Story of my life

So had enough of the British PM!

2011-06-20T10:51:00.000+02:00

So, David Cameron wom the election, with the help of Nick Clegg. That was one year ago, and at this point I with that Nick Clegg would develop some balls and David Cameron would realise that the life in novels and romantic movies is not the life of most Brittons.

Yesterday he made a speech that absent fathers must be punished and the public must view them in the same way as drunk-drivers. Which planet does he live on? Or for that matter, which movie does he think is reality? I know several separated/divorced parents in Brittain, and the fathers love spending time with their children. However, in this country mothers can do no wrong (according to the law) and they know how to take full advantage of that. They can deny fathers access to their children, ad get away with it. And to be honest, if I was denied access to my children, I wouldn't bother paying maintenance either. Talk about paying for nothing.

In addition, when they break up, the assets are divided indiscriminately to the mother, and the father is left with nothing, not even enough for a proper place to live, in lots of cases. There is no consideration for the father to have a proper place for the children to visit.

This doesn't mean that there aren't fathers who don't care about their children, who leave and don't ever look back or even think of their children again, only that these are not the only cases, and making out that all fathers in broken up relationships are like this, is an awful generalisation of fathers. Those fathers who want to be a part of their childrens lives have no legs to stand on, no law on their side, and no politicians who live in reality and realise what it means to be a single/divorced father.

The laws in this country are awful, and getting worse by the minute. The tax relief for married people is Cameron thinking that as long as your married life is honky dory, never mind if it's a good or bad marriage, if one of the partners abuse the other, or the children, and never mind how if affects the children. Marriage can't be anything but good. It's like he's living a Disney movie life...

Wake up and smell reality!!
The sooner we can get some real men into government, the better, or real women, for that matter. And no more Tory's whose only aim is to castrate the country.

Life

2010-07-27T13:59:00.000+02:00

Life sometimes isn't easy. You just want the time to pass and for the fun to return.

Summer holidays were great part 1

2009-09-21T18:46:00.017+02:00

This summer we went back to Derbyshire, to Sandybrook Country Park, where we've been twice before. It's just an excellent place where the boys can cycle and run around without us having to watch them, and plenty of other kids around so they can make friends. Oh, and a pub for evening drinks and a meal when you don't feel like cooking ;)

We didn't start off too well. M25 was standing still as usual, but with Sat Nav we were routed a different way and managed to avoid traffic jams for the rest of the way. It might have taken a bit longer (mostly because I didn't have a proper address to put into the Sat Nav) but we got there in the end. And then we had to shop. This time we decided not to do all the shopping before we left, but to get it as we needed it. We've always ended up buying far too much and eating at the pub more than we plan to..

We decided to start the holiday with a walk on the Sunday. We went to a new area where we haven't walked before and walked up Monksdale accross to Chedale and back along the river. Monkdale was like walking through Mirkwood, dark, dank and slippy with big, rounded rocks and roots. It was like taken straight out of Lord of the Rings. Took us ages just walk a couple of short miles up the valley and when we eventually got out we had to find a nice warm spot in the sun to have lunch. Us and the cows in a field..

We then headed over the ridge, through a village with a statue of a famous person (can't remember who or what he was famous for, but I think it was something to do with building), through a farm that had pigs (judging by the smell and hence my speed) to the valley on the other side, Chedale. The view from the top was amazing. You could see the disused railway line that went along the valley and the river at the bottom. The sun was out, the bees were buzzing and we had a nice little rest at the top just before heading into the valley for a river walk.

It wasn't easy trying to stick to the footpath that went along the river rather than the disused railway line. Whoever it is that marks the routes obviously thinks it's much better to use the railway track, so the conveniently forgot to mark the route at the bottom. We eventually got it right, and it was well worth it, for most of the way. We saw a water vole running on the other side of the river, and I'm sure I saw a ferret/mink like animal just down the river and also on the other side. I would never have seen any of those before I had my eyes done. I'm so pleased I opted to get them fixed :)

There was, however, an area along the valley that the boys nicknamed "The Devils Poo Bowl". It was just mud everywhere. Nowhere you went could you get away from it, and it was deep in places. I landed up going at the back, and a good thing that was too. It meant that when I got my foot caught and fell flat on my tummy no one was there to witness it. The 7-year old got his boot stuck in the mud and had to have help retrieving it, and the 11-year old fared the same fate but managed to get himself un-stuck. The rest of the walk was spent trying to see trout in the river and throwing sticks in and racing them down the river.

On the Monday we went to the northern parts of Derbyshire, to Ladybower Reservoir, and cycled around Ladybower, Derwent and Howden Reservoir. We got going late, so we only went up after lunch, but we stopped for rests and snacks along the way. The dams are really quite magnificent, they look ancient and medieval like, but I'll bet they're not very old at all. Early
2oth centry according to Wikipedia.

At the very top, where we cross one of the rivers that run into the reservoirs, we stopped for a dambuilding break. This is also a favoured activity when on holiday. Find a river and build a dam, or if it's full of stuff, clear it up so the water runs freely, and in some cases, both. This is about the only time the 7-year old was this close to water and didn't fall in or step in and get soaked. Maybe he realised it would be a long ride to the car in wet shoes and clothes :)

The ride back to the car whizzed by, everyone going much better on smooth, tarmac'ed roads, even with a couple of long hills. In the evening we had our first braain, and for dessert we had bbq'ed banana's, which was really nice.

Next day was a day for walking again, but it was overcast and everyone was a bit tired from the bikeride, except S who just has endless amount of energy. We walked up Bunster Hill and down Dovedale to the steppingstones by Thorpe Cloud. Once there we had lunch and then boys went to play in a stream that runs into the River Dove. Suddenly we heard this almighty racked and looking up to see what was happening, the 7-year old was waiste deep in the river shouting at top volume to make sure everyone heard him, and wading his way towards us. I think it'll still be many years before we can go to the stepping stones without him getting absolutely soaked..

It had cleared up and it wasn't very cold, so we started encouraging the 11-year old to get in and get wet. We dared him to cross the river at a small rapid which is a favoured place for crossing if the queue at the stepping stones is too long. He eventually got a foot wrong and got wet feet, his balancing and carefulness is just too good these days ;) Afterwards we dressed the 7-year old in S's jumper, it being the only dry piece of clothing left and walked back to the carpark where we got home made ice-creams and sat on a piece of grass enjoying it. Amazingly good ice-creams. I had mint and chocolate and it's the best one I've had since the ice-cream place in Village Walk in Johannesburg, St Marcus I think it was called.

After our walk S went out for an hours bikeride to Milldale and back, before he took the boys to the pool for a swim, and I went shopping. Not very exciting, but needed to be done. In the evening we went to the pub for a meal and I had the most delicious chicken pancake.

The next day the boys didn't want to do anything. We were planning to do a long bikeride, but the weather didn't look great so we decided to wait and see if it would improve. Having decided to have a quiet day, S went out for a longer bikeride on his own, and when he came back we all went to the pool for a swim. S' parents came over for a braai in the afternoon and in the evening we went back to Dovedale to see if we could spot any bats. We didn't see many this time, but I guess it's a bit of hit and miss when you see bats.

On the Thursday it was raining, so we decided it wasn't a good day for a long bikeride and went up to Castleton to one of the caves, Treak Cliff Cavern, supposedly the only place in the world where you can get the Blue John mineral, or so the guides say. Inside the cavern there were amazing stalagtights and stalagmites which were up to 111000years old. One of the oldest stalagmights was in a group of 7 and was called Happy. Touching happy was meant to bring good luck, and if that was the case I shudder to think what the next couple of days would have been like had we not all touched Happy...

After the visit to the cave we went into Hathersage (or have-a-sausage as we call it to remember it), where they have a couple of really good outdoor shops. S was looking for some new t-shirts and I wanted t-shirts and hiking trousers. We both found what we wanted in one of the shops and after having done the boring shopping stuff we decided we needed a treat. The sun was back out so we headed up to the reservoirs again, since we were almost there already, and drove as far up as you could. Our plan was to walk back to the river we stopped at during the bikeride for some dambuilding, but it was really windy and when we got there we decided to rather go up the first stream we got to and see if we found a good place for dambuilding.

As we followed the stream up, the first place we stopped was in a copse of fir trees. It was nice, but the midgets were many and fierce, and they all went for me and the boys, or at least that's what it felt like. Before long the 7-year old had fallen over and was wet up to his bum too, so we decided to walk further up the stream and see where it brought us. We could also hear birds of prey being really noisy and I, for one, wanted to get out of the woods and see what kind of birs it was.

It was a Buzzard, whith two chicks, or whatever you call young Buzzards. The mom seemed to be teaching them to fly as the kept mainly to the top of the ridge and came out over the valley a bit now and then. Amazing sight and really beatiful birds. We walked up the stream until we met a dead and very smelly sheep then headed back down to the car. When we got to the car the 7-year old had to undress and wear S' jumper again. We have now learned to bring an extra change of clothes for him.

It was only when we got back to the cabin we realised we'd left the 7-year olds wellies behind when he got changed. It was an hours drive there so there was no way were were going to hace time to go up and get them, S' parents were coming over for a pub meal, so we decided to go into Ashbourne to buy a new pair the next morning, seeing as the next day was the last day possible for a bikeride so were were going to go out and didn't want to get going late.

We had a really nice meal down the pub and when it was time to pay, S realised he didn't have his card. It must have been left behind at the outdoor shop, being the only place he'd used it, and since we were going to Spain one week later, he couldn't wait for the bank to send him a new one.

We called the shop and their voicemail told us they opened at 9.30am, so the next morning S set off at 7.30am, went up to the reservoirs and picked up the wellies and then went to Hathersage and picked up his card before heading back down. When he got back, we were all ready to go, and so off we went for our long bikeride.

We parked in Thorpe and biked to Illam and from there over the hill to Waterhouses. On our way over the hill the heavens opened and we took refuge in a barn that was open. I think it was used to store wheat of some sort, but it was a great place for getting out of the rain and cold wind. It didn't take long for the sun to come out and we set off again, a bit slower going this time. When we got to Waterhouses we went up the Manifold Valley, which is a great cycle and walk path up the valley. No cars, just other cyclists and a few walkers. Halfway up the valley we stopped for lunch, and after that the 7-year old seemed to run out of steam and energy.

