Bjorn Nilsen, the Lofoten Islands’ mailman. He has been working for the Norwegian Post since 1984.
Between fjords, mountains and ocean, there are less than twenty people per square kilometer on the Lofoten islands.
The work-day begins at 8 a.m. at the Svolvær Post Office.
Bjorn preparing his round.
Bjorn’s daily round is about two hundred and twenty kilometers long. He stops about fifty times a day.
The Lofoten islands’ inhabitants are primarily fishermen.
Bjorn on the road.
Houses are often remote, but the mail boxes are by the road.
A big part of Bjorn’s day is rushing between his car and the mailboxes…
…but also spending time with the customers, who sometimes don’t see anyone else but Bjorn.
The Internet caused a considerable decrease of postal shipments. But elderly people often remain connected to the world through paper.
There is a long road between inhabitants of the island. And there is a mailman.
Bjorn also collects the mail users want to send, and payment for the stamps.
Most of the young people have left to live and work in town, leaving the older ones to the silence of nature.
A customer telling stories about the neighbourhood to Bjorn.
End of the tour. Before heading back, a coffee break in front of the Raftsundet fjord and the Ulvoya island, where Bjorn’s parents had a cabin and spent the weekends when he was a child.
Back to Svolvær post office at 4 p.m.
Bjorn and his wife Ingunn at home.
Bjorn’s children imposed a rule: the house is non-smoking. The parents have to hide under the kitchen’s range hood to smoke.
The polar night leaves the Lofoten Islands in the course of January. The weather changes very quickly. Icy winds can sweep away a bright blue sky in no time.
Very little snow this year, spring seemed to arrive early. But in a single night things were reversed.
Svolvær is the main town of the Lofoten Islands. Four thousand inhabitants.
The snow has covered the landscape, but it is a day like any other.
Whether snow is falling or wind is blowing, people still receive their mail.
Whether snow is falling or wind is blowing, people still receive their mail.
From behind the wheel of his snowplow, Trond clears the roads Bjorn has been driving on for years.
But the paths connecting the houses to the roads are not always passable, isolating them a little more.
Among the islands’ inhabitants Bjorn meets on the road, there are often moose.
Bjorn on his way to the Olsen’s house.
The Olsens haven’t met many people in the past few days. Bjorn tells them of the latest news.
People don’t lock their doors. Sometimes, Bjorn doesn’t even knock before getting in.
Year after year, Bjorn has become part of people’s lives. Just as there are family doctors, there are mailmen.
No matter what the weather conditions are, Bjorn has to deliver the mail and newspapers.
A single cloud suffices to transform Lofoten Islands’ landscapes…
… and offer a new spectacle to Bjorn.
Each work day is an adventure for Bjorn. But something of a stroll too.
Lofoten Islands’ inhabitants can seem alone in the world, but they aren’t cut off from it. Bjorn is one important link.