The sparkling beginnings of summer!

May really did go by fast! I mean it's not gone yet, but pretty much. And the last four or so weeks feel like a bit of a blur! For one thing, the weather's definitely been looking up. Then down, then up again :). We've been out on the bikes! And I've even started cautiously heading back to the office to work! Then of course there was the Norwegian National Day that will probably remain one of the most talked about 17th of Mays for some time!

As the mercury has been creeping up, the numbers of Covid-19 infections in Norway have been dropping. To the point when eventually all kids are allowed back to schools, sports activities are starting up and people are no longer being actively discouraged from workplaces. Social distancing, of course, is here to stay.

It's been kinda nice going back into the office. Even if it's only once a week. (And even then I avoid the rush hour and have generally had plenty of space on the train.) Discussions are really so much better, easier and fulfilling in person. At the same time, there's plenty of good things to be said about working from home too! A lack of distractions, for example :). But there I'm probably in a minority. Either way, the last few months might have some long lasting effects on how we work. Whether for better or for worse of course, remains to be seen.

The weather has been inviting more often than not. And we have definitely made use of it :). The fact that the sunlight now stretches far beyond end of work time helps no end! It has been pretty windy quite a lot of the time though.

The National Day weekend suffered no such blemish! Forced to abandon the usual children's parades all over the country, people came up with all sorts of new ways to celebrate, from classic car parades, boat parades, balcony parties and even the Royal family taking to the streets in open topped cars to greet often completely surprised people. The list is long. And I wonder, if some of these new ways of celebrating might just stick around!

We celebrated by heading out for a walk in the neighbourhood. We watched the band from the local schools parade around the locality being cheered on by people from their balconies or doorsteps. One of the car parades wound its way nearby, so we went to watch that too! Waved at some classic, and some not quite so classic cars :). And then of course, there was the obligatory ice-cream :).

It's been nice being out on the bike again! So far it's only been a few trips, but it feels promising :). Having seemingly exhausted the opportunities of exploration within walking range, it's only natural to take to some wheels! And I'm already starting to feel my legs, shoulders and well, everything in general, beginning to get back into the rhythm of cycling :).

On the other hand, reading seems to have taken a bit of a darker turn. I'm blaming this squarely on the books. First there was I am Pilgrim. I mean, the whole terrorist thriller thing should have warned me of course. I'm generally not a huge fan of the genre. Still, it was a pretty fast read. The first person omniscient narrative style really had me missing Steven Erikson :). But what can you do? At least now I've knocked off yet another unread book from my bookshelf!

And then I moved on to The Thirst. So, I have read Jo Nesbø before. Two of his Harry Hole books, in fact. But it's been a few years. I'm not sure if my taste for grisly, gritty thrillers has just deserted me or it this one is way darker than The Bat or The Redbreast. Anyhow. I'm about a third of the way in. And while I've definitely been pulled into the plot and really want to know what happens next, there's a part of me that will be quite relieved to just be done with it :|.

In the mean time, there's all the sunshine and cycling (fingers crossed :D) to keep life happy!

Of blues, greens and an alternative red planet

Somehow, (Well, I actually know how. I was entertained by the endless number of people who end up on my blog searching for "Kirk O'Bane", so I had a look at the post that causes them to. Then ended up reading some other dozen-year-old posts, marvelling at the amazingly obscure yet seemingly apt titles I had the ability to conjure :D. And eventually..) I came across my recollections from the first summer I was in Asker!

A month short of twelve years on, a very different summer is unfolding around us. But somehow not that different. As I was reading the post, I recalled my feeling of loneliness here, in a country where I knew very few people. The friendships I would develop that would last till this day were yet to take shape. So social distancing wasn't as much a decision as an inevitability :). I also still more or less vividly recall the shock at the "everlasting" light :D.

Of course life is very different now. Yet, the pictures of empty streets felt like a bridge across the years. (It must be said, I generally avoid people in my photos. So, for all you know, I waited for the opportune moment when no one else was in shot before clicking :D.) Anyhow, in the last month, we have been doing quite a bit of walking in the sunshine! Managing to explore parts that we'd never actually walked in, even though many of them are within an hour or so's walk from home!

Working from home is something I'm getting more and more used to I find. It's not like it doesn't have its problems, mainly when it comes to getting work done collaboratively. But I am enjoying the upsides of having more flexible hours, less travelling and more "home time" :). I suppose I might as well make the most of it while it lasts!!

No commute doesn't mean no reading of course! And I've managed to work my way through London Rules, after finishing up with Spook Street. And as with the other books in the series that don't keep River Cartwright in focus, I thought the former was cool, but somewhat more blah than the latter. Yes, as I keep being reminded, the series is called the Jackson Lamb series, not the River Cartwright appreciation club, but I guess we all have our favourite side characters who we'd rather the author spent more time on...

