T & T both returned to Norway from our respective trips on 8 March, in time to go back to work. Within a couple of days the Prime Minister announced that anyone who had been out of the country had to stay at home for 14 days quarantine. So now we just have to stay in Ørsdalen. It is bliss. As we are miles from the closest neighbour we can walk around as much as we like and enjoy our peaceful valley. During the winter we always keep at least a couple of weeks' supplies of everything in stock in case of being snowed in, so we're not going to go short of anything. We're really not supposed to say this, but we're having a wonderful time.

Within a couple of days, the measures were tightened so that all schools and colleges were closed, all church services, concerts and and other gatherings cancelled, and people have been told to work from home if possible. So our "extended holiday" has now been extended until after Easter, at least. We are, naturally, heartbroken at having to stay home, but I think we'll manage. A celebratory walk took us around a nearby lake that we somehow have previously overlooked (click the over-excitable road sign, right, for 2 photos). We had originally booked a trip to Germany just before Easter, which of course will not now be possible — we're even looking a little anxiously at the summer — but that's a small matter.

More importantly, we don't at this stage know what effect all this will have on Matt and Lilly's wedding in June. They have, however, completed on their flat — and you can see a few pictures of it here.

What are you bringing home with you? - Thomas, who brought a puppy home with him (photo, left, of Thomas with Vabisk in our kitchen today - click for enlargement), points out that the airline SAS has abruptly withdrawn its latest advertising campaign, which had as its slogan: "what are you bringing home with you from this trip?" Not a great question in these times, even if there were any trips to be bringing things back from.

If you are stuck at home, unable to go on a trip, and would like to explore a little, here are 4 very short film clips from one of Tim's wanderings.

The dentist - The chief dentist for inland Norway has published his official corona advice in the national news. After telling us — rather alarmingly — that he has not had time to go to the toilet recently (he's not taking his drill near my teeth if he's going to be hopping from foot to foot) he suggests that people can deal with minor or non-urgent problems themselves. "If you break a tooth", he suggests, "and there's a sharp edge catching on your tongue, use some sandpaper to smooth it off. That's the same principle as a dentist uses". I've always suspected that my old dentist was using a Black and Decker orbital sander in there and now it appears that these suspicions were well founded. A further suggestion in the original article was that if you lose a large filling or a crown you can fix it back in with superglue. Looking at the article again today, I see that this advice has vanished overnight, presumably because the casualty departments at hospitals up and down Norway suddenly filled up with people with hands in their mouths saying: "ay ingers are uck oo ay eeth".

Neustrelitz news - When times are bad it's always comforting to read the Norwegian news, which is usually a lot more civilised than the news in other places. Just at the moment, though, even the Norwegian news is a little edgy, given that the whole country is closed for business (even though there are as yet no cases whatever in our local-authority district). So to recover that sense of calm detachment we have to go to more extreme measures — the Neustrelitz news (the regional news for "our" part of Germany). You will recall that nothing newsworthy ever happens there and that Bismark reportedly said that when the end of the world comes, that's exactly where he wanted to be — because it's always 50 years behind everywhere else. So here is the front page of this week's online paper. The three top stories are:

• Elderly man, trying to pull his dog out a stream, had to be rescued by the fire brigade
• Lost kitten
• Bull sold for record price at auction

In all fairness, I should add that the top story changed after a couple of days. The new top story concerned the migration of toads from the Feldberg national park.

Corona logs and vegetables - Although we are doing some work — a home office is a wonderful thing — the good weather means that we can spend plenty of time outside. Tim has been chopping down trees in the forest, so next winter's log store is filling up nicely (photos, above right), while Tracy has been weeding and preparing the raised vegetable beds to plant out this summer's crop (photos, above left).

Working as well - I mentioned that we are doing some work — Tracy, for instance, is doing a short video talk every day for her congregation, posted on her church's website. If you want to see the kind of thing (they're all in Norwegian, of course, but you can get the idea) there's a selection of them here (click picture, left - Tracy perching on large rock because in one talk she was speaking about not building your house on sand).

Ten years ago - One of the fun things about this blog is that we can look back on what we were doing last year, or even 10 years ago. So here (click picture, right) is a very short film clip from the middle of March 2010 — our first spring here, at the end of the winter in which Katie had prayed for snow! Having lived previously in snowy Romsdal we were used to this, and it was perhaps not so unusual at that time, but we've had nothing like it for a couple of years, at least.

27 March, Typical Swedish - We all know that Norwegians and Swedes rarely fail to disparage each other if they get an opportunity, but even so, tonight's NRK news main headline (here) is pushing it a bit far. 92 corona deaths so far in Sweden (while Norway is still in single figures) — "Typical Swedish". Really? I mean, really?

Today's Neustrelitz news, in the meantime, leads with a lost dog (a terrier inappropriately named Lucky), followed by a description of the varying fortunes of two local sheep farms ("If you are still looking for a nice Easter roast and would like to support the shepherd and thus the regional economy, you can reach him on telephone number 01575 8843863") and proposed roadworks on the B96 towards Berlin. Further down the page is a story that an elderly lady with dementia was missing from her care home and there was a helicopter circling above Neustrelitz looking for her, with a follow-up story saying that she had now been found in the wrong room in her care home. Dramatic times.

We've already shown a photo of Thomas Andrew and puppy; just to complete the family gathered in our kitchen here is Matt with printing press (wedding preparations), while Katie is here too (photo may follow). Ørsdalen is a good place to be!

29 March, Sunday afternoon - Beautiful afternoon - seen from the lounge window (best place to be today).

And, of course, we hope that you're all keeping safe and well — and send special thoughts to those of our regulars who for various reasons are in isolation at the moment: Norah, Joanna and Jon.

Comments Norah, 1 April Thank you for the wonderful tour, spectacular beach scenes. Matt and Lilly's flat looks marvellous, so light with all that glass. I have now been in isolation for two weeks, all very strange. Only listen to the news once a day as it is so awful, but spend hours on the 'phone. The weather this week has been glorious & I look down at the quay & river - not a soul in sight. Even the swans have disappeared.