Thanks! Glad you liked the pictures. I heard so many stories about how the "lifers" of Svalbard (so people who've mostly only lived there, and aren't just there seasonally) can get a bit… strange. Considering how isolated some people choose to live, and how brutal the winters must be, it's not exactly surprising. And I don't mean any of this negatively, mind you; the locals I talked to (permanent or not) were really happy to share their experience, and I was happy to learn. Svalbard really, really resonated with me, and I don't fully know why. I just want to ski from one coast to the other and gawk at glaciers (because holy shit have you seen those damn things?), or go camping in Pyramiden, or see what the stars look like in the middle of nowhere when it's actually dark. What did/does your grandfather do there, if I may ask? Miner?
He was a machine operator by trade. For a while he worked in the mines, but for most of his stay he worked as a bus driver. I guess he had a few quirks, but he never struck me as particularly strange. While I only got to visit him twice on Svalbard, he had a summer residence in southern Norway, where I'd visit every summer when I was young. :-)