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Mai 21, 2006
A National Day is a National Day
As an Irishman, my national day is St. Patrick's Day, 17 March, and it's a fairly unpleasant affair. Although the children of Ireland get to go out on the streets and watch colourful parades, the day swiftly descends into public displays of alcoholism and casual street violence. Then the next day, there's litter to be seen everywhere, and Ireland looks like a complete shithole. Norway's national day, Grunnlovsdagen ("Constitution Day") is on 17 May, and it was my first experience of it. How would it compare with the Irish experience, at street level?
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Posted by barry at 2:32 EM
Mai 14, 2006
Disco
I was in a kebab shop buying a kebab (Marino's on Torrgata - Oslonians told me it was the only place in Oslo to buy a kebab) and the Turkish-looking guy serving started a conversation with me in Norwegian.
Posted by barry at 1:08 EM
Mai 7, 2006
And Then The Sun Came Out
I was just getting used to the spring rain, I had a cold, and then suddenly summer began. Was I prepared for it? No. It all seemed to happen too quickly. One day of sunshine and all of a sudden, people I'd never seen before started to appear in the area, the parks were full of people drinking beer, and the authorities even closed the street to traffic for some kind of festival. How did that come together so fast?
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Posted by barry at 4:13 EM