Almost uncanny how thoughts and wishes manifest themselves

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

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It’s 9.30 pm. We are lying in our cozy bunk. While Tanja watches a movie on Netflix, I read a book from the Uhtred saga by the author Bernard Cornwell. Rubbing my tired eyes, I rest my e-book reader on my chest and think of the woman who laid out 400 of her books on a wall next to the sidewalk in the middle of Hanover at the beginning of our trip to give them away. To save weight, we had sent home a 20-kilogram package of books and other things we didn’t really need shortly beforehand. Nevertheless, I let the woman convince me to take one of her books with me. “There are no coincidences”, a thought flashes through my brain, because I am now reading the sixth volume, which is about the life and war campaigns of the Vikings. Excited to see how the story continues, I pick up the e-book reader again. My gaze falls out of the window. A greenish glow makes me jump. “What’s going on?” asks Tanja, startled. I think there are northern lights arching over the city outside.” “Really!” “Yes,” I reply, jumping off our bed, slipping into my pants, pulling on a sweater, tying my shoes and grabbing my camera.

“The hammer! Come out quickly!” I shout. We stand speechless on the half-ruined jetty and marvel at the Northern Lights dancing over the town of Sortland, illuminated by countless colorful lights. “I can’t believe it. They’re even more beautiful than on Lofoten!” I gush, admiring the vibrant green stripes. The lights of the illuminated city are reflected on the smooth surface of the fjord, blending with the reflection of the lime-green aurora. “Did you see the spell over the bridge?” Tanja’s voice pierces my thoughts and I turn my gaze to the north. “I can’t believe it! This is getting better and better!” I shout, seeing an image that seems to be out of this world. The almost 1,000-metre-long bridge, illuminated by artificial light, arches like a glistening narrow ribbon over the fjord one kilometer ahead of us. The two main support pillars in the middle of the bridge are illuminated by spotlights, giving them a strong magenta glow. The purple reflections on the surface of the water are so intense that they reach down to our feet and only end at the jetty. On the left-hand side of the bridge, the town of Sortland sparkles in a glittering sea of lights. On the right-hand side of the bridge, the fjord shore is illuminated by street lamps, whose white glow is also reflected in the sea water. A breeze wafts across the valley, making the reflections tremble, so that you could be forgiven for thinking that the lights of the street lamps are the oversized fingers of a ghost reaching for the colorful reflections on the opposite side. The lime-green aurora now arches above the extraordinary spectacle. The long, unnatural-looking strips of color wind like the graceful movements of a giant snake across the night sky dotted with millions of stars. Our heads resting on our necks, we stand motionless and once again experience a cosmic natural spectacle that is second to none. “Wow,” I whisper in awe. “Now we know why the closed LPG filling station brought us here,” whispers Tanja. “Yes, we were joking then and now the extraordinary has actually happened. It’s almost a bit scary.” “That’s right, you can see once again how thoughts can manifest themselves,” muses Tanja. “If we are late somewhere in the future, I will definitely not swear anymore,” I reply meekly and deeply touched. “You’ll have forgotten by then.” “Maybe, but I’m working on accepting the inevitable. It just makes life better,” I say and set the camera to time-lapse to capture the movement of the auroras…