Some days are worse than others. Some days should just be skipped. But occasionally, bad days can be turned around to much better days. Here I was, all alone at the office, with most of my colleagues gone on vacation. I was indulging in feeling sorry for myself, thinking about how much I miss having my friends around me, and I was doing a really good job at it.

That's when I started to get little pings from a friend and colleague in Bergen, demanding to know exactly when I am coming down there. When she was satisfied, I opened the email to find a story from a friend, who has a lot more reason to be down than I do... but her problems are just so uncommon, they made me laugh and feel a lot better. So I managed to go fetch a cup of coffee. On the way back I met an other colleague, one of the few not in Spain, Greece or somewhere else sunny and warm, who had a hug and an offer for help with moving (yes, we'll be moving in August). I had to leave him because my phone was ringing, and it was an other friend who just wanted to say hello because he likes hearing my voice, and as I was talking to him, I opened the mailbox again, and there was a gushing eulogy to friendship, where I was included in a group hug with some of the people I really admire, as the kind of friends the sender was ecstatically happy about having.

So I am not complaining about being alone and forgotten in this deep, dark fjord on the west-coast of Norway any more. The fjord is still dark and it's still a long way from where I want to be... but I am starting to think my friends are all psychic, and that defies distance.