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1 March - Happy St David's Day! - March has arrived abruptly, reminding me that it's a while since these pages were updated (blame life). The ski centre has been constantly busy throughout snowy January and February, but closed abruptly today when rain arrived; it's now bucketing down. This month's title picture shows the river today. Tim's church had moved its service today to a mountain chapel - "bring your skis and we'll have activities on the mountain afterwards" - so we we were able to admire the rain from the dry comfort of the chapel's lounge. The chapel (photo, left - click for enlargements) is located along a 10-mile track off the main road. I've never been therefore before, so I was surprised to find alongside the track a concrete electricity post on which was painted the only bit of graffiti I've ever seen in Norway outside of the city centre - and it was a slightly surreal message (photo here).

2 March - wings and legs - Tim and Katie are due to travel to Germany on Thursday in connection with a concert, but are flying with Norwegian, which is currently just settling into a pilot strike which is due to become a total strike from Wednesday. Looking for alternatives, we paid a quick visit to the website of the airline Germanwings, where their pricing strategy came as a surprise. Half price for one-legged passengers, it seems.

11 March - back from Germany - As the day of departure approached, there was no sign of an end to the strike. The trouble was, until the flight was actually cancelled, there was no way of re-booking any alternative - just in case the flight was one of the few that actually left, which would mean that we lost the cost of the ticket. In the event, the message came early Wednesday evening, which just gave time to rush down to Stavanger and catch the night ferry to Hirtshals, where we could pick up a hire car at 8 on Thursday morning for the 10-hour drive down to the concert destination (Glauchau, near Chemnitz, a few miles west of Dresden). In a fit of meanness I'd booked the smallest and cheapest mini hire car that Avis in Hirtshals could provide - and hoped for an upgrade. Amazingly, there was a big Ford estate with a 2-litre TDi waiting for us, which gave us a relatively easy drive south. Stopped for a large breakfast at a cafe in the middle of Denmark (which featured this sign, warning that "theft will be punished by a 8-day camping trip with your mother-in-law") and for the night at our usual hotel at Egerstorf on the Lüneberg moors just south of Hamburg, with an outing to a nearby swimming complex. The following day we continued the drive, stopping at the amazing Nova Eventis shopping centre on the outskirts of Leipzig, the scale of which you can see here and where Katie vanished into a large bookshop and would never have been seen again except that there was a large adventure playground to explore outside. Stayed the night at another familiar hotel - to which we've been dozens of times before - with a couple of visits to a favourite waterworld nearby, before going to visit our good friends at Ponitz, where we stayed Saturday night. Sunday evening's concert was at the Georgenkirche in Glauchau - a slightly run-down little town where the occasional Trabi still chugs down the shops-to-let main street. As is often the case with backwater towns that progress has passed by, it contains not just one but two wonderful organs by the iconic 18th-century organ builder Silbermann, and it was the larger of these where the concert was held. It all went fine and there's now a standing invitation to come back, so it won't be the last visit. The return should have consisted of a leisurely drive up to Berlin on Monday morning and flight home. As it was, though, we had a hire car to return in Denmark and a ferry to catch on Monday evening - and the only way to do that was to drive the first stretch after the concert on Sunday evening. I rang the usual hotel at Egerstorf to say we'd be turning up at 1am and would they leave the key under the doormat for us. We turned up at 1am to find the hotel dark and deserted, and no key. After plodding around the car park for a bit and trying unsuccessfully to ring the owners, we managed to break in to the sauna area, found some camp beds and blankets and settled in for the night. The following morning we found out that the woman who'd taken the call had accidentally written the wrong date down on a bit of paper. But at least it made for a free night's stay and breakfast. We made it back to Hirtshals by Monday evening, leaving the hire car at the garage car park. I hadn't mentioned to them that we were doing anything other than potter around northern Denmark, so I'm glad we weren't there when they looked at the car next day and noticed that we'd done over 2500 km in four days. The ferry left at 9pm and was to arrive at Stavanger at 7 the following morning, in time for Katie to go to school and me to go to work (staff meeting at 9, playing a concert at 11.30, meeting at 12.15, choir practices at 5 and 6 and leading a hymn-singing evening at 7.30). There was a storm. The ferry finally limped into Stavanger over 9 hours late (all ferries and ships out of Stavanger were cancelled that day) - just in time to go straight into the 6pm choir practice and hymn evening. That evening, the airline strike was over.

So that was that. A straightforward, relaxing trip to do a concert? It turned out a bit different. But it was certainly memorable.

