doings

July-August 2011

3 July. Tracy and Katie left for Oslo by the night train on their way to France. It's a dark and misty night in �rsdalen but otherwise a normal late-night drive back into the valley. If you want to come along for a bit of it, click the small photo, left.

4 July. Tracy and Katie safely arrived in France, and Andrew and Matt safely on their way to a music festival on Norway's south coast. The house is suddenly rather quiet. The journey to France went fine, except for the night-time drive from Paris airport to the accommodation, during which Tracy's sat-nav ("Doris") decided it didn't like driving in France during the night and went on strike. Tracy is now considering getting a new sat-nav specially for night-time driving (to be called "Doris night", as opposed to the current one which will be known as "Doris Day"). Navigation was successfully achieved with the help of a mobile phone and Tim - at home - giving directions from Google Earth.

Yesterday's late-night drive film into �rsdalen has proved to be appealing and several people (who've not been here) have asked to see what the same drive looks like during the day. So here it is (click photo, right, to see daytime film of the drive from the tunnel home to our house. This film really gives a great impression of what �rsdalen is like.).

6 July. You may have gathered that there's not a great deal going on here in �rsdalen. A tractor drove up the lane through the village at about lunchtime, so the dogs got to their feet to see what was going on before settling down again. It's a bit the same all round Norway. I've done a rough translation of today's County Police log, which forms the official list of all crimes and incidents from the last 24 hours (click photo, left, to view).

9 July It's festival time around Norway. Andrew and Matt return tomorrow from their music festival (where they've have had a good time, I think) but there's every kind of festival going on in other parts of the country. Even the island of Tr�na (one of the group of islands straddling the Arctic Circle, where we used to live when we were first married) now has an annual festival. The children of the island look forward very much to this event - not for its own sake but because there are many visitors who need to get their luggage and tents from the boat quay to the festival site. It's a bit too far to walk with heavy luggage ("especially if they've been drinking", say the children) and they're willing to pay handsomely to have it wheeled there on a trolley. These children reckon to earn (wait for it) a thousand pounds each for a few days of trundling luggage around. No wonder they're looking pleased (photo, right). Perhaps we ought to have a festival in �rsdalen. Last autumn, though, we did notice that some of the small children in the valley had been out picking berries, which they were selling for a good price from a stall in the middle of the road ("you can't drive past unless you buy some").

A great deal of pleasure has been had from the film of the coastal steamer, Hurtigruten, on its 5-day voyage up the coast of Norway. In particular, the area from Sandnessj�en and past Nesna (passing also the island where we first lived in Norway) was spectacular. If you've got a couple of weeks you can download the whole lot from NRK's website - and at least one reader of this page has done so! But if not, here (click photo, left) is a 5-minute synopsis - the whole journey speeded up many thousands of times.

14 July. On a second day of glorious sunshine, Matt is off visiting friends, Andrew in his second day of tramping the mountains with the dogs (staying two nights in a cabin up there somewhere), Tracy converting one of the upstairs rooms into a combined office/guest room, Katier entertaining a friend and Tim chopping down trees in the forest (photo, left - click for enlargement) and working on the cellar flat (lots of progress there!). Tim's just completed his latest book: the full text is here if you want to read it - but it's all in Norwegian.

Who says men can't multi-task? Yesterday Tracy was out in the car and Tim wanted to ask her something. He went into the kitchen, picked up his mobile phone and dialled her number. Unfortunately, just at that moment, Tracy's mobile phone, which was on the kitchen table, rang. Tim then had a dilemma: should he hang up his call to Tracy (when she was perhaps just stopping her car in a layby to answer and might get cross) or ought he answer Tracy's mobile in case it was something urgent? As a compromise he went over to see who was ringing. It was Tim. Of course. Well, at least he didn't answer it and get involved in a long conversation.

15 July. Our fishing consultant had suggested that Katie might get some fish by trying using a float, with worms as bait. Katie and Tim dug around the garden in search of worms, but none wanted to come on a fishing expedition. So we used tagliatelli instead (photo, right - click for larger picture of fishing trip). But still no luck. Either the local fish don't like Italian food or we've still not got the technique right. Back to our consultant, I think.

Four golfers had a shock yesterday evening at Skjeberg golf course in south-east Norway. At hole 7 they saw a bear and two cubs. They rushed back to report their sighting to the appropriate authorities but their report was doubted as there are not supposed to be bears around there. On close investigation it turned out to be a sheep and two lambs. Four golfers are now all over the Norwegian news but are not available for comment.

