I can’t write too much this week as on Thursday I was in hospital myself for an operation. This weeks featured photograph is of an incredibly laid-back and friendly cat called Loke after the Norwegian God (spelled Loki in English). Loke was Jan-Arne’s patient, but I spotted him through the doorway and couldn’t resist asking if I could take his picture. Typically enough, Jan-Arne found the time to tell me all about Loke’s history… as well as the cat’s.

I stopped on my way into work on Tuesday. I was early, and couldn’t resist taking some photographs of the beautiful sky.

Sadly I didn’t manage to get a view of the sea, which was a brilliant blue turquoise under that rose sky. I am lucky to live in such a beautiful place, though I confess that the drive might be more daunting in winter when the snow comes. Thank goodness for spiked tyres.

I have been waiting almost a year for my operation. It seems there are long waiting lists in Norway for non-urgent things. I finally received a telephone call last week from the hospital offering me a time at short notice… and Dagny very kindly agreed to allow me to accept. She even signed her get-well message “Scary Boss Lady”. She seemed impressed too with my Norglish gas-flow chart. It’s all good.

I arrived home on Tuesday to a favin (Favyn? feel free to correct me, oh kind Norwegians) of wood for the stove.

It’s all neatly stacked in the garage now, though I will have to call the chimney sweep before lighting up. The sweep comes around here automatically, but sadly I managed to miss him. Unlike British chimney sweeps, who use a big vacuum cleaner in your living room, Norwegian sweeps climb up on the roof and knock the soot down from the top. There’s normally a ladder on the roof of each house to aid this ascent. Then there’s a little door in the cellar where he can go in and scoop it all out. On Tuesday night, I received a text message from Charlie who was out for a cycle, to say that the aurora was good. I went out and jumped in my car to drive to the top of the hill, and found to my surprise that the snow poles had been set in place already. I guess they have to go up as soon as the temperature starts to drop, just in case. Sorry to any of my lovely Norwegian friends who are reading this. To me it still all seems quite novel and exciting. A bit like being permanently on holiday.

Anyway, I must go now. Thanks for reading.