Water, wheels and warm hands



Caesar Milan never thought of sealskin mittens as a dog training device - I have their undivided attention!

It certainly isn't my intention to only update this blog on Sundays and I apologise for the gap, but it has been quite a week.

We finally moved back home on Friday after 8 nights at the Capital Suites. Staying in a hotel may sound like fun but we have spent more time in hotel beds over the last two months than we have in our own bed so we just want to be home. Our stress levels have been through the roof with not knowing when we would be home and the knowledge that all hotels are booked out from Monday 4 so it was with great relief that we learned the water was back on.

On Monday night we bought a 350cc Yamaha Quad, getting it on the road was, as with all things in Nunavut, far more complicated than really necessary. But let me back up a bit, yes I did say ON the road. ATVs are allowed on the roads provided they have lights and are insured. To me this equals the perfect vehicle, I can ride on the roads around town to get to the shops, work, Tim Hortons etc, but when it suits me I can nip off the road and take a short cut, head to the beach or whatever takes my fancy. Snowmachines on the other hand are not allowed on the roads, rather they are ridden pretty much everywhere else. In my estimation snowmachines outnumber cars here in Iqaluit and the town is criscrossed with snowmachine tracks alongside the road, across the road, behind buildings, in between houses, along the beach etc. The space behind our house is a veritable race track on the weekends.

I digress... Tinah needed to replace her drivers license so we went together to Inuksugait Plaza and proceeded to the blue building where the printed sign taped to the door directed us to the office next to the Quick Stop in the green building (those really were the directions). Inside the driver licensing office we were attended to by a very helpful lady who reviewed my documentation and informed me that since I would be surrendering it, my BC drivers license could not be utilised as one of the two required pieces of government ID, however my Permanent Resident card and Social Insurance number would suffice. Unfortunately these are in the wrong name so I had to come back the next day with my divorce certificate. Everything closes at lunch so all events in this tale take place during working hours, fortunately I had to work late on Tuesday so had accrued banked time to burn. I returned on Thursday with a print out of a scan of the divorce certificate which was accepted without hesitation. A few forms and $68 later I left the office clutching my temporary license which is essentially a till receipt.

Over to apartment 210 in the pink "red" building where I spent an hour getting insurance, this cannot be issued without Nunavut ID (said till receipt) and is processed online using painfully slow internet and an even slower computer. Unlike BC, Nunavut requires all drivers to be named on the policy so I had to provide driving history and the supporting documentation from ICBC for both Blaine and I. Ironically ATV insurance is not eligible for discounts, but they still demand the information. As this is my main vehicle and I will be driving it on the roads at peak times I opted for full insurance which cost $330 for the year. The Nunavut Insurance office also dealt with the transfer of ownership, I was given a temporary red slip and am to expect the real one in "a month or two". Presumably this documentation proved that I owned and had insured the vehicle as I was then directed back to the green building where I paid $28 for my very own polar bear plate. We think the "can't run an ATV in -10" yarn was just a scare tactic to make us buy a snowmachine from the dealership because it runs just fine, simply plug in the block heater an hour before you need to head out and you are good to go.

By the time this was all done with I had, for the second day in a row, missed the liquor permit office which closes at 4pm. Friday morning I used my coffee break to get the permit for my wine order and was pleased to note that they have extended their opening hours and now operate 9am to noon and 1pm to 4:30pm whereas they used to only open 1:30 to 4pm in the afternoon. Blaine and I have decided that quantity should rule over quality in terms of booze importation so I ordered a selection of bag-in-box wines.

While riding around I found that even with fleece liner gloves worn under down-filled mittens, my right thumb was getting cold. As this digit controls the throttle it is not an option to put your hand in your pocket. A couple of weeks ago a lady came into the office selling a pair of caribou gauntlets that would have been perfect for riding, but I didn't know that I needed them then. I was planning to head to Northmart to check out their selection of mittens and was lamenting to Gerry that I should have bought the caribou ones when a lady appeared with two pairs of ring seal mittens with red fox cuffs. The smaller pair had beautiful patterns and fit me perfectly, the only drawback was that they are not cured so they have a very strong aroma of seal which drives the dogs nuts. I decided that the puppies could learn to live with it, here was the opportunity to have fashion and function for only $80 so I snapped them up and counted down the minutes until I could wear them on the drive home. Blaine took the photo of the dogs greeting me when I got home, they went insane and I have their undivided attention whenever I put the mitts on, although I have to be wary of inquisitive teething!