The rest of the way up the valley S would cycle next to the 7-year old and push him along so he didn't have to do anything. We were a bit worried he wouldn't be able to keep going, in which case S would have to go back for the car whilst I waited with the boys. Our only goal at the time was to get to the tea shop at the end of the valley for some cake and tea or milkshake for the boys. That seemed to do the trick. After the cake stop the 7-year old was full of energy again and the rest of the ride he was zooming along like he'd never done anything else.

From the Manifold Valley we went accross to the Wolfscote caves, had another stop there where the boys went to explore the caves and S and myself climbed out on a tree that was practically lying accross the river. Was slightly worried I'd fall in the river. Not because it was shallow, but because I just didn't want to cycle another 15 miles in wet clothes.. The Wolfscote caves are famous with S, he almost got stuck in them when he was 11 years old, and this time the 11-year old tried the same trick, but instead of getting stuck, he got through and out this little cave (or hole) on the other side. Can't believe he managed to get through and not get a panick attack, it was a really tight squeeze.

We then headed up the hill and in the search of the Tissington trail. We'd only just got up the hill when we realised our map was missing. S headed down to where we left our stuff when we explored the caves, but it was gone. Someone had nicked it either whilst we we exploring the caves or after we left. Luckily we just had to find the Tissington trail and it would take us back to Thorp. On our way to the train the 7-year old tried to avoid some stining nettles and ended up going over the handle bars of his bike. A really classic crash, with a soft landing on grass. I just saw it as I came round a bend and it was a 10 out of 10 crash!

As we drew close to the trail it started to rain again, so we stopped under some trees to get our waterproof jackets on and when it seemed to get lighter we headed off again. Luckily the trail was just up the road. Unluckily I'd left my backpack back under the trees, so S biked back to get it, and whilst he was gone the heavens decided to really open up. The boys and myself managed to find shelter under som trees, but S was very wet when he got back.

Going down the Tissington trail we went along quite quickly. At one point we were going 30km per hour. As we got closer to Thorpe the 7-year old decided he was going to practice cycling with one hand only. It went how exactly how you'd expect, he had a big crash. And this time there wasn't any soft grass in the middle. It was a scary thing to watch, but the war wounds were superficial, luckily. We got back to the car, with all of us fading a bit at the end.

Saturday we went home and again spent hours in the car, this time trying to avoid the traffic jams on the M25.

Winter wonderland?

2009-02-02T11:56:00.002+01:00

Yesterday it started snowing here in Horsham. Not a lot, and last time it snowed there was all of 1cm, so I didn't stress about it. As my energy providers were coming to change the meter, I had to be at work early today so I could leave a bit earlier.

When I got up there was 3cm of snow and everything looked white and beautiful, peaceful. And I was still not stressed. In fact, I've not got stressed all day, so far, so doing good. There was a bit of sluch on the roads when I set off, but not a lot, and they were mostly clear.

Then I got just over halfway, having turned off the A281 onto the Brighton Road to Godalming, and there was a bit more snow. By the time I got 1/3 of the way along this road, there was quite a bit more snow. About 40cm, and the roads had been gritted with salt, but not cleared at all. In fact, as I drove on, I got the distinct feeling that all the road clearing equipment had rusted away somewhere and all that was available was salt gritting..

I was following another Ford Focus, and this little B road (can't remember the number) goes over a hillrange and down the other side is Godalming. As I was following this car, we came to the last, and steepest, hill. And the car in front stopped!! I'm not even going to begin to write down all the french I was speaking. I could have killed the bugger. Trying to start going uphill in slushy snow that's deep. I managed without having to back all the way down again, especially considering it's a narrow, winding road.

Having managed to get up the hill, we slowly got our way down on the other side. And boy was I glad I wasn't going the other way. There were cars completely stuck and people trying to push them uphil.. However, it was only when I got to work I realised that of course the car park hadn't been cleared either. I drove round to our building and then realised that no one else had arrived at work, and I didn't have a key. I called my boss and we decided the best thing to do was for me to go back home.

It's just that having stopped the car in 40cm of snow, getting going again wasn't easy. I got halfway out, then the car just wouldn't budge. Luckily for me another one of the guys I work with had walked in and he was kind enough to help me get the car back out again. But it took 45min.

Eventually I headed back home, going the A281 all the way and missing out the Brighton Road. Except there was a truck stuck on the road, and when that got moving, I was stuck behind a girl who just didn't dare go over 15miles per hour, even when we got back to the Cranleigh traffic lights. So I passed her and got home eventually.

It took me 1hr to get to work, and 1.5hrs to get back, and that's on a stretch that usually takes 35min each way. And when I got home, there was still only 3cm of snow. You'd think that after all that, there'd at least me enough snow to make you feel you're home for a reason. I tried to take a picture with my mobile, but after I lost it in the desert, the camera is the last thing to recover, and it's not doing very well. I ended up filming my legs in the car.

Tomorrow I will turn back if there's still a lot of snow and unclear roads. No use going all the way there, to not be bale to get in, get stuck in the parking lot, and then spend forever getting home again.

Moving on

2009-01-21T22:18:00.002+01:00

I'm moving on from my current laptop to a new one. And just in time too. My c drive is filling up like nobody's business.

I think I have, however, found out what's taking up the space on my laptop. It's patch files from Microsoft. Not sure if it's just Office or Office and Windows, but to find out which ones I can delete, I have to go through each one and check if it's in the registry or not. In other words, a full days work at the best, considering there's 12GB worth of them, and most of them are 4MB in size. Having said this, I've thought I've know what the problem is on several occasions, and it's been a dead end every time, so I won't hold my breath this time either.

I've had help from Newbie, and after spending a whole weekend scanning and posting logs, not to mention sheer frustration waiting for the darn things to finish, my laptop working on "snail about to die" speed.

But all that is about to end. Tomorrow :) When my new Toshiba Satellite Pro arrives. And yes, I will be happy to spend the time getting it up and running and moving the most important stuff over from my old laptop. Providing there is nothing wrong with the new one.

Just my luck it won't work. Just like with my luck the work laptop has decided to start playing up last weekend. Turns out it's the explorer process which hangs, but oh so annoying when you have to restart it several times in order to get all your programs to run properly.

Oh well, one of these days I might have more luck with laptops, and in the meanwhile I will enjoy my new one and persevere with my work one.

Curious knack :)

2009-01-15T21:58:00.002+01:00

I was in Norway last weekend. It was my birthday and I didn't want to spend it on my own, and since I was in Dubai for Christmas (which was excellent) I decided that I would go to Norway for my birthday.

My brother and his girlfriend have just had a baby, on Christmas Day. Luckily for the baby, Christmas Eve is the big celebration in Norway, so it'll get presents two days in a row instead. Having a birthday close to Christmas myself, I know that the combines birthday and Christmas presents are just no fun, so I for one will be sure not to do that to my baby nephew.

I did, however, find out that I have a knack for making babies fall asleep. One of my best friends, who taught me how to let loose my hair (for better or worse, but mostly better) and definitely taught me how to party (got me drunk the first time I was really drunk) has also had a baby, about 3 months ago, a little girl. And I can tell you she is her mothers daughter. She will do what she wants and no amount of routine or good intentions are going to change that. By best friend and her boyfriend, and my Irish friend and her husband all came to mom's on Sat for Christmas dinner (I had been deprived of Christmas dinner at Christmas, so that was my only wish). My best friend had had her daughter for the 3 month health check and the baby had been vaccinated. As a result my best friend brought the baby with her. I managed to get her to fall asleep twice :D

My baby nephew also fell asleep whilst I was holding him, but not the first time. He didn't know me, and I guess I was nervous too, he was rather small and fragile, or at least he looked it. When it came to nappies he was a man's man. I did have the pleasure(?) of changing his nappie, and not only had he made a huge, orange poop, he peed on me. Not once, but twice. During the same nappie change.. I think I got the point, and got him dressed quickly. It was obviously a bit cold and he was suffering from bladder shrinkage. Or initiating me.

It was a great evening though. Mom, my Irish friends and me sat up drinking wine and sparkling wine until 3am, when I was so tired I could not keep my eyes open any more. The next day we went for a walk in the forest and staggered our way across an icy patch longer than I had hoped it would be. Even the dog was walking cautiously on the side. But it was so nice to be out and walking with people in daylight. I usually end up going for a short walk in the evening after dark here in the UK and it's just not as nice.

How blonde can I get?

2009-01-15T21:41:00.002+01:00

I woke up this morning and struggled to get out of bed. I just knew I should have stayed there, but unfortunately that would only have postponed my feeling of shame and absolute blondness, not removed it :(

I got up, got ready and started the car. It sputtered. I stopped the car. Flashback to night before, filling 95 no octane petrol in my car. It's a diesel car...

Call Recovery and they come and tow the car to Haywards Heath, opposite direction of work, but who cares at this point. I sit there shitting bricks hoping that my 1km ride from filling up the car and home has not made lasting damage to the engine. And seething with irritation that I just wasted close to £50 on a full tank of petrol. That will go straight in the trash, so to speak.

And I felt like I truly lived up to the colour of my hair. Blond as they come!!

I have been so careful when filling up the car to make sure I fill up with diesel. Last night I just operated on autopilot. Shopping for food does that to you. I know, excuses, excuses. Oh well, hopefully I won't do that again anytime soon. I was hoping to buy a new laptop to replace this old, slow one that's about 2sec away from total standstill :(

Some pictures from the summer

2008-12-23T22:48:00.008+01:00

Really wonderful little river that runs right next to Gatwick airport. I saw 3 deer running past me on the other side of the river.

Dovedale, from the top of the "volcano". The real name escapes me, as we always just call it the volcano. It looks like one when you see it from the road.

Sprout having a lie in in bed whilst I was visiting mom. Not seen her since August, so really looking forward to going back in Jan.

Mojo also had a lie in every morning. He even looks friendly in this picture. Looks can be deceiving, though. He's just as likely to bite you as let you fuss him..

Hello :)

2008-12-23T21:41:00.002+01:00

Ahhh, 2 months of work and getting settled in. Took me a while to get broadband, nothing is easy in this place. It's still not fully sorted, for that matter. Sky has charged me for services I have not received, and although I have complained, I have heard nothing back.

