The "Real" Weather Just Got Here.

I was in Oslo & Tønsberg this past weekend - Tønsberg because Norway was playing rugby against Lithuania in Tønsberg, and Oslo because it's only an hour's drive from Tønsberg and because there is a generous member of the rugby club there who lets me use his apartment (and because the social life there is more insteresting than Tønsberg).

Norway didn't do so well - lost 40-9, but the game was the last game of the season, and they were already guaranteed to finish 3rd out of 5, while Lithuania were already guaranteed to finish 1st in the group. This means that for next year (starting in the fall), Norway will be in a group with Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. That's actually really nice, because Denmark is close to Norway, and the other three are at least close to each other.

I got to touch judge this game, and refereed four 10-a-side games in the morning. I actually managed to referee one game mostly in Norwegian. Of course, as with most sports, you only need about 10 words to do that, and for many things in rugby, Norwegian simply uses the English words ("scrum", "line-out", etc.), so I can't say that it was a big challenge, but I'm glad I did it. The game in question was an under-18 game, so some of the kids aren't as fluent in English as some of the adults, and I would like to believe that it helped.

I drove down via one route, and back home another way, just to explore the country a bit. I'm glad I did, but I certainly was reminded of the Norwegian habit of paying for tunnels with tolls. I had to pay 3 separate tunnel tolls and 3 separate ferry fares on my way home. It turned something that would have cost only about 400 kr. (Can$80) in gas (I was very happy with the fuel efficiency of the new car), into something that cost almost 800 kr. (Can$160). The way these things work here, they collect a toll on the new tunnel (or bridge) until the costs of construction are paid off. There has been a lot of new construction in that area.

One thing that struck me as I drove (in both directions) was the effect that the extended period of heat had had. There have been forest fires this summer in greater-than-normal amounts, but in this case, what was particularly noticeable was the runoff from the hills. Rivers were clearly higher than their normal highest banks, and mountain waterfalls were truly spectacular. Hydroelectric dams that I drove past generally were spilling water like crazy. I got a couple of pictures of waterfals, but it was a striking feature of the moment throughout the whole trip.

Here's a link to a map of my weekend of driving, and some photos I took out the sunroof: MAP PHOTOS

Unfortunately, the car decided, about 600km into the 1200-km trip, that it had a philosphical opposition to 5th gear. I could hold the shift in 5th, but that wasn't really an option over 600 km. In reality, I didn't miss it too much, because I didn't even spend much time above 80 km/hr, and zero time above 90, because the roads are so thin, windy and hilly here. Well, that, and the fact that they have zero-tolerance speed enforcement here, with fines that range from $400-$2000. If the speed limit is 80, then that gives you another reason not to use your 5th gear so much. Still, I'm going to take a look at the transmission when I get a second, to figure out whether it's probably a repair or a replace issue.

As for the weather, about halfway home, this tropical weather with clear skies and 20-plus-degree weather that we had enjoyed for most of the last two months decided to leave us. The wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, and it started raining. That's the way it's now been for the intervening 4 days.

I'm off to to Trondheim this weekend. This time, I should finally get a chance to actually play, after all these false starts. I'm really excited about it, although there's quite a different fitness required to make a lot of tackles, compared with the fitness required to simply chase players around with a whistle. Here's hoping I'm up for it!

-Ashley