Sadly I am really starting to believe that the weather is ruining the Nunaexperience for me. Pretty much the whole time I was in Avriat it was either overcast, and windy or raining. My desire to go for walks in these communities is already low, but with this weather it hits zero.
I made it into town late Friday but managed to get keys for both job sites so I could work at my leisure. I like that. Free to come and go and left to my own devises. I work best that way. The work went as fine as can be expected but someone will need to return as we need extra gear to complete one site.
Now to the fun parts:
I took a cab from the airport. Unlike Clyde River the cab driver was smiling, spoke English and knew where I was going. Well work $5 for the 5 minute drive.
I got my “suite”, room 15 at the Inns North’s wonderful “Padlei Co-Op”. It the only room with a double bed (woo hoo). After I get acquainted with the work sites and grab my keys I head back to the “suite” to relax before dinner. While I watch TV I can hear a motor rumbling from what sounds to be next door. Yikes that’s loud.
I head out to the hotel restaurant where I meet the lady who manages the place. She explains how this is the only room with a double bed which to her is somehow a wonderful thing but proceeds to tell me that the water pump is in the mechanical room next to me and I will likely hear it. I tell her I already did. She says you will be used to it after a bit. (Oh will I?) I then ask her if I will eventually be sharing the room with a stranger. She said absolutely not. She doesn’t believe in that and put a stop to it a while ago. (Thank goodness for that).
So night 1 in the suite was the worst night’s sleep I’ve had since I got my CPAP machine years ago. You see in MOST of the northern communities water is delivered by truck and put into a holding tank. Some use gravity to get it where it goes some don’t. So every time some used water in my wing of the hotel, on came the pump that was literally fastened to the wall in the room next to me. Usually for only 10 or 15 seconds followed by a “bang” which seemed after a quick inspection was a pipe hitting something? A wooden joist perhaps. So with the exception of perhaps a few hours late late at night, every now and then, “whirrrrr, bang”. Try to sleep through that even with klennex stuffed in your ears.
Night 2 I decided the wonderful double mattress would become a shield against the noise. I was sleeping in the single bed which was furthest from the noise anyway. Before bed I took the mattress off the double bed and wedged it between my bed and the night stand on its side. So, ear plugs and a 10” insulated shield and I still slept like crap. The mattress shield seemed to not help at all. WTF.
Night 3, I walk into the room and it’s a lot warmer. It doesn’t make sense my thermostat is set to off. As I watch TV it gets warmer and it sounds like it’s raining out. I realize it’s not raining it the rad making that noise as it kicks out heat. Again WTF. So I now have the window wide open and have to open the door to the hallway to cool the place down. Great privacy that provides. So I sleep in the warmth listening to “whirrrrr, bang”, every time someone needed a drink or flushed their toilet, all night long.
Night 4. Okay tonight its up to 25 degrees and my thermostat says its off. Some other room MUST be controlling mine. OMG, The window’s WIDE open. The doors wide open. I’m in my shorts and sweating like a pig still. I can’t leave the door open while I sleep but the window stays open. I awake in the wee hours and my pillow is wetter than I’ve ever felt a pillow. Luckily there are 4 of them in the room. I switch pillow but I bet its 30 degrees Celsius in the damn room. It’s so hot I’m actually getting used to “whirrrrr, bang”. It doesn’t seem as frequent.
Last night, thank goodness. Temp still brutal. Windows and door open again most of the evening. It actually close to 0 outside but it stays around 23. So I push the bed in front of the window. Stuff 2 pillows over the rad directly beside the head of the bed, and doze off. It’s reasonably comfortable and again “whirrrrr, bang” doesn’t have the same effect on my life so I almost get some sleep.
Along the path of the room adventures I had the coffee maker on and the kettle along with the TV and lights, and tried to blow dry my hair. You guessed it, one breaker for the whole room. We found the breaker on a panel with no cover, just by luck.
Adventure two doesn’t need as much detail. Remember I’m in town over thanksgiving weekend so no one really wants to work. On day 2 (Saturday) I called the trunk rental place to see if they would answer my call today. (They ignored it while I was at the airport) They did and eventually I got a truck. Woo Hoo. My first workplace was 100 feet from the hotel so I didn’t really need it. The other site was 2 blocks away so I helped when all the equipment was located at the first site. So I delivered and installed the second sites equipment, then drove back to hotel. Once there I noticed the front passenger tire was a tad low. Perhaps a slow leak.
Sunday it looked about the same so I drove to the first site. (Yes 100 feet away, but I was planning on continuing on.) Once I go out and looked again I said to myself “If this was my vehicle, I wouldn’t drive on this tire”. So I called the guy who finally got me the van. He said he will try to find a portable pump and leave it with me in case it gets low again. I say “it’s Sunday if you wish to wait, no problem”. “I will try to find a pump” I was assured and was asked where it is parked.
In true NUNA fashion, no one showed up. I’m so glad the weather sucked so I didn’t want to see the town, or I’d have been pissed. Tuesday morning I called and by 11:30 that morning the tire was fixed and I was told,” It had no hole in it”. I bet some brat kid let the air out. BLAHH.
As a side note this isn’t like the south, where gas stations are everywhere with plenty of air available for 50 cents. And yes I asked people.
One my last full day I trekked over to 3 schools and the main government building to do some site surveys for future visits. I checked the lines etc. and took a ton of pics. My last morning I decided to move these pics onto my PC. It was acting exceptionally slow that morning. Moody piece of crap. I moved perhaps half a dozen pics onto it when Windows explorer crashed. After that EVERY picture that was on the memory card from the camera was gone. Surveys of 4 sites. UGG. After cursing Microsoft and Bill Gates (I picture him with his feet up enjoying his live and laughing while my PC crashes) and punching the couch (So I don’t create real damage), I pack up and head back to at least the government building. It’s the most important one of the bunch. There I take another few dozen pics to be safe. Perhaps I’ll be the one doing these schools and won’t need the pics.
A few good things in this community.
The people at the work sites and for the most part the hotel were friendly and as helpful as could be. One girl (likely less than 20) who waited there was a tad cold but she was either 7 to 8 months pregnant or had a really weird body. Either way I guess I don’t blame her.
I hope if I return to Arviat the weathers better so I can see some of the town. Even the cold weather is preferential to the damn fall rain overcast blustery crap. It just makes me wanna hibernate, just not in room 15. PS she assured me I could avoid that room next visit.
The hotel
community frezzer?
This was the "ART" in my room
Room 115 (or 15 on the door) UGG
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