Ultimate annoyance...

We had all these rhymes when we were kids, the ultimate speed was for instance to lock a drawer and manage to chuck the key inside etc. etc. This morning I experienced the ultimate annoyance. I got home late from Bergen last night, and really, really felt like a spinning class this morning at 06.30am. So when my alarm goes off at 06.03 I happily jump out of bed, get my gym stuff, eat a banana and am ready for a great work out. I go out in our dark backyard, through all the leaves, unlock my bike, only to find out the front wheel has decided to blow over the weekend! As I was a little late I had no time making the class by walking, so I had to go back inside without having exercised, one big, big downturn.

So now, as I'm on foot until I or someone with bikerepairing skills fixes my bike it might as well snow! It snowed over the mountain yesterday (not as much as in the photo, which is from a winter a few years ago), but it was so beautiful! Although Oslo-Bergen is one long hike by car, it is definitively recommended, because it is a beautiful scenic route, and you wonder why LOTR was not filmed there instead. It nearly beats New Zealand!

Anyway, it's getting closer to 7am in the morning, and my stomach says it's about time to get some brekky. Still would've preferred bikeriding my arse off in a small dark room with very loud music.

Law and order

As I was bikeriding home from a workfunction with a few beers on the inside (still wearing a bikehelmet and flashing lights and riding on the sidewalk, so no immediate danger) I came to think about can you get caught for drinkriding? In Norway, if I were to borrow my car (hypothetically since I don't have a licence) to a drunk person and that person got caught I would have gotten the same punishment. Which easily would be three weeks in jail and a 15 000 NOK ($3000) fine. Which is fair enough actually. You shouldn't drink and drive!! Not bikeride either but it was the best of two evils.

Put on your seatbelt. And slip, slap, slop. Good night.

October

It's pretty cold now. My room is cold, I live in an old, beautiful house with very high ceilings, which is great because it looks good, but I have to admit, it's bloody freezing every morning. I'm just waiting for the snow to come actually. I like snow, love it actually, but it means I can't ride my bike and will have to choose every morning whether to walk the 30 minutes to work or catch the tram which takes me 32. I think I might walk.

Might go for a walk and look at the yellow leafs on the ground. Went to a party last nigth where they had decorated with leafs. It was pretty.

So long.

I know I'm in Norway when...

"Usjekta, men du är för sen." (It's rather badly spelled Swedish and means "You're too late."). I'm looking at the blonde girl behind the counter and it takes me a few seconds before I realize what hideous crime I've done. There I get it. I tried to buy beer after 8pm on a Thursday night. Oh, yes, welcome to Norway. It was 8.47pm on Thursday night, I was on my way home from the gym and knew I'd love to have some cold beers in the frigde, just in case me or a flatmate felt like one over the weekend, but no, the register-chick takes it and puts it behind the counter. "Come back tomorrow, will ya?" Oh, yeah, I will. Just to clarify, it's not some big problem for me not having access to beer late on a Thursday night, but it made me think back to the differences with Norway and Australia. In Norway you have two good excuses for not drinking. 1. Bottle shops are closed, and you have nothing to drink. 2. It's too expensive. (3. Of course, your'e driving, but I am still not in the posession of a license, so don't have that privilegded excuse). In Australia these excuses are no good (and maybe therefore slightly more alcohol abuse??), howver there is nothing like you couldn't get alcohol. There are 24 hours drive through bottleshops. And if you don't have a car to drive through, feel free to bikeride. Second, alcohol is dirt cheap. Cheaper than milk. Bottles of wine for $3. I'm not saying it's the right thing, it is probably the cause of lots of problems, I am just noticing the differences. But other than that Norwegian and Aussie party culture is pretty similar. Yet different. To quote another alcoholic ad. Anyway, tonight we're taking it pretty chill at home, watching Stingers (I miss Melbourne so bad when I see it, the Police Station on St. Kilda Road, Telstra Dome, the Rialto Towers, cafes in Fitzroy...ahhh), but tomorrow there might be a bit more of a party. That is, if I make it to the shop before the curtains go down on the beer.

Cheers