Friday, March 18, 2011

Spooky request

I guess this is what happens when you live in a small far off country...

A few weeks ago I got a weird email. Someone googled "I live in Oslo" and my blog popped up. She then emailed me asking me to take a picture of a gravestone in an old cemetery in Oslo. She said she lives in the UK and was writing a piece on the person and wanted to know what was written on their gravestone. Ok... but I am no big fan of cemeteries and usually steer as far from them as I can. Plus... someone sending you an email asking you to go to a graveyard sounded a bit spooky and crazy at the same time.

The "location",

I did consider not going... or even not answering the email. My instinct reaction towards cemeteries is somewhat like hospitals. Not fear, but I'm most uncomfortable in these places. On the other hand, if someone asks you a favor and it is not too difficult to fulfill it, why not make someone's day? Curiosity got the best of me and I replied to the email. The next email gave some info about the person... that he was Polar explorer. Ok... a bit better than looking for the grave of a killer or who knows whom.

The cemetery is located about 20 minutes walking from my house and yesterday was a beautiful day... great for some walking. The sky was clear, air was crisp (yeah, we are still hovering around 0oC/32oF) and the snow on the ground is starting to melt. I also knew there was no way that I would go to the cemetery in the dark so I was lucky to get off work early enough (and not miss the train) to get to the cemetery with the sun setting. Found the tombstone, took pictures (many as I was not sure what she wanted to see on it and was definitely not coming back any time soon...) and headed home. And today I got a nice email with a big thanks!

And you, gotten any weird requests lately?

4 comments:

  1. That's what delete keys are for. You are a brave woman! That email would have merited the same treatment that the typical Nigerian email scam artist could expect from me :)

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  2. never got wierd request, I don't make my email public on the blog because all I get that is wierd on my blog are hate trolls, more in the past year than ever before.

    The only requests I got where nice ones, one for a Journalist at the Times of India bangalore to be a guest columnist during a 2 months campaign, and another from a tabloid journalist who was doing a piece on foreign women married to Indian who wanted to ask a few questions. Since I have no email on my blog they had to make their request in my comments :)

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  3. Hi Dsylexic,
    I thought about the delete key... But since it did not have the usual structure of promising me a million bucks I thought maybe it was not scam ;)

    Hi Cyn,
    Thankfully (knock on wood) there have been no trolls here so far. And so far my email has allowed some nice people that wanted to remain anonymous to send me personal stories, which is very nice.

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  4. hi samba,
    i have read almost all of u'r blog posts.and i like u'r blog very much.
    Regarding this cemetery visit , i came to the point that u r a woman with golden heart... selflessly, always ready to help the people in need.
    But, My dear, try to turn down such requests (form unknown persons)as some time this may lead you into troublesome situation.
    This is just my opinion,You may agree or disagree to...

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