Last night was very cold again. Maybe due to the clear sky for much of the night. The soft snow that fell a few days ago is now pretty solid again but as I look out of the office window the little willow and birch tree buds in front of me are definitely getting bigger. It seems nature is more determined to wake up than the river.
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| Willow buds pushing on regardless |
Bill returned from Murmansk with the remains of the supplies as well as Lucy, the chef for Kitza. I think the combination of a number of different connecting flights, a mini sight seeing trip and travelling down to Varzuga in the supply bus had taken it out of here but she joined in the party and mucked in well when the weekly supplies arrived. She's back on form today after a good sleep. No real party emerged last night except for one of our group. However we did play skittles with water bottles and an orange.
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| Beautiful skies over the Sobacci |
The helicopter arrived in camp yesterday. Nothing out of the ordinary for the majority of us but Iona was keen to see what the fuss was about. Glenn wisely suggested me go inside in case the down draft on the fresher snow turned us into snow men. Obviously we all ignored him and tried to get a photo as it came down. Sure enough there is little but white on the image and we got plastered in icy snow. The igloo survived however.
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| I've missed this sight |
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| Using the igloo as a shelter |
Today is Sunday so there are only Russian pilots and service crew in camp. We are going to have another trip to the village at some point today as it seems to keep moral high. Hopefully we will get a closer look at the Eagle who visited us yesterday. Excuse the rubbish image but he really kept his distance. Even the drone could not keep up with him sadly.
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| More zoom needed |
The expanse of blue increases gently daily but I'm really hoping for an over night push to clear some serious space. Fingers crossed.
Jack Selby
