Norwegian Saga

People who haven’t traveled, not necessarily extensively but at least a little, don’t always realize the staggering differences in geography the world has to offer. Some places are fertile and people-friendly, such as the Canadian prairie provinces and much of southern Ontario. Other places are much less so for various reasons, deserts, snowy tundra, and mountains come to mind. Norway is interesting in this respect. It seems people-friendly on the outside. With some grass here and there, plenty of large forests, and water all over the place. But don’t be fooled, it’s all rock! That’s right, rock “intrudes” everywhere, into driveways, onto roads, back gardens and so on. Of course this is what gives Norway it’s majestic beauty, it’s greatness of landscape. It does however, make it particularly interesting to watch homes being built. Builders don’t really dig to lay a foundation they… drill? Blast? I’m not quite sure what they do to clear the rock actually, but they clear rock as opposed to dirt. Note in the photo the slope of the rock hill. I guess the homeowner can feel secure in the building’s foundation. (I apologize for the poor photo quality, cellphone cameras are not known for their superb optics or photosensors for a reason.)

Another interesting factoid about Norway: the bomb shelters. To be honest when I discovered them I didn’t know what they were, as I hadn’t asked a native Norwegian nor did I know what “tilfluktsrom” meant. But it’s hard to imagine they could be anything else. Many buildings have them and they’re always in the basement, they’re always marked with the same yellow label, they always have more than one locking mechanism, and they always close off a room. Oh and the most telling feature; these doors are about 40cm thick and made of solid steel. The first time I went through one was to go to a bathroom. I was a little unsettled by the fact that the hallway to the bathrooms had a door to it that would be so large. The male and female bathroom were down the hall, they were regular public bathrooms with attached locker rooms, so fairly large in total volume. A large number of people could certainly have found shelter there. Only later did I clue in to the fact that the door sealed the area, it was the only way in or out. Though I’m told there are other small exits in case the main one gets blocked by debris. Some of these doors I found were closed and some were open to functional areas, like bathrooms and all seemed to be older rather than newer. However, the feeling that these may have been required at one point in time, or may be required in the future. was unsettling and even a little frightening. It makes the peace that Canada enjoys that much more precious.