Ill tidings

Svenbärd Gulliksen came to visit today. For a cup of coffee as it were. He knows that what he gets is no Quartermaine or Willoughby's. It's not even such vulgar pitch as available in your local supermarket. Ha! You see, I might be furry and cute, but I know all about these little human pleasures. A bunny of the world is what I am. Anyways. When Svenbärd comes to visit he will drink carrot juice and he does so without complaint or hiccup. "That's some very nice coffee," he'll say. He's very polite. For a Northern Fulmar that is. Fulmarus glacialis is a ferocious species in normal circumstances. I like to think of Svenbärd as an exception and a friend. We have a lot in common him and me. He feels thoroughly misunderstood. You see, Fulmars are very often mistook for gulls, which they in fact aren't. The untrained eye might be confused by assorted superficial similarities, but they are wholly unrelated. Fulmars are petrels, and petrels -you might or you might not know this- are called thus in view of their habit to hover just above the ocean waves, with their feet barely touching the water, thus giving an appearance of walking on water, as St. Peter is said to have done. They belong to the order of Procellariiformes, whilst gulls are Charadriiformes. What you think rabbits can't go on Wikipedia? I'm drifting off here. Svenbärd is over thirty years old and therefore much respected on Bjørnøya. His foresight is such that his tidings often take years to materialize in the actual world. In fact, I have yet to witness a single instance of his boding transpire. This time however, I feel that the forecast is incumbent in a more immediate, dramatic future. "The dog that you have seen is an omen," he said. "It portends the end of an era. The lands of the North are changing. As the ice melts, our hearts freeze and the humans of the weather station will soon leave the island. To stay will be your doom and undoing."

My friends, sleep might come ill and tardy tonight. My only wish is that I could blame the carrot juice.