Back on the ice and back to the books

More melting means time to hit the sea ice on the Fat bike! Yea! First foray out today and only almost crashed once when I didn’t see a foot-wide crack in the ice. That was jarring.

It is still freaky and disconcerting to pedal out on the ice. However, I wasn’t as afraid this year as last year, so I suppose one would get used to it and take it for granted….like all things.

I didn’t ride too long because I learned that if you bike a certain direction you will bounce yourself to death and my butt is not into those bike seats anyways, let alone BOUNCING on them. No thanks. If I rode basically parallel to the shore, the ride was much smoother. I am no ice expert, but I would say that it has to do with the ridges formed as the ice formed with the wind.

I got some pics and decided to give my butt a rest. But first I had one more stop to make. The LIBRARY! That’s right, I finally found it! It was an epic journey to locate this 21st century speakeasy. I had tried multiple times before, but failed. Figuring out the location or hours of things here is much like becoming a detective. First you canvass the area looking for signs or notices. None exist in Igloolik. There are no markings on ANY buildings except the grocery stores. Churches are smart---they put a cross on top. Easy. Next you look online. Nope. No set websites for any services here in Igloolik, like the Arena, or Headstart, or the Library. Then you start interviewing people…just like a cop. “Hey, you seen a library around here? I heard there is one but don’t know where it is.” You get tidbits of info like, “Oh yeah, it’s in the elementary school.” Cool.

“Does that mean it’s only open during school hours?”

“I don’t know.”

I went to the elementary school and always the doors were locked. There were no signs (remember, no signs here. In fact, the elementary school entrance isn’t even labeled…I just assumed it was the double doors).

On to the next interviewee. So it goes until finally I found someone who had actually BEEN there! Like, in person, flesh and blood. They swore it was real and so I knew I only had to try harder to find it. I was determined now. I pumped them for when they went and where exactly. True to form, they couldn’t exactly tell me other than it was in the elementary school.

“Did you use the front doors?”

“I don’t know. I went from inside the building so I don’t know where I was.”

Gah, useless.

I vowed to try every damn door on the building until someone either shooed me away or I was successful.

On a Saturday, I tried 7 doors that were all locked. I was at the last 2 to try. They looked like they went into a side part of the building. They looked abandoned. One opened and there inside, was the library room! I was so stoked.

I got a library card and everything. Checked out 3 books that day and was so happy to hold a real book in my hands again instead of just being the creeper in the airport bookstores fondling the books but never buying because I have no room.

So back to today, I went by the library to return the books I had borrowed and was greeted by a wholly unfriendly dog that was staked out at the top of the steps like a sentry with very sharp teeth. I had no desire to have my face bitten off so I gently tugged her leash to see if she would submit. She did not. She leapt up and started furiously barking. I was happy with this because I knew this would attract the attention of her owner and maybe they would come out and get ahold of Cujo.

The owner did hear the dog who was inaccurately named Daisy. She never did stop barking at me. But, I got my books returned and pedaled on back home to relax.Read more