It's not called "Dan In England"

Ah... Britain. Yes, the reason for four weeks of silence here at Dan In Norway is that three of those weeks were spent back home in England. It was a great holiday - seeing family and friends; getting along to South Street, Bible School and the mighty New Life; receiving a toilet for Christmas. I also got the haircut my impeded vision so desperately needed. I considered Dave Ross' suggestion to keep the fringe and have my eyes lowered but went for the cheaper option.

Now, it would be right and proper to include in this, my first post of the new year, some kind of summary of the year gone by. But that is what the Old Posts section is for; follow those links on the left to find the chronicles of my first three Norwegian months including much rain, some debate about scouting, the world's longest road tunnel, English visitors, potato-peeling and the death of mandarins.

However, I am now returned to Scandinavia. Apparently Arna had enjoyed two weeks of blue skies before my reappearance but the day my plane touched down the rain began again, along with bicycle-wobbling winds blowing directly against the uphill ride from my house to the church. This week I have paid back for Christmas indulgences. I have paid in full.

Other than the near gale winds things are largely as I left them. The sun still barely makes an effort to get higher than the mountains, the countryside is still pretty and the Norwegians still enjoy a good game of Fantasi - a shocking travesty of entertainment. Imagine charades (which is barely fun itself) with added coded gestures to make the time no fun at all. For example, pointing at different areas of your right arm indicates a geographical location in Norway - it's the kind of amusement you would only indulge in on the last day of term at school when the maths teachers let you play a so-called game that actually involved more learning than good times. The Norse seem to dig it though.

Tomorrow I must try and get some new brake pads. They have been steadily wearing thin and last night it got to the point where I decided to test if I would be able to use the side of my trainer as a makeshift emergency brake. I found out that Converse will not stop a bike.