It's transition week in Øksfjord as the residents prepare their homes, cars and children for the coming winter. Today's task is to take the boat off the water and stick it in the garage for storage. A seemingly straight forward exercise, although I had never attempted it previously. I employed the help of a fellow immigrant to Øksfjord, who had also never attempted such a feat. I reversed the car up to the garage and attached the newly accuired boat trailor. I planned the route to the harbour carefully so as to avoid any unecessary reversing with the trailor. To me, reversing with a caravan or a trailor attached breaks nearly all of the rules of physics. After a relatively stress free journey to the harbour, we placed the trailor on the boat ramp. We drove the boat to the ramp and attached it to the trailor. After several minutes of reversing, turning the wheel one way, turning the wheel the other way and reversing again, we managed to turn the vehicle in the right direction and drove carefully home. As we started to wheel the boat and trailor into the garage, there was a strange water swishing noise, which reminded me that we had forgotten to empty the boat of all of the seawater that was sitting in the bottom section. With the boat now free of water and now suddenly a lot lighter, it was time to store it away for the winter. Of course the boat was about 14 cm too long. Suitcases, tables, bikes and sleds were moved around the garage to allow the boat to fit snugly into place.
Home in Melbourne, Australia, this is the biggest day of the year. The last Saturday in September is sacred. It is not a religious holiday, nor is it a public holiday. If you have a wedding on this day, there will be people who are annoyed. In fact, to plan anything on this day that is not connected to Australian football, could be called Un- Australian. It is the Australia rules football Grand Final. Australian Football is neither rugby, nor gridiron. It is a unique game that is incredibly fun to watch and tough to play. All over the world, Australians meet to watch the game. In Europe, Eurosport 2 has had the honour of broadcasting the event, although in the past, the Danish commentator has had little knowledge of the rules or the concept. The television system in Øksfjord has changed over the past year, making it difficult to fit the Eurosport 2 channel into the desired cable package. Thank goodness for the Internet as the authorities in Australia recognised both the difficulty and importance associated with the event. The game was available for live streaming for a low cost.I arose at 6.30 am on a Saturday morning, which is quite the sacrifice and turned on the pc. To my disappointment, the coverage I received was static and jumpy, making for a 1930 s film quality. Through the dodgy streaming and the internet radio, I was able to decipher most of the action in a close match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Sydney Swans. The Swans achieved a memorable victory and I had absolutely no one to discuss it with.
There was an air of anticipation in Øksfjord today as it was last day before the annual autumn holiday. The school kids are the only ones who have the entire week off, although many take their holidays now. It makes sense to have a break now. The snow will soon arrive and life will change. It provides the opportunity for a last chance escape to a warmer area. Some prefer to use it as an opportunity to prepare for the winter. The firewood needs to be stacked, the boats need to be taken off the water and stored, the winter clothes need to be made accessible, the skis and sleds come out of hiding and the snow shovels need to be within reach. Trampolines are disassembled, car tyres are swapped from summer tread to the metal spiked winter version. The soccer goals are stored away and any last building or painting tasks are completed. It is a time of transition. Once again, this family is waiting for the car to be released from the mechanic's workshop. It needed a new thingymajig and one was orderd from Alta. After the vehicle had been stripped bare, ready for the new thingymajig to be inserted, it was discovered that it was the wrong sized thingymajig. In preference to undoing all of the hard work of taking the car apart, a replacement car was offered until the correct sized thingymajig arrived from Alta. The car is old and cute and has no power steering. It makes weird, rattling noises, struggles up hills and feels slightly unreliable. I feel like I'm 18 again and I love it.
