(no subject)

[nineveh_uk]

I went to bed. I got up early. I got to work a early (for me). I wrote my paper. Then there was Friday cake. I can’t imagine that I’m going to get anything productive done with the rest of the day, but fortunately I have meetings to attend so I probably won’t have to. It is sunny outside and I am going to go for a walk. I think that I might also buy a Euromillions ticket...

Meanwhile, ahead of my holiday a week on Sunday, Norway not only has nice weather, but is apparently having a price war on traditional Easter products such as hotdogs, Norwegian KitKats*, and oranges**, those essential components of a day tour on the fells.

*Kvikk Lunsj, as explained here. They are indeed very nice, and I assume that the slightly higher salt content actually makes them better for you if you're eating them on an active trip.

**The skins of which are, in one area, ritually discarded on the branches of a particular tree to the extent that it is called Appelsintreet on the Ordnance Survey (equivalent) map. Littering as culture!

ETA: At 3:20pm on Friday afternoon I have received a meeting from someone I am meeting at 4pm on Monday, and who I managed to fit in as my fourth meeting of the day, mentioning briefly what we are actually going to be talking about and saying cheerily that hopefully I will be able to reflect on these subjects in advance of the meeting. Well no, I won't. I will print off the generic document we have, and I will answer everything else off the top of my head, because I am sure as hell not spending the weekend on it.

Comments

[white_hart]

I'm glad you got the paper done, and grrr to people expecting you to reflect on things with what is basically less than a day's notice!

[nineveh_uk]

They are going to get a cheery "No, I haven't brought any procedural documents with me, I'm happy to send you anything relevant after the meeting". It's actually a chat with the external auditors and I'm quite interested to be doing it, but a week's notice would have been a lot more useful.

[white_hart]

Oh, external auditors invariably think that no-one who actually works for the University has anything to do other than provide them with reams of information at the drop of a hat. (In my last job we instituted a "check the folder of documents which have been scanned and sent to the auditors before retrieving and scanning any documents to send to the auditors" policy because we had so many instances where three different auditors would request copies of the same document, because clearly their time was far too precious to waste on checking that first.)

[nineveh_uk]

I shall bear this in mind when talking to them!

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Having read the description I now really want to do a blind taste test between Norwegian and British Kit-Kats...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Not the Hershey's KitKat, though...

I am quite tempted myself. I've had Kvikk Lunsj and they are certainly very nice, but I've never done a blind test. Food in Norway is so expensive that I have already purchased a multi-pack of Snickers and a packet of posh cereal bars for my emergency energy use needs, but I might buy one on the way home.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

I want to go to bed too, with my Dorothy Dunnett novel, a cuppa and now both chocolate and crisps, to be consumed together ;)

Hope the meetings are swiftly over!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I hope that you have now made it home to collapse in bed/on the sofa with the food and novel of your choice.

I am currently reading my first ever Lymond book. I admit that so far it is more a desire to land him a blow across the chops than comfort reading, but no doubt all will become clear in time.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

It will become clear, but there will still be moments you want to do that! I finished the third one last night and am currently wondering how long my favourite supporting characters are going to last... And reading 'I capture the castle' which is rather more comforting ;) (I love Dunnett but I would describe her books as incredibly distracting rather than comforting!)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I have sort of decided to just roll with it!

[sonetka.livejournal.com]

I think my ten-year-old may be a secret Norwegian. He loves oranges and eats them constantly but he does NOT love actually disposing of the peels correctly. For a long time I was finding little caches of peels in desk drawers, under seats, in pockets, everywhere imaginable. Appelsintreet sounds like his Promised Land. (Though for the record, he has stopped, since whenever I found a cache I would insist that he pause in whatever he was doing and go clean it up himself. It took a while, though).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Oranges are my favourite fruit. We had to be limited to two a day when I was a teenager on grounds of cost!

Perhaps one day if he is very good with peels the rest of the time he can take himself to Norway and glory in chucking it somewhere it is allowed! I don't eat oranges when skiing myself, too messy.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Holidays!!! It's a shame that all those meetings leave you less time to wallow in glorious anticipation.

Good luck with the Euromillions! That would solve the cost-of-food-in-Norway problem very nicely.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Indeed, and I have realised that I need to do more wallowing in anticipation in an active way in order to build up the proper excitement rather than just finding it suddenly upon me. So today I have had my legs waxed (in anticipation of sauna and swimming pool), gone through my stuff, started a shopping list, and watched YouTube videos of the region/techniques. Tomorrow I get to phone up the travel insurers to find out if my annual insurance includes helicopter rescue. Not that I plan on needing it, but even less do I want to need it and then have to pay out of my own pocket.

The NOK/sterling exchange rate is currently rather good on account of oil prices, which is helping considerably.

[ylla.livejournal.com]

Have you read this?
http://norwegianarts.org.uk/how-to-do-easter-like-a-norwegian/

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I hadn't, thank you! I think that I shall have to buy a Kvikk Lunsj to get in the spirit of the thing, but much as I love oranges (they are my favourite fruit) as a person who gets cold hands I really don't want to have to take my gloves off to peel them and then get the juice off, so they will have to stay as breakfast food. I'm quite tempted to see if I can catch the crime series on TV though. This will be more cheerful than the TV last time I stayed in this hotel - when the 2011 tsunami hit Japan.