Saturday 17 June 2000

Pic of the day: Took this picture while I was on Tangvall. I thought it was strange how the clouds seemed to be streaming toward one point in the sky, somewhere beyond the horizon. I'd say something deep and philosophical about it, but this is a green day...

Saturdaily life

So how was my day? I woke up to the alarm radio, and rose at usual workday time. The vaguely defined medical condition from yesterday continued into this morning. But on the bright side, I survived the night, unlike thousands of others. And I still have all body parts, most of them in full working order. So perhaps I should stop whining already! :)

Late in the morning I walked to the bus stop, stopping to take a few pictures. Took the bus to Tangvall, the "mini-town" and county center. I am rarely there, since I work in the neighboring city, Kristiansand. Today however I had a good excuse: I had to get the letter from SkandiaBanken, the Swedish Netbank for Norwegians. Each day I continue using the Norwegian bank, I lose money. But just a little bit of money. I guess it adds up to a hamburger per month or so, with my economy. :)

Since I was in Tangvall anyway, I shopped groceries at Kiwi. I have no idea whether this chain was started by someone from New Zealand or if they just needed a word, any word, with 4 letters. For some reason low price grocery chains in Norway have standardized on 4 letter names: Mega, Prix, Rema, Rimi, Kiwi, Livi(?). The downside is that I can't remember whether it is Rimi or Rema which makes Norway cheaper. It's one of them. They had to defend the statement in court, and won, despite the fact that they have lowered their prices less than the farmers. The union of farmers wanted to be the ones to make Norway cheaper, but R?m? got to keep the cool slogan. What they don't do however is keep their food cool.

The milk and meat products at Kiwi were downright chilly. While not at or below freezing point, I would not be surprised if they kept the recommended 4 degrees above. This is by far the coldest I can remember here on the South Coast. It seems to me that most other grocery shops, great and small, have a secret agreement to keep their perishables just below room temperature. "If we all do it, there's nothing the customers can do. They need food, after all." Well, there probably is no such agreement. Probably they just all want to pinch a penny on the utility bills. But it does make Kiwi stand out. If I ever need meat for some reason, I am likely to go to Tangvall and buy it at Kiwi.

Another great thing: There was half-length bread! I like bread, but I hate having to throw away half of it after a week. These breads are just like real bread, only half as long. It's been so long since I had fresh bread, I had almost forgotten the taste. Mmm! I ate two slices in one meal! And two more in the evening! It was that good.

I also drifted slowly by the "Mett & Go" fast food outlet at Tangvall. This seems to be the reincarnation of the old Kjesken, though it is now part of a chain and the locales are very different. They had such food as hamburger with rice, sauce bernaise and salad. Oooh! If my digestion had not been on the wild side, that would have been so tempting. Simple tastes, that's me. But of course, if I had eaten that, there would have been no room for the fresh bread. Life is not just short, it is also very narrow. The body is more limited than its desires, and so is the mind!

***

Anyway, at home I opened my account in Skandiabanken, of course, and ordered a transfer of money from the Norwegian bank. I should probably write my employer and tell them to send my salary directly to Skandiabanken from now on, but I guess I will see that it actually works before I do that.

I read some online journals, and I must say I miss Tim Partridge's "I Wasn't Built To Get Up At This Time". In my mind, it was the third best online diary in the world. It was wonderfully funny and so full of life. Waaah! Anyway, Tim's gone back to bed. Trying to actually have a life. Bah. Who wants a life when you can write a journal like that? And worst of all, he removed the archives too. (Presumably because his heart's desire might stumble on them. Heh. Heh.) Don't ever remove your archives, people, unless your salvation depends on it. Certainly not for such a minor thing as a relationship. If people can't read your journal, they are not worthy of you.

Of course, you may consider what the idea of "they are not worthy" has done for me. :) But seriously, I am not going to rewrite my life for anyone less than a real, certified deity.

Rewriting novels is quite another thing. But today I've only added a couple chapters (14,15) to my ongoing novel. I still feel stupid about sharing my fantasies with the whole world (even if the whole world is obviously not going to read it). But I've spent quite a bit of my lifetime making up fantasies like this, so I guess it makes sense to have an example of it here.

This whole thing is pretty much about sharing, after all. You pick what you want: The links, the stories, the philosophy, the daily life, the pictures (just don't copyright them, OK?) and ignore the rest as best you can. And perhaps you have something to share with me, too.