I love happy people!

Even though this post is without any pictures, I felt it had to come out onto my blog! I have a confession to make: I love happy people! And when I can make them happy by showing them "my" wilderness, I am even more happy. Yesterday I spent the first part of the day showing the magnificent nature, birds and animals around Longyearbyen to Lena Killingmo. She got in touch with me through a mutual friend, and asked if I could show her around when she was up here. When we started out it was grey and not the best weather. But by the time we had been out for about an hour, we had seen more than 30 King Eiders (Praktærfugl) and the weather started to look better. Being stood under one of the Little Auk-colonies (Alkekonge) I told her that "this is probably the best area to find Arctic Fox" (Fjellrev). She kept looking in her binoculars, and not more than a minute after I had told her this she found a fox up in the slope. A beautifull, all-white fox with the exception of the black nose and eyes. We had good views of it for only a few minutes before it disappeared, but still she was very happy with having seen it in the wild! A trip up to the Mine 7-mountain gave her a top-side-view of the surroundings of town, and for the first time one of the persons that I have showed around actually stood out in the wind for a longer period than me. she was just a big happy swedish smile when she came back into the car. Driving towards town we came across a little flock of Svalbard Ptarmigans, and again she was thrilled to see the wildlife that is not scared of people. During the four hours we spent together outside, I dont think that the good words ever stopped! :)

In the afternoon I took my boss from my regular job out on a snowmobile-trip. She had never driven a snowmobile before, and was very keen on making this little trip. I took her to the glacier at first, where she got to try to drive for a little bit. Then we drove to Cales Bay, and explored some cultural heritage. Plus-degrees, sun from a clear sky, melting snow on the ground and good company made it feel like a postcard-Easter in the mountains from back home. Driving back towards town I had to drive over the more icy parts from Coles Bay, and just before she took over the throttle again we stopped and enjoyed the company of a small flock of ptarmigans feeding just a few meters away from my snowmobile. She then took over the control of the vehicle and drove almost the entire way back home. And when I dropped her off at her place she was determined that this was something we had to do again in not too long!

So I have to say that tuesday april 24th has to be one of the best, and happiest days of mine, for 2012 this far. I have managed to make to women happy just by showing them the wonderful nature which surrounds us here at 78 degrees North. This is what keeps me alert to its beauty, and tells me that this is not "common" nature! And it also tells me that I am completely right in not being jealous of people further south who can spend their days in 25 degrees in shorts!