16 July. Previously, when we have felled trees, a huge amount of work has been involved in chopping them up on site up the mountain, and then bring each bit down to the house. The system has been to count up the number of bits that we've cut and then start throwing them in stages down the mountain, counting them up at each stage to check that we've found all the bits. Now Thomas Andrew has introduced a new system that saves hours of work. click photo, left, for photos and film ).

18 July. The British news may be full of rolling heads after newspaper scandals, but the Norwegian news is more entertaining. A smiling family is pictured showing off a 135cm-high dandelion they picked in their back garden - only 10 cm shorter than the highest dandelion ever found in northern Norway (news report here). "It was even higher, really", they said; "we were a bit hasty in picking it and we didn't get it right at the bottom". But there was high drama as well. A bomb was found taped to a bridge over the Reppenelva River. The police called in the army. Then the army remembered where they'd left that home-made fake bomb that they'd made for emergency call-out practices.

20 July. A couple of weeks ago a large rock rolled down the mountain and landed on the road. We didn't mention it here because it happens all the time. The response of our friends from the highways agency was to put a traffic cone on each side of it. About the same time (29 June), we mentioned here that heavy rain had washed away part of the bridge over the road just at the bottom of our drive (photo here). The response of our friends from the highways agency was to put a traffic cone on each side of it. So great was our surprise this morning when the highways agency turned up with a lorry, a big digger, a pickup, four men and a work-experience teenager. When we wandered down, the lorry, digger and pickup had been parked in a field and the four men were watching the teenager who was digging fitfully with a small spade. But they're intending to mend the bridge today (click photo, above right, to see digger in action).

Yet more wood cutting today (click photo, left, for pictures).

21 July. And yet more today (getting close to target of two winter's worth of firewood in stock).

But we found time for a trip to Egersund, where we visited a friend's cabin and enjoyed a couple of hour's relaxation in the sunshine (click photo, right, for short picture sequence).

22 July. You've probably heard about all the bomb drama that is unfolding in Olso, as well as the shooting at a children's summer camp. Oslo is nine hours' drive from here and none of us are anywhere near there at the moment, but we're all sharing the complete shock that is being felt all over Norway. If there's any relief to be had it is that the whole thing appears to be the work of a lone right-wing political extremist and social misfit, who is now under arrest. He claims links to the English Defense League and wanted to start something similar in Norway, which he felt was too laid back and accommodating. So the result will probably be to draw people even more together, rather than to cause splits in society. But having followed on these pages the kinds of news that we're used to in Norway you'll appreciate the sort of devastation that this is causing.

23 July. Matt and Solfrid enjoying Saturday evening at home (photo, left - click for enlargement).

There has been much to admire about the way Norway is coming to terms with yesterday's events. The King, of course, has spent time with all the parents involved as well as making a broadcast speech. National elections are coming up and all the policians have been meeting to agree how they are to handle the whole issue without any suggestion of animosity (given that the attack was allegedly politically motivated). And reports from all over the country speak of people making their way to their local church when the news broke, to discuss it with each other and to show their solidarity, as well as to pray.

26 July. "The day the people reclaimed Norway" was today's newspaper headline, reporting on yesterday's memorial events all over the country (photo, right). A very large proportion of the population turned out to events held in almost every town and village. A striking thread that ran through all the many speeches was one of holding on to national values of kindness, tolerance and caring for one another. There were no calls for revenge, no dwelling on negatives - the only thoughts were for the victims and their families and for the importance of maintaining a good and cohesive society. All the political parties have agreed not do do any campaigning until immediately before the autumn elections - and even then it will be very cautious and restrained.
Foreign observers have drawn comparisons between the reactions to this event and the one in the USA almost exactly ten years ago:

New York 2001: - the smoke still hanging over Manhattan. President Bush addresses the people:
"Let's hunt them down"
Oslo 2011: - the smoke still hanging over Oslo. Primer Minister Jens Stoltenberg addresses the people:
"Violence must be met with greater openness. Terror should be met with more democracy. Now we have to look after each other".

27 July. Enjoying having a visitor from England. This evening we went down to the lakeside and had fun by the water (click photo, left, for picture sequence).

29 July. You may remember from the "goats may fly" story (1 January 2011) that our trampline took an unscheduled flight in high winds and had to be recovered - seriously battered - from a farm a mile or so away. Today a team of visitors (we now have some friends from Germany staying as well as our visitor from England) worked on straightening the bars and re-assembling the whole thing (click photo, right, for two pictures).

30 July. Just returned from a fantastic walk into the mountains, with an overnight stay in a cabin there. The walk itself took us 3 hours in each direction (the tourist association's map indicates that it's supposed to take substantially longer) and involved a good deal of climbing (chains provided to help), wading through rivers and marshes, and miles and miles of very steep and uneven paths. But it was a great experience, enjoyed by everyone. Click photo, left, to see a photo sequence).

