Life, the universe and ... oh, whatever ...

Monday, February 19, 2007

More differences

I got back to Norway on Thursday afternoon and talk about differences!

It’s so strange, how my family and friends have been talking about lots of snow and -20 degrees, and I certainly know about that kind of weather having experienced it myself almost every winter my whole life – but for some reason being in the mild spring-like summer of England it still must have completely missed my mind what half a metre of snow really looks like. There was this typical frosty white fog when we were landing on Gardermoen so I didn’t really get to see Norway before the wheels were actually on the ground and then I saw all the snow – and it just hit me – it’s still winter in Norway. The logical part of brain already knew this of course, but being in such a warm country as England this winter it’s been impossible to understand what a true Norwegian winter really is.

I also got the confirmation about how exotic Norway can really be ten minutes after the bus left the airport. We were driving on quite sparsely populated roads between Gardermoen and Jessheim, and suddenly the bus driver had to change lanes to avoid hitting an elk!!! Yes, this is definitely Norway for you.

Standing at Kongsvinger and waiting for the next bus to Flisa I was also reminded that I did not have proper footwear on my feet, ten minutes on snow and my toes were freezing. That is also when I made the decision that even though I know I ought to, I wouldn’t actually go to any of the rally competitions that have been going on in my home area for the whole weekend. It’s been really huge – and I’ve watched everything there was to see – on TV!!

Today I’ve driven a car on icy roads for the first time this winter which suddenly also was a bit of a daunting challenge since I hardly ever drive any more because I haven’t got a car in England, and then also having to face the winter roads as well. But I managed to get myself to the dentist and the library without any accidents so I guess I’ve still got whatever it takes to be a driver on Norwegian roads during winter.

I borrowed six books about the Viking age at the library today, and this week I’ll be spending most of my time doing research and redrafting my love story set in the Viking age.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home