Bits and pieces.

It's a funny old Monday, foggy and raining on the road over the hill from Drammen, but still an enjoyable thirty five minutes drive, and the first thing to meet me is a group of third years who have slept on the doorstep at school as part of their "russ" celebrations. These words are difficult to translate into English...Anyway, school looks like being quiet today but there is always enough to do. Paperwork and correcting grow like barnacles on the bottom of a boat. Constant scraping.

Yesterday's concert went surpisingly well with the expected hiccups. Steffen conducted very well indeed and had it not been for the disagreements in tempi between him and the organist who was sitting a cricket pitch away in the organ loft, things would have been even better. It is also good that E is talking and showing a bit of pleasantness. I appreciate her company and it doesn't have to mean any more than that! As for the undertaker, I still don't get why he is so friendly. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, say I!

It's also good to hear John enjoying life. He rang from the ferry over to Molde on his way to see Godset. Pity they only drew.

I must get abreast of exams and tests in my classes today. Several of them have preparation time and the first year electro class will be having their's when I am in Greece. There is a fair amount to organise and not having so much teaching doesn't mean there is nothing to do. And two days in an Oslo hotel really does not appeal! OK, the company, Randi and Trine is fine, and the KK exam questions we must make up is an interesting enough job, but I do not relish having to stay in that hotel in the centre of Oslo. Would you??

John rang and wants me to look at a car he has his eye on in Oslo. A Mitsubishi Eclipse, black, of course. I have had a search on Google and it is exactly what I would fear. A little sports car, a cross between a Paki gangsta automobile and an egg with a big front. I will have trouble getting into it, let alone getting to it in the course of the next twenty four hours, which is the deadline he has got to make an offer. And cousin Sue left an sms, which must be a big step for her! I asked about the Rutter Requiem, which she obviously knows, and recommends. We will be looking at it for the first time at practise this evening. Good to hear from her and I'm looking forward to seeing her in the summer. The weather has sorted itself out now, it is drying up and the sky is a lot brighter.

Not like the horrible story coming out of Austria where a 70 something man has been keeping his daughter and three children he has had by her prisoners in a cellar in his house for twenty four years. The crazy thing is that his wife and other three "grandchildren", who live in the house, know absolutely nothing about it. Even though he must have been a froghtening disciplinarian in keeping them away from his secret, an electronically locked cellar with an entrance hidden behind shelving. It makes my flesh creep and I can't understand the wickedness involved in this. I suppose he will be given some sort of psychiatric diagnosis, but it won't do, will it? This is a situation where society, not to mention his poor family and these victims, deserve more than just a whitewash. This man is a criminal, and after the similar story we heard last year, it makes you wonder what is going on in that country. There are obviously plenty of questions to be asked here, and the treatment given to the victims will probably never match up to the irreparable damage that has been done. By the way, the Jersey children's home story is still as quiet as death. I hope those words are not too true.