The next book on my list was a bit special. I'm sure at the time when I bought it, I thought it was a great idea. I just can't remember quite why! Over the last few years I've come across my copy of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and invariably thought, "Hmm, looks interesting, but why did I buy this?" Anyhow. It felt like lock-down (Although I should add that, strictly speaking, Norway is not really in lock-down. We can go shopping when we want, walking around when and where we want. The local shopping centre is still open. Just all with social distancing in place :).) was an appropriate time to find out what it was all about.

It was a bit weird. But it was also fascinating! I have not read many other books written in the nineteen-fifties. Definitely none that were set in what is now the present! The idea of chicken pox brought in by exploring humans killing most of the inhabitants of Mars was certainly ironic. I tried very hard to not get caught up in the many anachronisms. The sense that mankind is somehow, accidentally or otherwise, misusing technology, and this is giving all of progress a bad name, is probably one of the more relatable themes.

I was also fascinated by the imagery of the martian world and its inhabitants! Although most of the time I had to keep reminding myself that at the time the book was written, people didn't really know as much about Mars as we do. So mostly I ended up substituting Mars with some nameless planet beyond our Solar System, and that kinda worked! But yeah, for quite a bit of the book I just focused on the externals of the imagery than necessarily letting myself get too immersed in the deeper social themes that seemed to be playing out.

Which led me to another book that's been sitting on my bookshelf unread for many years simply because I wasn't quite sure what to expect. In this case though, fan that I am of Tina Fey, I definitely knew why I'd bought it :). Bossypants has, thus far, not let me down :D. It is hilarious, insightful and constantly entertaining. It's one of those books I'm enjoying reading out loud so we can share the jokes :D.

So life is going on. And slowly and carefully, Norway is opening up. Tip-toeing towards a new normal. As if in encouragement, up until a few days ago, the weather was absolutely wonderful! It felt like summer was almost starting early! Now it's taken a bit of a turn for the wet and gloomy. But then again, a little bit of rain does help the garden :).

The times, they are a-changing...

How quickly things can change. For much of the world, March 2020 may long remain a stark reminder of this. Of course there's cause and effect. And in this case the effects may seem sudden, but the cause(s?) has been brewing for some time. Regardless, I am grateful to be living where I do and in general the state of my life is probably vastly more comfortable than a very large number around the world. 

This is a humbling realisation. Even for those that appreciate that the little things in life cannot be taken for granted, the current state of the world has probably uncovered a bunch of things taken for granted. Like being able to pop around to a friend for a chat. Catching up with some friends at a cafe or restaurant. Sports on TV.

Luckily for us here in Norway, walks in the woods are very much allowed. And where we live, there aren't so many people that the woods fail to afford a significant level of personal space. Given that fact we've been making use of the nice weather, generally on Saturdays, to make the most of it!

Spring is definitely in the air! Flowers are slowly making an appearance! And the last of the snow is disappearing. There was one final proper dump of snow right at the beginning of the month. Kindly coinciding with some "surprise" out of town visitors for a slightly belated birthday celebration :).

Since then of course, things have been a bit different. First off there's the working from home. Luckily, I can in fact work from home. So it was just a case of lugging my monitor and other sundry hardware from the office and setting up a temporary home office and trying to keep as much of a work routine as possible while also enjoying the greater flexibility.

What with all the schools and kindergartens shut, most of my colleagues and other friends are having a much more challenging time of it :). After almost three weeks of this, some are settling in, others are reaching the end of their patience :|. I guess it all kinda depends on expectations. It seems more and more obvious that a quick short term impact to life this is not.

I have found that sticking to my normal work alarm on weekdays has worked beautifully! I am probably not as prompt at getting out of bed as when I had to catch public transport, but reading a book for an hour or so in the morning is still a great start to the day. Just on my sofa, instead of on a train :).

Speaking of, I'm properly back in the book club! The first book back for me was Pyramids. A classic Pratchett! Highly enjoyable for one such as myself who hasn't been knee deep in the Discworld recently. I especially enjoyed the unique way in which Pratchett manages to slightly subvert the expected normals of the world :).

The second book was much further outside my normal orbit. The Blue Between Sky and Water. What can I say? I've never been particularly deeply engaged in the Israel Palestine conflict. Observing it from afar. In some ways maintaining my distance as the odd bit of sometimes fictionalised detail passed by too close for comfort on its fiery trajectory. Some bit of news on TV, bits of films, books, conversations. So this rather more intimate albeit in some ways fantastical story was a bit of an eye opener.

