Fall is upon us here in southern Norway. The trees are turning color, the mornings are colder, and the days are rapidly getting shorter. Our garden is full of apples, pears, and plums; consequently, our kitchen is full of pie, cake, and jam. I feel guiltily content.

To be honest, I have been feeling more and more content over the last year. Norway has become home to me and I am happy here. I am enjoying my new job at the kindergarten, my Norwegian, although still somewhat basic and heavily accented, is now good enough to see me through most social interactions, and I am incredibly fortunate to have met many truly excellent and interesting people who like me (I hope!) as much as I like them.

The things about Norway and Norwegians that used to confuse or annoy me are now mostly just normal pieces of the puzzle that is my new life. Okay, except that I still absolutely loathe the fact that Norwegians do not know how to queue. Really, for goodness sake, what is so hard about standing behind the person in front of you in a line? Why oh why, faceless Norwegian, must you hover stealthily at my side, barely able to wait to pounce at the slightest hesitation in my forward movement, taking the most miniscule lapse in my trajectory as permission to step in front of me? WHY DO YOU DO THIS? I have come to see any Norwegian airport as a battlefield in my attempt to preserve queuing etiquette vs. a seething tide of norsk I-must-be-before-you entitlement. It fills me with the urge to do physical harm.

But I digress. As I was saying, after four years of learning to fit in, I am happy here. I must be, based on my calm response to media reports of the government’s 2011 national budget. As I understand it, the new budget does not present any huge changes; the Finance Minister, when unveiling it, stressed the government’s emphasis on stability and fairness, with burdens and rewards being shared equally among citizens and businesses. There will not be big increases in any taxes or fees but also no big cuts in spending.

It all sounded great until someone mentioned a 5% increase in the tax on alcohol. That disappointed me but certainly didn’t shock me since I now understand the deeply ingrained Norwegian view that alcohol is a dangerous and possibly sinful product, the enjoyment of which must be carefully managed and, wherever possible, discouraged. The government expects to raise an additional 280 million kroner in tax with the 5% increase. That’s a lot of sinning, right?

Three years ago, this kind of thing would have left me enraged but now I just accept it. Yes, it does irritate me that the government tries to balance more of its budget by raising an already high tax instead of making a few cuts here and there to what I see as some unfairly high spending but it bothers me when any government does that, not just the Red-Green coalition in Norway.

The new coalition government in Britain is raising taxes and making cuts. Drastic cuts, according to what I read in the papers. Necessary cuts, according to Cameron/Clegg. I admit to liking some of what they’re doing, such as cutting child benefits to upper-middle class income earners. Indeed, why should anyone earning over £43k a year receive £1k a month because they have a child? They do the same here in Norway, give child benefits without means testing, and I don’t understand it. If you’re earning 1 million NOK a year and need help from the gov’t to buy shoes for your kid, you’re doing something wrong, mate. I wonder if most wealthy people here don’t just save their child benefits for 18 years and then use it to buy their kid a BMW; based on the number of Beemers in school parking lots, one has to assume. Both countries, as well as the USA, give pension benefits without means testing.

Anyway, even with the increase in alcohol and tobacco and car taxes, the Norwegian budget is nowhere near to being balanced. It never is, and the shortfall is always made up with a contribution from the massive oil fund. This year that contribution is 135 billion kroner.

I wish I had an oil fund to make up the dent in my wine budget. Instead, I will have to make cuts in my expenses. In a society based on fairness, it isn't right that I have to follow a strict budget while the gov’t does not. But that’s the way it is and I accept it.

I think I will go bake a pie.