The group of year 7s slept heavy into the late morning hours and it is no wonder. After dinner, a stock standard cabin feast of a mexican minced meat dish and cordial, the sauna group set about firing up the oven. It was important that the sauna wood oven was hot enough to produce a sweat as the intention was to take a dip in the nearby lake. Luckily someone had brough with them a thermometer to measure the water. The mercury struggled up to a fresh five degrees, which meant one thing, it was going to hurt. The first group of boys entered the sauna and planned their strategy. After around ten minutes of sweating it up, the brave lads tip toed to the edge og the jetty, had second, third and fourth thoughts and plunged into the icy water. Shrieks and gasps escaped as the boys made a quick 5 metre dash out to sea and returned just as the cramps were taking control of their legs. They stumbled back into the sauna and recovered before the next group arrived. As the darkness set in over the valley, a confusing game of 'Zombie' began, involving all. I'm not sure of the rules but it involves lots of running, screaming and torches. As they started to tire, the crowd gathered at the campfire and began to toast marshmellows. Eventually, the group retired to their cosy cabin and became engaged in an intense game of Scrabble. Today, the group returned to the metropolis of Øksfjord, having enjoyed a wonderful trip to Gardibu. It was a fantastic example of friendship and co-operation.
The year 7 grade took their backpacks and made their way to the school for a departure time of 8.30 am. The destination was Gardibu, a mountain cabin rented out to schools, groups and private families. It provides a great opportunity for the class to bond in the great outdoors. Mobile phones, ipods etc were banned, but the kids were fantastic and didn't complain a bit. The hike to the cabin has been reduced, thanks to an extention of the 'road'. The remaining walk is still not easy and requires some determination on the part of the young folk. After about an hour upwards through the mud, the group stopped at the conveniently placed park bench to take a drink. Coca Cola appears to have been replaced by Burn, Urge, Red Bull and other intense sounding drinks that the youth have been embracing in recent years. I remember when red cordial was in the news! At last the group made it to the cabin and discussed sleeping arrangements. The accommodation can suprisingly fit up to around 20 people almost comfortably. The group was divided into work groups and they set about collecting water, hoisting flags and chopping wood. The work was carried out without complaint and the afternoon was a glorious canvas of young kids outdoors taking on the roles of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, The Famous Five and all of the other young role models from the era prior to World of Warcraft, Facebook, Justin Bieber and the iphone 5. It was great to see them enjoying themselves with the natural materials such as trees, rocks and the water.
The photos of smiling kiddies from the local kindergarten arrived in the mail today. I love the way the photography companies send you a pack containing a heap of different styles and sizes of your little cherab, in the hope that the inconvenience of re sending them outweighs simply paying for the lot. They do make good Christmas presents for grandmas and great grandfathers, yet there are so many shots, it looks as though Madonna's publisist has changed career path and is in search for the 'Material Toddler'. We chose the group photo and two others and sent the remaining bundle back to the photography factory, which must have a room set aside for the mountain of returned kindergarten pics. The kindergarten in Øksfjord is a magical arena. The kids appear to be enjoying each minute and many are teary and argumentative when parents come to collect them at the end of the day. They are outside, more often than not, regardless of the weather and have the best of nature at their immediate disposal. Despite their young ages, the kids are forever climbing up their mini mountain, stuffing their little mouths with blueberries when available.There are visits from the fire truck, where the kids become familiar with the operations of the vehicle and receive tips on what to do in the case of a fire. There are trips to the 'beach' (a 30 metre stretch of cold sand) and the views are spectacular, as is the case everywhere in Øksfjord. Those lucky enough to attend Øksfjord kindergarten enjoy a carefree and adventurous experience in a wonderful environment.
The autumn sunshine continued against a busy day for many. Those who work for the council, which is most people in Øksfjord, are required to go through the biannual pay negotiations. It is an odd system where teachers and nurses with identical qualifications can receive very different wages, depending on which council they belong to. It all depends on what sort of funds are available, the skill of the negotiator and the thriftiness of those holding the big sack of money. In a country where the issue of equality amongst gender, race and class is one of the most important and indeed widely recognised as being superior to other western nations, it seems odd that pay differential can be attributed to a conflict of personalities. It was a busy weekend for the local police as Alta turned feral. The following information may shock some readers. A caravan was stolen on Saturday afternoon in Alta and has not been sighted since. A man in his 40s was caught by police without a driving licence.A green bicycle was stolen from a 14 year old yesterday. A drunk and noisy guest at a local bar was collected by police at 2am on Sunday morning and driven home. At another bar, a young man was trying to enter the establishment with false identification. A party was visited by police at 1.30am after a complaint regarding loud music. The party was stopped. Apparently they simple moved venues as three hours later, police returned as a result of more loud music. The party had turned wild and was promptly shut down. It's Armageddon!!
