Good Times

Perhaps it's time for a brief update: my texts to John Håvard are significantly improved. They take far less time to write and are certainly less surreal in use of Norwegian. I feel this is a good sign that the lessons are working. At school on Monday we were taught that the word for "extreme weather" is "ekstremvar" and that the phrase "det regner mye i dag" means "it rains much today". That is one observational conversation piece that I could have done with over the last couple of weeks - it would have got a lot of usage, that's for sure. This November has been raining like the clouds are going for a place in the Guiness Book. They're on their way too, as the record rainfall for the month has almost been broken on the sixteenth. The heaviest rain started on Sunday evening, during Anita's baptism. The storm just didn't give up for twenty four hours. It was getting ridiculous; going to school dressed like I'm headed for an arctic quest.

Tuesday morning was better though, just clear and cold. I missed my train and went into the shop inside the station for a minute. When I came out it had all gone dark. Confused for a second, I looked over towards the edge of the sheltered platform... Gutted. Another storm and a ten minute walk from the station wondering how my slightly sketchily waterproof bag is coping with the downpour. But hold on a second, I'm not sure that's rain, it's SNOW - Alright! The good old white stuff continued to fall for most of the rest of the day and was still at it by the time I went to sleep.

If I had the technology to place a photo on here, I'd love to. Then you could see how pretty the whole place has become - even more so than usual. Naturally, Sigur Ros have been on heavy rotation in the CD player; the combination of sound and scenery is hard to beat. It's also good to see pensioners not giving in to a bit of ice on the pavement; coming out with their ski poles to take on the weather. Best of all, though, was that there was enough snow for a sledge session tonight. Some of the sledges are hilarious contraptions including steering, brakes and front suspension. The brakes remained unused. We did a pretty exciting hill run a few times and then hit the road, which was mostly ice, for some high speed pursuits in which John Håvard was closer to getting run over than I'd like him to be. It was great fun, as you can imagine. The evening also provided me with the first opportunity to make use of all my New Life gifts at once. Not only were the hat and gloves where they always are (on my head and hands, respectively), but I also sported both pairs of ski socks at the same time. Thanks, Ichthus New Life - I didn't get cold.