doings

September 2011

1 September - Although we've returned to blue skies and sunshine, autumn is making itself known in other ways. We've just had the autumn fire practice (in which everyone in the village has to rehearse getting out the fire trailer and connecting pumps to the river, just in case - see report from 27 August last year). and today Thomas Andrew is up on the mountains, collecting in the sheep. The local school automatically allows pupils time off for this annual event (and again for the corresponding sheep un-gathering in the spring) and he's persuaded his 6th-form college to give him two days off for the same purpose. It's a huge job (searching on foot an area of mountains the size of an average national park while running back and forward chasing sheep): as well as a few days this week it'll also take all of next weekend and the farmers will be up on the mountains for quite a few more days after that.

2 September - We've mentioned (11 June and 11 August) before that we regularly look at a website in which unwanted items in our local area are being given away - including hedgehogs. Glancing at the site today, the list of unwanted items to be given away includes a passport-photo machine, an almost-new fitted kitchen and a house ("House given away if you collect ... only serious enquiries from people familiar with transporting houses and with a building plot to put it on"). Photo, left - click for enlargement.

5 September - Thomas Andrew came home the other day and said that he'd noticed a gravestone in the little graveyard in �rsdalen that described the person as "h�yt elsket, dypt senket" (highly loved, deeply buried). This seemed like an unusual description. Looking more closely it became apparent that the lettering had worn a bit and it was supposed to read: "h�yt elsket, dypt savnet" (highly loved, deeply missed). Still, like he said, at least we know the man hadn't been shot (or they wouldn't have said he was missed).

Two new air routes to Stavanger. Most usefully, from the end of October Norwegian is starting a route between Manchester and Stavanger on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Price from �145 per person return including taxes. This is a through ticket Manchester to Stavanger, but entails a change of plane at Oslo. In addition, Eastern Airways (a lovely airline to travel with) has started a new direct route from Glasgow to Stavanger (lands in Aberdeen on the way out but non-stop on the way back). They claim the tickets are �53 each way but forget to mention that this does not include taxes (so it's actually �94 each way), but this includes luggage and meal. A reminder that this and other travel information is available here.

8 September - Katie was at the dentist's for the second morning this week, having braces fitted. She's now trying to get used to trying to chew round a mouth full of metal bits. And we've converted a couple of buckets full of apples into the most wonderful apple juice. There's many more buckets full of apples left, though.

13 September - After the wettest summer on record, the monsoon season has now begun in earnest. It's pouring down and there are flood warnings everywhere. Not that they're needed, because it can hardly be mistaken - the roads are all deep in water, there are waterfalls pouring off every mountainside and the river is thoroughly overflowing its banks (photo, right - click for enlargement).

Local, county and church elections yesterday, so Tim sat at the town hall all day as election officer. No significant change in our local authority - same mayor and almost exactly same council - and in Norway as a whole the only real change is that the far-right party, FrP, was almost wiped out, largely in reaction to last month's shootings in Oslo. It has been commented that the "election campaign" was so dignified that it was boring, and certainly all the politicians have been even more polite than usual.

Last year we had a lot of stories about moose doing silly things. Full marks to Joanna, who has tipped me off about the drunk moose stuck up a tree in G�teborg (story and pictures here) (both in Swedish - but click photo, left, for enlargement). PS - same story in English on BBC website.

Speaking of parties (albeit political ones) and drunk creatures, a man in Egersund was fined today for having a Goshawk in his freezer and 4000 tins of smuggled beer in his garage. I don't know what kind of party he had in mind.

And finally, it's not moose, but the mayor of Hammerfest has been complaining all summer that he spends about half of his working hours shooing reindeer away from the town centre. "Whenever I ring the owners they won't answer their mobile phones", he complains.

14 September - Yesterday we showed a photo (above right) of the road between Vikes� and Bjerkreim, showing that the river was only 6 inches below the level of the road. That river takes a day to rise to its full level after rain, so even whilst taking the photo I was wondering what it would be like there today. Here's the answer (photo below right - click for enlargement) - the river now an inch above the road level (photo taken today at the same place)! It's carried on pouring down all night (so things will only get worse there) but there's actually a bit of blue sky in �rsdalen this morning.

