More from Romania

P1010344, a photo by ausfi on Flickr.

I expect anyway that they are Romanian, where most of the beggars from outside are from. Couple of days ago there was a survey of how many beggars there were in the central Oslo and the result was: 89 foreigners and 5 Norwegians. They said 5 more carloads had arrived next day.
Friday 31 May I went to the botanical gardens to take more photos and coming closer to the gate noticed the footpath lined by vans. Then I passed two young girls cooking something. Later I heard also some quarrelling. This photo does not show all the vans.
All the Nordic countries have had beggars from EU for years now, though I only have experience from Norway and Finland. I have noticed that people have already got tired of giving,there are so many of them. There's a guy playing accordion on the Opera bridge. There are usually many people passing him on the way to and from the Opera, and hardly anyone gives him anything. I have done it once.
I do not know how many people travel in these numerous vans . Neither do I know where they can stay. Last week the Oslo council decided that people were not allowed to sleep outside anymore, in the parks, under a bridge, you name it. I'm not sure whether it included sleeping in cars also.
Another thing why there is less giving is that so many people use bankcards and usually have no coins on them. I do not also like to start opening purses to get at the money. The number of pickpockets also increases in the summer.
The beggars already in Oslo are also worry that there will be too many of them. They would rather work, of course, but it is almost impossible to find work because of language problems.
They used to sell flowers or 'gold' jewelry, you do not see that now. There's a magazine published for them to sell, like there is for the narkomans and others in Oslo. I usually buy a magazine from the Norwegians, and like to have a friendly contact with them.