Nordic quirkiness.

My, my, it's 5 in the morning and I'm wide awake. There's no real reason for it, I'm just not really in the mood to sleep. I think that that's the sign of living in a place where we have too much money, too much stuff, and too much free time. We begin to think a lot about things that don't really matter that much. I actually caught myself thinking that I should really get on with filling in the cracks between the hardwood planks in the kitchen. I probably dwelled upon this subject of thought for about 10 or 15 minutes. If that's not a luxury problem then I don't know what is.
We've been having a good time visiting with U. from Vancouver. We went for a short relaxing walk, which Kari called "mountaineering". The woods up above Oslo are really nice. People take real pride in preserving them in pristine condition. Take the bus 5 minutes down the road into Oslo and every little park you see is full of trash and, especially, overflowing garbage cans...

The day passes quietly...

and as night is upon me I realize that this is only one of so many little quirks about the Norwegians. Toss a plastic bag full of picnic waste onto a huge trash heap beside the local playground and nobody cares, but accidentally drop your orange peel on the ground in marka (the woods) and outdoorsey women with baskets full of mushrooms will bat you over the head with those all year round ski pole thingys that they go for walks with. Rather a double standard, and definitely qualifying as nordic quirkiness.