12 March - Happy birthday Ann!

14 March - A normal day of activities in the sunshine. Thomas Andrew in characteristic pose (upper left - click for enlargement), while Tracy was working and Tim and Katie off to swimming in Egersund. One of the recent improvements in Ørsdalen is that we have shiney new safety barriers along the road out of the valley (useful in the snow). At this time of year they really are shiney - reflecting in the sunshine, they show the track of the road up the hillside (upper right - click for enlargement).

Big army exercises in northern Norway - thanks to Thomas Andrew for pointing this one out - For the first time since 1967, the Norwegian army is involved in major exercises in Norway's most northerly county. Amongst other things, a house was specially prepared that they were to storm and take control over. A troop of fully-armed soldiers rushed in to the house, guns pointing and with a very large dog leading the way. "We soon realised from the reaction of the old lady who was watching TV that we had come into the wrong house", said an army spokesman to the VG newspaper. "But" — and this is the bit we really love — "it was pretty much next door, so we were in the right neighbourhood, at least". In all fairness, it is the best part of 50 years since they were there last; not surprising they're getting a bit hazy about who lives where. Perhaps navigation will be the next exercise.

Egersund itself was looking at its best in the spring sunshine, and since I had the camera I couldn't resist a few details of buildings (left - click for enlargements)

15 March - Katie was swimming in a race at Sola (near the airport): pictures from the race, right - click for enlargements. Tim and Tracy both had services in the morning (so the pictures are only from the afternoon's butterfly event); but there are some photos from Tim's service which featured a children's Easter play.

Gold medal.

18 March - Glorious sunny day and an amazing 17 degrees, so Tracy and Tim took the dogs for a long walk in the mountains behind the house. Photos, left - click for series.

Brother and sister together in Bodø (right - click for enlargement).

19 March - As I left for work this morning, the sun was just breaking through the early-morning mist over the lake. Couldn't resist a picture. Work consisted of inspecting a new organ at a chapel in Sandnes - which was excellent (photo here).

21 March - We had a total eclipse of the sun yesterday. That is to say, the sun was totally eclipsed by thick cloud all day. The moon may have done something up there as well, but we didn't get to see that, unfortunately. Today, though, has been clear skies and brilliant (uneclipsed) sunshine all day - for which we were very glad. Really.

In the meantime, the trusty "things being given away" website has come up with a new gem - a five-ton rock, described as "second hand" (brukt). Come to think of it, we've got hundreds of those in our garden: perhaps there's a market for them?

Tracy spotted in the newspaper today that this morning's flight from Bardufoss airport was delayed. The plane was fully loaded and ready to go - but couldn't take off because the man in the control tower had overslept. He had to be hastily woken, breakfasted and brought down to the airport so that the plane could depart. "It doesn't happen often", said a spokesman to the newspaper. "It's over three years since last time".

It all sounds very familiar. I remember years ago flying on the scheduled route into Vadsø airport. As the little 8-seater plane bounced to a stop on the grass, I watched a small lady with a purposeful handbag hurry out of a hut, padlock the door and drive off in a car. She was the control-tower staff and now the plane had arrived she was going home for her tea. Another car (a battered old Nissan) drew up, hitched the aeroplane onto its tow hook and pulled it into the hanger. As I left the airport building the porter padlocked the door behind me and the place was closed for the night.

Comments Norah - March 23rd, 2015 What an exciting month, judging by the German trip you are still living in the fast lane. It is always nice to hear Hirtshals mentioned! Any corn flakes? Congratulations Katie on your swimming success & the splendid gold medal. Katie - March 25th, 2015 Thank you Norah! The Germany trip was fun, but no corn flakes!

24 March - Tuesdays are always busy. As well as various meetings, Tim gave a Brahms concert at lunchtime and then an evening talk on Noah's Ark. Happily, Noah's Ark lends itself to all sorts of wordplay in Norwegian (an "ark" is also a piece of paper, while a word which is pronounced "Noah" means "something"), so these in combination with a text analysis that was demonstrated by showing the patterns of key words printed on A3 laminated papers ("arks") that were pegged up on a washing line across the church, gave people a happy as well as apparently instructive evening.

25 March - This evening was the annual members' meeting at Tracy's church, which includes a massive fresh prawn supper (photos here).

26 March - Happy birthday, Bob!

27 March - Passover meal at Tracy's church. Great success - in addition to the whole passover routine, Tracy prepared a 3-course meal for 36 people (plus two gatecrashers who nobody quite knew but everyone assumed that someone else did) (photos here).

28 March - Happy birthday, Beth!