Sealift season

The boats out in the bay and the barges running back and forth are not the only signs that it's sealift season. Just a basic glance around town and the extra bustle of activity will let you know that something is going on.

Sealift season always has a certain frantic edge to it. The boats only have so long to hit not just Iqaluit, but also a host of other communities in Nunavut. Companies only have so much time to unload things from the barges and get them squared away. Construction companies are normally slipping into overdrive, trying to get as much construction completed as they can before the weather begins to turn, which will happen in a little more than a month. The plateau subdivision is going insane with activity. And I notice they're getting ready to start a new building right across the street from my old apartment. One more reason to be glad to have moved last year. Once they start going with the compressors to drive the support pylons for the new building the ground, I would have started to lose my mind. Twelve hours a day for six days a week....gah. My condolences, Jordan. Tell Stephanie to buy ear plugs if she wants to get any sleep during the day.

So you see things like the hardware stores going crazy (I was in one over the weekend to get my propane tank topped up and was nearly run over several times by trucks bringing in crates). There are trucks going around town with crates and dropping them off in front of different houses. Some people are very well organized and managed to get their sealift order up on the first couple of boats. We'll have to wait until closer to the end of August before our order arrives.

Although, as Montreal is the point of departure for most of the sealift boats, this obviously has us a touch concerned. Hopefully it won't last too long. I can't see that happening, but if it does, it's going to cause some real chaos up here.

Oh yes, and it's not just boxes of stuff arriving on the boats, it's also new vehicles. I've already noticed a few new cars and trucks on the roads around here. One thing about a place this small, you tend to notice all the vehicles and can quickly spot new ones.

We don't have a new one coming up, alas. Perhaps next year.

So yeah, it's an odd time of the year. A lot of people have left town for vacation or we're in transition as one group has moved out at the end of the school year and the next group haven't yet arrived. But once the boats show up, the place does have a beehive-like feel. It makes for entertaining viewing, if nothing else.

Now, if only the damn mosquitoes would hurry up and die already. That's one season I can't wait to have over with...

Last Five
1. No ones gonna love you - Band of Horses*
2. Leisure suite - Feist
3. Two hears (live) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
4. Tightly - Neko Case
5. My music @ work - The Tragically Hip