You need a credit check for everything! You can't even subscribe to magazines without a credit check. It's absolutely ridiculous. But there you go, pros and cons with every place :)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I'm not celebrating on my own. It's as unchristmasy here as you can get it, mild weather with green lawns, no christmas decorations as they are all in Dubai, and just me. But then I go to Dubai on Christmas day, and I fly business with Emirates!! How much better can it get?? I'm so looking forward to it.

To top it off, I get an hours massage at Dragonfly from S for Christmas. It just the best present! On the 27th the boys come out and we're going to go camping in Oman, north of the UAE. Lots of adventures.

It's the ten-year-olds birthday just before New Year, so we'll be celebrating. Not sure what we're going to do, but we'll figure something out. It's my birthday not long after, so we'll be celebrating that one too. For that matter, I'm going to Norway to celebrate my actual birthday with mom. A couple of friends, my Irish friend and her husband are coming, and we're going to have christmas dinner. Fish for my Irish friend as she's piscarian (eats fish but not meat).

Lots happening, but I'll get better at writing here. And posting photos. Just have to remember to take pictures. Not something I'm good at..

Java Certified!!!!

2008-09-12T14:01:00.003+02:00

Whilst in Dubai I studied and passed my Java 5 certification exam! It was mostly too hot to be outside during the day anyway, and without anything concrete to do I would have climbed the walls and gone mad.. So I studied and studied and registered to take the exam at a place in Knowledge Village, just up the road from us.

I showed up early, seeing as I did not want any unforeseen things to happen.. Well, they did. I was told that the test centre, HDI, had cancelled all exams as they had connection issues. Either with internet or a server or something. They said Synergy, another test centre in the same building, might let me take the exam with them, so I rushed up to ask them, but they needed the voucher number (got a voucher when I ordered the exam last year). So I got in a taxi, went back to the flat and got my voucher, and went back to Synergy. Unfortunately when HDI had cancelled the exam, they had not done it in the proper fashion, which is why I was never told, so my voucher was tied to their exam, and invalid. So I called Prometrics in Holland to see what I can do, and the first guy I spoke to said it's not cancelled by HDI, I need to go down and ask them to cancel it. So I do, but they cannot get online to the e-helpdesk to cancel it.

I call Holland again, and I'm told I need to go back to HDI and tell them forcefully to call helpdesk and get a ticket number for the issue, otherwise there is nothing they can do. So I go back to HDI and they call their contact, and after about 30 minutes I finally have a ticket number. I go back to Synergy, call Prometrics back, get the same nice guy who told me about the ticket number, and he fixes it for me so I can take the exam with Synergy. I have by now run out of money on my pay-as-you-go mobile, and I'm getting hungry and tired. However, it's not straight forward as Synregy usually don't let people take exams on Thursday afternoons, they made an exception with me. So an hour later, and 3 hrs after I was meant to start the exam, I got to take the exam.

Now I thought everything was straight forward. I did all I could, but didn't get to double check all my answers. I had more than enough time, but I really needed the loo, and I was really hungry, it being close to 6pm and my last meal had been a couple of slices of toast at 11am. So I just submitted the exam, only to find out that the printer didn't work. You don't get to know your results before you see the printout of the report. So starts another hour and a bit of waiting for the poor guy who'd helped me out earlier, to come back to work from the middle of Dubai, and fix the printing problem.

Having arrived at the building at 12.10pm, I was able to leave it at 7.15pm, and only got home after 7.30pm. I was absolutely shattered, and I was at one point wondering if I was just not meant to take the exam. Especially considering the first time I tried I had almost the same happen, except I was told a couple of days in advance, and had an extra voucher I could use. What a day, is all I can say..

Mom's exciting visit to Dubai

2008-09-12T13:03:00.002+02:00

Less than a week after the boys left, mom came to visit for a week. And the day before she arrived, the humidity arrived. Talk about bad timing. In all the time I was there, the period of humidity was the longest when mom was there.

She arrived and an ungodly hour on Thursday morning and left at a just as ungodly hour Friday a week later. And I'd hardly driven the monster truck (how it felt like to me at that stage) and not on my own. It's all well and good to drive a monster truck, everyone seems to magically move out of your way, seeing as your car will smash their cars to smithereens and there'll hardly be a scratch on your car. Tried and tested..

However, I soon got into the hang of things and apart from Sheikh Zayed Road in rush hour, or the Mall of the Emirates (MoE) junction at any hour, I seemed to be doing quite well. Even stuck to the Noggie way of backing your car into any parking space and thereby making it loads easier to get out again.

The first problem arrived when I picked mom up at the airport and noticed the left front tire was slightly lower on air. So I decided to keep an eye on it. Two days later it looked like it was even lower, so we searched out a petrol station with a working air pressure thingy and found out there was hardly any air in it. The other tires were 34psi (or whatever it's called) and the said tire was only 12psi. I filled it up to 34 and retested the next day, and it was back down to 25psi. So off we went to find a place to fix it.

Found a place, and the guy who owned it was very friendly. They got the tire off and found the problem. A huge screw was lodged in the tire towards the edge. After mush deliberation, S was in Rome and unavailable, I decided that the best option was to buy a new tire. This was the same day mom and I were meant to go to Sandy Beach and snorkel. So we got slightly delayed, but decided to make a break for it as soon as we got back home, and to stop at Ibn Battuta to get the rest of what we needed.

There I made my biggest mistake. Instead of backing into the parking space, I drove nos in first. Seeing as it was a weekday, there were hardly any cars there, and because I was still getting used to the car, I parked far away from the entrance, where there are fewer cars. Backing off I completely missed a bright red Toyota Corolla and bumped it. The Corolla got a few scratches and bumps, whereas the Prado didn't have a scratch. The only thing we noticed was the the paint on the bumper was coming loose, but that might have been from an earlier damage that had not been fixed properly.

Things work differently in UAE and any bumps or scratches have to be reported to the police. And there are camera's everywhere, so running off is not an option. But I'm too nice anyway, and called the police dutifully. I had problems understanding what they were saying, and they had problems understanding me, so I ended up going to the police station in Jebel Ali. I just had to find it first, which is not easy. But got there in the end..

Once there mom had to change. She was wearing a singlet, and seeing as your not meant to show your shouldres in muslim countries, that was not the best thing to waer. The police proceded to call the owner of the other car and get them to come to the police station. After waiting for an hour or so, they arrived, and although I had said quite clearly that the fault was mine, the police thought that the other driver had bumped my car and run off. Having cleared that up, everything moved along quite smoothly and after about another hour we were on the road again, heading for the east coast, many hours delayed.

When we got there it was dark, and so we decided to wait with swimming in the sea until the next day. We made beste friends with the cats there, they were really friendly and would sit and fuss on your laps, at least the females did. The male ones were just noisy and kept a distance. The next day we headed off bright and early, but when we go to the waters edge, the water looked oily. Turns out there had been an oilspill further down the coast and there was a very thin layer of oil on the water. This didn't affect the fishes, and you could swim, but getting the oil out of your clothes and hair was apparently very hard. So we decided to give that a skip, and lounged by the pool for a few hours before heading back to Dubai.

We did, howevre, have a really nice time there, and we skipped driving through Oman and Wadi Bih on the way back, didn't fancy another return trip over those mountains :)

At this point going to the beach in Dubai wasn't such fun. The water was warmer than bath water, and cooling off was not going to happen. We did try to go to the beach in the morning, but it wasn't much better. I'm not one for lying on the beach, it's just too boring. So we did a few other things. We went to Souk Madinat, once to look around, and once to take a trip on the little boats around the resorts surroinding it. There was even a sea turtle splashing around there. All we got to see of it was one of the flippers, but that's more than I've seen before. We also went to MoE and Ibn Battuta a few times. More of a relaxing week really, rather than trying to cram loads in.

Another lethal sport..

2008-09-11T17:50:00.004+02:00

So, I'm in the UK at the moment, staying with S' mom and dad (or mom-in-law and dad-in-law for lack of an easier name). They don't have internet, so during the day I sit at S' brother's place (bro-in-law is easiest) and bike between them, when the weather permits. And in this country biking is a lethal sport, as bro-in-law can tell you. He's disabled after being hit by a car when biking in a race.

It's a wonder S has survived biking on these roads for so long. But let me tell you, females in small cars are the worst ones. They obviously have no idea what the size of their car is like, and they pass so close their wing mirror is millimeters from my handlebars at times, or at least that's what it feels like.

Not to mention the double decker buses.. On small, winding country lanes that give Norwegian country lanes a run for their money, being even more narrow and with absolutely no shoulder! In Norway there would be walk and cycle paths next to the roads, but not here, the only option is the road. And so I cycle, and I learn a few new phrases each time, and if any of the drivers have their windows open they are in no doubt as to what I think of their driving!

What if I was to hit a bump and loose my balance when one of these dimwitted females (or the male equivalent) drive past? I'll just as likely crash into them, dent their car and break at least a leg in the process as crash into the hedge next to the road. And they can't claim they didn't see me, I've made sure of that. I wear a fluorescent yellow jacket with reflectors and have panniers that have fluorescent orange covers, also with reflectors.

I now cycle a bit out into the road, forcing the cars to slow down if there is an approaching car. I don't want to end up bruised and battered just because someone wanted to get home 2 seconds quicker..

The kids were in Dubai

2008-09-10T15:28:00.002+02:00

One thing I have not written about was when the boys were out in Dubai. We had a great time, going to the beach every morning, and either getting stuck in the desert, watching a movie or doing other indoor things in the afternoon..

The first afternoon we decided to go for a off road desert drive to Fossil Rock. We started off quite good, took some air out of the tires and set off. Unfortunately we got a bit lost, and when we found a round, dual carriage with two lanes in each direction, we headed on down to find out where we were. It ended in nothing. Absolutely nothing but desert. Like a piece of road carried off by giants and that had just been dropped some arbitrary place. So we headed in the other direction..

Luckily we found the track we were meant to be on and got on our way again. And were doing very well, until we got to Camel rock. This is a bug rock that just sticks out of the sand dunes in the shape of a camel. There the dunes looked a bit steep, and we were struggling to find the so called track we were meant to be following, so we decided to head off the dunes and into the valley below. Unfortunately the car got stuck on the very last sand dune, and we had to go out and dig. Not having shovels in the car, meant we had to dig with what we had, our arms. The boys were sent to sit in the shade, and we got digging.

