The few days I am so lucky to get into the office, always start the day with a mandatory “how are you” to my colleagues.
And after a year of pandemic, the rehearsed Norwegian “It’s going well, what about you?”, Has disappeared.
Instead, the exchange has received a kind of comedy, because how good can it really go when you have had your freedom curtailed for a year, and lived in a completely closed city for five months.
“NEVER had it better”, “yes, as good as it can go” or “definitely a strong three on the dice”.
We may all have become a little bitter, but at least it makes us smile.
This week I was so depressed when I came to work one day, that I could not even bear the everyday irony that fuels the meetings.
– To be completely honest, there’s a little shit going on right now, I heard myself say.
For some days are heavier than others. But in an incredible way, we crawl through and find tools that liven up everyday life. And it was that thought that triggered the following case.
– Fanny Bu is a journalist in TV 2 Nyheten. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
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Netflix is boring, and hiking boots are down
When Norway was first shut down, Netflix’s ratings hit the ceiling and everyone bought new hiking boots. But after one year, the button on the remote control is worn out and the hiking boots are down.
I have not suddenly had a penchant for baking or magically got green fingers.
It’s just starting to get harder to find corona – friendly activities, which I’m not tired of having done a hundred times before.
A little later in the afternoon, the government dumped a new load of restrictions on me, and took seriously the life of the dream of some normality at Easter.
As I sank further and further into the office chair, I was struck by how many colleagues were still sitting straight with a smile on their face.
It made me wonder what secret they have, which I have not been told.
What they do in their spare time that makes laughter sit loose. Or how they make another Monday at home office feel a little less pale.
Here are the editors’ best tips.
Here’s how we get the smiley face up to speed:
For trainee Andrea Joner Tuft, it is the dog Frank who is the rescue in the pandemic year. Frank, and YouTube:
– I have surfed a lot on YouTube to teach our dog new tricks. I’m very proud that he’s now able to ride a teddy bear. The next step in the program is to play dead. The goal is the day he manages to go with the trash, and get soda in the fridge.
The editors are eagerly awaiting the Frank update.
BAMSE: Frank and Andrea are not quite so depressed after a round of tricks training. Photo: Private
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– Feels like an oral Kygo
Stian Blipp became an important inspiration, when trainee Espen Roness was to fill the time in the lockdown. Project beatboxing became a useful pastime:
KYGO: - Does it look like I’m beatboxing here? Photo: Private
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– I was frustrated already early in the pandemic. While the rest of my friends managed to spend the time sitting still and watching TV, I had to get an outlet for my mouth diarrhea. It turned out that a little beatboxing was exactly what I needed, he says.
10 minutes of beatboxing in the morning, means that Espen does not need to talk to people for the next 24 hours.
– Every day I try to be more creative. It is also completely raw to feel that you suddenly manage to make new sounds. Feels like an oral Kygo.
Jump in the sea – but do not forget the hat!
News anchor Cathrine Fossum has been bathing in ice for nine years. She says that there was only more of this during the pandemic:
– It is an effective break in everyday life. A kind of fast charge of positive energy. I always get in a better mood from a cold bath, and think it is very fun to see that so many have put their love on ice bathing in the last year!
ICE BATH: Cathrine quickly recharges the batteries in the winter. Photo: Private
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“I want out!” (and the wine glass must be included)
Where there is neither a dog to train, nor a willingness to swim, there is always food and wine:
IMPRESSED: The neighbors were at least impressed by this, according to Julie. Photo: Private
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– I strike a blow for al fresco dining, says front editor Julie Moon Fjell (27).
On the roof, the balcony, the stairs outside the block. Anywhere.
– With food, blankets and lit candles, you are suddenly on the city’s most accessible outdoor terrace. You NEVER regret getting over the doorstep mile, she says, and adds that it is also a good opportunity to ensure a long-term update on an otherwise quiet Instagram account.
