My new hat and other winter essentials

We've just returned to Norway after two weeks in Ireland where the weather was the coldest in 28 years making snow and ice front page news. The media bandied about phrases such as 'bitterly cold', 'a cold snap', 'arctic conditions' and my personal favourite, 'gardai are advising motorists to stay at home' with abandon. Nothing like miserable weather to distract a nation from a miserable recession and rising unemployment. As we drove to the airport, I saw Irish snow-covered mountains for the first time - very pretty - and snow flying horizontally towards the car windscreen for the first time - strangely pretty. It may be cold back in Oslo, I thought, but at least they won't run out of grit over there. I've also got four pairs of snow boots in Oslo and a car with winter tyres on. They do help.

Then we sit ourselves in the car at Oslo Gardemoen airport and the reality of being back in real arctic conditions, as opposed to the damper Irish version, is obvious. Sitting in the car are a tube of skin creme and tube of Blistex. Frozen. Rock hard. In this kind of dry cold (-16 degrees C) these items, defrosted and regularly applied, are as essential as food and water.

In the car, my husband remarked on the fact that it was so cold his ears were stinging. I could hardly hear him through my new ridiculous deer stalker hat (seen above on a model who looks 1000 times better in it than I), but at least my ears were warm. Unlike my nose. There was a time I wouldn't have contemplated placing such an item on my head but now practicality wins; better look stupid now for a short time, than stupid forever with frost-bitten ears.

So we're back for our last winter in Norway (again) wondering if in another six months we'll get to move somewhere warmer. In one of the Christmas cards awaiting us on our return a friend tells us of their upcoming move to Singapore. Lucky buggers. No chance we'll get to relocate back there in 2010 but I'll settle for somewhere else in the region, for a place where I don't have to wear ridiculous headgear, and where my car doesn't double as a deep freeze.

Welcome to Oslo Mr & Mrs Obama

I can hardly contain my excitement over the fact that Barack and Michelle Obama are in Oslo today. Never mind I have a sick child - third one to fall victim to flu over a space of six weeks - and I'm not going to see them in person. These two facts are totally unrelated by the way.

Last night, I dreamed very vividly that I was present as Barack gave a speech on the environment - think I might have got Conpenhagen mixed up with Oslo - and Michelle tried to give one which was disrupted by one of my children, in the kind of nightmarish way these things happen during sleep. Michelle looked stunning if not a bit tired. I'm pretty tired myself. Hanging out with VIPs all night is exhausting.

Anyway, back in the real world, the couple will leave again tomorrow morning but I hear that employees of the US Embassy, together with their families are getting to meet them. Diplomatic perks, I guess. The couple is also popping in on the Prime Minister and the King, Queen and Crown Princess (now there will be a fashion face-off). The view from the PMs office is stunning but I suspect that maybe it won't be so great today. It's still too dark at 0830 to tell.

Oh then there is the whole Nobel Peace Prize ceremony melarky and the usual Nobel concert, this year, hosted by Will Smith and his wife Jada. Except the Obamas will be skipping the concert, bucking the Nobel laureate trend.

Like many others, my daughters are of the opinion that Obama didn't deserve the prize. They absolutely believe that their Grandad should have got it because, one said, 'he is such a really nice person,' and, the other pointed out, 'Grandad picks up trash'. (No he's not a bin-man but an environmental activist.)

I could kind of see their point. I just don't think my father and mother would have caused quite the same stir of excitement in Oslo today as the Obamas are certainly doing.

P.S. It's 0845 now and the Obamas are en route from the airport to the Nobel Institute. The E6 motorway has been shut to all traffic so the couple don't have to worry about pesky rush-hour delays. Can't imagine my dad would have got the same special treatment.

When rain kills

Think you're having a bad day? Well here are some guys, less than a day old, who've got it worse. I could hear them muttering 'damn that climate change lark' as I took the photo (in the rain).

Monday Morning Procrastination

This photo was prompted by an idea on a writers' website I'm a member of. My desk is only this tidy because my husband tries to make neat piles of my papers in some vain attempt to be able to see the actual desk. His 'half' is on the left in case you hadn't guessed. The rest of my house is neat as a pin in comparison but for some reason I've no problem with a messy desk. Oh and the thing sticking up behind my laptop is a rather dusty electronic microscope. Everyone has one of those on their desk. Right?

