There are no snow days in Norway

When it snows in my home town, school is cancelled.  Children rejoice.  Sleds or "sledges" are grabbed and people head to the park.  The parents stand at the top in their light jackets, small shoes and freeze with hands jammed into coat pockets.  Children blast down the slopes laughing.  Not so here.  First, there are no such things as snow days.

And second, all Norwegians have the proper outdoor gear not just to sled and ski with their children, but to bike home from work with studded tires in snow, ice, or rain.   A lovely Norwegian girl told me yesterday as she donned her rubber gear to bike home in the ice/rain that on a bike, it rains from above and below.

In the states, everybody plows their driveways and the sidewalks in front of their house and then the snow plow comes and dumps heavy snow right back over the newly cleaned area.   This is true in Rhode Island and in Minnesota.  But, Norwegians have perfected the art of the snow plow.   The have enormous wheels and blow snow in a directed fashion to avoid your driveway.  Here is a video clip of the snowplow passing by my house at night.  Note that they work at night and secondly note that they missed my driveway.

Well for the most part, except for this unfortunate neighbor who lives on the major road out to the cross country ski loops.  You wouldn't think a park road would be the first to be plowed...but you haven't met the crazy Norwegian skiers.   They take skiing so seriously that they have one-way ski tracks.  When they pass you,  even the 70 year old ones pass you by, they go as fast down those hills as alpine skiers.  A small tornado-force wind gets stirred up by their speed.  The parking lot for the lighted ski tracks is almost always full and the one-way loops are bursting with skiers in what they affectionately call "condom suits" any night of the week. 

They may not plow my road right away, but you can bet they are paving the route to Bymarka as we speak.  And there are likely some skiers following behind, drafting on the plows as they go.