OUTDOOR DINING: Who needs a restaurant, when you have a roof and friends at a distance? Photo: Private
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But the tip does not stop with lit candles and outdoor fun. Julie finds herself having to pass on a tip from her friend’s home office: the chair toy within the four walls of the apartment.
– Monday she starts with the desk in the hallway. Throughout the week, the desk is moved on: to the kitchen, the bedroom, the balcony door, the study window. I smile at the thought that she ends up in the bathroom at least one day during the week, and spends the working day leaning into the shower.
– Requires zero talent
ART: The artwork will be hung up in the bedroom, as a tribute to the pandemic year perhaps? Photo: Private
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The goal was to find something to fill the time with. And talent could not be a prerequisite for the activity. Journalist Fredrik Lie found the solution in Lego pieces:
– It is a perfect way to create something without having any kind of talent. Now I am building a picture I will have in the bedroom. All I have to do is follow the instructions. I can do that almost every time, he says.
– Yes, it is possible to have a disco everywhere
At the home of journalist Ingrid Treborg, they literally found the light in the corona darkness. For the children, there was entertainment in all possible situations.
– We bought tiny, battery-powered disco balls for 20 kroner at Christmas, turn off the lights in the living room and go every afternoon bananas to Spice Girls, Aqua, Whigfield and other digg 90s music that my girls of three and five years must learn to love, tells Treborg.
It’s not just on the living room floor that the disco balls strike.
– We turn off the light in the bathroom when they bathe, and have a disco there too while the bath foams over and “Wannabe” resounds between the walls. After a year at home, we have learned that it is possible to have disco over absolutely everything.
DISCO: Brushing and bathing will never be the same again. Photo: Private
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A day far away from R-numbers
For news anchor Elin Ludvigsen, there is one activity that ensures a real break, with 24 hours away from spouse, children, dog and corona. Once a month, a bunch of good friends gather, all in a hammock. And then it must be discussed:
This monthly corona tradition is here to stay! Photo: Private
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– It goes in nerd around wool underpants, carabiner hooks, underquilts, game meat and whether the stick bread should be fried with or without cinnamon, Ludvigsen says, and adds that the intense planning has a very grateful effect:
– None of us have the brain capacity left to think about R-numbers and corona. We are so inexperienced the whole gang that we feel like Lars Monsen, even though we are a few 100 meters from buildings. We have suffered a lot from it.
That Espen Nakstad approves of outdoor socialization is the icing on the cake for Elin’s hammock gang:
– I will continue with this after the corona. With half the fortune invested in new outdoor equipment, I guess I just have to.
The big question is whether the stick bread should be made with or without cinnamon, says TV 2’s news anchor. Photo: Private
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Here the cheating popes must be avoided
When the social need becomes too great, journalist Kasper Frøjd resorts to digital game nights with friends and family.
– We set up the board exactly the same on each of our edges, and play. Both must therefore have played at home, and when someone moves a piece, the piece must be moved on both boards, he says.
DISTANCE: This is what it can look like when you play board games across municipal boundaries and distance restrictions. Photo: Private
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Frøjd adds that this solution works with games like Catan, Partners (must be two pairs here) or Ticket to Ride.
Journalist Birgitte Thorshaug Kristiansen has also played games digitally – but it happens with an important reservation:
– Board games, often quiz games like Bezzerwizzer, work well over FaceTime. As long as you feel confident that the person who has folded is not a cheating pope, mind you!
SNOW: You never regret a trip on the slopes. Photo: Private
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Teit, but true
It is perhaps a little unfair to force colleagues to hand over their secret weapons against depression in the pandemic, without contributing themselves.
Photo: Private
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I considered a line that I have finally wiped the dust off the snowboard and bought season tickets.
“Even if you turn 30, it’s never too late to learn 180.”
A little silly, but true. But that’s not what takes me through anyway.
In fact, I think the biggest motivation is what happened this workday. To see or hear about how people in different ways find ways to get through.
It inspires me to get up from my chair. I can not exactly be any worse.
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