It’s the 17th of May, Norway’s national holiday, and I’m on the crapper. All over the country, in every little cottage and god forsaken township, people are cheering the marching bands who – and nobody seems to notice – exclusively play old war marches.
But due to our history, constantly pwned by other nations and not being sovereign for a hundred years when the Germans came, history is very much alive this one day. For good and bad.
The Best Thing about this day is that thanks to some of our early intellectuals the national holiday in Norway stands firmly apart from everybody else’s in that it is The Day of the Children. Not parades of military killing equipment or obsessive drinking and fighting over local trifles, but hot dogs, ice cream and silly games in the parks.
I’m not a nationalist, I find the history of nations interesting, but I’m not convinced that they are anything else than manageable-sized eco-villages in a part of the world where infighting was engraved in our everyday lives before. And football teams.
Today everyone’s outside looking at the children in their parades and eating ice cream. Lady C and I will be joining them shortly, I just need a shower and to get my shiny clean clothes on. Happy birthday Norway! Time to wipe.
EDIT: It’s also the only day in the year when radio jockeys lose their minds and play songtracks based on their titles, so they can make inexcusable puns related to the national day.
A couple of examples from this morning:
"And here’s Some Singer’s song Happy Day, and 17th of May indeed is a Happy Day for everyone."
Then the track begins, and you realize that it’s a sad song about a boy pondering his lost love.
"And today we’ll have quite a lot of ice cream, but don’t get a brain freeze, here’s Cold to Warm by Some Artist."
And you get a grandmother’s rendition of her grandson’s death struggle through the end of his HIV infection.
But anyway! It’s Monday for you and a day off for me! Congrats!