There was not a breath of wind on this serene Sunday. Indeed it appeared to be the last breath of kind weather before the winter storm. It is ironic how stable the weather has been over the past weeks. Temperatures over ten degrees, little wind and little rain. Occassionally, we awake to some picturesque snow frosting on the mountain peaks, but by the afternoon, most of it has gone. Indeed the season of autumn can be very short lived, depending on the length of the summer and arrival of the first snow. At the end of September, the authorities will collect the various exercise books that sit in shiny post boxes all over the mountain hikes. The number of trips will be carefully tallied and prizes awarded to the most enthusiatic mountain hikers for 2012. Those keen to catch a rival or beat their 2011 tally are making a last ditch effort in the coming week. Those less competitve, although still after some outdoor activitiy have been hitting the mountains as rumours of ripe tyttebær have spread throughout the town. The english translation is the source of many a heated debate, some insisting it is lingenberry, others preferring mountain cranberry or cowberry.In any case, berry picking is a serious sport for the folk up here. Today we met neighbour who was simply picking a few handfuls to compliment her dessert. Wild mushrooms or cantarellas are also found during this time, making for a fresh mountainous buffet for all Øksfjordians to enjoy. Still, the odd apple, orange or lemon tree would be well received in these parts.
The last football day of the season for the kids of Øksfjord. Today, the parade of parents and children aged ten and under made the familar journey to Alta for the FD cup. Being held two weeks later in the season than usual, the conditions were at least two weeks colder. The parents had found their winter jackets, not the long overcoat variety that looked stylish on Elliot Ness, but rather the puffy sleeping bag type that weighs nothing and blocks out the weather, the noise and all the other dull aspects of life. The kids proudly wore their Øksjord red /orange shirts over hoodies. Gloves were common and the blue shorts were replaced by a sea of black Adidas tracksuit pants. The mini team had a busy schedule of five games squeezed into a few short hours. From the first whistle, the boys were switched on combining the joy of football with the endevour of a group that was no longer satisfied with the pride of narrow losses to more experienced and resource rich bigger teams from Alta. After a couple of years of trying their best, the Øksfjordian mini team started to produce fantastic teamwork and the results followed. For the first time in quite a while, the parents and players began to take notice of the scores as the boys recorded suprising victory after victory. At the end of a chilled afternoon, the boys had won four of their five games and celebrated with their traditional waving shirts ritual.These young lads had a great day, excelling in sportsmanship, fairplay and good quality football.
The youth of Øksfjord have been having some old fashioned fun over the past week. The game of Knick Knocking is universal and has been passed down the generations. The rules are simple. Go to a door, knock on it and run away as fast as you can so that when the occupants open the door, there is nobody there to greet them. The first seven times can be slightly amusing, yet the teenagers believe that it can only be more and more entertaining, which also equals the rate of annoyance from baffled residents. While usually the game proves most effective when operating in groups of two or three in an area where you are relatively unknown, the Øksfjord version sees large groups of kids knocking on a door and then escaping clumsily in a neighbourhood where everyone knows your name, clothes and shoe size. Recently the action has been constant, causing some of the more mature Øksfjordians to be a little on the miffed side. Their counter attack may be to either ignore all knocks at the door or to stand next to the door, hoping to suprise the offenders and perhaps even grab a handful of jumper. One middle aged lady camped out for over an hour, before the knocks came. She flung the door open, ready to strike, while making a sort of 'got you' type of noise. Standing in front of her was not an embarrassed teenager, but rather a confused and slightly scared vacuum cleaner salesman. Mind you, what the heck is a travelling vacuum salesman doing in these parts?
