“And when did you land Mr Stevenson…?”

Yesterday was the second day of the priests and musicians conference. It started off with a little act of worship and singing some hymns. One of them was a tune that we used to do fairly regularly in St Mary’s so a wee pang for home was felt in one’s heart one admits. I checked the hymnary and I’m delighted to report that after consulting the index that the tune called “Dundee” is indeed present and correct. Whether any of the congregation know it is of course a different matter. There are a number of tunes in the book that we’d recognise (Morning has broken/ Slane/ Kum by yah (??)) and some of them are even in English.

For the final part of the conference we were split into groups for the final 2 sessions. The first one was about (and you’ll have to forgive me as my Norwegian is still somewhat ropey - though if you want to know about “the bear is eating the moose”, I’m your man) “performance” as part of the service. Those of you who know me will know well (and not even that well tbh) that this sort of thing is waaay outside my comfort zone. The lovely lady who was leading it was a former dancer/choreographer who then entered the priesthood so you can imagine my inner terror. However in the end it was more walking round the space, taking it all in, first far apart and then closer together. I’m not doing her any justice by describing it like this so forgive me but it did seem to be a worthwhile experience.

The second session was using the “samisk” language as part of the service. For me, this seemed like the equivalent of some poor soul coming from abroad to live in Scotland and having only a tiny grasp of English then be asked to speak Gaelic. I don’t think it’s a bad comparison, I think it’s the church’s attempt to keep alive ye olde language of Norway. Although I could have picked that up all wrongly of course!

Today (Thursday) was a v important day. I had to report to the Immigration office in Mosjøen police station for my residence card.

As is my usual technique, the night before I consult google maps for a time allowance for the trip, double it to allow for incompetence on my part, and work back for my estimated time of departure. Well that all went pear shaped this morning as I couldn’t find the car keys. Turns out I’d left them in the car. And then en route to Bjørn I was stopped by a lady in the middle of the road to tell me that I couldn’t get through that way so I would have to do a u-turn and go a different way. At least that’s what I assumed she meant. By the time I arrived at the ferry, the bow was open and cars were about to go on…..

Strictly speaking I was meant to have arrived at the police station within 7 days of arriving in Norway which would have been Tuesday (or Wednesday at a push I suppose). Very nerve wracking standing there as the lady worked her way through a checklist hoping that there’d be no crosses. And also worrying that she might ask “and when did you exactly land in the country Mr Stevenson?” However all is well and residence card is now “in the post”. Although I did get a fright when she suddenly appeared out of the office to come and speak to us and I thought this can’t be good but apparently my residence number came through surprisingly quickly.

Following that we headed into Sandnessjøen to set up a bank account as I can’t get paid until I have a Norwegian account so obviously in everyone’s interest to get that sorted asap. Short story shorter - no. At least not yet.

Following that a rather delicious bite to eat - “egg og bacon” roughly translates to egg and bacon.

A very relaxing ferry trip via Lokta and then to Bjørn for the drive home. I’ve quickly adjusted (he says) to driving on the other side of the road. In fact, driving in Mosjøen, I was so relaxed and comfortable that I got a fright and for a moment thought I was on the “wrong” side.

I thought I’d be brave and see if I could drive all the way back from Bjørn to Stavseng without any SatNav assistance. I can proudly say that I made without any problems at all. Though of course if you were to look at a map most of it is a straight line so not exactly the hardest bit of navigation I’ll ever attempt.