I had been giving a course in the Voss area, and one of the participants offered me a lift back to Bergen, where her parents live. I quickly accepted the offer, believing that it would be a good deal quicker than the bus I had planned to take.
To begin with, things went fine, as we chatted happily about this and that. It occurred to me, however, that we seemed to be driving more uphill than the bus does, and against the flow of the river. For a second or two I wondered if I was being kidnapped, but put those dark thoughts aside, assuming that she knew a short cut.
Then we were stopped by the police and my chauffeur was given a hefty fine for speeding (NOK 5350 if I remember correctly).
It is no exaggeration to say that this dampened our spirits a little (hers more than mine, if truth be told). Having said that, the fine did not have a long-term effect on her driving speed, and a couple of times I felt obliged to point out that there was a potentially expensive discrepancy between our speed and the maximum which was to be found on road signs we passed.
We continued on our uphill journey, and as I was busy looking out for signs indicating the permitted speed, I noticed a large sign bidding us welcome to Sogn og Fjordane County. We had been driving north for an hour or so, whereas Bergen lay to the south.
I didn’t know how to mention this in a way that wouldn’t sound negative or critical of her geographical knowledge. In the end I plucked up courage and she turned the car around and headed for Bergen.
Our little outing took almost five hours, compared to the three-hour busride.
The moral of the story is: do not accept lifts from virtual strangers :)