Putting aside the politics of it, I have to say I really enjoyed the narrative style. Bar the occasional horrifyingly detailed exploration of violence, the focus is maintained on living rather than dying. Finding rather than losing. Or maybe that was just what I chose to focus on. The ambiguous nature of some of the more supernatural elements lent a particular grace to the story that could otherwise have rapidly descended into nothing but hate.

And now I am back to familiar territory. The last time I tried reading Spook Street, it didn't go very well. Now, whether the intervening time spent reading the Malazan books, where favourite characters dying in spectacularly unfortunate (after the first ten or twenty the term unexpected can't really be applied any more) circumstances was pretty much par for the course, had any effect or not I don't know. But I decided to give it another go. I have to say, I'm glad I did! Can't really say much more without spoilers :).

So there we have it. Life has changed. But life goes on. The pub has turned into a virtual, trans-national, Zoom-ified gathering. Work no longer involves commuting. Catching up with friends involves WhatsApp (and no longer just to plan the gatherings :D) and online games. Maybe social media isn't such a bad thing after all! ;) But it does make one realise what personal physical contact is all about. Let's hope one day, in not too long, we can get back to it!

Malazend

That's it! At least for the time being anyway :). I'm done with the last of the Malazan Empire Novels and given that the Witness Trilogy seems like a long way away and all the other series are more or less in the past, I feel no urgent need to delve into that particular bit of (hi)story. I'm not sure how much, if anything that has to do with the fact that the complete one's been written by ICE rather than Erikson :).

Anyway, it would be remiss of me to not mention some sort of closing thoughts on this particular series I guess. I think the overall feeling is one of general enjoyment. I know I've moaned a bit about ICE's writing style, often comparing it negatively with Erikson's. But in the end, the stories are definitely ones I'm happy to have wound my way through. They didn't necessarily grip me quite the way the Book of the Fallen did. But in Kyle, Shimmer, Kiska and others there were plenty of characters to enjoy exploring. And finally, it was good the find what happened to Silverfox and those Imass!

Right, so enough of that! The other properly exciting thing this month was the short week in Hemsedal! Unlike by the coast where we are, this was a fair way up the mountains. Correspondingly, there was a load more snow! Four days ended up being just the right amount I feel, all things considered. But what a cool four days!

Okay, so the weather wasn't awesome all the time, but at least for about half the time the sun shone and the wind wasn't battering us blind :D. I even managed a few photos from all the three different hilltops! It was also nice to be able to kick back relax and enjoy good company at the end of the day in our apartment right at the bottom of the slopes :). To say nothing of the cat!

There was a proper storm raging on the Sunday as we made our way to Gardermoen to see off those that were flying back. But by the time we made it all the way back home it was all just rain. And so it has been the weeks since. Except for the last couple of days. Suddenly temperatures have plunged down to -7 C or so and has me thinking, really? Is there going to be a patch of proper winter this late into the year? Everyone's more or less expecting spring to be just around the corner.

I guess, as is always the case, we will see.

Of board games and a distinct lack of wintryness

It's been a rather weird January. And winter, by extension. There was, before Christmas, a reasonable amount of snow on the ground. But since the new year, nothing. Not only has there been no snow, it has been unseasonably warm, meaning whatever snow there was, slowly but surely disappeared.

And that of course means no cross-country skiing :(. Well, it all may still change! Out of nowhere there's now a bit of snow, but who knows how long that will last. Regardless, the snow activity duck should come to an end soon enough with a long weekend of downhill planned for Hemsedal next week! It's been quite a while since I've been to Hemsedal, preferring Trysil and Hafjell the last few winters. Hopefully it's fun. Well, hopefully, the cold that has been kinda killing my week would leave me alone before we head for the mountains :).

It's felt like a pretty busy start to the year in some ways. Catching up with friends who've decided to drop by. Others we'd just not met up with for a few months. As usual, rhythms of life, kids, schedules can often wreak havoc on the best laid plans of "keeping in touch". Heh, so what's new? :)

I'm beginning to finally grow into the Malazan Empire Novels. I mean, I'm already into the last quarter of book five of six, so it's pretty much now or never really :D. But yes, I've either finally forgotten the Erikson style enough to appreciate ICE. And there's now enough new characters in this series that were either absent from The Book of the Fallen or were only mentioned in passing, to have its distinctive series narrative.

In some ways though, I feel that these books are even less interconnected that Erikson's series. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. One thing's for certain though, now that I'm almost done with this series (well, it'll be at least another month or so.. but compared to what I've already spent :P), it's time to get back to the book club! It's officially begun already in fact. Bigger than before. It'll be interesting reading a more random selection of genres and authors. Till I tire of that and crave a proper series again :D.