Another photo of the river rather larger than usual, left - click for enlargement.

15 September - Escaped bull running loose in Stavanger city centre. Click photo, right, to watch an interview with the farmer who is chasing the bull at the time. Don't worry that it's all in Norwegian - it's the effect that counts. At the point the film was made the bull was just heading into one of Stavanger's main streets. An NRK reporter saw what was happening and asked the famer what was going on. The fascinating thing about the interview is not so much what was said ("well, it was like this, see, I was just bringing him his breakfast and ...") but the fact that the reporter and the farmer are taking the time to stand around chatting while watching a large bull rushing off into a busy city centre. The interview ends "... not like him at all - he's such a sweetheart usually. Ah well, I'd better be off and catch him" (or words to that effect). One laid-back farmer.

Those who enjoyed the TV programme about Hurtigruten (the coastal steamer) will be shocked by today's dramatic news from �lesund (Beth's nearest town), where the Hurtigruten ship Nordlys was on fire earlier in the day. The ship was towed in to the dock and a part of the town evacuated due to the thick smoke and fire risk. Everyone on board has been safely evacuated (some by lifeboat before the ship was towed ashore) but two crew members were killed - and there is a possibility that the now empty ship, which is taking on water, may yet turn over and sink (click photo, left, to see ship now in dock).

16 September - By early this morning the ship was leaning nearly 22° - with 20° as the criticial point at which it was expected to capsise - but a team was flown in from Holland who managed to patch up its holes and install adequate pumps. By this evening it's back to 10° of list and seems out of danger. But it seems as though "the whole of Norway" has been holding its collective breath - there's a lot of national identity tied up with the Hurtigruten ships.

This evening we (Tim and Tracy) delivered Katie to Stavanger from where she's travelling with a group to a weekend camp. Living, as we do, a good hour's drive from the nearest "take-away" it's not often we get to eat out - the last twice we ate anywhere other than at home was in connection with the two weddings in England in March and August! So we treated ourselves to an absolutely wonderful dinner at a new Indian restaurant in Sandnes. Feeling very contented!

16 September - - We have no internet this weekend (this page updated at Tim's office). When the internet stops working (as it often does) we have to go up the valley, walk across the little swaying footbridge over the river and then cross a few hundred yards of marshy foothills to reach a pole. There's a ladder cunningly hidden in the grass, and by climbing up this we reach the box containing the power switch for the internet sender for the valley. We then climb back down the ladder and walk back across the river to the car to fetch the screwdriver (I've never yet remembered to take it with me) and repeat the process, this time opening the box. Usually, the power switch has "tripped" and it's just a case of putting it back on, but occasionally the system needs re-setting. I did this today, but it made no difference so the problem is presumably further away.
Internet returned five days later.

18 September - The Hurtigruten ship (see story 15 September) is now out of danger and being taken off to dry dock for repairs, so that story has had a mostly happy ending!

23 September - Four problems with roads:

(i) Guess what season it is! Although we've had no snow in the valley as yet (just a bit of hail yesterday), there's already snow on the mountain passes and motorists who are due to drive on the highest roads are advised to change their tyres (photo from west Norway earlier today, left - click for enlargement).

(ii) We wrote last month (23 August) about problems caused by this year's excessive lemming population - including the closure of an airport due to a lemming invasion of the runway. The airport has now bought a lemming-removing vehicle (photo, above right) to keep the runway open, but the problem is also found on roads (inset in same picture) and, strangely, in a bookshop (they're very literary little creatures).

(iii) If it's not snowing, or lemming, then it's raining. How to travel on flooded roads (click photo, above right, for explanation).

(iv) The road into �rsdalen, of course, defies all attempts at description. One feature of it - the first thing we were told about it, in fact - is that it is full of deep potholes. So there was much jubilation this spring when we heard that the highways authority was intending to surface it this year. There's been no sign of any activity, though, and we'd just about given up any hope of it happening before the end of the season. But today there are rumours of tarmac machines assembling and of equipment being placed strategically at Stavtj�rn (the other end of the tunnel). So one day soon the tunnel and road will be abruptly closed (without warning, of course - the highways authority likes to operate in strict secrecy) and we will find ourselves either closed in or closed out. Must remember to take supplies of coffee and lefser on all trips for a while.

