Vikings at the Door, or, Do Not Wake the Karla

The astute reader will notice that this post is being written before 9am. This is very rare.

I was awakened from my slumber by Vikings this morning.

Well, sorta.

Anyone who has known me for any period of my life (and especially those who have traveled with me) know that I am NOT, by ANY stretch of the imagination, a morning person. The lengths I will go to get that extra five minutes of bed time are ludicrous. I don't like getting out of the warm soft bed. I just don't. And once I am up, it still takes me a while to figure out where, what and who I am. The brain definitely lags behind the body.

So this moring imagine my glee when our claxon-like doorbell goes off at God Only Knows When AM. My head shot off the pillow like a rocket. WTF? Rich was in the shower, and as such, not a good candidate for door opening, even though he was closest. I got up and stumbled to the front door, only to remember "Pants!" at the very last moment. I found Rich's Ants in the Pants boxers on the floor and pulled them on. I peeped out the peephole (well, peeping is cute, what I did was more of a scrunchy peer or a one eyed scowl) and saw my friend Russell* and another blonde guy. HUH? What's Russell doing here? How did he get here? Isn't he in the States? Did i miss something? This is not my beautiful house...what? Wait!
OH, it's not Russell. Just a Norwegian that looks an awful lot like him. With another guy. Wow that was wierd. By then I had opened the door and had a look on my face that was a cross between "Hey, what's up!" , "Huh?" and a small hibernating ferret tentatively sniffing the breeze.

Needless to say, this made an interesting starting point from which to destroy any further coherent conversation.

"Hi?"
The Russell look-alike says, "Hei!"
"Yeah?"
"Hello. We are here to do some warranty work on your flat".
"Oh." Put hand to head in horror as I realize I've got a serious case of bedhead. "Um. Oh".
"Yes."
"Um, What time is it?"
(This person has obviously been up for HOURS) "It's after 8 o clock!"
"Oh. Um. Who are you?"
"I am with the building company."
"Oh." pause "I just woke up."
"Yes".
"My husband is in the shower".
Blonde guy speaks. Slowly, like to a four year old. "Oh. We have met before when I came to do some work here. I am Lars." he shakes my hand.
pause ...."Yes, I remember". (I didn't but you have to observe the niceties even when wearing Ants in the Pants boxers.)
The Russell twin takes back over. "Why don't we come back in an hour?"
"Um, yes please?"
"Ok."
"Ok."

So apparently the owner knew they were coming, but we didn't. No warning whatsoever. Rich finished his shower, I managed to get myself in the shower and slightly more awake and so now have wet head and not bed head. Lars came back without the other guy and is fixing cracks and things on the walls. I made him coffee.

Lesson learned? Being invaded by Vikings is really quite civilized these days. At least now they ring the bell first. It's that scary Kraut that answers the door they have to be careful of. She's tricky.

*Russell has not updated his blog in a while, apparently.