To begin this 5th episode of my blog, let's first look at some precepts of daily life in a small isolated hut on the Greenlandic east coast:
1. Watch out for bears you will do.
In other words: in the event of an unexpected encounter with Nanu, always carry a rifle.
2. In the open air you will defecate.
(not just anywhere, but on a rustic toilet with a 3-star view, and... without forgetting the gun!)
3. To get water, buckets of snow you will collect.
4. Metal boxes you will open, search, stack, move, unstack...
...and you'll do it again!
5. With cans and dry goods, you will be inventive for dinner.
6. Cans of sardines and Pom'potes, as a picnic, you will eat.
(well, to each their own taste, it could just as easily be mackerel or pâté; “to each their own colors, to each their own temperatures” as a great philosopher said)
7. On the table, label the scientific samples you will do.
8. In the evening or on stormy days, various occupations you will find.
Reading, crochet knitting, DIY, baking... it's your choice!
9. In a pan on the stove, cook the bread you will make.
10. The bustling news of the world and the existence of the Internet you will forget.
As for the neighborhood, it is essentially made up of a group of barnacle geese, a flock of snow buntings, and a few (quite tame) polar foxes...
But this year, unlike the summers of 2015 and 2020 when I did not see any other human than my two colleagues for a month, we received a few small visits...
© Grégoire KUNTZ
« Tuesday July 25. Afternoon: checking the chicks, 5 more have hatched (29) and "Gros Poupou" which is already close to 80 grams! Still a cold wind, and the sea mist coming in. Towards the end of the chicks' checking, we notice two boats below! Around ten people disembark and head towards the hut. They are waiting for us in front, seated on a mix of chairs and vertebrae [of marine mammals]. It's Inuuta, whom Julie knows well from last year, and his whole family + a young English radio reporter from the BBC. Funny to find yourself in the little hut drinking coffee and tea with around ten people, some sitting on Grégoire's bed, some on the food boxes. Inuuta, his wife and his eldest son took their place around the table. In his sixties, blue Hurtigruten jacket, pair of Swaro and sniper rifle, Inuuta tells us about the bear killed 3 days ago in the south bay, in this case the 35th and last of the hunting season. Few words exchanged, but a few smiles, and above all no embarrassment, everyone seems comfortable where they are. Peaceful moment. The entire delegation leaves at the end of the afternoon in the hazy light that bathes the fjord. [1h30 boat ride to the village] »
« Sunday July 30. Great weather in the morning, but a nice little north wind brings back a bank of mist which floods the landscape very quickly at midday. Complete fog in the evening. Through the window, a few ice floes in the mist. While a pineapple cake is simmering on the stove, and while Julie is telling us once more about Isabelle Autissier's (a French sailor, and actually the first woman to have completed a solo world navigation in competition) visit last year, I see appear in the window frame... a sailboat!!! Crazy coincidence. An Englishman and two German women reach the beach on their dinghy, spend a few minutes at the hut, and invite us on board in an hour. After dinner we find ourselves in Anuk's cozy living room, in the company of Captain Ulrike, her sister Astrid, and their five current teammates. »
[next episode 6/10] Arctic nights, magic nights.