The six-year-old was not especially enamoured with the whole situation, and kept asking if we would be stuck there through the night or forever. But we could see a village just at the head of the valley, and we did have mobiles with us, so we were not going to be stuck there forever. However, for a little boy aged six, this is not easy to understand, not when you're terrified at the same time, so he kept panicking. All the while we were trying our best to get the wheels to rest on sand.

Having eventually managed to do so, we tried the car, but it wouldn't start. We thought it had overheated, and tried to calm the six-year-old enough to wait for the engine to cool. Luckily there was a group of trucks passing us with a load of tourists, and they could happily tell us that the engine had not overheated, the battery was flat.. So they pulled us off and started our battery for us. And we headed home by the quickest and easiest route.

The next day the battery was just as flat, and it turned out that it was a duff battery. So, only having had the car just over 2 weeks, we headed to the shop and had them change it to a brand new, good one. Free, of course. Warranty and all that..

We also went to the east coast, to Sandy Beach and Snoopy Island. On our way there we went by Hatta and swam at Hatta Pools. S (I know I was going to call him my/the partner, but it doesn't sound right) jumped off the side and into the pool, but that was just too scary for me. About 5m up and you couldn't see the bottom of the pool. We knew that you could jump there, others have done it before us, but I don't like jumping from 3m even, let alone anything higher.

Sandy Beach was great. The cabins were basic, but you weren't there to sit in a cabin, but snorkel at Snoopy Island! We went off immediately, abandoning everything in the cabin. It was shallow enough to walk out when the tide was out, and about 100m to swim. We saw all kinds of weird and wonderful fish, and the ten-year-old even saw a shark. To be honest we didn't believe him to begin with, but then we found out that there are black tipped reef sharks there, and now we're envious and want to go back and see sharks ourselves..

On our way back from Sandy Beach, we decided to go the off road route through Wadi Bih. Absolutely stunning landscaped, with rock formations in all directions, and huge boulders just slumped in the bottom here and there, like those same giants had played with them, sending them down the riverbed, and they were just left where they stopped.

Unfortunately the route is mostly in Oman, with small border posts at the borders. So after over 2 hrs of driving, we arrived at the border post only to be told the border was closed!! We had to drive all the way back, which did go considerably quicker, but then we had to drive all the way over to Dubai again. It felt like we were in the car all day!

I'm still here

2008-09-08T18:04:00.002+02:00

I'm still here, but the time and energy to write posts about everything has just not been present :(

I read this book based on a blog, about a woman who moved from London to a northern village and her first two years there. It solved on of the few problems I've had about blogging, namely what to call people. Her kids were called according to their age, the four-year-old and so on, and others were called according to what they did or what she associated them with. And I though that was a great idea. So hence forth S shall be known as my partner (or the partner) and his children will be known as the six-year-old and the ten-year-old.

Oh, and the cats will just stay Mojo and Sprout, as any more names now might be confusing. They already have several names each, and although they say in Norway that "a loved child has many names", too many can get confusing..

The art of bed-diving

2008-07-13T11:27:00.002+02:00

Bed diving is an art know only to a select few. Most of us are blond..

A week ago I was having a blond moment. I needed to go to the loo just after we've turned off the lights. Ever noticed how that always happens? Don't need the loo when you're in the bathroom, but when you've turned out the lights and trying to fall asleep.

Normally this is not a problem, as I usually have a good idea of where the edge of the bed is. But the evening in question was not normal, it would seem. And before you ask, no I was not drunk out of my mind. I just thought I knew where the edge was, but it turned out the edge was a lot closer..

So I had my first, and hopefully only, practice in bed-diving. I went crashing off the bed, landing on my one knee, and catching the edge of the bed with the big toe on my other foot, taking lamps and everything my flailing arms could reach, with me onto the floor. Great big bang, noise so loud I'm sure the neighbours 3 floors below and above us heard it.

S is frantically searching for a light whilst asking me if I'm OK. My first thought was "Am I OK"? then a huge pain from my toe stops all sound from exiting my mouth. Meanwhile S keeps asking and asking me to please say something and eventually finds a light switch. Just as I manage to say "grraaw", that being the only sound I managed to make.

It's short lived, the pain that is, and after about a minute I just start laughing. It was just so comical. Here I am, a grown woman who's slept in the same size bed for over 3 years, and I bed-dive.. S did not see the humour of it there and then, but by the time morning arrived, I was hearing all about it. Was I going to enter the bed-diving event at the Olympics? How do they judge bed-diving exactly? The amount of noise you make?

It's just one of those stories that are slightly embarrassing, but too funny not to tell. Every time I think of it, all I can see is an animated short film with a cartoon character falling off the bed, arms everywhere. And I start laughing :)

Excellent sign!

2008-07-03T15:04:00.004+02:00

I was reading an article in a Norwegian newspaper, about place names and how some place's roadsigns and various other signs get stolen. A favourite sign frequently taken down in Norway, is the Moose signs. To each their own.

However, there is a place in Norway that is called Hell. And at the train station they have the most excellent sign I have ever seen. At first I didn't get what all the fuss was about, I was reading it in Norwegian. But then I looked at it again, and read it in English.. And almost fell off the couch..

The Divorced Barbie Doll

2008-07-02T10:59:00.001+02:00

One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he suddenly remembers that it's his daughter's birthday.

He pulls over to a Toy Shop and asks the sales person, 'How much for one of those Barbie's in the display window?'

The salesperson answers, 'Which one do you mean, Sir?
We have: Work Out Barbie for $19.95, Shopping Barbie for $19.95, Beach Barbie for $19.95, Disco Barbie for $19.95, Ballerina Barbie for $19.95, Astronaut Barbie for $19.95, Skater Barbie for $19.95, and Divorced Barbie for $265.95'.

The amazed father asks: 'It's what?! Why is the Divorced Barbie $265.95 and the others only $19.95?'

The annoyed salesperson rolls her eyes, sighs, and answers:
'Sir..., Divorced Barbie comes with: Ken's Car, Ken's House, Ken's Boat, Ken's Furniture, Ken's Computer, one of Ken's Friends, and a key chain made with Ken's balls'.

Pictures from Wadi Madbah

2008-06-03T14:12:00.006+02:00

The white pool with the sulfur smell. It had a rather freaky feel to it, since there was nothing living in it. Did not want to stick a toe in it, and if anything got dropped in there, my bet is it would lie there and disappear all on it's own..

The highest waterfall in the UAE.. Coming from Norway, this is just a trickle, but I can understand what they mean. There are very few mountains in the UAE, and this is technically Oman, but that's a technicality. I'm guessing it's much more impressive after rain, but I'm not about to go there then to find out. Don't want to get caught in a flash flood.

S swimming in the rock pool. The water was not 100% clear, but it didn't smell, and it was cool and refreshing. And so deep you couldn't stand. S dived down to the bottom, and it wasn't far, but there were bigger fish down there, so I kept my feet well away..

Walking back down the wadi. You can just see our car down there. The only car you can see :)
There were loads of goats around, too. These had been going through the trash and were off to the falaj (running along the wadi looking like a wall) for some water and shade.

There wadi wall was very interesting. You can clearly see the two different types of rock. Almost looked like it was man-made and designed to look like that.

Oman for a day

2008-06-03T12:41:00.002+02:00

When I arrived in Dubai at the beginning of May, the immigration people managed to stamp my passport with 2nd April instead of 2nd May. Not a problem if you're on a 2 week holiday, but a bit worse when you're on a longer "holiday" and the visitor visa only lasts 60 days..

So, since the boys were coming here for half term, and we weren't going to the UK, we needed to jump the border so I could get an exit visa and a new entry visa lasting a new 60 days. Quickest and easiest way of doing this was jumping the border to Oman and back. UAE borders Oman by Al Ain, and there are loads of thing to see just across the border.

Having finally got the car, we decided to go the Friday before the boys arrived, around middle of May. We left early in the morning, and I drove part of the way. First time I drove an automatic car, and one with cruise control. A pleasure to drive with cruise control. You just accelerate, put it on, lean back and steer. Easiest thing in the world. We crossed the UAE border post with only minor issues, we'd left the car registration at home..

Once across we headed to Wadi Madbah, a small wadi with a waterfall and a couple of rock pools. One of them was deep and big enough to swim in. It was amazingly refreshing to swim in, water was cool even though it was surrounded by hot rock. I was expecting it to be as warm as the pool here was. It took me a while to work up the courage to get in, the rock pool was full of small fish that nibbled at your toes when you stood barefoot in the shallow part.

One of the pools was completely white, and smelled slightly of sulfur. No idea why just this particular pool was like that, as none of the others had any of the white stuff in them. This particular pool had no fish or frogs in it, whilst the others where overflowing with both. It was a bit weird when one of the frogs decided to check us out and swam between us.

After having relaxed a bit at the pool, we got on with our trip. Next stop was the old village Kuthwa, and it's oasis. A really idyllic place, with shade from date palms and mango trees and small fields of squares cultivating different herbs. One patch, around some date palms, had mint growing everywhere. The smell was just fantastic.

We tried to follow the falaj (old waterway used to transport water, and is still used today) up to some rock pools that were meant to be a mere 20 min walk up the wadi. But it got too hot. It was over 40 degrees outside, and the heat was beating down from the sun, and up from the rocks, and I had to go back into the shade, with a slight heatstroke, enough for S to pour cold water over my head to help me cool down.

NB!! If any of you Google to find out what a falaj is, be careful. I went to a page about Oman, and got Trojan's infested in my laptop. The web address was something like "nizwas" or something like that.

After that we decided it was a little too hot to walk outside without rock pools or shade to keep us cool, so we thought we'd head back. And a good thing we decided to too. The border posts for Oman are not located together with the border posts for the UAE. Instead of being on the border, they are further inland. So, with all our sightseeing, we had not passed a border post for Oman, and when we tried to enter UAE again, we were told we had to go and get and entry and exit stamp for Oman before we could enter again. So off we went again, past Wadi Madbah and into the Oman mountains in search of a border post.

There was luckily no traffic at this border post, and the guys working there were kind enough to give us both the entry and the exit stamp at the same time, and so after we got our passports back, we could just turn around and drive back the way we came. Not quite what I expected, but hey, it worked, and it was fairly smooth. Apparently the problem was my passport, and as a visitor I needed the proper stamps.

