Wednesday 22 December 1999

Pic of the day: Since I didn't get any good topical pictures, I'll instead gracefully put up the picture of my favorite clothes shop. It has sold me most of the clothes that kept me warm - very warm - this day.

So I timed things in the morning, that I should take the last bus to the railway station. And it so happened, that the computer would not shut down properly. It just hung there and waited. It cannot be turned off either, not in that state. Pressing a pen to the reset switch is the only way to unlock it, and then it has to run its disk checks and stuff. And so I was a few minutes delayed, and had to run for the bus, carrying the big rucksack stuffed with all I need for the holiday, and the carrying case with the portable and equipment.

I actullay almost caught the bus. I lacked perhaps 15 seconds, as I saw the bus drive away before my eyes. Now this was the last bus before the train was set to go. So I ran home again, still with all the luggage, while devising selected curses for the bus driver in case he had seen me but not bothered to wait. (Probably not, though. And anyway it would not really raise anybody's spiritual energies, you know.)

At the edge of the forest I dropped my luggage and my heavy jacket by the wayside and ran the rest of the way home to call a taxi. Then I returned to fetch the stuff, and could not find it. The path is not much travelled, so I could not believe that someone had already been there and stolen my stuff. And a good thing too, because it was all where I had dropped it, which was not where I looked for it. And so I caught the train after all, exhausted and drenched in sweat.

The train trip to Oslo was quite peaceful. This was not the new Signatur trains, but still pretty modern, and comfortable. I sat beside a cute young girl who did not speak Norwegian, and neither did I for the duration of the trip. She had brown skin. People here in Norway often pay lots of money and risk skin cancer to get skin that's not nearly as brown as that. She was seemingly born to it. Some people are just so lucky.

I also got to read quite a bit of the new book by James Redfield. You know, he is writing this in New Age language, but much of the stuff in the first half of the book is virtually ripped off the Bible. I haven't read the rest yet. Once I arrived, the program was pretty stacked.

Superwoman's plane was delayed, so she arrived after me, but that's not a bad thing as I got the chance to change out of my horse-smelling shirt. Running with a load of stuff and a thick jacket will do things like that, no matter what deodorant you use. (In my case, the "Harley-Davidson" one, which is really good, despite its disgusting name.)

Also the Great Earth Mother was there, which is not a bad thing. A very likable woman, she involved me in the quest to solve an easy crossword puzzle. She does not look too bad even after losing several kilo of weight. Luckily she has stabilized now, it seems.