Friday started as a horrible day. I was to talk to my supervisor, and get a few things done first, in a hurry.... and I was late to town. One of the things I should do was deliver a book: Roger Caillois: Man, play, and Games which Hilde had picked up at the library for me. I wanted to re-register it in my name, sweet and law-abiding as I am. The book is a classic of the work I am doing, and I was in the middle of using it. It's been sold out for years, and it won't be republished until October, and I needed it right NOW, because it belongs in this chapter which has to be done in two weeks!

The reward for being good was however to be told that: "no, that book is reserved for an other." I COULD have just brought the book with me to Volda, copied it and returned it, and they'd never have known I did something illegal, but I wanted to re-register it and do thing formally, saving them the cost of mailing it to Volda, even. But no, the reward for being good was being told that I couldn't keep the book the time it was registered for even, since I was stupid enough to give it into the hands of the librarian. I was almost crying in front of the counter.

I went to their computers to order the book through the Norwegian Library Network (Which I now realised I should have done in the first place), and to Amazon to try to buy the book. That's when the cell-phone rang. It belongs to my husband and I never wear it - only for this trip so he can reach me. And of course, since I was in a library I ran out of there immediately. It was my supervisor, telling me he was late - that's when I remembered I had left my backpack with all my keys, money, cards, disks, notebooks and safecopies of the PhD thesis inside, so I ran in to pick it up. That lead to me facing three angry librarians all yelling at me to GET OUT OF THERE with the cellphone! I wasn't even able to apologize, I just ran.... but I grabbed the backpack first.

It was hell. And I still need the book. Luckily I know that Volda College has the sweetest and nicest librarians in the world, or I would have never dared to enter a Library ever again.