The fox. There are several families of foxes living in �rsdalen, but by far the most visible is the family that lives just by the third bend on the road up to the tunnel. For the last week there's hardly been any occasion that I've driven out of the valley without seeing a fox cub crossing the road. They cross quite quickly, well aware that nearly everyone in �rsdalen is a farmer and would be more likely to use the accelerator than the brake when seeing a fox in the road ahead. The farmers' natural eagerness to be rid of foxes is by no means diminished by the fact that they're classified as pests and therefore an official "reward" payment is made for every dead fox taken in to the authorities. So it was that our neighbour dropped the dead fox with a satisfying thud onto the Mayor's desk, in expectation of a small cheque. "Very nice", said the Mayor, "but unfortunately out of season - you're not allowed to shoot foxes for another three weeks". Three weeks later the neighbour was again in the Mayor's office, and dropped a dead fox onto the desk with a solid clang, scattering pencils in all directions. "Sorry it's a bit cold: it's just come out of my freezer". He left with the cheque in his pocket.

What are these two up to? (Click photo, left).

24 September - A flock of tarmac machines has assembled during the day and is now perched at the other end of the tunnel (photo, above right), ready (according to the workmen) to begin work as soon as the milk lorry has left the valley on Monday morning. Of course, we've not been told anything, so it's essential to speak to the workmen to find out when the tunnel and road are to be closed - which is, by the sound of it, most of next week. They will be breaking off to allow the school bus through, out in the morning and back in the afternoon, so we'll have to make sure we drive in and out of the valley at the same time.

Katie has spent the day, together with neighbours, up the mountains alongside the lake, gathering sheep. This entails taking the "sheep boat" from the beach, stopping at strategic points along the lake and climbing the mountainsides to look search for sheep. (Click photo, above right, for some (archive) photographs of the sheep boat).

25 September - Bjerkreim church was filled last night for a concert celebrating the life and work of a well-known local hymn writer, Trygve Bjerkrheim. Tim was commissioned last year to set four of his texts to music in an "easy-listening" style for a scratch choir (photo, left, from this year's concert - click for enlargement). The result was not exactly Beethoven but was very popular and it was performed again in the concert this year (you can hear the performance here).

25 September - A headline in today's NRK news (right) informs us: "Dead man sent for post-mortem". Disconcerting, perhaps, that this is regarded as a newsworthy variant (who do they normally send for post-mortems?)

27 September - No holes. For the first time ever we have driven through the �rsdalen tunnel without the succession of bangs, crashes and jolts as the wheels land in one of the many deep potholes. Now we can drive on tarmac. But it will be a long time before we stop braking hard at each of the points where the worst holes used to be.

Full of holes. From time to time the Norwegian press prints little "revelations" about issues of national security. On 12 April 2010 we reported about Norway's top-secret defence establishment whose very existance was officially denied, but which was listed, with its address and telephone number, in the phone book - and detailed technical drawings of the place, receipts for its equipment, staff lists and so on were on open shelves in the Norwegian records office. This week's revelation concerned the security for Oslo's water supply. Night-or-day access to the main plant (where it was possible to turn off the city's water supply, add things to it or or tamper with it in any way) was protected by a security system - a simple keypad which could also be over-ridden by a mobile phone, provided you had the right pass code. The right pass code for both was unchanged since the system was installed. It was 0000.

28 September - Photo, left: Tracy hard at work at the kitchen table, despite a beautiful autumn day outside (click for enlargement).

A small bird was sitting on the corner of the balcony today, where the bird table is located during the winter, holding up a calendar to show us that it's nearly October. I've got the bird table out the barn, repaired and painted it. We can take a hint.

30 September - It's starting to be dark in the mornings, and at 6am today a heavy mist made it look as though a new mountain had grown overnight at the top of the valley. As the day progressed, though, the sun came out, the temperature soared and it turned into one of those autumn days that are so beautiful you simply can't get any work done. (Click photo, right, to compare today's webcam view at 6am and 6pm).