First week of December - and it's cold out there!!

Weather patterns are definitely changing! Bergen is now a glossy white due to some serious snowfall last Friday/Saturday, which is unusual for this time of year. Usually December is just grey and cold with sleet and rain, but this year we are experiencing polar cold as icy air flows over us from Russia.

Last night Bergen had -8.1, and in the centre of the country on Filefjell they had -32 degrees C, brrrr!

The Norwegians are, of course, used to it. Everyone has the right kind of clothes and houses are well insulated and heated - well they would be heated if the electricity worked! This morning thousands of homes north of Bergen from Voss to

Åsane woke up to find they had no electricity for an hour or longer from 5.30 to around 9 a.m. Apparrently the faults in the system may hav been caused by too much demand on the system for electricity - doh! Sounds like British Rail's problem when the trains don't run because it is the wrong kind of snow!

I'm glad though that we were not affected. We have one hot air heater to heat the entire flat. Suffice to say that in these temperaures the poor thing is working overtime, and the bedrooms get a little chilly!

Still it all looks very pretty outside and doesn't stop anyone from doing what they usually do! Buses run more or less to time, streets are salted and paths are either a compacted sheet of ice where everyone has been walking, or a slushy salted mess!  This time of year, anyone who is walking tends to carry around a set of spikes to attach to shoes or boots, so that when the going gets slippery you can get a grip. Otherwise, you learn to do a good imitation of Bambi on ice! You can even buy special spikes for your running shoes - minus temperatures don't keep a Norwegian from his or her daily exercise!!

Here are some pictures from this weekend at Svartediket, a  reservoir just 5 minutes walk away from our apartment.

Saturday - grey and cold

Svartediket looking towards Vidden

Sunday - sunny and even colder! Log pile at Svartediket



Lokking to Vidden over Svartediket - love the way the sun picked out colours

There would have been more photos, but unfortunately Blogger will not post them the right way round even though they have been edited and saved - just puts them up in the original format. Not sure how to get round hat one - if anyone has any ideas please let me know!