Palace sleepovers and vaccinations.

The room for important people on sleepovers. Photo: TOR G. STENERSEN via Aftenposten.no

I've been having a bit of trouble sleeping properly so am very fuzzy-headed this week. Hard to come up with a clear thought, not to mention commit any thoughts to 'paper'. But there are a couple of things, I'm going to mention, even if I can't muster the words to create complete posts on any of them:

1. The King of Norway has invited Barack and Michelle Obama to stay over at the royal palace when they come to Oslo in December to pick up the ole peace prize thingy. No word yet on whether the Americans have accepted the sleepover option but they will visit the Norwegian royals, probably for supper. I've been in the bedroom reserved for visiting heads of state, and only heads of state, with the exception I think of Nelson Mandela, but I could be wrong about that. (Fuzzy head, remember?). Talk about exclusive. Exclusive, except for the tourists they let trawl through the place every July. Nice, but a tad over-done for my taste, a bit retro and large for comfort. It does come with a flat screen television though which is totally incongruous with the decor. I couldn't say though if the tv has decent cable. Personally I'd go for the hotel option Mr Obama, but for goodness sake don't tell the King I said that. Wink. wink.

2. The Norwegian authorities are worried about the growing number of swine flu deaths in Norway. Ten so far while Denmark has had no registered deaths, and Sweden only two. The government is now starting a vaccination program, beginning with those in high risk groups and moving along through the population, with the hope of vaccinating everyone by Christmas.

Gearing up for a Hallowe'en-themed 7th birthday party this weekend. Norwegian retailers have certainly taken to the whole Hallowee'en celebration thing; no shortage of costumes and crap to flit away money on here. Oh, did that sound cranky? I'll stay away from trying to carve any pumpkins until I've managed to resume proper sleep patterns. Otherwise, things might get scary; real scary, as opposed to pretend, plastic scary.

Happy Weekend :)