Well here we are again on the boat from Økshord to Hammerfest. Today it is a doctor appointment at the hospital that drags us out of bed at six to take the seven o'clock. On Thursday, the fast boat goes slow, an excruciating three and a half hours instead or the normal two hours. The reason is the stop ins at various tiny harbours I didnt even know existed. There is a rule in Norway that states that you may live whereever, the government has to provide you with all of the usual services that includes electricity, post and access to transport. Many of the places are occupied by a single family or even a single person. If Mr Hanson or Miss Johansson requires a carton of milk of a sack of potatoes, the boat is required to venture out to the almost deserted Island and make the delivery. The boat arrives in Hammerfest and the scene that greets the passengers is a town desperately in need of a paint job, literally. The potential of Hammerfest is massive and it is surrounded by magnificent natural beauty, yet the ugliness of the dilapidated, concrete, paint peeled buildings that line the main street has a certain moonscape feel to it. Hammerfest was the first city in the world to install electric street lights. A few new coats of paint shouldn't be much to ask. The hospital is a professionally run outfit and smart on the inside. The exterior however ressembles a dodgy communist nuclear power plant. Come on Hammerfest, lift your game and show your potential.
Teaching in a small school in a small village has a lot of small advantages. Everyone knows eachother and the teachers and the kids appear to have a good relationship both within and out of the classroom. However, when a teacher is sick, the others pitch in to help which can mean occassionally stretching out of ones comfort zone. English teachers can be thrown into the music room, music teachers are asked to help out in the computer lab and German professors can be sent to take the year 7s in cooking science class. It is all part of life in the village and a certain amount of flexibility is essential to survive. A gentleman in his late 60s had consumed more than his daily quota when he boarded a bus in Alta. As it became apparent that the man was incredibly drunk, the police were called to meet the bus and taken the man back to Alta to spend the night in the drunk tank! A couple of Belgian tourists awoke in the middle and discovered to their suprise that their tent was half filling with water. The naive campers had set up for the night after a long day of cycling oblivious to the natural process of high and low tides. By the time the police and firemen arrived at 1.15 am, the tent was heading out to sea with two suprised passengers. The rescue took place with little fuss and the the travelling pair were free to continue their journey, soaked through, although a little less wet behind the ears.
It is one of those days where not much occured. It is a Tuesday and it is the middle of autumn. What better time could there for some good old Norwegian poetry. Not possessing any talents in this area myself, I have decided to borrow from others. The first poem is from someone called Morgaine, who resides in Røros. The poem is aptly entitled wind; The wind is blowing softly on my cheek saying I love you.Cooling my neck, blowing my hairMaking me feel light as a featherOne with the wind, taking me home with him. Simple, yet odd. A more traditional Norwegian poems sounds like something out of Tolkein. Here is the last part of The rune poem. Man is an augmentation of the dust;great is the claw of the hawk.A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side;but ornaments are of gold.Yew is the greenest of trees in winter;it is wont to crackle when it burns. You can't argue with that! The final poem on this fine Tuesday comes from Mr Jan Eirik Vold, a Norwegian poet who was the biggest thing going around in the 1960s. Here is the first verse of 'The tree and the non tree'A tree
is a tree and it never
gives
a press conference, neither when
it sways
in the wind
nor
falls in a gale. A tree
is a tree
and one day
it is
not.
I hope you have enjoyed cultural Tuesday. Tomorrow will be back to weather talk and pensioner gossip.
The young ones had their last football training of the year before the final tournament of the year in Alta on Saturday. The FD cup is usually played in the first weekend of September. For some reason, it was put back to a more unstable positition in the calendar, weather wise. Their is already a smattering of snow on the mountain peaks and the temperatures are stuck in the single digit zone. Earlier in the day, a concert with a difference took place in the gymnasium at the school. Two young tall lasses from down south early this morning armed with a hundred odd wine glasses. By 11am, the talented duo were drawing gasps of admiration from the young audience as they produced some stunning music, using only the glasses, water and their nifty handwork. They played football tunes, film music, pop tunes and even some well known video game soundtracks. They tapped their feet, hummed and harmonized and spoke in soft voices as they answered questions from the impressed children. It was if Øksfjord had been paid a visit from two magical fairies dressed in disguise to appear as normal people. The other major event to occur today was the addition of hundreds of plastic red sticks all over the town. They look quite silly at the moment sitting alone on the side of the road with seemingly no important purpose. However when the snow storms begin to become more frequent and the road becomes smaller, the plastic red sticks help to guide the way to the safety of home.
