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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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So I trust you all to behave as well as you have all been doing for some time now. I will be away until 11 February. I hope to see the Northern Lights. We're going to Tromsø, arriving there late on Friday.
I know this place is silent as the grave right now. That happens. I could still do with a public spirited soul to take it on. I know we had a brief flurry before, but no-one actually emailed me to talk about what was needed. In reality, not much.
[Updated on: Wed, 01 February 2012 16:15]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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By contrast I will be standing in a cold place wondering why oh why I am not by a fireside! We are doing the usual tourist things, too.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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You are not going to the North Pole, but you will need some warm clothes. From Tuesday on you will need rain jackets as well.
People up there are outgoing and easy to talk to, at times rather outspoken as well. If you ask them about the indigenous Sami population, their native language and its place and position in 'modern' society, you may be surprised to discover how easily old tensions and differences rise to the surface.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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We are waterproof, windproof, and well layered with decent socks and gloves. Rain sounds bizarre for the arctic at this time of year, doesn't it! But we've seen the forecast and wept quietly. The Sami that we've seen on TV documentaries seem a straightforward and interesting people, so I suspected already it was complex under the surface.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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In the 1970's the Norwegian government decided to build a dam and a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river, to the east of Tromsø, destroying vast grazing areas used by reindeer, also drowning traditional cultural and religious sites. Up until then Sami language and culture had not been recognized by governments in Oslo as unique and genuine parts of our common heritage, but the dam project sparked reactions and protests no one had anticipated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_controversy
The dam was built, but the controversy lead to an acknowledgement of the Sami people as an indigenous population, and the inclusion of Sami history and culture in primary and secondary school curriculums. The NRK, our BBC, did a good job in producing excellent programmes and teaching material, long before the school curriculums and schoolbooks had been brought up to date.
The Sami language is very different from Norwegian, and some of the prevailing controversy in Tromsø is about the use of Sami language in local government and administration, and on road signs. Last autumn's local elections gave Tromsø a conservative government, which immediately put a halt to plans to include Tromsø in the Sami language region. Or maybe not, it seems. It was a hotter potato than they had been prepared to eat.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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I spoke to a Sami reindeer herdsman about the Alta dam. He said that it is not forgiven, nor is it forgotten, but that they do now have electricity in their houses for the parts of the year when they choose to live in fixed houses. He sees the huge damage to the landscape, but sees the controversy more about Sami rights than about the project itself.
He moves his own herd 600km twice a year to and from their winter feeding grounds.
He was surprised that in the UK the Welsh language was beaten out of schoolchildren until relatively recent times, and saw an instant parallel with the Sami and Norway.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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I guess it's become irrelevant. The task seems unneeded at present.
[Updated on: Tue, 13 March 2012 23:01]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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