TIGER GIRL

Yesterday I had a couple of experiences that made me meditate a bit about my own city. This happened in connection with two brief encounters with people who come from other parts of the world, but who have made their home in Oslo - for a shorter or longer period of time.

I can be very flippant and deprecating about my home town - also nicknamed "Tigerstaden" or "Tiger City". There are several reasons for my negativity: I think parts of Oslo are very ugly architecturally, with proof of little or hardly any city planning. I think the traffic culture is awful - with aggressive, selfish and rigid drivers. In fact I find it easier to drive in Barcelona and London (okay, maybe not in New York and Rome), because drivers in bigger cities see the necessity of letting traffic flow. Downtown Oslo is totally dominated by huge chain stores - no small individual shop owners. And I could go on.

View from outside my swimming club today

The Oslo Fjord towards Bygdøy and the Kon-Tiki and Fram Museums

Oslo surrounded by hills - with the Holmenkollen Ski Jump 

But back to yesterday's encounters - they made me, born and bred in this City of Tigers - take a short but sweet look at my birthplace through slightly different eyes. Two of my influencers were the Italians who had rented my daughter Julie's flat. They are in Oslo for just a few years working in an Italian restaurant - and enjoying it! Loving it! They're wild about the girls here! Like all Italians they're even nice to Big Mamas! They love the area where they've been staying - Torshov. "You must promise to come and eat in Villa Paradiso! Call us so that you know we'll be there!"

I took a walk around the area - and yes! Here it is - attractive Oslo! THIS is where you find the small individual shops, the bric-a-bracs, the bakeries and the butchers, the cafés and the fantastic shop of nostalgic Americana - Ruth 66.

Oslo behind glass bubbles

Later in the afternoon I went to meet the new tenant - a young Afghan who has just married but has already had his home in Norway for twelve years. It made me think he must have been very young when he came here - without his parents. I took a liking to him immediately, and we had coffee, went through the lease contract and then chatted for a while about this and that and Afghanistan and Norway. He told me his dream was to buy his own place for himself and his bride, and that he was working very hard to achieve it. I wondered if he'd like to return to Afghanistan sometime: "No... I feel safe here. It's my home."

I took the above photos this afternoon, when I went to a meeting on the 10th floor of an Oslo building. These however are MY three favourite spots in this city:

The peninsula of Bygdøy - a short walk from my house

My Park

Sognsvann - a lake in the hills that surround the city

I firmly believe that something happened to the population of Oslo after the terrorist attacks of 22nd July 2011. I know something happened to me. I saw my city in a different light. I only need to be reminded of it once in a while. And it took some "outsiders" to remind me yesterday. Perhaps they're the ones who are the "insiders" after all.

(In one and a half years I'm moving outside the Oslo border - by about 100 metres! The meeting I went to this afternoon was with the constructors, and when I saw my new address up on the power point screen WITHOUT the name OSLO in it, I nearly cancelled the whole property deal)!!