A Roll in the Universe

Corroding metal siding

Here's a follow-up to my last two posts: The Indians visiting here noted that Norwegians didn't stay long at the office, leaving to go home to dinner with their families, and that on the weekends, the whole family did things together. The right-wing government insists that Norway wants shopping malls to be open on Sundays. We don't. That's one big reason why the left won so many counties and cities. Because parliament said they'd leave the decision up to the counties and cities. Heh. Sundays in Norway: Fewer buses, fewer cars, fewer people. The only thing open is restaurants, the gas station, the movie theater and some museums and souvenir shops. You can't buy clothes or shoes or rugs or hair-cuts or massages or electric tea kettles on Sundays. Instead, you stay in and watch Tour de France or some other sport—or, as the Indians noted, you and your whole family take a Sunday walk or hike. Some people will even go to church! The stores are open on Sundays i

Youngstorget, Oslo When I first moved to Norway in 1969, politics here were so left-leaning that they were approaching extremism. Yesterday, in local elections, the Norwegian Labor party (Arbeiderpartiet) once again became Norway's most powerful party, and had its biggest win in Bergen since 1967. A fact that makes me happy now, but which was my bane as a child. So what's changed? The anti-US sentiments of the 1960's and early 1970's that permeated a lot of Europe (partly due to the Vietnam war) eased by the 1980's. The anti-American sentiments I heard as a child, were virtually gone when I came back to Norway in 1981. Since then, Arbeiderpartiet's close ties to Norway's largest union, LO, have loosened, making the party more accessible to those who don't like LO. More importantly, I've changed. I'm going against Winston Churchill's advice: “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative

As an American, I sometimes get asked what I think about some happening in the US that has made the news in Norway. What it is about Americans and guns? Or all the whining about increased gas prices? These questions are fairly general and therefore comfortable. Being questioned and criticized as if I was directly responsible for whatever unpopular man got into the White House, was and is not comfortable. Currently, we are in a project at work that involves an Indian company, and so I have spent two weeks listening to the lilt of Indian accents and English spoken with rolled R's and thick L's and have another week to go. At the same time, the news from India reports two sisters have been sentenced to be raped by a local, unofficial village council because of something their brother did; the sisters are from a rural town outside Delhi.* I have chosen not to bring this up. As friendly as we are with each other, I know from personal experience that what gets into the interna