Things have been pretty silent around this beautiful webpage the last few days, due to hangovers and a short trip to Sweden.
Since the Minister of Health here in Norway, mr. Høybråten, declared his follow-up on Dublin’s war on smoke beginning with the official smoking ban the 1st of June, people seemed to be going out for one purpouse: smoke like hell now that you can! And we did. All that socializing cost me over 1000 NOK in beer and hamburgers alone. (From now on I have no social life..)
Then, on the 1st, I come to work, get it done and prepare for a trip to Sweden; The annual FAFO Seminar.
It was pretty fun, the whole thing. Here I am, a pacifist (yeah, right) soldier in the army of Norway, pretty darn poor and my bosses pay me to go to Sweden. Sweet.
So. I buy a sunlotion, pack my bag and pick up my copy of Terms in the Pscychoanalysis (no. Grunnbegreper i psykoanalysen, 1976) and head into the heated bus along with scientists, analytics and lunatics. The drive was only 2 hours, no biggie, but the destination was beautiful: Tanumstrand. It was sunny, people were in a good mood, and on we went with the practical stuff, getting checked-in into these sweet little cabins by the sea there, having a cup of coffe and a cigarette inside (Sweden ain’t got no smoking-ban yet!)..
The seminars themselves were varied. I learned alot. In addition I was able to do something useful when needed. I did not participate in the FAFO football match, but I recorded parts of it and took photo’s. No. They’re not out for release.
Food was great, wine was so-so (American red wine stinks), cognac was beautiful and the two Kilkenny’s I had before sleep was refreshing. All this in a southern-Swede scenery along with a colorful sunset and drunk academics. Great.
The day after was a drag, except for me bying 10 pouches of Eventyr 3 tobacco for close to nothing. In Sweden, they don’t appreciate Norway’s policy of 80% taxes on goods containing nicotine, so you get Norwegian tobacco for half the price! Same goes to petrol, actually. Pretty darn upside-down, if you ask me..
So, that was that, I guess.
In addition, I’ve got myself a phone. That’s right. Me. A phone.
.. but it doesn’t seem to work. Only one out of five calls are successful, and sometimes people are calling me, but I can’t hear no goddamn thing. I’m going to pay that phonesupply a little visit after work to-day.