Saturday May 9th 2015. Back to Oslo by car

 Marieke, Alf Rune and me

 In the kitchen at Martin and Drude, together with a bearded shepherd

Drude in front of her broadery work

                                                                                     hand plowing

                                                                                      the barn where groups of students/visitors are being lodged

   On the way from Skjold/Haugesund to Oslo 

   An oil platform?                                                                                      

   One of my room mates in the youth hostal, a Turkish student

I slept at Martin and Drude’s, sometimes mistakenly called druid by me.
Marieke has been here now for ten years. She sometimes helps managing the farm. After sleeping one night half sick in their tiny enclosure, with my dog, their two dogs, one of which has 8 puppies, Marieke arranged better housing for me, viz. at Martin and Drude’s. After spending the evening talking in the kitchen with Martin and Drude and their 15-year-old daughter, I went to sleep. Next morning I returned to Marieke and her Alf Rune for having breakfast together, walking the dogs, socializing, getting clothes from the laundry and returning by car to Oslo, for 7 hours. Again the same route back through the mountains and the snow. Occasionally it snowed a bit. The sky was gray. Temp. varied from 1 to 9 degrees C. I wonder how I can walk here. I didn’t feel quite at ease. But allé, on verra.
En route signs warning for moose. I saw a lot of them almost, but not completely.
After a succesfull journey I arrived 5 min. before the agreed time, 5:30 u. pm, in Oslo. But where do I find the Hertz garage? It was supposed to be at the central station. But my GPS wanted to send me into all kinds of one-way streets. Desperately I drove into a parking garage under the Central Station and went on walking to look for the Hertz office somewhere. CS is in a huge department stores complex, with all kinds of offices, hotels, restaurants and shops in it, many parking garages underneath, some private, some not. To me one big confusing mess. Walking I finally arrived at the Hertz office, an hour late, the manager on duty explained to me how I could get to the block of the right parking. That resulted in driving around the block a number of kilometers, with bridges and a railway in my track. Now I had had enough. I stopped a taxy, who pointed to a certain side again. Next cab pointed me further. Eventually I arrived in still another parking garage, the staff member there said, I had to be on the other side of the block. I said I had already been at least 5 times on the other side of the other side. O.K., said the (again) immigrant, got into his car and drove me out to the Hertz garage. Hehe. Finally. Meanwhile, I was an hour overdue. Yes, men can be overdue too. What did I find: Herz office closed. deposit your key in a mailbox. But the Herz GPS did not fit through the opening of the mailbox. Then back to the car again, tomtom in the trunk and back to the Hertz office to put the key now definitively in that box. It was 6:45 u., 3 minutes late. A quarter to go till store closing time. This morning my camera fell down and broke. With protruding lens, exactly on the lens. The mechanism does not work anymore. Now I have 15 min. left to buy a new camera. I believe two floors below sir. I believe one floor higher sir, left, right, in …. around the corner and then … etc. Long walks past the staircases: closed. Long hallways back. Dog Tosca and escalators do not go together well , the elevator did not stop where I wanted. It turned out that there were in-between-floors. Very confusing. Then with the backpack on my back and the reluctant dog of 30 kg in my arms I went down he escalator anyway. Just before closing time I was in the photo shop. No sir, we only sell expensive quality cameras. For less than 500 E you can not buy here, but you can do it there and there, elsewhere in the city, try. Tomorrow is Sunday and then I’m back on the road in the interior of the country.
Then a taxi to the hostel and arranging by phone where tomorrow I will meet my wife Sonja and friends Paul and Oesj. I share my room with two American young men, about twenty, and a Turkish girl of the same age, who’s bed is above mine. Not on top of me, read well! Making acquaince we exchanged vicissitudes. Originating from Izmir she studies English, but in Dusseldorf, Germany. During vacations she often made cheap city breaks in Europe.
Someone once asked an Arab, why their wives expand so much after they have had children. To which he replied: in winter she’s warm in the bed and in summer you have shade! also counts for other nationalities.