No easy retirement in Norway. The 100 metres race at S�mna (northern Norway) was won by 100-year-old Ester (photo, right: click for enlargement). "I wasn't giving it all", she claims: "they hadn't told me it was a race".

The usual Saturday pizza was a make-it-yourself operation today; everyone made very creative and tasty concoctions. There are some readers of this page who remember the Norwegian speciality "rips & vaniljesaus" (redcurrents and vanilla sauce); there's a bumper crop this year (click photo, left, for pictures of both).

You've heard of watching paint dry? This is watching wood dry (photo, right - click for enlargement).

31 July. Tall Ships Race in Stavanger (click photo, left, for set of nautical pictures).

August

1 August. Morning on the river in �rsdalen, splashing in the water and using the kayak (click photo, left, for pictures).

2 August. Walking on the mountain above �rsdalen. A hard climb, but great views down over the valley (click photo, right, for enlargement).

3 August. Afternoon on our local beach (Brusand) together with our friends from Germany (click photo, near right, for picture sequence).

6 August. We've had a lovely (though at times exhausting) week with our guests, doing all the most fun things - walks, beach trips, canoeing on the river, etc. It now seems very quiet at home. Elsewhere in Norway, things are gradually getting back to normal, though the news is of course still full of the aftermath of last week's tragedy in Oslo. One thing that has struck me is that the funerals of all the children who were killed were all attended by the prime minister or by a former prime minister - a fantastic show of solidarity. One Norwegian website has invited people to contribute their take on "what I like most about this country" and the answers have been interesting. Several people liked the fact that the royal family (the king, queen, crown prince and princess) used a whole roll of kitchen paper to dry their eyes during their meeting with bereaved families after the Oslo/Ut�ya killings. Other people mentioned being able to leave their house door unlocked, or that if you accidentally leave your wallet in a shop you can just go back the day after and collect it, and know that nothing will have been taken from it. Another mentioned meeting someone called Camilla at a party, followed by another man who introduced himself as "Jens, Camilla's brother". This was Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister.

11 August. A gentle snuffling is to be heard all around the house. After two years of perfect health all round, Tim and Tracy have both had light colds all week which have put something of a damper on activity (including a proposed trip to Beth's). So the past few days have passed in undemanding activities such as constructing a new post-box house (photo, far right - click for enlargement), stacking some more firewood (the current stack in photo, left - click for enlargement), touching in a bit of the paintwork on the house and other such light jobs. We've mentioned before (11 June) that there's a website for things being given away (click here to see current list), from which we get many useful items (for instance all the doors for the cellar, tiles for the bathroom and various chairs, cupoboards and so on. Our recent visitors, who arrived from Germany with a car crammed with holiday items, somehow managed to squeeze a large cast-iron stove with chimney into their car for the return - courtesty of the same website. The most unlikely things turn up there, but even so we were mildly surprised when Tracy announced yesterday that she had just acquired a colony of a dozen hedgehogs, which are due to arrive here by car in about 5 minutes. (They won't be driving, I imagine). Andrew helpfully presented her with this article, which unaccountably failed to please. "They'll keep the slug population down", apparently. So look carefully before you sit down in the grass from now on.
Now arrived - photo, near right - click for enlargement. So our gentle snufflings have been supplemented by a whole backing group.

12 August. Norway is getting sophisticated - now they're serving capuccino in cafes (photo, left - click for enlargement).

14 August. Tim's birthday, celebrated with reindeer in game sauce and a fantastic home-made cheesecake (clearly appreciated in photo, right - click for enlargements). Thank you very much for cards, calls, emails and so on! Spent much of the day in the forest, picking berries. This year is proving to be a wonderful one for berries. Wild mountain raspberries (incomparable), blueberries by the bucketful, redcurrants, blackberries: there's far more in our forest than we could possibly pick, let alone use. Looks like being a very good year for apples, too, though the plums don't seem to be quite as good.

23 August. Nine days without news! Sorry about the poor service. Actually, we've been away at a family wedding - of Tim's nephew Michael and Anna. The trip involved flying from Stavanger to Gatwick and hiring a car. Even though we do it so often, there's always something unpredictable about hiring a car. You never quite know what you'll get, or even what sort of reception we'll get (see 12 October 2009). On this occasion the office was very friendly and they gave us an electronic tab (it was a key-free car) and directed us to bay 29. As we approached bay 29 we pressed the "unlock" button and there was a clunk from the doors and the lights flashed. We got in and searched for the car's "start" button. There wasn't one - and, puzzlingly, there was a keyhole for an ignition key even though we didn't have one. Eventually we gave up and got fetched someone to help. They also sat and puzzled for a while, until they noticed that we were sitting in the wrong car. The correct car was in the (wrong) bay immediately behind (which is why we'd seen lights flashing - they were just reflected - and why we'd heard the door) and the car we were sat in just happened to be unlocked. Once we'd moved all our belongings into the right car it started fine and we had generally good journeyings.