It is that time of the year when everyone is in that kind of transition between summer and winter. The trampoline needs to be taken down, the tents need to be diassembled and the boat needs to be stored away in the garage at the expense of the car. Thd kids have clearly put summer beyond them and they are relentless in their questioning. " When is the snow coming, when can we go skiing". The sad reality is that in the last few years, the snow has not really sat until Christmas time. Last year on Christmas eve, it rained all day making for a soggy rather white Christmas.The women of Norway have had lately their noses in the latest literary sensation to be translated from English. The erotic literature phenomenon ' Fifty shades of grey' has hit the stands in steamy Norwegian, allowing Øksfjordian ladies to indulge in what millions have done in the U.S, England and Australia. As the clouds parted for a short while allowing the shy blue sky to show itself briefly, the decision was made to pack the kids in the boat for a last trip of the year. The boat provides no cover whatsoever and is what might be described as a good weather vessel. The fishing rods also made the journey, although within ourselves we knew that they would serve little purpose. The conditions were a little bouncy, a seagull teased us by easily acquiring his dinner and we returned back to the harbour safely, yet cold, slightly wet and fishless!
It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring. He went to bed and knocked his head and couldn't get up in the morning. I've always wondered if the man was drunk and had a hangover and that is the reason he hit his head and couldn't get up. It rained and rained, which put an end to any thought of a leisurely boat tour. It was a day of indoor activities and time to pondor the big decisions in life. These include when to change from summer tyres to winter tyres. It is a fine line, unsure of when the snow will first present itself. Other autumn to winter transitional activities include taking down the trampoline. Having barely survived several mid summer storms, the trampoline looks a little worse for wear. The base is broken is several places and rusted at the hinges. The safety net opening is ripped and one of the supportng poles has snapped in half. Firewood has been delivered in great quantities to a number of homes. Øksfjordians take enormous pride in the precise stacking of their wood. It takes years of practise to construct the perfect firewood wall, usually on one side of the garage, easily accessible. Pre winter mowing also has an understated value of importance. The lushness of the springtime lawn is heavily dependent apon the condition of the grass just prior to snowfall. There are just so many things to prepare before the winter. I feel like some kind of squirrel, building up a storage of nuts before the snow.
The end of the week has arrived although there is little fanfare. Øksfjord lacks that certain Friday evening energy to celebrate the coming weekend. I suppose the coffee drop in rate increases and if it is a nice day, there might be a few heading up the mountain. One of the missing aspects is a social meeting place. Some afternoon drinks where work collegues are able to put a tough week behind them and relax with an ale or a chardonnay. Perhaps a dart board, a pool table or a good old fashioned karaoke machine would do the trick. On second thoughts, lets leave it the way it is....An allegation of match mixing in the lower leagues of Norwegian football has produced a sour taste in the mouth of officials. A linesman was accused of betting on a game between Hammerfest and Lyngen and then having a direct influence on the result by awarding a controversial red card. The referee maintains that he did not bet on the game, although there have been officially registered compaints to the appropriate authorities. An idiot that has been speeding on the roads of Troms and Finnmark has finally lost his license after posting videos of himself driving recklessly on You Tube. He has for years been driving in a dangerous fashion and his idiocy has finally caught up with him. There are very few police cars seen in these parts, so it is good to see the youth helping them out with their stupidity. Have a relaxing and fun weekend!!
Every autumn, the council tip area is open late for a couple of days to give the residents an opportunity to offload any junk they have been storing. We all know that the garage is not for parking the car in. The garage is an area where we can hurl old boxes, tyres, broken fishing rods and ancient televison sets guilt free. The garage provides the opportunity to use the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' and it remains that way until those magical days in September when we can dump the rubbish into the big blue skip free of charge. Not owning a trailor and with the station wagon stuck in a repair black hole somewhere in Alta, one had to be creative to fit as much garage junk into a standard sedan vehicle. The fun part is throwing the stuff into the appropriate giant bins. There is something about the crashing and smashing of your own property that is very satisfying. The car parked behind us contained all sorts of goodies. In fact, before I knew it, we were attaching an unwanted, yet perfectly functioning ski box to the roof of our Toyota.. The Øksfjord tip has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It sits on top of the town in what would be considered prime land anywhere else. The piles of DVD players and old Volvos sit gloriously amidst the mountainous backdrop. The empty paint cans, car batteries and sleeping televisions all have a magnificent view of the fjord.
