Time passes...
Did you talk about 30 Lisbeth? You are such a young PhD student...
An other reason why it is - at least in Norway - common to be both 30 and 40 before you finish a PhD, is the fact that you can get a job, and even tenure, without a doctorate. I have worked at Universities and Colleges since I finished the master's degree, and been tenured since -96. The Ph.D. is more so that I can have more options than a really necessary career move for me. Although I expect the degree to change my career somewhat, in the current educational system I need the PhD to apply for jobs at the Universities or for leading projects in research and development. It will also help me to create a masters in Public Information, if I want to teach and administrate it, and it will make my education more acceptable abroad - or rather, it will be easier for foreign Academics to understand that I actually have quite a bit of independent research experience (which I had to have to get the steady position at the College, but less formally).

The odd title "amanuensis" is supposedly on its way out of the Norwegian system, there are no new positions with that title. I am one of the last dinosaurs...