Warm and wet

Today Bergen is warmer than Rome, reports our local newspaper, and tells us also that 2006 will be a year where Bergen breaks a number of old weather records: Never before have we not had a frost before Christmas; previous annual average temperature was 8,8C (47.8F), while 2006 can boast 9,3C (48.7F); we have had 56 continuous days of precipitation and will beat the record of 59 days from the winter of 1974/75 since rain is predicted for the rest of the year. Which brings me to the current joke making the rounds:

A bad man had died and found himself in a very, very long line waiting to get into Hell. He observed that every so often, someone ahead of him in line did not enter the Gates of Hell and get thrown into the fire, but instead was tossed aside.

After observing this for a while, he finally asked the fellow ahead of him why some were tossed aside.

"Oh, those are people from Bergen," was the reply. "They don't burn."

And that should tell you how bad it is, because normally there are no jokes about the people from Bergen being badly affected by wet weather. This is because Bergen folk are born with webbed toes, not skis on their feet.