Going to the dentist is expensive in Norway. Children receive free dental care up to a certain age, after which they must pay the exuberant prices. Øksfjord does not have its own dentist, it shares one with Hasvik, which lies an hour away by ferry. In Alta, there is a popular place called Eurodent, which is Hungarian owned and staffed and offers cheaper rates for teeth work. They speak English and appear to always have patients in their clean waiting room. As the Eurodent practise cooperates with the chief headquartes in Budapest, it is not uncommon for those with potentially expensive teeth jobs to book an appointment in Hungary in order to save thousands of kroner. The concept of a teeth treatment holiday sounds absurd, but it is catching on as more and more Norwegians are returning home with a whiter smile, and some hand painted Hungarian dolls. They are also returning with a fuller wallet than if they had crossed the water on the ferry to Hasvik. The head councillor took things the extra yard by booking his treatment in Thailand, bringing new meaning to the term, calling in sick. In weather news, some cold nights have resulted in some early northern lights sightings. Frost on the grass and car windows are sure signs that the winter is approaching. The trees are are delightful yellow shade and the winter jackets are beginning to make a return. Still there has been the odd sunny day, which is more than one can say about July this year.
The search for tickets to Australia continued. It appears than while the flights are not fully booked, the cheapest tickets are. There are endless different routes to head down under. Flying through Oslo sounds sensible, but when it comes to European flying centres, the Norwegian capital does not rate a mention. Stockholm and Copenhagen however are both viable options that provide directish flights with a short stop in Asia as well as increased value for money. Having been impressed over the summer with the travel arrangements in and out of Copenhagen and the accessability to cheap, if a touch on the small side, hotel rooms, I decided to depart from the city of bicycles and Carlsberg. After many torturous hours in front of a screen, the confirmation was made. Copenhagen to Dubai, Dubai to Melbourne arriving at a respectable 2.15 am. The only thing left to do was to find a way to get from Øksfjord to Copenhagen. I took a break and read the local paper from Alta. The gay and lesbian movement is taking big strides in northern norway. A gay pride parade took place in Alta over the weekend. While not quite rivalling Sydney, the Finnmark version created some of its own records. As many as 19 proud men and women were seen waving rainbow flags and dancing, making the parade both the most northern and smallest of its kind! At first, the parade was met with stunned silence from other Alta residents, but they soon warmed up and offered supportive cheers!
The decision has been made to take the two Australian born boys back to Australia for the Christmas holidays. The journey is long and exhausting and incredibly expensive but the timing is perfect. To escape the darkness and the cold and the shovelling of snow will be a relief. Christmas itself is a bigger deal up here, mostly due to lack of activity otherwise. In recent years, the snow has come and gone in the month of December, not enough for the joy of skiing. It is a tough time of the year and the Christmas festivities help to head towards the new year with a bright outlook amidst the darkness. Acquiring tickets, however, from the northern tip of the globe to the southern edge is proving to be more difficult than first anticipated. In theory it is easy enough. Find the cheapest tickets, the fastest route, the least stop overs and an airline that does not provide its passegers with complimentary parachutes. While browsing a Norwegian website that offers an oversight over most airlines and their respective prices, it all looked so promising. Reasonable rates, respected airlines, matching transfers and limited waiting times. The hours of research had paid off. However when attempting to book the tickets, the dreaded message popped up on the screen. 'One or more of your chosen flights is fully booked. Please choose an alternative'. I shouted obcenties at the screen and shook my head at the absurdity of the process. I angrily logged off and went to bed.
