Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]If you're serious ... you will be making a very, very serious mistake by not being here in Oslo May 17. It is a special day. A "must-see". I leave for Africa on the 19th but it was planned that way, in order to be here on the 17th. Daniel On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Alastair Firkin wrote: > OK, see you in MAY ;-) > On 08/03/2005, at 1:17 AM, Daniel Ridings wrote: > > > Tourists are very welcome and the Norwegian population is a charmer. > > > > As a tourist, you won't need to have anything to do with these salaried > > twits. :-) > > > > Daniel > > > > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Alastair Firkin wrote: > > > >> gee, Helen and I were due to come up that way, perhaps we will go to > >> New Zealand: they are only moderately unfriendly there ;-) > >> On 08/03/2005, at 1:04 AM, Daniel Ridings wrote: > >> > >>> Graham, > >>> Foreigners are not really welcome here. Tolerated, but not welcome. > >>> The > >>> fewer, the better. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but I feel I have to > >>> since > >>> Scandinavia has tended to have a liberal stamp on it. The various > >>> countries react differently. I suspect that Sweden has the most > >>> liberal > >>> refugee policy, Finland the least, Denmark, a small country, has been > >>> over > >>> saturated and Norway is somewhere inbetween. Probably closer to > >>> Finland > >>> than anything else. > >>> > >>> Norway does have a lot of public money, oil money. So it can afford > >>> to > >>> have civil servants on duty who really don't have to pull much > >>> weight. > >>> They can act offended if you show up and expecting them to perform > >>> their > >>> duties. (I've had a run-in with a few of them, so my background > >>> information might be tainted :-) ). It doesn't really matter if they > >>> do > >>> anything or not. The country and afford them. The bureaucracy is of > >>> Byzantine proportions. > >>> > >>> So you have these furners. You make them report to the police station > >>> (one > >>> single police station in all of Oslo, the capital city, mind you, not > >>> just > >>> your local station) between 8 and 10? possibly 11. Anyway, at the end > >>> of > >>> the short time frame they close. Doesn't matter that you've been > >>> waiting > >>> there since 8 am, they close. Sorry. Come back tomorrow. > >>> > >>> So all these poor souls start queuing up at around 7 am. This > >>> particular > >>> day it was -15 degrees and the wind was raging off the fjord, the > >>> harbour. > >>> Cold. Very cold. Most of these people come from temperate zones ... > >>> Africa, Pakistan, India etc. 15 degrees is cold for many of them. > >>> > >>> At 8 o'clock ... make that 8:05 if the police really feel like > >>> screwing > >>> with you, they unlock the door. Now at that point, you don't retain > >>> your > >>> queue place, but you have to rush to a number machine and get a queue > >>> number. > >>> > >>> Some of these will not get served on today. The one station is Oslo > >>> is > >>> not > >>> open long enough to take care of them. > >>> > >>> Maybe they'll get tired of it and decide to move home? > >>> > >>> http://www.rollei-gallery.net/ridings/image-80729.html > >>> > >>> Excuse my cynical humor today. I had a run-in with the customs people > >>> at > >>> the border last night. Norway is a member of Schengen so they're not > >>> allowed to do controls of people, only of goods. I think they're > >>> trying to > >>> drum up business for the train line to Gothenburg they now have but > >>> can't > >>> get to take off (they raised the price 100%) so they're making sure > >>> all > >>> other forms of transportation are so miserable to use that people > >>> with > >>> opt > >>> for the useless train instead (it's a milk-run. Stops at every farm > >>> between Gothenburg and Oslo). > >>> > >>> Something like that ... > >>> > >>> Daniel > >>> > >>> > >>>> Hi Daniel, > >>>> > >>>> I particularly like these two: > >>>> http://www.rollei-gallery.net/ridings/image-80727.html > >>>> > >>>> http://www.rollei-gallery.net/ridings/image-80728.html > >>>> > >>>> and I am curious about the reference to 'foreigners dose of > >>>> humiliation' > >>>> > >>>> --Graham > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Leica Users Group. > >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >>>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Leica Users Group. > >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >>> > >>> > >> Alastair > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Leica Users Group. > >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > > Alastair > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >