That is right. Spring has hit Edinburgh. Squirrels are frolicking among the crocus-flowers of George Square. The sun is shining. And it is all made all the more delightful from Tor's assurances that Trondheim has had rain for ten days straight (although it was slightly marred by my mother's claim to have had 10 degrees and "lovely weather" today).
As Tor is here to enjoy my good fortune, and we are both relatively young and healthy, we decided to make the most of it and climb a mountain. As you do. It must have been the sun.

Of course, when I say ``mountain'', I mean ``medium-sized hill''. That is to say, Arthur's Seat -- it is a mountain hereabouts because it is about twice as tall as the neighbouring hill, Salisbury Crags. Tor did, however, point out that if you look at it in Real Terms, Arthur's Seat is about as tall as Nordbyen.

At any rate, here is a picture from half-way up the hill. In the background you can see the less impressive Calton Hill.
This picture of Tor is taken at the same point. As you can see, it was fairly windy. I began to feel I might have tempted fate by venturing out in a skirt. This did not turn out to be a problem, however, until we started our descent much later. As I am trying to forget my Marilyn moment, we'll leave that for some other time. But I hope, for the moment, you are impressed with the adventurousness of Tor's hair. He may or may not have been possessed by a spirit at this point.

Being Norwegian, we had of course also made sure we had appropriate sustenance before setting out on such a daring attempt. We completely exhausted my stores of Kvikklunsj, but we made it home in one piece. I am not saying the two are necessarily connected; but then again, I am not saying they are not.

We actually did make it to the top. We are not top-people. I do not mean to imply that we are anything but superb specimens of the human race, but rather that we are not the type to obsess about getting to the top of mountains. Tor had some strange idea of there being a good view from the top, though (the sheer amount of people up there did seem to suggest he was right); but in the end it was terribly disappointing. The last 20 meters we walked in a line between children and their parents, and it was all barren, boring stones. We should have stopped short and merely continued on our way. At any rate. Here is a picture of Tor. On the top.
If anyone else plans on repeating the feat, I strongly suggest you take the lovely, long, slow ascent along the ridge; not the evil, boring, steep stairs. We took the stairs down, and it was anything but a pleasant experience. Not to mention the fact that once we got to the bottom we noticed a sign telling people not to go up that way because it involved some sort of danger. People did not seem to care.