So, after a lot of driving, some red tape and seeing a couple of really good places, we headed back to Dubai again, having visited one more country. They are adding up now ;)

My first month here..

2008-06-03T12:04:00.002+02:00

Well, a month has passes, and I've not been very good in keeping the posts coming. To be honest, after spending half the day job hunting, sometimes the whole day, I'm not too keen on sitting in front of the laptop anymore. The good news is that with less computer work, my shoulder is improving no end, and it hardly hurts anymore :)

The first week I spent just getting into order, finding my way around, getting stuff we needed for the flat (still not completed, but we have decided to give up on it, both of us tired of walking around shops). I also had to go to the Police licensing department 3 times before a guy was kind enough to inform me that I no longer needed a temporary drivers license. First time I went the guy just handed my papers back to me and informed me I could only get a temporary license with a residence visa, but I thought that was when you exchanged your old drivers license for a UAE one. S then went to another police licensing department close to where he works, and was told more or less the same thing. After some more research we decided to try again, that maybe not many people asked for temporary drivers licenses.

So we go up early and was there for when they opened, at 7.30am. This is when the kind guy at the typing desk said they no longer did temporary drivers licenses, rules had changed, and I could drive on my normal drivers license. This was good new, but we double checked with the insurance company before I tried to drive the car.

It took us almost 2 weeks to get the car. Every time we thought we had now done what we needed to do and given the dealer what they needed, they came back and said they needed something else. Eventually we just gt with the flow and realised the car would be ready when it was.

I think the hardest thing to come to terms with here is the laid back style of how things are done. "God willing" is the way everything is looked at, and this means it will happen if god decodes it will, and we will do nothing to make it happen sooner or later. Once you accept this, life is easier. Oh, and I never thought I'd miss pork, but seeing as I don't like lamb, it's chicken or beef for me, and sometimes fish, although we are not very good on buying and cooking fish. It needs a bit more thought behind it than just popping over to the shop and getting a fillet or two to throw in the oven. This is because we don't have any shops as close as we used to in Norway. Just a matter of changing routines, but not gotten that far yet. Although I found some cod fillets and hake fillets in the freezer section yesterday. Maybe start with the easy stuff?

I've also read in the residence guide that certain shops keep pork. I just haven't found them yet. Carrefour and Geant are the two biggest shops close to us, and they don't carry pork at all. I'm hoping there is a bigger Spinneys around somewhere that maybe has it. But that means going out driving and finding your way round. I have driven a bit around, but the roads are really confusing. They seem to cut off lanes and driving options at random, and suddenly a road will split and they put in huge concrete barriers, but there are no signs to say that warn you to stay on the one or the other side if you're meant to turn off in a couple of intersections time. It's all down to knowledge and previous experience, preferably not older than 1-2 weeks.

But the weather is great. And the people are really nice and friendly. I have not felt less respected just because I'm a female, except for being dismissed when I tried to get my temporary drivers license. I try to respect the nationals and their customs. I don't wear a small miniskirt or shorts and a singlet when I go shopping, and when I need to go to official places, like the police station, I will also cover up arms and legs. However, if I', just going across the road to go to the beach, I just wear the small wrap around skirt I got before I left, and my UV top.

The sun is really strong here, and when the boys came out last week, both S and I went and got UV tops for ourselves. Mostly because we were going to a water park, but it has been really good to have when we've been snorkeling or swimming in rock pools. More about that later.

I'm really enjoying it here. Getting used to the road system, and the laid back attitude is just a way of life. It gets frustrating at times, but you learn to live with it. This is not the first place I have lived where the attitude is like this. But at least here it gets done eventually, if not a bit later than expected or hoped for. In other places it might never get done.. It also helps that when driving, it's a great, big car, you know that if anything happens, you're safe, unless it's one fo those really annoying Hummer's you're crashing with..

I have arrived

2008-05-06T08:29:00.004+02:00

I'm in Dubai, and it's great, apart from having a sore throat.

The last week in Norway was a bit hectic. Trying to see old friends, new friends and anyone I wanted to see before I left. I went down to the pub on the Friday, but there was a band, and everyone was sitting outside, but not on the nice, no wind side, instead right at the end where you get the wind no matter where it's coming from. I was chilled to the bone (hence my sore throat) and didn't stay long. I may be Norwegian, but I'm not one of those desperate people who will sit outside come hell or high water as soon as there is sun and above 0 degrees. And it wasn't much over 0, at least with the wind.

We started off with a very sweet bottle of white wine, of which we only managed a glass each, then swiftly moved onto, and finished off, a bottle of J.C. le Roux (sparking red wine). It was great. We had a really nice time, chatting about what we'd do when mom comes to visit in June, and everything else under the stars. Mom is great that way. You can talk to her about anything.

On Sunday we wanted to try another new white wine we had never tried before. A bottle that even had instructions on how to open it on the label. And we still couldn't figure it out. After checking on the internet that we were using the correct tool, can't remember the name anymore, I eventually figured it just had a normal beer bottle cap on. But it was covered in a plastic top. Why not just say on the back "Open in same manner as opening a beer bottle"??? Instead they use fancy words and names of bottle openers and you cannot figure out much from the grainy pictures.

In all this I must admit I was lagging behind on the whole packing thing. I'm not very good at packing. I never pack before the night before leaving, but I have become a very good packer, at least for holidays. After having traveled Ryanair so many times, one has no other choice, with a 15kg limit. This time was a bit different, though, and I was trying my best to get with me as much as possible, so mom didn't have to bust her limit when she comes, or has none of her stuff with her. I managed to get laptop and most my stuff in the suitcase and it came to 23.8kg (and no one complained).

Back to Monday. I went to stay with M again after work on Monday, and we went to Asker to go and eat at the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to (the guy who runs it is from Rome, and I think the chef is his brother, but I might have that wrong). I shared a Ferrari pizza with P, and still we didn't finish it. We had a really nice red wine with the meal, and everyone was getting pretty tipsy. Then we decided to go back to M's place for dessert, a fruit salad. I stopped drinking then, had to drive in the morning, but it was great fun anyway. A really nice evening with good friends, nice food and nice dessert.

Tuesday I had lunch with my manager and the team I work with. Really nice lunch at Pascal's. And I had the Chili cake for dessert; nice dark chocolate with chili which tasted absolutely amazing!! I got a really nice bunch of flowers from my manager, orchids and some other really nice flowers, and they even smelled nice. Usually flowers these days have no smell at all, but these did. After that I went for an ice cream with the customer project managers and other customer contacts I have worked closely with. It was a really nice day, all in all. But a bit sad. Packing up my desk I still didn't realise that I was not going back the next day.

Wednesday I just went back to hand in my laptop and other stuff that I no longer needed. Felt weird. And sad. And scary. And exciting. All at once.

So, after a very long travel, SAS business to Heathrow, bus to Gatwick, looooong wait at Gatwick and Emirates flight overnight, I arrived in Dubai, with a sore throat. I hardly slept on the plane, but I did sleep more than I expected to. I bought one of those travel pillows at the airport, the one with the flat back so that it supports your head all the way up your neck, and it helped a lot. Instead of my head lolling around and my neck getting sore, it was only my bent legs bothering me. My knee keeps on locking, so if I keep it bent too long, it gets really sore and I have to straighten it out. Luckily I had an isle seat, and could get up and straighten my legs now and then.

Friday we went around and had a quick look at cars, and contemplated buying a brand spanking new Mitsubishi Pajero, but on Saturday we went to this second hand dealer that had a 2005 model Toyota Prado for a reasonable price and in good condition, as far as we could suss out. So we bought that instead. It'll only be available later this week, but we have sorted out a car, and got a car we can go camping in the desert with.

Today, now that my throat has finally decided to give me a break, I'm going to go and check out what is available here at JBR. There are shops and restaurants opening all the time on the ground and plaza level, and I've only had a look around Bahar. There are 5 or 6 other complexes, so it's about time I found out what is where.

Bowling and alcohol

2008-04-28T13:23:00.002+02:00

I went bowling with P and R from the pub, and and a few of P's friends the other weekend. 6 girls, one guy, and two bowling lanes..

We went to Sandvika bowling, where they also had a bar. And served half bottles og white wine that you could bring with you to the bowling lanes. We had a game of pool first, as not everyone had arrived, and I teamed up with R, the only guy, and we won!! I didn't pocket one ball..

The bowling went a bit better, but that was only due to the alcohol. . Normally, if I'm lucky, I manage a couple of spares and maybe one strike, but this time I managed at least 3 strikes. So I have decided I can only play alcohol if there's bowling involved..

Another month has passed in a matter of seconds

2008-04-28T12:37:00.002+02:00

I was hoping things would calm down as the leaving day got closer, but there is just so much to do, sort through and so many people to see.

Went to the UK for 3,5 days at the beginning of April, the only days I saw S in April. It's not easy to not see more of him. I miss him terribly and don't want to share him with anyone, other than the boys. And since it was over 3 months since I'd seen the boys too, it was like trying to fit so much into just a couple of days. Felt pulled and stretched in every direction. worse than the trip to SA in Jan, I was absolutely shattered by the time I got back. Didn't help that I woke up at 2am one morning and didn't go back to sleep..

We went to Woburn Safari Park the first day I was there, and it was great!! It was a nice and clear day, sun was shining, and it wasn't so warm all the animals were hiding in the bushes. Some of the animals still had their breakfast (wolves) and were not bothered by all the cars stopping to watch them eat. We were less than 2m from a HUGE rhino!! It was so close it could easily lift the whole car with it's horn. Quite how we'd explain that to the car rental agency, I don't know..

We saw Eland, tiger, lions, monkeys (even playing on our car and biting chunks of rubber off the bike rack), black bear, wolves, buffalo, zebra's, giraffe, elephants, and many more animals. All of them active, but the hippos. We never saw those. I've been there once before, but that was a cold, miserable day, and all the animals were hiding..

We also tried a bike ride with K and M, but the weather was not with us, it started raining and hailing, so we cut it short and went home to change instead. Then we went to the movies and saw The Spiderwick Chronicles, which was quite good, but I thought it was maybe not a kids movie. Then again, kids nowadays are not as scared as we used to be when I was small.

