Saturday 30 April 2016

A rather hasty catch-up

This has been an odd winter. The reason I say it like that (and not something like "it had been") is because it's been snowing this week. Let me just let that sink in a little bit. Snow. At the end of April! This is officially the weather gone mad! And for everyone that's going, oh but you live in Norway, that still means we're well into spring this close to May!


And to think we were so close to having a proper spring! The sun was shining for a week or so, the grass in my garden had finally emerged from under all the white and leaves had started showing themselves on the hedgerows all over the neighbourhood. And then it all sort of stopped and had a re-think. Reset the clock to early March, let's have some more wet snow, why don't we!

Yes, much head-shaking has been in evidence. Most people (myself included) have even switched to summer tyres. And while the snow doesn't last long enough to cause any real concerns, it's still rather disconcerting!

One thing I'm hoping for is that the snow is an aberration and it all goes back to normal spring/early summer service by next weekend, as that's the annual Holmenkollstafetten relay race! And I've signed up again! In fact this is the first time in 3 years that we've actually got a 'fun' team, so it would be really nice to have good weather for the run!


I've been reading a bit more lately. After struggling through two-thirds of A Casual Vacancy, I was rather relieved to sink into the windswept world of The Coffin Road set in the Isle of Skye in Scotland. And then followed that up with the swift and mostly interesting follow up to Stieg Larsson's Salander trilogy The Girl in the Spider's Web. And finally a very entertainingly different State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. 

The last book in particular was quite the intriguing one! The style of writing was one that was particularly mesmerizing in its manner of doling out detail. Lots of it for a while, and then barely anything for a bit. Switching between the world within the protagonist's mind and that outside in a particularly bewitching sort of way. I should really find some more books by the author :).

Having made a few forays out on the bike, I've decided that it's still way too cold for such things. And through a combination of things I managed to get myself rather Norway bound this last month and thus lost out on an awesome opportunity to visit the Philippines for a week.I guess the upside is that I'm now officially a permanent Norwegian resident :). Not entirely sure what that means yet...

Right, so there we are then, a rather quick and haphazard summary of the last month or more. I should really be taking more photos!!!

Currently: sleepy :)
Listening to: Jack Johnson - Breakdown