Today: A mixed bag of very little

I went into town to visit friends last night, and I chose the route across the ice to Rosneset, since it is a bit shorter and considerably flatter than climbing up to the road on land. In the end I didn't save any time, because the ice was really bad. Not only did I have to wade through several inches of slush, wich of course slowed me down a bit, but I constantly had to stop, re-evaluate and re-route due to patches of bad ice. After I passed point Kjellandsneset, the fog thickened so that I didn't really have another clear sighting of land until I made it to Rosneset. Walking into zero visibility in flat terrain gives me the strangest feeling - like driving a boat, only not.

I ended up spending the night with Lisette at her dad's. I've said this before, but I'll labour the point some more: Those of you who have the opportunity to sleep every night with your wife, cannot possible know how lucky you are. At least I didn't until I couldn't, and now our time together carries the bitter sweet taint of its limited duration. I'm starting to think that as humans we are unable to appreciate conditions, either good or bad, but rather respond only to changes.

Nimo is back from his last post-op checkup at the vet's, and since everything is looking fine, he was allowed to move back in with me here. That's a very positive change for me. I like a lot about my surroundings, but they do get depressingly lonely at times. It is amazing how much of a difference it can make to have some sort of companion animal, and as companions go, Nimo is the best. He seems pretty much unaffected by having a toe removed, although it does look ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Social Security came through for me. They called me a couple of days ago, expressing both their concern for my problems and their consternation that the Unemployment people are refusing to help me out. They really don't like being stuck with the bill, and have repeatedly suggested that I register an address on land in order to solve the problem. However, according to the legal department of NAV, I should be entitled to unemployment pay as long as I have a PO box. I have a big problem with cheating to circumvent a system that seeks to unload its burden on a neighbouring department by means of dishonesty while claiming incompetence, so I'd rather just raise hell and file my complaint. The sad part is that the people who must foot the bill in the meantime, are the only people in the whole of NAV who have ever shown a will to help me.

Where was I going with this? Oh right, I just found out that they paid over six thousand kroner into my account, which is actually a whole lot of money. It's supposed to last for a month, but it is at least five times what I've had to spend for the past month. Thus I'm leaving for a grocery shopping spree, right this moment.