A little of bit love

I've been warned by numerous people about the upcoming closure of the Dempster highway. In about one month the highway will close and the town will essentially be shut off from the rest of the world. The price of food will double, or triple, and staples like milk, eggs and other perishable items will remain out of stock until the road opens again. (I think it takes about a month or maybe a little more for the road to reopen). One suggestion for this dark time is that I buy UHT milk. I think a lot of people choose this option as the grocery store has recently put a lot of it in stock. I'd like to exaggerate (and I'm fond of hyperbole) and say that there's more UHT milk than a small town could ever drink but I'm pretty sure that won't be the case.

I've also learned, during my two weeks here, that the town of Inuvik has an eratic power supply. Power outages are common, brought on by aging infrastructure not quite up to the task of supplying the town's power needs (or so I've been told). Regardless of the reason, it's recommended that alarm clocks have a battery backup. Last night I used my Nintendo DS, it may just make a fine alarm for the remaining 9 1/2 months of my stay.

One last thing. The water up here tastes silty. Don't be fooled by companies pushing 'arctic water.' Unless it tastes kind of like sediment, you're not getting the real thing.