Camping in autumn is another world here in Vesterålen 😍 It's hard not to love this time of year!

I went up to Vardø in June and somehow got great weather, which I'm told is rare! What an amazing place.

Steilneset remembers the 91 people executed in the Finnmark witch trials, mostly women, and some Sámi men. Each person has their own window and light bulb - and a text about what happened to them. The burning chair by Louise Bourgeois is quite something to stand in front of (she was in her 96 when she made it).

The court records are in the archives in Tromsø, where Professor Liv Helene Willumsen went through them with me. She's been transcribing these court records since the early 80s. She told me she couldn't put these victims back into the archive and into silence.

I made the podcast in English, but actually a lot of my listeners are Norwegian, which I'm so pleased about.

One ask,when I shared it elsewhere, a few people joked that the women were their ex-girlfriends and should be burnt. These were real people, so please be kind in the comments.

Happy to answer questions about the history or about making the podcast. I'm not a big production company, just one person making this.

https://pod.link/6810370668

I’m sure this topic has been discussed here many times before, but I just want to vent a little anyway.

Is the Norwegian police a joke to the drug dealers around Grønland T-bane station? Almost every time I use the station, someone either approaches me to ask if I want to buy weed, or I see dealers hanging around. Sometimes, I take the metro from Jernbanetorget or Tøyen instead, simply to avoid them, even though Grønland is more convenient for me.

What annoys me is having to deal with this kind of unwanted attention from people openly engaging in illegal activities just to get where I need to go. I understand that some people might not care at all, but I imagine others find it just as uncomfortable and frustrating. Does any of you actually find it disturbing, or is it just me overreacting?

I also understand that arresting these individuals over and over again might not solve the problem in the long run. However, when the police seem to do very little about it, doesn’t that just encourage these dealers to continue operating so openly, without any apparent hesitation?

So, what’s the reason behind the police’s seemingly passive approach to this issue? I heard capacity is one reason, but that's such a weak excuse in my opinion. And do any of the political parties in Norway have concrete proposals to address open drug dealing in areas like Grønland?

I imagine this gets asked a lot so apologies if you’re sick of the question!

What’s the general attitude on tourists trying to speak very basic norwegian? Is it generally preferred that they just speak English instead (if they do speak English), or is attempting to communicate basics in norwegian seen as more respectful?

Genuine curiosity from an Australian coming to visit in January!

Given how American the video game is (the themes, the characters, the Latin American influence, the culture), I wonder if it's popular in Europe. And what do Europeans think about it?