The World, from my perspective

Yes, today is the Independence Day of Norway... WOHOOO! The day every Norwegian takes to the streets to wave flags and celebrate King and country with a mass-hysteria of nationalism. Kudos to them, I say! Iceland does the same thing (except for the King-part) on June 17.th and from what I recall it was a very nice day off that I personally mostly spent waking up late and drinking coffee with friends and family. Still, a nice day. Sweden's on June 6 for some unknown reason (I've heard several reasons for that date, but none make sense) and it's only been a day off for the last couple of years. Hence I've mostly spent it either at work or school... no fun there. But to round off these ramblings... Happy 17 Maj all you Norwegians!

At 83 degrees north in Greenland, a major mining company has set up a "recon camp" to see if there's Zinc in them hills (or rather, mountains). Heading out from Longyearbyen are the intrepid pilots of a Hercules plane, giving those poor souls up there all the supplies they need. And standing behind a bar there's me - supplying these gentlemen with all they require in the way of booze (and some food). So to go on with the story. At 7 AM this morning I was awoken from my slumber by the cell phone ringing. On the line was the night shift receptionist asking me if I wanted to go to Greenland? "Hell yeah!" I said "Well, be here in ten minutes then" "Ugh... ok" So I jump out of bed, into some clothes, grab a slice of bread and haul my ass up to the hotel where the flight crew is waiting for me to tag along on their first trip of the day. There really wasn't all that much to see at the landing strip on the fjord where we touched ground and ...