So, not long now. Only a couple of days left here in Alaska. It seems strange writing that, and it reminds me of my first taxi ride here in Fairbanks, as I departed the airport and made my British self familiar with the community I would spend over two months in. There, in the rear seat of LD's Cab, the very friendly driver was doing her upmost best to show me where everything was; to make me feel as settled as possible. "There's the university" she stated, glancing over to the left and as I gazed too at the buildings, statuesque and shining in the sunlight, I pondered just what I would get up to amuse myself. Would I become bored? How long would Fairbanks be fresh and invigorating for?
Two months on, and I can quite simply say that I have not, nor never would, become bored. What's more, there's fresh produce being churned out of this wonderful city everyday; new art, new music, new films. I will be sad to depart, but on to today's action.
It was just after noon when I made it out the hostel; the fatigue from being up to 3am had caught up with me, but there's no alarm clock like a nice sub-zero breeze to wake you up. I took this photo on the way to the university. I remember when noon meant the sun was spying a bird's eye view of me, high above in the sky. Now, in mid November, it barely made it over the roofs of single storey flats; it cast a weak glint on the icy roads.
Now seems to be a fitting point to comment on the two month building project that has been taking place on College Road ever since I arrived here in September. I've been watching this construction take it's slow and steady journey towards completion over the past eight weeks, and I think it's just about ready. It's amazing the things that can be done in two months. Despite the snow, I've watched builders and handymen carry on, disregarding the weather. They don't mess around!
Today I would watch what would be my last 'Music at One' performance. Sarah and Bill introduced this to me, and I've tried to watch them every Thursday as much as possible. Each week brings something different to the stage, reiterating my earlier point about Fairbanks producing fresh material for it's residents and tourists. I was pleased to see a jam-packed line up for my last concert. Proceedings got underway with four flute players, and were followed by Vaughn Williams (my favourite composer), a horn performance and the concert finished with an extract from John Adam's Road Movies. Lorna Eder was there as usual and accompanied on the piano, in fine form.
I felt like a good hike was in order, after being comforted with an hour's splendid music. So, wrapping up again, I headed out, into the forests. It would be one of those spontaneous walks; I would go wherever the trail leaded me, which on experience, usually leads me to seeing much more than I would if I had planned it. This time was no exception.
The forest, now thickly caked in snow, is a tranquil location. Silence is a strange thing; it only seems to amplify any noise that is made, whether it's a leaf falling, a Raven taking flight, or a squirrel hopping from branch to branch. I wandered in between trees, remembering when all of this was golden rich autumnal foliage.
It was at least an hour until I left the forest and found myself greeting civilisation again. To my astonishment, the Sun was setting, and for a minute I thought my watch had gone a couple of hours slow, possibly due to the severe cold recently! Well, no malfunction I'm happy to report; it really was 3:00pm!
On the way back to the hostel, I noticed this lovely coloured birch tree. It's not everyday that you find them this colour; pink, orange and red coming through, and it wasn't the sunset doing it! It's given me a great idea for tomorrow; tell you about it, well, tomorrow!
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