Growing up in the seventies in Norway meant watching the one tv-channel for the children’s programmes every day. And at some point NRK must have hired some pretty odd people to do the scheduling. The shows I can remember the best include The Clangers (with a narrator speaking new norwegian), and that was the most normal show. Which tells you something. There was also Baltazar, which I’ve never heard of since, which was a cartoon about this mad scientist or wizard or whatever he was. Very Yellow Submarine-ish. Then there was Pernille and Mr Nelson, a puppet show. Mr Nelson spoke Norwegian with a very pronounced American accent and was a mean man. He was always being nasty to Pernille and then all of a sudden something would happen to scare him (“Jeg er redd, jeg, Pernille.”) and he’d look to her to sort it out. Very strange show. And then the perennial favourite: Pompel og Pilt. Also a puppet show it features two odd little characters who keep getting into trouble with the Janitor. The Janitor was very scary. If you sneak up to a 30ish Norwegian and whisper “Reparere, preparere, sabotere” in his/her ear you can watch them go pale. No, really.
Tåke
Ok, så er jeg ikke spesiellt normal, men jeg liker faktisk tåke. Og tåke er det mye av i Storbritania. I York, for eksempel, var jeg en gang fire uker i strekk rett før jul, og jeg husker det som om det var tåke hver dag. Ja, når det ikke regnet, da. Det var forresten sol den dagen vi klatret opp til toppen av katedralen, men det kan jo ha vært etter at tåken lettet.
Det er pent med tåke. Hvis jeg finner dem skal jeg legge ut noen bilder jeg tok ved Dragvoll (Trondheim, ja, ikke York) i tåken. Veldig pent. Men det er mulig du må ta mitt ord for det, for det er vel sannsynlig at jeg ikke rekker å finne de bildene sånn som tia går her…
Pizza
Pizza definitely good. Coffee also good. Boyfriend making pizza and coffee very good.
Feeling eloquent.
Hvordan
Hvordan kan 30 minutter gå så fort? Det er helt ulogisk. For ikke å snakke om at man må finne på noe fornuftig (vel, relativt fornuftig) å si hele tiden. Bare det å finne på noe å si i det hele tatt begynner å bli ganske vanskelig, og det er nesten 20 timer igjen.
Kanskje Blogathon egentlig er et dekknavn for Askeladden? Det er i hvert fall ikke ofte at jeg blir målbundet, og det begynner å se ut til å være en fare for det nå…
Thihi. Oppdaget akkurat at jeg hadde byttet om på innleggene og skrevet det engelske her og det norske på den andre bloggen. Det ville vel forvirret folk, tenker jeg. Heldigvis var vi bare kommet til ‘Draft’-stadiet.
Towns
Norwegian towns are nicely sized. Oslo, it must be admitted, is a little on the large side. I’m not terribly fond of big cities, and Oslo – though ‘big city’ is hardly correct in world-wide terms – with its population of roughly 1 million, is definitely too big to cycle across (unless you’re mad, obviously). I survive by living close enough to the centre that I can walk (though I prefer the tram). I would have liked to be able to cycle to work, but I can deal with the bus because one can read on the bus.
Trondheim is probably where I ought to be living. It’s such a nice comfortable size. It’s currently the fourth largest town in Norway (the order being Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim), but even Bergen and Stavanger are pretty comfortably sized. Still, Trondheim’s better. My parents living there helps, obviously. For webcam action from Trondheim and the surrounding area, go to Adresseavisa.
Fun things to do
…while waiting for the next half-hour to pass: Change a plug. I will show you the reason in a post or two.
Not that there’s any reason to wish for time to pass faster at this point. The half-hours seem to fly by. I’m sure it won’t feel like that tomorrow morning, though…
Drama
Siden jeg nå har snakket pent om BBC, kan jeg fortsette med å snakke pent om et annet Britisk tv-selskap, nemlig Granada. De lager verdens beste dramaserier. I hvert fall har de laget to av de beste noen sinne: Jeeves & Wooster og Brideshead Revisited.
Den siste er noe av årsaken til at jeg er anglofil. Man kan ikke se sånt i en lettpåvirkelig alder (jeg var vel 13 omtrent) og ikke finne ut at England er nær himmel.
FFCC00
Jeg går i surr. Hvilken farge var det som var oransj og hvilken var det som var brun? Hvordan er det meningen at jeg skal klare å huske disse hex kodene?
Dessuten begynner jeg allerede å bli firkantet i øynene. Naturlig bieffekt av all denne bloggingen, særlig når jeg velger å ‘koble av’ med web-arbeid, kanskje.
Ja, ja. Snart middag. Da må jeg vel ta øynene vekk fra skjermen en stund. Kanskje jeg til og med kan lukke dem litt. Det høres allerede fristende ut – jeg vet ikke hvordan jeg kommer til å høres ut når klokka nærmer seg tre i morgen ettermiddag.
Stick around to find out. Eventuellt, oppfør deg som et rasjonellt menneske og kom tilbake på et senere tidspunkt. Det at jeg liksom skal trykke på ‘Publish’ knappen hver halvtime behøver jo ikke å bety at du skal sitte der og lese innlegget umiddelbart…
Allemannsretten
Combined info and Norwegian Lesson! See, this is going to be very helpful for you…
Allemannsretten as a concept might not be unique, but it is actually law in Norway and as far as I know that is pretty much unique. The literal meaning of the word is ‘everyman’s right’ and that’s exactly what it is: It’s the legal right to make use of Norway’s nature (which is pretty wonderful, more on that later) – regardless of who owns the land. The law distinguishes between ‘innmark’ and ‘utmark’ (‘in land’ and ‘out land’), ‘innmark’ is land that is in domestic use, such as the farmyards, gardens, fields with crop, grazing meadows and so on, where the public would be a nuisance to the owner. This land is off-limits unless you have the owners permission. On the other hand, ‘utmark’ is where allemannsretten comes into play. That nice bit of beach that just happens to be on your land? Want to put up a ‘Private’ sign? Well, tough luck, you can put up the sign but it won’t do you any good. That nice meadow by the stream, perfect for camping? Well, anyone can camp there, as long as they treat the place with respect (i.e. don’t start forest fires and pick up their litter when they go).
Of course, considering the cost of overnight accommodation in this country, being able to camp practically anywhere in the less populated areas is a very good thing. Remember to bring a tent when you next visit ;)