Life in Norway so far
I’ve now been in Norway for about four months. So far so good. When I arrived it was wet, cold, and dark, now it’s wet, cool and light. I’ve actually found the weather to be quite agreeable, and not as miserable as I’ve been led to believe.
A rare day of sunshine in January, with an icy harbour
Norwegians take a keen interest in the weather, for they love the outdoors and positively gorge themselves on sun. When the sun is out it seems the city’s population trebles. We had the first weekend of sun a couple of weeks ago, and on the Monday the evidence was burnt on to many faces.
Ullevålseteren at Easter
Everyone is a-chatter about the coming Best Summer Ever, which is supposed to be hot and dry. It’s a stunningly beautiful country, so in a way it is a shame that there are not more days of sun for it to be enjoyed. Bergen, for example, is supposed to have on average only 60 sunny days a year. Perhaps it is just as well, because the fewer fine days drive people to make the most of it even more. Certainly coming from Brisbane I took the sun for granted. There, weather is a bit of a non-issue, and one would only really be concerned during the height of summer, whether it might be too hot that day. Now I find myself somewhat obsessing about weather.
Akershus Fortress
I’ve had a few firsts in Norway. I’ve finally fulfilled a life-long ambition to try curling, which is akin to lawn bowls, but on ice. Although infamous for it’s rotund, beer-swilling players there’s decidedly less beer involved than lawn bowls, regrettably. It’s quite a bit harder than bowls, and a lot of fun. I also travelled across my first frozen lake, which was nowhere near as exciting as I had hoped. Still to cross off my to-do list is to participate in a whale slaughter, eat a lamb’s head, hunt a moose and brew my own moonshine.
The curling battlefield
Enroute to Tjeldbergodden
Norway has a very high level of niceness about it. The people are nice. The cities are nice. The language is nice. Sometimes this general niceness can come across as blandness. But overall, the quality of life here is very high, and any complaints I can come up with are fairly trivial ones (like for example the price of booze).
Now to find some beach volleyball action in Oslo, and my life will be complete.
3. May 2008
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A minor thing… when you click on the photos in the post, the photo displayed in the left hand column remains in front…
— Jameses · May 6, 03:28 · #
(This was meant to be posted first… damn preview thingey)
Hey man, good to have the update. Just thought you might like to know that it’s sunny here… again!… In fact, it hasn’t rained or been otherwise unpleasant for about a month…
Look forward to the updates…
— Jameses · May 6, 03:30 · #
Cheers Jameses!
I soon realised that this post was the most dull and cold ever. Hopefully, however, I met my goal of irony by spending almost an entire post talking about weather after observing such a predilection in Norwegians.
I think it’s about time for the yearly TSV design refresh, so I’ll hopefully address the pop-up issue then.
— Clint · May 12, 22:54 · #