27.6.08

Saved by the Veruca








Things go a bit deader than usual in Norway at this time of year. As summer progresses, the newspaper gets thin to the point of information anorexia, the roads are almost deserted, and the supermarkets are so empty that one begins to worry about how fresh the fruit and veg can be.
I love it!
As Norwegians head to their cabins, we enjoy peace and calm, the antithesis to the daily school run, here in Oslo. But that doesn’t mean life gets boring around here. Oh no! This week alone we’ve done the library, Smart Club (supermarket with supervised play area), the Norwegian Science and Technology Museum, the playground in Sandvika, and the one at the local school. Phew! If it weren’t for Caoilin’s veruca (we’re treating it but so far have had a failure rate of 100%), I’d have had the pleasure of taking them to the swimming pool too. Imagine how sad I was to pack away the 10-year old swimsuit I had dragged out for the occasion when an attack of conscience over spreading plantar warts at the very pool where she had picked one up during school swimming lessons, scuppered our plans. It was like a reprieve from death row.
Even just sitting and looking out the window around here brings excitement. One of the deer has started regular visits and last night we watched the local riding school try round-up their escaped horses and ponies. And can you see how many shades of green there are? Deadly (as a ten-year old might say, back home).
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8 comments:

slippingthroughtheworld said...

beautiful pics jo. i love the one with the white speckled horse. ab fab. x

Aidan said...

Cool pictures.
Tip on warts (better than cryotherapy which I have had and hurts!!!):
http://lifehacker.com/software/health/macgyver-tip-heal-warts-with-duct-tape-156316.php

"Cryotherapy consisted of 10-second applications of liquid nitrogen to each wart every two to three weeks for a maximum of six treatments. The other group applied small pieces of duct tape to each wart. They were instructed to leave the tape in place for six days and were taught how to re-apply tape if it fell off. At the end of the sixth day, the patients removed the duct tape, soaked the wart in water, and gently debrided it with an emery board or pumice stone. The tape was left off overnight, then re-applied for another six days. This pattern was repeated for two months or until the wart resolved. Warts that did not resolve were measured. The main outcome measured was complete resolution of the wart. In patients treated with duct tape, 85 percent of the warts completely resolved, compared with 60 percent in the cryotherapy group."

Jo said...

Firstly to Aidan - Thanks for that!

Jo - My DH has applied for his passport back (he let it lapse, naughty naughty) and if he gets it, we are seriously considering moving to Norway. Your pics have just made up my mind 100% Could you advise me of anywhere I could start to jobsearch for him and possibly myself - we dont speak Norwegian?

Unknown said...

Thanks Irene.
Aidan, you are a fountain of knowledge. Will let you know how we get on with the duct tape. Thank you.
Joanna, OMG! Are you serious?!!! I'll email you privately over the weekend with some job search suggestions. You know the photos I post are just from the terrace of my rented house, right? I believe there are much more picturesque places in Norway but I haven't been to any of them.

Mel said...

From the terrace of your rented house???? OMG I want to move too!

Aidan said...

Jo,
My daughter has a wart so we have put on the tape today. Did you try this technique or not in the end?

Unknown said...

Aidan
I tried it but didn't stick with it long enough to say if it worked or not. we did do lots of scraping and freezing to no avail. We ended up taking Caoilin to the doctor last week to have the darn thing frozen off professionally as four attempts at home-freezing produced no results. Now we are applying an ointment to it every night to hopefully finish the job. The skin around the wart certainly looks dead. Hers was very large while her sister had a small one - on the tip of her big toe - which fell off by itself the day I took them to the dr. She's just getting the ointment treatment now.
Don't know if this helps - I guess it depends on how much time you want to put into the treatment and how long you can wait for the wart to go away.

Aidan said...

Jo,
We are having great success so far with the duct tape. The wart is way smaller so I think that I'll have to blog about it if it turns into a real success story!