Hooray, the street lights have magically returned. I will admit that there is otherwise little to report from the Øksfjord front. Perhaps all is quiet in preparation for the late autumn. It is a paradoxically beautiful, yet depressing time of year. The visitors from the south are not the only ones to notice the darkening days. The view from the balcony does however provide a range of postcard moments. The colours are nothing but striking. Greens, reds, browns and yellows blend together to create a magnificent vista, culminating in spectacular sunsets. It just occured to me that those who live so far north, experience half of the sunrises and sunsets as those living beneath the polar circle. I happened to accidentally stumble across a documentary outlining the battles of 1066 between the vikings and the English. As I watched the re enactments of the warriors of the north slaying the Englishmen like a knive through butter in a sauna, a thought occurred to me. How on earth did the Norwegian football team put up such a lackluster performance to recently lose 2-0 to tiny Iceland. Interestingly, the vast majority of vikings never actually wore horns apon their helmets, which is ironic considering the number of passive helmet wearing Norwegians proudly adorning horns during the loss in Reykjavik. Otherwise, life is as you would expect it to be in the quaint village of Øksfjord. The days race by, full of busy folk getting, as Madonna once said, "into the gove", of post summer existence.
This fine Saturday took the family to Alta in search of a boat trailor. It is coming to that time of year again when the majority of boats are taken off the water and placed into storage. Our boat spent last winter safely tucked away in an old boat shed belonging to a generous family and It was decided that it was time to take responsibility for our own storage arrangements. Dog food was also on the shopping list and as luck would have it, both products were available from the very same shop. As the shop closed at 2 and there was still business to attend to in central Alta, it was decided that the boat trailor would be relatively safe outside of the store for the afternoon, to be collected on the road back to sunny Øksfjord.Accompanied by two 10 year olds, the immediate destination was the bowling alley. The lonely attendant was startled by our presence but also appeared genuinely pleased to have something to do. We had started our game, hurtling balls down the alley, when the machine that picks up the pins had a malfuction and scattered them over 3 separate lanes. The attendent rushed down the alley to sort out the carnage before suggesting we move to another lane. The game was finished without further incident and we moved to the dusty air hockey table. We bid farewell to our friend behind the counter and set off to pick up our newly acquired boat trailor.
Apparently, it was friendship day today. At school, there has been the making of friendship bands throughout the week as well as the making of symbolic hearts, using bodies and bicycles. There has been a special focus on eradicating bullying from Norwegian schools. When I started high school, I was terrified of potential 18 year old bullies throwing me into a rubbish bin. Bullying was rampant at the schools featured on television. There were wedgies on American tv, black eyes in Canada and the royal flush was very popular on Australian telly. The worst that happened to me was that Bruce once stole my house keys for half an hour, although I did once witness someone being stuffed into a locker by a shaven headed thug. These days, the problem still exists although it is a lot more subtle and potentially more harmful. The bullying via text and instant messaging services on the internet is a concern that is incredibly hard to keep track of. The victims are accessible 24 hours a day and the culprits are sneaky in their attacks. It is certainly an uphill battle. There was a birthday in the house as the eldest celebrated reaching double figures. Having reached such a mature age, the party was less musical chairs and more homemade pizza and film with a few close friends. The street lights in Vassdalen remain out of order, making the evening dog walk a tricky affair especially with the local Volvo hoon testing his engine noises?
Today was a day of survival. Having returned from the glacier at a little past midnight, students and teachers alike shuffled in zombie like motion throughout the school day. It was a later than expected arrival in Øksfjord as the fast boat had been delayed, leaving most of the kids to enjoy a cold and rainy hour on the jetty. Earlier, the afternoon was spent sweeping the school's library, kitchen and gymnasium and stuffing old sweaty clothes into their seemingly shrinking backpacks. After a long day on the ice, the tired and weary bodied students moped down to the jetty to wait for the 'Hurtigbåten' to come and take them home to their comfy beds. As the boat was not in sight, a panic started to overcome the bunch as talk of another night on the Langfjordhamn gym floor became a distinct possibilty. One of the girls, who was talking to her mother, received the information that the boat was over an hour late. The rain continued and just after midnight, parents were guiding the grateful teenages into the warm cars. There was the odd adolescent moan as some of the kids thought it dreadfully unfair that they be made to come to school after the exhausting trip to Langfjordhamn. Mind you, as is the system here, they will be duly compensated for their 'hard work' on the ice with a couple of extra days off later in the year. Life sure is tough here in Øksfjord! In my day.....
Posted with Blogsy
