We were playing cards on a wet Friday afternoon on ‘the rock’, as we call my wife’s family cabin on a small island in Norway, when the first reports came through.
My brother-in-law exclaimed loudly as he studied the first pictures of the bomb attack in Oslo on his laptop.
Fatalities were low, considering the size of the bomb.
The scenes of devastation brought back memories of Northern Ireland, where I have served on three occasions.
We kept listening. Such events were unheard of in Norway.
About two hours later, and even more unbelievably, we were told that a gunman was shooting teenagers on Utoya island, 24 miles northwest of Oslo.
To anyone watching, it was inconceivable that the same perpetrator had committed both atrocities.
Then we heard that Anders Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian, had planted the bomb, then driven to the inland lake, where, dressed as a policeman, he began his murderous rampage.
It is hard to convey the utter shock that overwhelmed us all as the facts became clear.
We sat there in silence, unable to comprehend the enormity of what was happening.
There are only 4.9 million Norwegians and families are closely interconnected.
The ordeal of every family affected rippled out to touch most of the population.
As the father of four children of a similar age to the victims, I was sick at the thought of what parents were going through as they sat by their phones, desperately waiting for news.
Before Breivik was eventually captured, he’d killed 77 and injured at least 100.
Norway has not seen violence like this since the Nazi occupation during the last war.
Today, the country is a peaceful and prosperous land, funded by oil and gas revenues and run by a liberal and conscientious government.
The Norwegians’ stoical reaction in the face of such adversity was, and is, respected around the world.
And I agree with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, when he said of his countrymen: “Evil has brought out the best in us. Hatred engenders love.”