The news from Norway grows grimmer as we learn more:
Blasts and Gun Attack in Norway; 7 Dead (New York Times)
I have friends in Oslo and would really like to know that they’re okay.
(They are.)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Norway
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Thanks, Michael. As it turned out, Frode was in California, so it was just me in Oslo. I was running some errands after work and then was going to work out with a friend afterwards. It was luck that when the bomb exploded, I was in a store buying an anniversary gift for friends from grad school I am visiting in Seattle next weekend, and not headed straight for the gym. My normal route goes right past the government complex.
My friend knew immediately that it was a bomb (from the shock wave), but neither he nor I were aware of the extent of the damage (we did not go over to Grubbegata, where the worst damage was, to have a look). The gym was open, and we warmed up, but then decided to forgo the rest of the workout, change and go home. We were too rattled. Meanwhile Frode and his collaborator Jostein were sending text messages telling me that the police thought there were other unexploded bombs and told me to go straight home. I was already getting dressed and didn't need any more convincing.
I made it home all right, turned on the TV, watched the unfolding tragedy in shock and finished packing. In the course of the evening, details of the horror at the Labour Party summer camp were slowly emerging. Bombing government offices is one thing, but mowing down young people in cold blood who only wanted to make their country a better place is in a completely different category. I find these words impossible to type with dry eyes...
I am now with Frode, Jostein and our very good friends the Maezonos in their home in Berkeley. Still jet lagged, I got up in the middle of the night to check e-mail, and, with my new fellow countrymen, am now watching the memorial service from the Oslo cathedral on an NRK live webcast feed.
Norman, thank you for sharing this story here.
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