Removals was Saturday 30.th of June from our old flat in Brentford Dock in Greater London and estimated arrival in Oslo was the beginning of week comencing 23.rd of July. As you might have guessed that did not happen instead the truck arrived last Saturday, thanks to two ingenious drivers who found a solution to driving a large two part trailer down a very steep and narrow road. Otherwise we would have had to wait another 2 days. After numerous attempts of trying to rent a van early Saturday morning they ended up parking near by our flat (read: house – see below) and using oldfashioned manpower. They demonstrated that some jobs require so much physical strength that no gym membership is necessary.

116 boxes in total, a large number of them containing heavy books – yes: knitting, fashion, art and architecture mainly. Out of all our china only 1 wine glass was broken and no other items were damaged. Quite incredible, I think. So I have been reunited with my belongings to my utter delight! Because we starting missing some items rather badly the unpacking has been done with astonishing speed and much anticipation. Where was the remote to the Bang & Olufson radio? That was one of many questions hanging in the air until it was found in a box marked clothes. The last box was unpacked yesterday but there is still quite a bit of tidying to be done, obviously!

Yesterday, Mustafa Can – a Kurdish-Swedish author, journalist and essayist – wrote in Aftenposten (Norway’s largest paper) about how all of us are possessed  by identity to a small or larger extent. Furniture, food, and what we surround ourselves with. Is it just because I like it I do it or is it because it is expected of me, he asks. I do not know, he says, because how free can a person be? Maybe will I, as most others, assume that I am more free than I really am? Reading articles and essays by Can is challenging and thought provocing. If you read Norwegian or Swedish do not miss his book: “Tett inntil dagene” where his upbringing and his mother’s astonishing story is emotionally told. It moved me to tears and is one of those books I will remeber as long as I live…