Lessons Learned

1. Norway is a BIG country. Having lived in Scotland my entire life, and in Dundee in particular, I have a slightly skewed perspective on distances. Dundee to most of the major population centres is no more than 90 minutes. The first thing that struck me regarding distance was the thought that Amazon would no longer be delivering next day. No bad thing for the bank account though.

The second time was when I was considering attending the Yes concert in Oslo. I had already booked my ticket for Glasgow in 2020 but for obvious reasons this was cancelled. I reassured my friends that this would not be a problem - I'd return my Glasgow tickets and purchase a new ticket for Norway. Eventually it occurred to me that I should check the actual distance involved - 14 hours!!!! The setlist better be good to encourage me to go!

2. My feet are SMALLER than I though. For the past 20 years or so, my shoe buying technique has been: enter shop - find black shoes - ask for size 9 - pay for shoes - leave. As part of my prep for life in Norway, I thought I'd get some proper walking boots. While waiting service, I spotted ye olde fashioned foot gauge and thought I'd have a wee shot of it. Transpires my feet are only size 8 so I've suddenly and unexpectedly had to buy more shoes.