Say it!

The back page of the local Lillehammer paper is called “Say it!” or “Si det!” Along with the weather report, and sunrise/sunset time (currently at 9:25am and 3:24pm), there are letters from readers to other general readers, or perhaps a specific reader. It’s not the personal ads, no lonely bachelor Norwegian farmer looking for love. Instead they are little random thoughts, that someone either thought was so brilliant, or was so angered, or so touched by, that they just had to share with all the other readers of GD newspaper.

Often they are complaints about dogs barking in a particular neighborhood. These are often followed a day or two later with letters from the dog owners in those neighborhoods who say, “look, if you have a problem with my dog, please come talk to me personally!” Sometimes they are simple lost and found notices, usually for sleds and cell phones; the other day an old man told the story of how he and his wife were almost hit by a snowplow, had they not dived into their neighbors snowbank. I’ve mentioned the complaints of Halloween before. One of my favorites was someone suggesting printing stickers that say “Yes to dog poop!”. And you could put the sticker on your garbage can, indicating you’re OK with dog owners dumping their doggy-doo-doo bags in their garbage. Brilliant! One of the more random letters was someone complaining “why did the milk company stop printing the little arrows on the milk cartons? I’m having a hard time opening my milk!” I myself have been tempted to rant about the insanity of four-way intersections, and the lack of rules when four cars are at all four corners (it’s not a first come, first go), because no one seems to know what the hell to do. But I digress. . . .

Because these letters can be rather amusing, and because much of my blogging in the past few months has been house related, and not so much “life in Norway” related, I’m tempted to translate a few of the letters as a quick little insight into our life here in Lillehammer.

So without further ado, here was today’s winner: “Thanks to whoever took my jacket home with them by mistake from the two-days ball at Kvam city hall in the after Christmas-time. But it was delivered back newly washed the day after, with everything in place, even including a receipt from the Christmas dinner I had been to before Christmas. I really want to know what laundry detergent you used, because my jacket smells so good!”