The last day we went to the soft play centre for the morning, and in the afternoon we went to the park for the boys to play on their bikes, and a game of "it". When one of the boys fell over quite hard, we gave up and went back to the house.

On my way home I flew business class with SAS. It wasn't that grand, I think it's better when you fly longer distances, but the lounge at the airport was a blessed relief. Free drinks and food, and a quiet place to sit. What more can you ask for when all you want to do is re-live the last 3 days and burn every memory in so you can live on them for the next few weeks? The food was also great. You have to buy food on SAS, if you're in cattle class, but in business you got a hot meal for free, and a dessert. And I had royalty across the isle. One of the King's sisters. Since I'm not that interested in royalty, I cannot say which one.

Well home, or in Asker anyway, I was so shattered I just showered and went straight to bed, being dead to the world until the alarm went off in the morning.

The following weekend I started cat sitting Blue. This gorgeous Siamese cat. With a personality rivaling Snookie. If she thought I wasn't giving her enough attention, she would walk up, and hang herself by her front paws to my leg. I still have the puncture wounds to prove it ;) But she was a great cat, one I'll miss.

And now it's only 3 days left and I'm out of here. Can't wait to see S again and have him all to myself. And at the end of may it looks like the boys are coming to see us, so there'll be loads to do and plans to make.

Dubai holiday

2008-03-28T13:12:00.006+01:00

I arrived at the flat in the middle of the night, got to bed at about 4am and was up with the sun at 7am. I then had my first view of the beach from the flat, and of Palm Jumeirah.. And what a spectacular view

The first day we didn't do much, a couple of hours on the beach, roasting and swimming, lunch at Hilton Beach Hotel and some food shopping at Mall of the Emirates. I was in no shape to do anything that required brainpower, nor was I in any condition to spend a lot of time in the sun. Being blond and translucent, I would only turn lobster.. So two hours with a very good SPF 30 cream, and I managed to avoid lobster state.

However, on our little walk to the Hilton (nearest neighbour on the beach) we did pass two girls who were sun worshipers, at a high cost. They can't have been old, late 20's or early 30's, but they were so brown they looked leathery. How can it be better to look leathery and brown rather than less brown and healthy and youthful? Beats me. I know I don't want to look old and wrinkled before my time, and would prefer to have a slight tan instead. Besides, who wants to spend all their time just lying on the beach. I did try it a couple of times, and just got bored after a couple of hours and went inside instead.

On the Saturday we went in to central Dubai, to the souks. We walked along Dubai Creek and through the Textile Souk, then took a small boat over the creek to the Spice Souk, but did not hang around there for long, the stall owners kept hassling us trying to get us to enter their shops/stall and buy things. If they had just left us alone we would most probably have bought stuff, as it was, we just got out of there and found our way to the Gold Souk. Here people were just stopping us asking if we wanted fake Rolex watches and handbags.

After walking around looking at huge, non-elegant jewelery and fending off the Rolex sellers, we headed to the Fish and Vegetable market. The odour just outside the fish market had me gaging, but it was OK when you got inside. There were fishes of all sorts there, small, big and huge!! We saw baby tuna, full grown tuna, sharks and eels. The vegetable stalls had practically everything you could want, except Gem Squash. We bought a box of the softest, freshest dates I have ever tasted, and headed back to the creek to grab a taxi. On our way out we came across Hammerhead sharks lying on a half wall outside. They were huge!!

Most of the time I was there we didn't do much. A couple of hours roasting on the beach (although most of the time was spent in the water) and relaxing. We went out to eat a few times, had to do some shopping at Malls of the Emirates, but it did not cure my hate for shopping, inly reinforced it. It's a huge place, loads of shops, everything from H&M to Ralph Lauren, and loads of people. And I still could not find stuff I liked. I had to find shoes for an interview I had on the Monday, and ran around trying to find shoes I liked. When I found a pair, they were not available in my size. I eventually found a pair of Ecco shoes that were classical, simple, nice and comfortable. So I found the perfect pair in the end, but by then I had been looking for almost 2 hours. and my mood was at an all time low.

The curtains eventually arrived, and they looked great, and we managed to sleep a bit longer, although by that time we were used to getting up early and still woke up early. S has a theory he has spent too many years in my cave like environment and has adapted to my needs of dark rooms to sleep in :)

On Easter Friday we headed to Al Ain and were going to try to get over into Oman and Fossil Valley, go walking and exploring in the hills. Unfortunately S is having problems getting his residency visa stamped in his passport and the immigration officials are sitting on his passport. From previous experience there was no passport control where we were planning to go, but things have changed in 7-8 years, and we had enough problems trying to find the right road in the right direction, let alone the right road without the control post. So we did not manage to go to Oman, but we did drive to Jebel Hafeet. It's a mountain about 1200m high, but you drove up the entire way. 9km of uphill, rather steep at times. S has once cycled it, and I was amazed he even got to the top. I would have been dead before reaching the halfway point..

It was a very misty day, so I didn't take many pictures, and the few I took did not turn out very good. But on our way down we came across a bird of prey, and I wish we'd had the camera out then. We decided to stop at a few of the stopping places along the road, and the first one we stopped at was completely empty, or so we thought. As we got out of the car, a huge bird took off from the fence surrounding the stopping place, startling us. We tried to spot it again, only having seen a cream like flurry thing that dove down the cliff. We did manage to spot it flying off, and all I can say was that it was white/cream like on the belly and the wingtips were black.

On my last day in Dubai we took a quick drive to have a look at the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel. I also passed the Burj Dubai on several occasions, but I either didn't have the camera with, or it was misty and no use trying to get a picture.

In the afternoon we went to the beach and had a go at parasailing. It was great. When you got up into the air, it was so quiet and peaceful, and the view was just amazing, and with the clear water, you could see anything in the water. It was a bit windy that day, so there was a bit of tugging at the rope, but I would do it again in a heartbeat!!
I also got a picture of S at the beach, with our flat in the background (marked in red).

Pictures from SA

2008-03-27T09:54:00.007+01:00

Saturday night dinner where I was absolutely shattered, having slept only 1 hour. Ate Calamari and chatted to everyone. Relaxed and absolutely fabulous!!

After almost a week I still had no tan (only a fake one) and went to dinner at Monte Casino, a casino in Fourways built like a Tuscan village. It looks like we're sitting outside, but we're on the roof of The Meat Company, inside the casino..

Guests at the wedding. My mom is in the middle. A couple from the UK to the left and friends of the bride to the right. The pink dress is made by the lady wearing it, made from a picture seen in a magasine!! I tell you, I was mighty impressed. Anyone who can make a dress like that without a pattern and instructions are artists :)

Me and my mom with the bride and groom.

The bride, groom, me and N from London. I have received more pictures from the bride and groom, and will add some more at a later stage, those pictures are on another laptop..

I got there in the end..

2008-03-26T14:39:00.001+01:00

Just got back from Dubai. I just wanted to casually miss the flight and stay put. It takes us less than 5 min to walk out our flat and be on lying on the beach. Who wants to then go back to 30cm of snow and below zero temperatures???

The trip down was an adventure in itself. One would think that a flight with the same company and one changeover with plenty of time would be easy as anything. Well, let me tell you, it was not. First the darn electronic check-in boxes did not work. And everyone had to queue to check in manually, and the people handling that did not have the resources to make this happen swiftly. Not that it mattered in the end, the flight from Amsterdam was delayed by over 2hrs, so we had plenty of time to watch the wall at the airport in Oslo.

The international airport in Oslo is the most boring airport I have ever come across. Even the small airport Torp is better if your flight is delayed. Especially if you're the one waiting to pick someone up. But I was on the inside this time, and I was still bored out of my mind. There were no comfy seats anywhere, nothing interesting to do or look at, very pricey and bad food (I got a stale baguette with dry cheese) and no free internet access.

But I kept my mood up, I was after all going down to the warmth and the sun and, most importantly, to S! So I read and waited and did not rush onto the flight when it finally arrived, but waited for all the noggies to push their way on and it was more calm. I had, however, somehow managed to get an emergency exit seat, so I was happy as anything.

Then we were told that the reason for the delay was technical, and not the weather, as we had been told at the airport.. This meant that all of us who thought our connecting flights were also affected, started to get stressed, and there were quite a few. Quite a few people were going to Mexico, and when the flight landed, they got up and stared getting their stuff even before the plane had taxied to the gate. I just thought that if I didn't make it, they would put me on another flight and I'd get there anyway.

When we got to the gate, there was enough time to get to the other gate, just, and so those of us, and there were a few, who would make our next flights, sprinted like mad all through Schipol. I was joined by more people than I thought, all going to Dubai, and we were all stared at as we sprinted down the very long corridors to our next flight. As per Murphy's Law, the flight from Norway docked at a gate at one end of an arm (C) and the flight to Dubai was at the very end of another arm (F).

By the time we got to the gate we all felt like we were dying, but we'd made it. And we would have made it if we took it easier too. Turns out all the electronics had crashed, so they were unable to board anyone. Luckily this was fixed not long after we got there, and although the flight was over an hour delayed from departure, we only landed 20 min late. The plane we were in was either totally new, or hardly used. It still smelled new. The seats were good and there were screens on the back of the seat in front of you and you could choose from a huge range of movies.

When we landed we seemed to taxi forever before the plane stopped and we could get off. Then we got into buses and drove back almost all the way we had taxied. Felt like we were given an unofficial tour of the airport. All we were missing was the guide pointing out all the stuff we were passing and giving us the history of the place.

I had been told immigration would take a while, especially on a Thursday night, and we landed just before midnight, so it was pretty late. We were in luck, however, and there were plenty of immigration officers there to serve us all and the queues moved swiftly. I had to wait a while for S, he missed a split in the road and got stuck in traffic. At 1pm there was a traffic jam..

When he arrived it was not easy to find him either. There were so many people standing everywhere, and the roads where a mess and I'm impressed if anyone can find each other without constant mobile contact. But we got there, and we eventually found our way across the Creek and to the Marina (signs would be present in one junction and missing completely in the next - very confusing). Got to the flat at about 3am and crashed after a bath, but was wide awake again at 7am - the curtains had not arrived yet, and the makeshift curtains (bedsheets) were not doing as good a job.

Short, intense and wonderful holiday

2008-03-12T10:54:00.003+01:00

Boy did I have a holiday. The kind of holiday where you return and need another holiday to recover. In fact, I'm still recovering..

