am hoping that I will be all good for tomorrow so I can go back into work. I have done some writing at home today as I got bored of doing nothing as you can imagine...
I had a great time in Nottingham however it is rather nice to be back in calm Abisko and not the hectic big city life. I am old now and I have done my share of living in big cities I think he he he.

Journey has begun

Now in Stockholm, Arlanda airport. I got up very early this morning in Kiruna and was meant to share a taxi with this spanish couple (the receptionist had organised it) but when I got out from the youth hostel in the morning the taxi was just leaving, I waved and shouted but got ignored and the taxi left... As I have just today changed my mobile over to Telia (better coverage than vodafone up in Abisko) my phone was not working... so no chance of calling a taxi!! But this old lady was just passing and witnessed the whole thing and she was so kind to call a taxi for me. I must say I am amazed with how friendly people are in the north, they are relaxed, take their time and never get stressed about things. It must be this beautiful nature that makes them such a nice breed. Anyhow I got my flight and now I have to wait in Stockholm for yonks.
I found out from my friend, Vicky, in Nottingham that her twins had just got chicken pox. So the last couple of days I have been trying to find out if I had had it. It seems that I was a very healthy little child and my mum or dad had no memory of me ever having chicken pox (vattenkoppor) but mum just called me and informed me that oh yes in her diary on the 20th of May 1980 I got chicken pox. This is real good news as now I can see both Vicky and the growing twins.
I am gonna have to read my book for a bit now as my flight to Copenhagen leaves at 13.00. Really the flight time is not very long it is just the waiting between flights....

Less than a week left in my twenties...

I have had a wonderful weekend as my mum came up and visited me here in Abisko. She got off the plane in Kiruna and hired a car and I met her in Kiruna centre and to both our surprise there was a 2cm layer of snow covering the town. When I left Abisko on the train we had no snow but only 300mm precipitation a year makes Abisko a very dry place. My mum had of course her suitcase packed full with things for me, she is such a wonderful mum. And we spent the weekend putting up new curtains and eating good and drinking wine. We also managed to get a trip in to Norway and it was so beautiful over there and still there was green grass so autumn not as far gone over there. Actually here in Abisko we have winter, according to smhi (the swedish weather bureau). Funny as Sweden actually have three seasons at the moment, summer in the south, autumn in the middle and winter up where I am, incredible. Something is definatively changing our climate....
I have also got a manuscript back, refused, so have to send it somewhere else arghhh. But got one online so not too bad. I am going to Santa Fe in New Mexico next year in February for a conference so I submitted an abstract for that yesterday. Never been to the US so that should be cool fun, not sure I will have much time after the conference to check out the US but maybe I can go to California, always wanted to see that place.
I have only one week left in my twenties which feels so weird, can't believe that I lived for nearly 30 years but in that time I have done quite a bit and seen some cool stuff and been to some amazing places and there is more to come =)
On thursday I head into Kiruna and will spend a night in the youth hostel and then get the early flight to Stockholm then wait and then to Copenhagen then wait and then finally arrive in Birmingham at 18.10. So friday night the last weekend of my twenties has landed and I will party til I drop he he he he. Naa not really of course I have to be a responsible adult as I am nearly half way to 60!
Otherwise life in Abisko is pleasant with the days getting shorter and more time to be spent at home, lighting candles and wrapping up in a blanket on the couch.