‘We are a small country’…

…and together we are an unbreakable chain of care, democracy and safety – that is our protection against violence’. Those were the words of Prime minister Jens Stoltenberg at the Memorial Service past Sunday, August 21. One month after the violent attacks of one man, who managed to kill 77 innocent people. Norwegians still believe in the strength of democracy and their open society, where policemen go about without weapons.

It has been one wild day, the 22nd of July. Who would’ve thought something of this enormity would happen in Norway, that small peaceful country in the North of Europe. No one….The only violence that has occurred in Norwegian history are Vikings and 20th century WWII. It has been awfully quiet here. So quiet that even Norwegians speak of ‘the four hundred years of darkness’, where no history whatsoever was recorded. In the 14th century about two-thirds of the population died of the Black Death, the Danes had no problems taking over the country, and that was it. Between the 14th century and  Norway’s independence in 1814 the history chapters are blank. White pages, no ink spilled on wars, fighting noblemen or big threats from outside. In Norway they say nothing serious of this size has happened ever since WWII.

Flowers at the Domkirke, Oslo

Even though we didn’t know any of the victims, this happening so close to home was of course shocking. M had his share by having to work late on the 22nd. He works for the government and their job is, among other things, to secure the communications network the public safety services use. That weekend M was on duty and had his hands full being called into Oslo on several occasions. Our neighbour, a fireman, worked at Utøya the day after and from him we heard horrid stories about trying to find drowned bodies in the deep lake. Including the details you really don’t want to know about…

A month later and the newspapers are still full of the terror attack. Now come the questions followed by discussions about why the police took so long, and why did they float with too many in a sinking rubber boat. And what about that helicopter and all pilots on holiday, and the boats being out of petrol, etc. Enought to keep the media busy for another couple of months.

Well, life goes on for us, and so we were awakened by the boring beep of the alarm past Monday morning. First day of school! After the principals speech, the Norwegian flag was going at half-mast followed by one minute of silence in memory of the victims of the terror attack. Afterwards everyone went to class and we, the parents, were welcomed in the schoolyard, because B, now six and a half, was going to start school for the first time. Well, here in Norway, in the Netherlands she already had started after her 4th birthday…

August hasn’t even come to an end, today was a beautiful sunny day, 21 degrees celsius, but nevertheless eager men stuck poles in the ground alongside the roads. You know, the poles that help you guide where the road lies ahead after heavy snowfall. Since a week ice skates are advertised for, including the latest ice hockey gear and long woolen underwear. Of course.

Our hooded forest friends...

We managed to trade our homemade beer for fresh picked chanterelle and other delicious hooded forest food. The kids picked kilo’s of blackberries, red current and other succulent fruit and we turned it into yummie desert syrups. No, they won’t get the Summer out of our minds yet, and we like to keep it that way until at least October.

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