I got up really early the Friday morning, 3.45am, to catch my flight. I woke to find a missed call on my mobile, and when I checked voicemail, it was only to find that my first fliht had been cancelled, and they had re-routed me through all of Europe later in the day. I was meant to go Norway-Amsterdam-Johannesburg, arriving friday evening, and ended up going Norway-Copenhagen-Frankfurt-Johannesburg. By the time I had let the appropriate people (my chauffeur for the ride to the airport) and double checked my re-route by e-mail, and gone back to bed, I was too awake to fall asleep. I eventually managed to get another hour of sleep, but felt really tired.

I got to the airport in plenty of time, not trusting everything to be ok. It was, of course. But my first flight was delayed, leaving me 50min between flights in Copenhagen. Just enough to get from one gate to the other. And then my next flight was delayed, but only after we had boarded, but that was ok, because the flight from Frankfurt was also delayed. By the time I got onto the last flight I was knackered and ready to kill. And I sat down in the wrong seat, but that was a good thing, as I ended up getting isle seat on an emergency exit row. But I still only slept one hour..

I was totally shot by the time I arrived in Johannesburg, and they have two terminals there, but they are not separated, and they are not properly signed, and I was so tired, Murphys Law, I went to the wrong terminal. And had to find my way back into the right terminal to get my luggage. Turns out this is a common problem, and I was not the only one. I was very surprised my luggage had made it, with all the delays and short time, but it did. R and his girlfriend met me, and R went with me to pick up the hire car.

As I was so tired, we decided R would drive home. And that was just as well. The car I had been given was old and about to fall apart. It started shaking when we reached a certain speed, so the first thing I did when I arrived and A and P was to call Europcar and tell them I wanted another car. Correction, R called, and his brother PJ and myself went to get a new car.

Boy have things changed in Sandton. We spent ages just trying to find the car hire place. I then got a Toyota Yaris, 2007 model. I opted for the newest model, not wanting a car that potentially fell to pieces on me whilst driving.

I had a lovely dinner in the evening, with most of my friends. We ate at a place called My Bar My Grill. I had calamari!! I love Calamari, tubes, grilled and with butterlemon sauce. And chips. It was just divine. And so much cheaper than I could ever dream of it being in Norway. But that's just how it is when you come from Norway. All of a sudden you can afford things, like a bottle of wine with your food.

Sunday I ran around getting call time and meeting people. Took it easy in the evening, was meant to have met the bride, but we canceled as everyone was so tired. The groom had his stag night on the Saturday, so he was about as tired as I was. I was in bed early and fast asleep by the time my head hit the pillow.

Monday I ran around meeting up with people, lunch with the bride at her parents place, but unfortunately she had to cancel, so I had lunch with her dad instead, then off to meet my oldest friend in SA, C, in Rivonia, for a second lunch and to catch up since last time. Then off to meet Cow and her boyfriend for dinner. Cow is my soul mate, but the friendship kind. We were instant firends and have been close friends since we met in 2003. I have a couple of these firends, but for some reason it's a bit different with Cow. It might have been the place we met, a place of work, that was a place of work set aside from any other place of work, in so many ways. It was a place of work never to be mentioned again. She is Cow, and I'm Chicken. The Cow and Chicken show..

And so it went the entire week. Trying to see 3 people in a day, lunch, dinner and anything else. And trying to get anywhere was an absolute pain. The so-called load shedding (blackouts) that were mainly applied in the northern suburbs (or at least that's the impression I got). Loadshedding is when they turn off the electricity to certain areas for hours at a time. The worst one was on the Thursday when they turned off the electricity to practically all of the northern suburbs (Bryanston, Rivonia, Morningside, Woodmead to mention just the few I drove through), for more than 4 hours. No one in the area was able to work, the traffic was standing everywhere and it was just toal chaos. I was going to Pretoria with R to pick up mom, and when we got to Pretoria, they were loadshedding there too. Just never got away from it.

On the Friday the 4 biggest mining companies shut their mines to save electricity, so if you're wondering why gold and platinum is now expensieve, you now know. I was just amazed. And they were saying this was how it was going to be for the next 5 years. I hope not. It's not going to be much fun staging the Football World Cup in 2 years and people watching overseas can't see the game as they are loadshedding.. Or that the players can't get to the stadiums on time as the robots are not working and they are stuck in traffic. That would just be beyond hilarious. .

I really hope they sort this out soon. It's a wonderful country, but right now I was very glad to get back to a place where at least I could switch on the heater and get warm food after work :)

The wedding itself was wonderful. The venue was Toadbury Hall, and it's the second time I've been there for a wedding. It's changed quite a bit, the bushes and trees have gotten bigger, but the venue was just as beautiful as the first time I was there. Mom and myself were booked into a room at the venue, which was great, we didn't have to worry about driving or anything.

The sun came out on Sat morning. It was just perfect timing. I picked up mom, we had some food and then we headed out to the venue. Once there we snooped a bit around, managed to catch a glimpse of the blide as she was taking pictures, then heded off to the chapel.

The service was great. They had found a really good priest, funny and light, not serious and boring. He had a load of good things to say, and the way he said it meant that you didn't feel you were being reprimanded or you're about to fall asleep. The bride looked absolutely gorgeus! So happy and radiant. And a really stunning dress. The groom looked equally happy and radiant. A match made in heaven!

After the service we got cake, which was excellent. Gave us something to eat whilst waiting for the photographer to finish with the bride and groom. And it was chocolate cake, which was even better. I'm not a fan of fruit cake, I much prefer chocolate. Not so heavy and tastes great. I don't think I've ever tasted a chocolate cake that didn't taste good.

Then it was off to the dinner, about 1 min walk from the chapel, in high heels that is. The food was wonderful. Asparagus and mushroom starter (you could also get smoked salmon), steak for mains (there was a chicken and vegetarian option too) and creme bruleé for dessert (my absolute favourite!!). And then there was dancing.. And more dancing. Oh and even some more dancing. Heels came off quickly, the bride and myself were re-living the glory days of our rave parties in Europe, and life was good. There was a bit of alcohol involved too (well, not just a bit) and nice to meet people I had not met in years! But best of all was to see a good friend get married and to see her so happy!

Quick update 2

2008-02-18T11:18:00.001+01:00

We had loads of visitors for Christmas. S' boys, plus S' brother, K, and his daughter, Kathrine. K wanted to go somewhere else for x-mas, so he came to us. And since S' boys were there, we decided to do the whole Norwegian thing. We had stockings on the morning on Christmas Eve, Christmas porridge for lunch, and the whole traditional pork dinner. After dinner we had a visit from Santa, which was popular with the kids, although the oldest did suss out that he was a fake. It might have been the huge pillow he had stuffed down his trousers making him look like he really needed the loo. He was just an excellent Santa.

The two weeks before Christmas it was really cold, -10 to -12 degrees, and fog. The result was really stunning. Everything was coverd in a white layer. And I mean everything! Trees, houses, cars that were standing, picket fences. We even had a couple of cm of snow just in time for everyones arrival. That was a big hit. They were outside playing with toboggans, and sliding down any slope they could find.

Saturday before New Years Eve everyone went home again, and we started sorting through all our stuff, getting it ready for packing. That is, S sorted through his stuff as he was leaving on 2nd Jan. We had a quiet night at home on New Years Eve, but we did go out to watch the manic fireworks that go on in Norway. It's like everyone and their dog are sending up fireworks. I later heard that this was the last NYE that privat persons would be allowed to purchase and send up fireworks. The result of all the blond/macho idiots who attempt to make their own firework at home and blowing up themselves and others, or at the very least loosing a few digits, or appendages. For my part, I always feel sorry for the poor animals who don't understand and hear the bangs so much better than us. They'll have a better time in the future :)

Jan went by a really fast, but at the same time very slowly. I had loads to do every day, in preparation of packing the flat, and going to SA. But I missed S and had to do everything on my own. I celebrated my birthday with my friends from the pub, trying to empty our bar cabinet. G did a good job, drinking most of the vodka bottle, whilst the others did a good job on the gin bottle. Still have a lot of bottles, though..

I miss S a lot. I try to think of it as if he's just doing his normal travelling, but it never really works. I missed him the most in SA. I have only ever been there on my own, so I was a bit surprised, but I missed his calmness and his presence. It's my first holiday on my own since I got together with him, and I felt like I wanted to share things with him all the time, and all I could do was text. Not really enough when push comes to shove.

So when it was time to go home, and I knew S would be there when I arrived, I was really looking forward to going home, and at the same time wishing I could stay for longer. I came home, the contents of the flat was packed and shipped in the course of the next two days, and I moved down to mom. If only I could feel like Jan was the worst, but it's not any calmer now..

Time flies

2008-02-18T11:15:00.001+01:00

Time has just flown past at a hell of a speed. Christmas has come and gone, S has moved to Dubai, I've been to SA for the wedding (a story in itself) and now I've moved back to mom's for the time being. And still I feel like I don't have enough time to sit down and relax a bit.

Winter this year has been really weird, but not unusual. I remember plenty winters like this from when I was a kid, but people seem to forget what it's been like before, and can only remember the last year or so. Like the ones who said there hasn't been a proper winter in years. They have clearly forgotten the meter or so of snow that we had 2 years ago, when we had so much snow I had to digg a snowcave for our postbox. Or 2002/3 when we got snow in middle of Nov and it stayed until April. Not just a couple of centimeters either.

Anyway, back to what the weather is actually doing. One minute it's snowing, the next it's raining like there's no tomorrow. and it can change between the two in seconds, and several times a day too. The end result is that most places are lethal with a thick layer of ice that's not melting.

But not where mom lives. There there is no snow. whist that is nice as far as no ice goes, it's a bit dark and dingy. Thank god mom has a really nice fireplace that heats up the house really nicely and makes it possible to walk in summer clothes inside :)

The cats (we now have two, Sprout and Mojo), have moved to mom with me, resulting in the grand total off 9 cats at mom's place. She was meant to have 5 that were hers, but 2 more cats have moved in. And by that I mean that they turned up, walked in the cat flap, and settled in. They are cute, except we can't get hold of the one to even check if he does belong to anyone. He just scampers as soon as we get even remotely close.

