Logically things should be going very badly at this point. The Norwegian Air check in queue at Gatwick was appalling taking close to half an hour per person and people getting shunted between queues to no great benefit. I then found I’d inadvertently not paid up for my bag online previous to arriving so was stiffed for 12 quid. Considering I was also stiffed fro 12 quid late payment fee on my credit card earlier in the day, I have the rare distinction of having been taxed twice after on 3 days of a Tory government….
Having secured a pocketful of Krona I boarded the plane and found myself being held up my neighbour passenger an old Krona who was dithering somewhat. Nevertheless I’m not too bothered and am pretty chilled…
Arrival in Oslo, it’s ridiculously easy to get to the centre and find our apartment. Expensive but easy…Then pleasantly finding our cosy apartment isn’t quite as cosy as we thought it was going to be. We have indeed got two bedrooms and a spare bed meaning we all get to sleep this fortnight…yay… Even better the kind lady running the apartment block feels so bad that she drops the price 130 quid each… result. The apartment is absolutely loverly, way too posh for the likes of us. It’s got everything we could want and it’s in a beautiful neighbourhood….
The lcoal supermarket provides all of our immediate essentials but we fall foul of the fact that off-licences/supermarkets don’t sell alcohol after 8pm and we got to the checkout at 8.05…. so of into the burbs and find a steak restaurant where we no longer mind paying 30 quid for steak and chips and over 10 quid for a pint of Heineken..
The Norwegians are traking it all in their stride and are not remotely bothered by us, a complete contrast to their Russian predecessors. I’m not sure if I miss the weirdness but it’s almost become more surreal having things go well…
Good stuff so far though.
onwards and upwards towards the press centre tomorrow