Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Temporary outage

We had a very crap day getting to Bergen - an early start, a VERY hot train - the conductor just laughed when a fellow passenger asked about airconditioning, saying 'these trains were built in the 1980s'. Thanks, mate.

The train couldn't go all the way to Oslo cos of work on the line, so we were all offloaded onto buses. This was actually a merciful move, cos the bus had aircon. LOVELY. AND it meant we could move away from two loud, boring, opinionated Amurricans who spent the 5 hours on the train patronising the passengers they were seated with, by knowing more about Wimbledon than anyone else.

At the VERY DANG hot Oslo railway station we had an hour before the next train. I downed a pint of water, a pint of full-strength Pilsener, a pint of lemonade, and a latte. The second train trip was 6 hours, but kind of felt not as long because the northern summer light doesn't fade until after 10pm. We arrived in Bergen at 11pm or so, and had to wait in a line of desperate smokers waiting for a taxi. Our hotel room was up 4 flights of stairs, SO...

... not long after, the asthma stressors listed above (mainly beer, smoke and climbing) hit and I had a violent attack. I'm now full of nice life-saving drugs and feeling much more stable, but of course it is worrying, especially for M who has to keep an eye out for wheezes, research ambulances etc, and generally take over everything including nursing duties until I feel a bit stronger. However the wonders of modern pharmacology are being wondrous, and apart from feeling a bit fragile I am doing well...well,,, a bit teary because we've only been on the road for 9 days. Fark.

Please send me some encouraging thoughts, words, oxygen-loaded crossed-fingers, and anything else you fancy in the way of a miracle cure. Proper touristing should start again tomorrow! When, tank de lawds, it should be cooler. By Saturday it should be only 18 degrees and I CAN'T WAIT.

Today brought to you by eau de latte, courage mon vieux, and a goodly dose of 'Ange ou Demon' cos that is what roid-based mood swings do to the princess. And here are some Norwegian keyboard symbols: å¨^øƤ§¨¨. I have no idea what they mean of course!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bummer about the asthma! Oxygen blasting towards you via the internets. Maybe the fjords will be filled with lovely fresh ocean breezes, and then in future you can pine for the fjords instead of feeling like you are pushing up daisies?

Ness said...

Think of pretty fabric shops, fuzzy purring puddy cats, and loverly smelling smelly shops ;-)

Oh, and sending you lovely thoughts of a nearly walking baby and a nice warm chockie cake!

BJ said...

Heh, Hil, good pun, pining for fiords. M says 'does that mean you gum for the billabongs?' I say yes.

Thanks for the oxygen, allus gut in that department now. And Ness, thanks for the terribly home-sick causing love and kisses! Clever boy, but. I expect he'll be writing Linus by the time I return. Eating it for breakfast!

As for choccie cake, I might just have to dash out and find something baaaaaad to eat, I've earned it today. Except my footies are sooo sore.. we'll see. I've uploaded tons of stuff tonight and got the dates fixed (sort of).

Happy reading! And big loves all round, b. xx