Packing 200kg of re supplies is not exciting
On the 30th of December 2021 I had my final interview with the police in Oslo to get my 4 month, Norway residence permit. You’ll be pleased to know that it was granted, but not before the nice man checked out the website and blog to make sure that I was in fact disseminating Norwegian culture like I said I would.. He even tried speaking to me in Norwegian, but quickly realised that that was a non starter as I stared blankly back at him. Fortunately it seems that a modicum of linguistic capability is not a requirement for a short term Norwegian resident permit.
The rest of our time yesterday was spent at Trond’s house discussing the route and accommodation etc. The worst task of all we saved for today, 31st December. No getting ready for a New Year party for us. Oh no. Instead David and I have been packing 200 kg of re supply boxes.
“Wow! I hear you say, “That sounds like a lot.” Well, dear reader, it is a lot and this is what just 150kg of that 200 kg looks like….
12 piles of food for 12 re supplies
This isn’t even all of it. This does not include the 120 dehydrated meals, the fuel or any of the non-edible things such as batteries. Here’s a close up of the best bit though…
Me posing with 300 assorted chocolate bars. I am assured I will get fed up of them.
Before the above photos were taken I had spent some hours mixing muesli, granola and milk powder together and splitting it into 100 portions for bagging.
375 grams of this stuff is enough for breakfast for 3 people for 1 day. Just add water and enjoy.
Did our packing go smoothly? Yes and no. We did pack more in one day Than I had expected but:
due to an unfortunate error regarding box sizes when ordering from a Norwegian list, instead of ordering the required 12.5 kg of muesli and granola I ordered 125 kg. Oops! There are boxes and boxes of the stuff in Tond’s garage still.He won’t need to buy breakfast for years.
It turns out that the 120 flapjacks I ordered (from the same Norwegian list) must be baked for 10-12 minutes before being eaten. So they can’t be used. Oops part 2!
After a trying day we gave up and returned to our downtown AirBnb through foggy Oslo’s snowy and remarkably quiet streets. We will finish the packing tomorrow. After that we will take the rest of the day off and then, on Sunday (2nd January) we head south to our start point. Lindesnes Fyr (look it up).
Are we staying up to see in the new year? No. It’s foggy (you can hear the fireworks but can’t see them and the official display has been cancelled because of covid), the bars are closed (also covid) and I’m too tired.
A happy New Year to you all though from us here in Oslo. What better way of dealing with a hangover than reading this blog and sharing it with your equally hung over friends.
