Saturday 29 April 2000

Pic of the day: Don't believe those ads where the cuties are relaxing in the sun with a portable PC. They're hard enough to read in full daylight, not to mention direct sunlight! I could just barely write in the shade...

Spring hath come again to our fair lands! Actually, summer has come. Spring came and went yesterday while I was stressing away at the office. When I walked home in my jersey and huge outer jacket, I met kids in T-shirts.

The golden rays of the sun bathe the entire landscape in yellow heat, and the warm wind blows through the forest and takes with it a scent of sap and budding leaves. As usual, the native plant life is struggling to catch up on the sudden change in weather: Most trees are only wearing the barest trace of green yet, though a few have been quicker.

And for a couple days perhaps we can enjoy this without the attack of insects. They are as much taken by surprise as we are, and the mosquitos are few and far between; bees and wasps are still not out, and only a few large bumblebees. Not that these use to harm anyone unless you destroy their nests. Even the ants are still just scouting among the dry leaves of yesteryear and the white carpet of spring blossoms.

It looks like it will be a "hot spring" in other ways too. The strike is poised to start on Wednesday. I bought in more food today, and I hope to be able to carry home a few bags of perishables on Tuesday too. (Monday is May 1st, which is the holy day of the socialists, so no shops are open.)

Poor teachers, though. You see, the teachers are underpaid. Yes, even here in Norway, though I understand they have better times here than in some allied nations. Anyway, the last couple years the teachers have got a pretty decent pay rise; at least compared to what they used to get. But not enough to help them close the gap to the private sector. Almost all public servants have been lagging more and more behind in pay during the last couple of decades, as is good and proper. The problem is that lots of things are not privatized in our country: Not schools, not hospitals, not snailmail, and just barely telecoms. So it is no surprise that there is a lack of good teachers - or even teachers at all - and the same for health care personnel. As long as there is just one employer, he pays what he thinks he can get away with. And as long as that employer is a politician, he doesn't give a flying clod of horse manure about what problems may arise after he is retired to some fat retrait position.

Now for each year of lagging behind, the teachers have grown more frustrated. As a group not famous for their mental stability even at the best of time, they have this year demanded a pay rise so high that I don't even bother to remember it, because it is several times what any sane person would realistically consider. And if they don't get it all, there will be the mother of all strikes, of this we can be sure.

Now it so happens that the largest trade unions in the private sector originally accepted a compromise in wage negotiations, but the members (still believing that the times are good) voted it down. This confusion has delayed the private sector wage settlements, which need to be cleared up before the public sector arrange theirs. Which means that the unavoidable teacher strike will start ... a while into June.

Yes, folks. That's right. When schools are closed, but the rest of the adult work force is still toiling away in the summer heat, the teachers are going on strike. I don't think the strike guards are going to have a lot to do. I recommend they bring some good books ... a whole bag full of good books. This could become a long strike - perhaps all of July and much of August too?

Just heard on the radio that there were heat records over much of Norway today, with twenty-various degrees Celsius. I assume they mean record for this time of the year, it has certainly been hotter in the summer. But not today, I would agree. I could have run around naked outdoors, except the neighbors would have started to wonder. Instead I ran around in my boxers ... indoors. But I didn't take any photos of that. You can comb my archives if you really need to, I'm pretty sure there are a couple of boxer photos there somewhere. There may be more, if this weather keeps up. But I doubt it does.