I had been meaning to write since yesterday, but could not think of a title. Yesterday I saw a lifehack on how to tie a man’s tie quickly. Anyway “with a light movement of the hand” we get a beautiful knot! For the Norwegian locality a man’s tie is for a very, very special occasion. Norwegian men “don’t bother” with details. And thank God! But from my childhood life I remember a major quarrel of my parents because of this tie. I have written a lot about my mama. She sewed beautifully and always had wonderful dresses “for going out.” I remember myself as a little girl, about five. Mama and papa are getting ready for the theatre. I watch mama: she has a dress of tender lilac colour of natural silk, a shawl collar fastened with a huge most beautiful mother-of-pearl button, little pump shoes on a modest spike (papa was a stocky man, so mama tried to wear a moderate heel so as not to tower over him; in those times it was not accepted to be taller than a man). ...

Sometimes I am surprised. Yesterday, for example, I watch the news on NRK (the state Norwegian television company). I watch attentively, so as to understand Norwegian (I have that age-related thing). They show a respectable-looking Norwegian who has in some way broken the law. Anyway by a court decision he must sit in prison, serve his sentence. But there are no places. He has to wait…. three years! I think: “I didn’t understand something.” I ask my husband: “Where is he supposed to wait? At liberty? That is, continue to live and work, is that it? And wait until they ‘put him away’ 🧐 Anyway, all the places are taken! I remember they used to rent places in the Netherlands. Apparently it has become expensive to send the lawless abroad. ...

At first I wanted to write “how to choose an instructor?”, and then I thought “From whom to choose? Whoever they offer you on the courses, that is who you will have!” It turns out the saying “you don’t choose neighbours and relatives” can be supplemented … and driving instructors. I get the impression that starting practical driving, nobody thinks about what we are paying money for, and in Norway this is altogether “in a big way,” 1.5 hours of driving officially on the courses costs 140 euros. ...

In part 3 I already wrote about the road signs that were in my test. The name of this group of signs is FARESKILT (danger signs). I make a literal translation, so that it is easier to remember in Norwegian. Try to pay attention to them where you live and move about. The next group of signs is VIKEPLIKT- og forkjørsskilt. Vike — to yield, plikt — duty, forkjør — main, priority on the road, skilt — sign. ...

I have the inspiration to work out tunnels. At the exam there is always a question about tunnels. I advise you, when you are a passenger in transport, to pay attention to tunnels. 1. What do they set up before the entrance to a tunnel? These are posts with black-and-white stripes diagonally 914 Tunnelmarkering and 916 Avstandsmarkering i tunnel. Skiltet markerer avstand til tunnelåpningen. Be sure to look at them carefully and remember! When these signs come up at the exam, a strange feeling may arise with the question: “and where have I seen them?” ...

I warn you, there will be no pictures! You will have to open the Appendix in the textbook yourselves and look through the pictures. FARESKILT. Fare — danger, Skilt — sign. In the Russian translation they are called WARNING signs. A triangle with a red rim and inside a picture on a white background. Sign 146 Dyr (animals) — skillet varsler at dyr ofte ferdes over eller langs vegen — the sign warns of animals often passing across the road or along the road. There are 5 such signs in Norway. I got 146.1 on the exam — in the triangle an elk is drawn. Anyway “I remember the Elk, but I don’t remember the question!” I can assure you, the wording of the questions is not complicated, it differs from those twisted “questions that you get in computer tests when preparing on your own.” So now you need to remember in Norwegian: “skiltet varsler at dyr ofte ferdes over eller langs veien.” If you remember this sentence and know the translation into your native language, then at the exam you will be able to understand the question that will be asked. And in order to remember, you will have to read (you can aloud, loudly and with expression 😃 up to 7 times! The next sign (skilt) is 149 kø (queue). I give a description: a triangle with a red border, and inside little cars standing tightly against one another. Well, what can one say? Sitting at the wheel, how will you behave when you see this sign? I think you already need to be attentive (oppmerksom), reduce speed and approach civilly, “get in the queue.” I have now found in my notes how the “correct answer in the test for this sign” can sound: “FARE for kø.” ...

“Feet, brakes, seat belts and in general, What does it mean to drive a car? (Hva er bilkjøring?) In the first part we established at which points we hold the wheel; now we take “feet in our hands,” that is we look down and find 3 pedals and understand that we are sitting in a car with a manual gearbox (manuelt gir). And that means that your two feet (venstre fot og høyre fot) — left and right — will take an active part in the driving process. The left foot has its advantages — it “presses” only the clutch (koplingspedalen trykkes inn). As our instructors put it, “press the clutch to the floor.” The brake pedal (bremsepedalen) is in the middle, and the gas pedal (gasspedalen) is on the right. And so on the right foot there is a load of as many as 2 pedals, which you MUST NOT confuse! ...

“My thoughts, my steeds….” as in the song. Of course I will not manage a tidy exposition of the material, but I very much want to share what I myself have already gone through in Norway, having received those coveted class B rights. The best option is to start studying theory and practice at the same time and in the Norwegian language. In Norway a ledsager can be a person who has reached the age of 25 and has 5 years’ driving experience. You must attach an L sign at the back of the car, and according to the rules there should also be an extra mirror, well, and “in life” not every private car has one. ...

I found the statistics of what the population was in 1850 in Norway — 2 million 200 thousand. And I already wrote in the first part that for this population already at that time two literary languages were taking shape!!! And by the beginning of the 20th century the languages needed modernisation, therefore four language reforms of the “rural language” — landsmål — were carried out, which brought its norm closer to the specifics of the dialects of Eastern Norway, the most populated part of the country. Three reforms were also carried out with riksmål. Danish orthography was replaced by Norwegian. ...

I put this title in quotation marks because I did not invent it myself. I have already written that I often use a large two-volume dictionary edited by Valery Berkov. I always keep the dictionary “at hand,” or more precisely on the shelf under the coffee table. That is how I nicknamed it the under-table dictionary. Oh what a heavy “brick,” but such a beloved one! So today I read an article in the so-called Appendix 5 on a brief history of the Norwegian language, and I fell to thinking… I sit all pensive like this and cannot sleep. Anyway I am writing a short synopsis of the article about the language, and you can draw your own conclusions about your native one. After all, everyone has their own, the one mama spoke. In Norwegian this sounds very precisely as morsmål. One can translate it as “mama’s voice” or native language. ...