Every year on the 22nd of December, the people of Kongsberg, a few miles from Notodden where I’m right now, head for the forest to build fires, drink heavily and have fun in the snow. This year, yours truly, Tomas and Håkon decided to tag along with Klas and Roar, who have embraced the tradition and made it one of their many reasons for living.

Kongsberg is an old miners town and the tradition is something that the minors started to celebrate Winter and Christmas - or at least that’s what I’m told. I can understand that they drank in the cold forest a hundred years ago, since it was probably as cold inside as outside, but, seriously, these days why can’t we just drink inside instead - where it’s not minus 17 degrees Celcius? But I’m a sheep, easily persuasible and a gregarious animal, so I joined the herd anyway.

If you want to know how it was, take your laptop with you. sit in your deep freeze and have a look at the pictures from Drekkedagsnatta 2002. Not the most amusing pictures around, but a good warning for coming genereations.

Some people used the occasion to get a little early practice prior to the upcoming baseball season. Some got to third base, but was hoping for a homerun, while others got a quick stop at second base, and was very pleased with that. Good for them!

Update: It looks like none of our players got any closer than 2nd base. But, what the hell, that’s fun too, right?