Tim has long experience of the unexpected in hire cars in Germany (including a confusing first encounter with a key-free car). A noteable incident involved sitting in pouring rain in a German layby searching for the switch for the rear windscreen wiper. The whole of the manual was in German, of course, so it took a long time to read through it and even then I couldn't find the instructions for the wiper. Eventually I got out and asked a lorry driver for help. The lorry driver also looked unsuccessfully through the manual and prodded helplessly around for a while. "Ah, I see the problem", he said eventually. (At least, I like to believe that's what he said - he had a heavy dialect and was more probably calling me names for making him waste his time standing around in heavy rain). "You don't have a rear wiper". Time to drive on.

As we were near London we were able to fulfil Katie's dearest wish and visit the Natural History Museum - what an amazing place - in search of a Pink Fairy Armadillo, which was duly located to great jubilation.

As well as the wedding we were able to spend time with family, which was lovely. Pat's birthday is a few days after Tim's, so Tim was allowed to help blow out the candles on the cake (photo, left - click for enlargement). Drove back to London and spent the couple of spare hours before check-in sitting in the sunshine in a Surrey village, watching a cricket match - an unexpected end to our visit.

Now everything's back to normal. School has started and the autumn routine begun. Thomas Andrew's first day at sixth-form college was apparently fine, in a mildly confusing way (they've not got everything completely organised). And Katie doesn't have to sit next to one of Those Boys, which is a relief.

The Beano character Calamity James has a pet lemming who enjoys dropping from great heights. We see quite a few lemmings here (mostly concussed having leaped off the mountain behind the house), but the little creatures seem to have found a new plummeting ground. The main runway at Evenes airport (a Norwegian regional airport I've very often used) is presently closed because it is covered in too many dead lemmings to allow take-off or landing. The airport will not re-open until a suitable technique has been found for lemming removal (snow-plough, perhaps?). The same goes, incidentally, for the RV 94 road between Kvalsund and Hammerfest.

26 August. The highways department is supposed to be surfacing the road to �rsdalen this year, though we've seen no sign of them as yet. Yesterday, though, a tarmac machine was spotted in Vikes�, which raised some expectations. We gather that they are a bit uncertain how to solve the problem of surfacing the tunnel (photo, above right - click for enlargement). The problem is that that there is only a 1-inch clearance between the tunnel roof and the milk lorry, but the tarmac will take 2 inches off the available height. The natural answer is to dig a little further down before laying the tarmac, but the highways authority is reluctant to do this because - wait for it - they're afraid that the vibrations from digging might make the tunnel roof fall down. Gives you confidence, doesn't it?

At least the garden is growing well - we're awaiting a good crop of apples and enjoying roses and various other things that seem to have flourished during a rather wet summer (photo, left - click for enlargement).

27 August. It fell off the back of a lorry. Last night there was rain and thunder in parts of Norway. One family, having gone to sleep in a thunder storm, awoke to an extra-loud peal of thunder. They got up to look out of the bedroom window, and found 200 tons of salmon in their front garden (photo, right) - courtesy of a lorry and a slippery road. They're now looking for a variety of creative recipes.

Matt arrived today at college in Grimstad (about 4 hour's drive along the coast from home). The college is just outside the town, right next to the beach (photo, left - click for larger pictures), and Matt's student "room" consists of a very pleasant bedroom together with half shares in a lounge, kitchen (even though all meals are served in college) and bathroom. This is Norway, after all. If you want his address there it's:
BiG,
�sterhusmonen 81
4879 Grimstad
Norway.
He seems all set for a great time there.

28 August. It seems as though summer ended yesterday and today it's autumn. Heavy rain, strong winds and 10 degrees colder. It's not just the weather, though, that indicates the changing seasons - you can tell the time of the year by the behaviour of the lambs that inevitably are lying in the middle of the road, just where you want to drive. That lamb there, for instance, is thinking (if that's not too strong a word for it) as follows:
spring: "Wah! Big thing coming. Panic. Let's wait until it's nearly on top of me and then run straight in front of it to find mum."
summer: "Another of those big things. Do I really have to get up? I'll wait until the driver gets out and starts shouting before I get out of bed".
autumn: "I'm big and tough now. Not moving. I'll just lean a bit to one side, perhaps move a hoof out of the way and it'll get past somehow. If not I'll start head-butting it".