Whohoo! My nephew-that-I-am-the-honourary-aunt-of, Konrad, is getting his own room. At least, Janne tells me they’re moving to this flat, they may be intending to keep him in the broomcupboard, I suppose (I somehow doubt it though).
Even better, I will get to see him (and his parents, I hope) this weekend, as I’m off to the west country (ok, that sounds like Ireland or something) – leaving tonight, in fact. I’m getting on a bus shortly after ten pm, and if all goes well I will wake up in Stryn tomorrow morning at six am (shudder). More likely, I’ll spend most of the night looking out the window. I don’t sleep well on buses (I don’t sleep well unless I am flat out on my back on something resembling a bed). Hopefully, though 23 June is long gone, it will still be light enough most of the night to make the window worth looking out of. I will be armed with Emma and The Prisoner of Zenda (that’s two titles… though a mixture might be interesting) as audiobook, which should take me a lot further than Stryn if I should so wish (which I won’t, it’d be pointless). In Stryn, hopefully, my parents and brother will have spent the night in a hotel, and will therefore be in a state to feed me breakfast (well, not my brother, he is not a morning person). They are, as we “speak”, already on their way. The idea is to convey my brother to Bergen – for his second year of art history at teh university there – while having a bit of a holiday among the fjords at the same time.
Once we’ve all piled into the car, we will head off gaily towards Fjærland, hopefully taking in Jostedalsbreen (a glacier), and a lot of other potentially stunning natural beauties on the way. Cameras will be brought (not that that will do you lot much good, seeing as I never seem to get around to fixing a page to display them… Ah, well, somthing to do on those long winter nights.) Fjærland, of course, should be good. It’s the Norwegian equivalent of Hay-on-Wye (the word “equivalent” loosely applied, Hay, of course, is matchless), a Town of Books. Hold on to your credit-cards. With my predilection for books in English, I am not expecting miracles, but it should still afford some lovely hours of browsing. Topping it all off, we’re staying at the Hotel Mundal, which looks a stunner.
We’re expecting to arrive in Bergen some time Friday, all booked out (I have my doubts about that last bit, it is a state I have rarely reached). One of the many nice things about Bergen is that they have a couple of convivial Irish pubs that serve Blackthorn. And, as previously mentioned, one of the other nice things is I get to see Konrad and Janne and Stian.
Music in my head: Huddinge, Huddinge (Hoola Bandoola Band – occasioned by an e-mail referring to someone working at Huddinge Hospital)