In an attempt to provide something fairly more lighthearted than normal world events, and, since I will be co-representing the country fairly soon, here's a little news from a small town in Norway.

A "Silly Walk" sign was put up in Ørje near the Swedish border as a tribute to the Monty Python sketch, "Ministry of Silly Walks"--but officials found it, well, not silly. While the sign was backed by the local council, the "notoriously bureaucratic" Norwegian Public Roads Administration reportedly ordered them to take down the sign. According to a spokeswoman, "One should not use signs that can be confused with public signs."

As artist Reidar Johannes Søby put it, "I don't think they seem to have much of a sense of humor." Søby also commented,"It's just for fun. There's no deep thought behind it."

Next time, the Kreativiteket art group should just put up a sign that says "No Fun Allowed" or something. Maybe it'll stay up then.

That being said, this was one of maybe two or three relatively negative articles about Norway. 10/10 would live there if I could.

You can read the full article here.