Swine Flu

There has been a LOT of media hype here about the swine flu outbreak, with newspapers devoting their front pages to it several days running. Or should I say, devoting their front pages to the death toll in Norway, and the fact that it was higher than in any other Scandinavian country. That was weeks ago around the time the government started the mass vaccination programme, starting with those in high-risk categories. Not long after the media frenzy subsided somewhat, my younger daughter came down with what I believe was swine flu. Several cases were confirmed at her school and she is NEVER ill. She didn’t have a test but did take Tamiflu. After the quietest week of her life, she went back to school, and surprisingly none of the rest of us got sick. Since her experience, I feel more relaxed about the whole swine flu issue. I’m grateful not to have a young baby or pregnancy to worry about, but realise that, after all, this is 'just flu' for most people.

Last week, the vaccination programme finally reached our kommune with the under-fives going first. So, on Thursday, I took the toddler who has just turned three, to the local health station for his jab. ‘And would you like it too?’ the nurse asked (I'm translating for you, obviously :)). Well I hadn’t actually considered it but I thought, ‘what the hell, why not?’ and handed over a 100 Kr note. The injection hardly hurt at all so I didn’t cry. Toddler did briefly but only out of surprise I think. Being the experienced mommy I am, I was ready with a cookie treat to quell the tears. Twenty minutes later we left with me feeling rather pleased with myself that I had been vaccinated as most of the adults I know are still waiting their turn until all the kids are done first.

Not so smug now though. I could live with the sore arm. I suppose I could even put up with the scar, which together with the mark I have from my childhood TB jab, now makes it look like I’ve had a close encounter with an upper-arm munching vampire. Yeah, that Robert Pattison actor guy. (This is to let you know that I am vaguely aware of the vampire hysteria rampant among teenage girls at the moment. Vaguely). No what is really hacking me off is that having not had the slightest sniffle all year, even when exposed to real flu, I am now totally congested, with headaches and a runny nose. Toddler tike is fine but I'm bitterly dragging myself around saying things like, 'I can't believe the vaccination has made me sick. I can't believe I paid 100 Kr to feel this crap.' Elder daughter, who won't be vaccinated until Dec 16, enquired if it's only adults who suffer like this after the jab. All I can say is: let's bloody hope so.

School Weigh-Ins

People in Norway seem pretty fit compared to those in Ireland. At least they don’t let a bit of rain – or even a deluge – put them off going outdoors. We’d be housebound these days if that was the case. In Norway, chucking kids outside in all weathers, seems to lead to adulthoods filled with cycling, roller-skiing and hiking all over the place; still in ridiculous clothing. And then the snow comes of course... Well, they were born with skis on – ouch! – weren’t they, these Norwegians?

Well despite this high level of activity, obesity is a growing problem here just as it is in the rest of the western world. According to Aftenposten, the authorities are so worried about the increasing numbers of overweight children in schools, that they are re-introducing a school weighing programme, which was abolished in 1997. The reason they stopped weighing kids ten years ago was because it was deemed too traumatic for the children. I can imagine. This time they’re going to be more discreet about it so children don’t have to see how much they weigh. The idea is to monitor kids – weighing them during first, third, seventh and tenth class (ages 6,8, 12 & 15) so that if a weight problem occurs, the school nurse can try steer a child towards a healthier fat-reducing lifestyle. Presumably though it will work the other way too – if a child is underweight, then that can be tackled too.

I can imagine what will happen though. All this data will be very useful in publishing surveys on which is the fattest kommune in Norway, which is the lightest town, what’s the fattest school in Norway, etc. Mmm. I’m not sure about this. Weighing kids seems quite an old-fashioned measurement of good/bad health and I certainly don’t weigh my children for fear it becomes a habit they can’t break as they grow into teenage girls.

My gut (!) instinct is that weighing kids in a school programme isn't going to do what it is intended to do; lead to a reduction in obesity. It'll just provide concrete data on the problem. Prevention is better than cure so perhaps it might be more efficacious to implement healthier eating habits and send these kids out onto the football pitch more frequently. Weighing them once they are already overweight, and then expecting them to lose it, seems a bit like putting the cart after the horse. But what do I know?

First snow on Tanum