Sunday 22 December 2002

Pic of the day: The train. Picture from real life. ^.^

I came, I saw ...

I survived. It's not as bad as I feared. She is still very likable, but it is not as if she takes my breath away. At least not without trying. The whole family is still very friendly, for some reason. True, I have done them nothing but good for all these years, to the best of my knowledge; but that alone is usually not enough. Most people are still wary of me, in the very least. It feels strange to be among friends, or at least people acting like friends.

Anyway, the trip was uneventful. I got up at 3 in the night, after a short night's sleep, and spent much time hunting down various gadgets to bring with me. One of the few bad things about living alone is that there is no one else to blame when you know exactly where you laid something, and it isn't there.

It was still late dawn at 9 when I took a taxi to the railway station. I had so not prepared myself for the travel that I wasn't sure I had enough money for the taxi, but I had. I was also early enough that I could go over to a minibank (ATM) and withdraw some more money for the trip.

Despite this being NSB (the Norwegian state railways) and their infamous Signatur trains, we arrived pretty much on the minute. They seem to have improved their regularity. At this time of the year, that's even more impressive. This train was pretty much exactly full, or at least the seats I could see were all taken. But nobody had to stand. The train had mandatory seat reservation, so no reservation means no ticket, and you can't expect to buy tickets on board. Unlike the older trains, I have never seen a Signatur train with an extra wagon, either, so I suppose those who were too late had to take an earlier or later train. Somehow I doubt that it matched up perfectly just by chance.

***

My digestion had been running a bit hyper in the morning, probably because of the impending travel. Like seeing the dentist, traveling is not something I look forward to, and this is evidently my gut feeling too. Once on board I relaxed much better. The seats are hardly designed for sleep, and the old fat lady in the seat beside me kinda limited any creative solutions. Still, I napped a few times during the trip. And I also became hungry after a couple hours, and bought a sandwich. (Although it was called something fancy in Italian, it was a sandwich.) Eating train food is always an adventure of bravery. This packet for instance was clearly marked refrigerated storage, and was kept at room temperature. I took the chance that this was its first day of riding the train. It did not taste bad, actually. Then again, it barely tasted anything at all.

Arriving at SuperWoman's parents' home, only Designer Girl was at home. Which is all the more surprising since she has her own flat. This is no small thing in Norway's capital city. Oslo does not have Manhattan prices, but they are still painfully high compared to the rest of the country. You can get much more for less if you are willing to commute half an hour.

Eventually the family started to drift back from their shopping. Most shops are closed on Sunday here in Norway (still nominally a Christian country, though it is more a formality for most, or a kind of cultural heritage). Sunday before Xmas is ironically a workday for most shops. Anyway, eventually my best friend came home, and I realized that I did not fall immediately and painfully in love. I was still glad to see her though. (And that's my keys in my pocket, for those who wondered.)

I had eaten a light meal with Designer Girl, and at 10PM we had a heavy dinner. I don't like eating dinner just before bedtime, but I really didn't have much say in it unless I wanted to offend people. Then we watched brainless action movies for an hour or two until everyone had drifted off to sleep. SuperWoman was tired too (and so was I, of course) so we went to our beds.