Christmas Cake Recipe

2007-12-20T10:50:00.000+01:00

Everyone keeps asking for my Christmas cake recipe again this year, so here it is.....
Have a Merry, Merry Christmas and Happy Healthy New Year!!!

Tequila Christmas Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs

Nuts
1 bottle tequila
2 cups of dried fruit

-Sample the tequila to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the tequila again.
To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn
on the electric mixer.
Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon
Of sugar. Beat again.

-At this point it's best to make sure the tequila is still OK. Try another
cup...just in case.
Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup
of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit up off floor.
Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose
With a drewscriver.

-Sample the tequila to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something.
Check the tequila. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or some fink. –
Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to
fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

-Finish the tequila and wipe counter with the cat.

CHERRY MISTMAS!

Quick update

2007-12-06T15:09:00.000+01:00

Blog posting is not going well at the moment, there is just too much happening.

S is moving to Dubai in January, and I'm moving in with my mom temporarily. I can't afford our apartment of my own, and as I don't know when or where I'll be moving, there isn't much point in finding a new place.

I will be looking for work in Dubai. However, I do the IT market is small and it's not easy to get a job there. I will need to find a job as an ex pat, with my own sponsor and so on. Whoever thought moving was easy, should try it.. So, my backup plan is to look for a job in Gatwick-London area, with emphasis on the Gatwick area. Don't fancy commuting 2 hours each way again. And S will be working out of their office in Gatwick one week a month, which is a lot more than I'd see him if I stay in Norway. Easier to travel to Dubai too :)

You'd think someone would jump at the chance of getting a cat ready fixed (castrated and chipped), but no! Anyway, we're not giving him to anyone just to get rid of him, we want him to have a good home. He's not very fussy, but loves to play. He mostly grabs your hand/arm and "attacks" it, but not using claws or biting hard. Unless he gets very excited, then he can bit a bit harder. But then it's just to grab the fur in his neck and pull him away and he's ok.

Christmas is also descending upon us, and this year we're having S' boys and S' brother, K and Kathrine. So we'll be a few. We celebrate Christmas Eve, and this year we've got Santa coming to hand out presents, and everything is organised for a great couple of days. We've already got our Christmas shopping done, so at least that is out of the way, and now we just have to get everything else organised.

We've decided we're going to have a New Year Party, a fancy dress party, with Villains as the theme. I was thinking of going as Cruella De Ville, but I'm not sure about the whole colouring my hair black and white. I'll see what I can come up with.

After that it'll be a race against time to get everything packed (luckily we will have movers come in and do most of it) and decide what goes in the container and what does not. Then the flat needs to be cleaned and Me and Sprout move to mom. Not sure what we're going to do with Mojo at this stage. Then I go off to SA on the 18th Jan!!! Unfortunately I will only be going for 10 days, so I'll be back again on the 28th.

But then I'm off to Dubai at the end of Feb, for a holiday. To check out the place and get some clothes copied. That's going to save me a lot of frustration. I'll bring all the clothes I like and that fit me, and get a couple of copies of each and then I won't have to go shopping again for a long while!!! Absolute bliss..

New cat in town..

2007-11-28T19:02:00.000+01:00

So, just over 2 weeks ago S was out cycling. He'd had one leg operation and recovered well enough for easy cycling, and headed out across Vestmarka for a couple of hours. Then, on the way back, he saw this little black and white cat, right at the top of Vestmarka, 3km from the nearest house. He stopped and fussed it and some people passing convinced him the cat belonged to someone with a hut in the area.

The next day he went out again, and this time he met the cat again, and it was almost in the same place, eating something by the side of the road. Later that night we decided to walk up and have a look for it. True as bob, the cat was in the same place, starved and dehydrated. I stuffed it inside my coat and he willingly sat there for the walk down.. And that was the end of our peace.

We call him Mojo, although I'm sure there are better names for him. Him and Sprout do not get on, and the problem is not Sprout. It's Mojo. He hisses and growls whenever she comes close, even the other end of the corridor. We even had him neutered, to no avail. So our only hope is that some kind soul will take him in. Somewhere where he is the only cat..

Still here

2007-11-11T12:27:00.000+01:00

In many ways this has been a good year, and in others it has been an awful year. I have not been able to take my Java 5 certificate, as we have been quite caught up in other things.

On October 7th S' sister-in-law, Kathrine's mother, passed away. She got a very rare blood condition called TTP, which can only be diagnosed on symptoms and reaction to treatment. It is so hard to come to terms with the fact that a perfectly healthy person in their middle 30's can get sick and pass away in 10 days.

And what a roller coaster trip it has been. The phone calls when you dread to hear the news, the relief when she's getting better, and the shock and sorrow when she didn't. And little Kathrine who is the happiest most content little girl I have ever come across. She hardly ever cried, only when she got really tired, and she just loves to have you walk around with her. It is so heartbreakingly sad to know she will only hear about her mom, never remember her.

And the grandparent's. They say loosing a child is the worst that can happen to you, and I can believe it. You never expect your children to go before you, and how on earth do you move on from there? I wouldn't know where to start, I would be so lost.

Frog legs for dinner?

2007-09-26T09:51:00.000+02:00

S is in the US at some big Oilfield Services thing with stands and everything, and I'm home alone again. And here's the big question.. Why do all the weird things happen when S is not here???

Like the bat. S said he would have loved to see a bat up close, but it just had to happen when he was away. Monday was no different. I was reading Java all evening, trying not to think of the million and one other things that are happening at the moment. I finally decide that enough is enough and start to get ready for bed. Then I hear a banging noise, or a noise like something fell over, in our bedroom. I couldn't remember having put anything down in there that could have fallen over, but I go to look anyway. And there is nothing there.

I take a walk around the flat to see if the noise can have come from anywhere else, but i can't see anything that's fallen over, or anything that Sprout might have knocked over. Walking back to the bedroom I decide to have a look under the bed. I have no idea what made me do it, but having distinctly heard the noise I wanted to find out what it was before trying to go to bed. I would never have been able to sleep, and if I hadn't done it, I would have been totally freaked out before too long anyway..

So there was something under the bed. Not big, and looked kind of like an autumn leaf. Since the window was open, this was not totally unexpected. I wasn't wearing my glasses or contacts, so I went closer for a better look. And got such a shock several not so nice phrases escaped me before I'd managed to get a grip on myself. The so-called leaf jumped!! It was a bloody frog or toad, no idea which as I can't see the difference. And the thing jumped further under the bed.

This is when you wish you didn't have a king size bed!! Having calmed down I got hold of a plastic container and managed to get the frog/toad out from under the bed (took a lot of sliding under and talking nicely to the thing) and backed up into the one corner of the roof. It was full of the dust from under the bed. I then managed to cajole it into my plastic container, got the lid on before it could escape and let it out through the veranda door.

Whilst all this was happening Sprout was fast asleep on the couch, not knowing that she could easily have had a French gourmet meal almost without any effort..

Studying

2007-09-23T20:01:00.000+02:00

For the next month or so my blog posting will be even more sporadic. I have bought a certification coupon from Sun and I am planning on taking my Java 5 certificate before the 20th October.

So far I have managed to read almost all the chapters in the book, just Threads and Development left, and then I have to start memorising tables and stuff. Hopefully I will manage to pass. I won't actually book the exam before I feel confident enough that I will pass. Too humiliating to tell your boss that you failed when they're paying for it.

I have always been like that, wanted to make sure I pass on the first go and not have any old exams hanging over my head. I remember at university college we were this group of people studying together for the maths and physics exam, and for some reason I ended up explaining a lot of the maths to some of the other people, and it made me understand it better. This time it's different, though. There is no group of people, only me.

Luckily I have friends I can ask if there is something I'm not quite getting. I might have to corner one of them for a day or so so he can explain all the inns and outs of wrappers and a couple of other small things.

Anyway, I have to get back to reading. Hope you all had a good weekend!!

Sprout the catcher

2007-09-12T22:07:00.000+02:00

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sprouts hunting skills. In fact there is nothing wrong with her hunting skills and her eating skills. Both are highly developed, but could be more in tune with each other..

She loves food. We have bought her light food now to stop her getting too fat, but she has a noticeable tummy, so she's affectionately called Tubbers at times. However, where Tamil used to eat whatever she caught, Sprout doesn't seem to have developed he hunting to that level, not when there is light(!?!) food around.. So she leaves them dead for us to remove. That is, she started that way.

A couple of weeks ago she started bringing in mice alive, and letting them go. First time this happened I just happened to come home from the pub for an hour before picking up S from the train, and Sprout was sitting next to this board we have for stretching calf muscles, not coming for the customary fuss when we walk in the door. I got suspicious, walked over and lifted the darn thing (big mistake). Out came this small mouse, at a hell of a speed. I caught the cat and threw her in the bathroom thinking I could catch the mouse in something and throw it out.

Well, mice are quicker than you think, and when desperate will climb into/up anything. First it hid in my shoe. However, I did not know where it was, and when I moved the shoe, it darted off into the outer hall. It hid at first behind the cat litter tray, but then decided the ideal place to hide was behind the radiator. And it go that right!! I could not get the thing to move. I had the front door open, hoping it would run out whilst I went to get S, but it didn't budge.

It took S and a long pole to get the mouse outside. At least he managed to do it..

The following week everything was quiet and there were no more mice. That lasted until Friday evening. When we went to the pub Sprout was playing with a dead mouse in the garden, and we left her to it, since it was already dead. The very same dead mouse greeted us in our hall when we got back in a couple of hours later..

And the following morning, whilst S prepared for a bike ride to mom's and we were sitting in the living room, Sprout entered the house with a mouse, dropped in the hall, whereupon the poor thing darted under the bench. With a bit more experience in this now, we got the mouse to run into a shoe, carried the shoe across the road and set the mouse loose in the trees there.

Sunday, when we got back from mom's, she came in with yet another live mouse, and this time she dropped it on the floor in the kitchen. I just managed to stop it from running under the fridge before having to lock the cat in the bathroom again. She must be loving that room at the moment. Why else would she keep on bringing in all these mice for us to catch?? Anyway, we got it out, in a cardboard box this time, and that one was set free in the trees too.

Since then she's only brought in one dead mouse, we think, but today she managed to get hold of a small bat. I saw her walk past our veranda with wings sticking out of her mouth, rushed over and managed to free the poor thing, and then I was stuck with a bat I had no idea what to do with, stuck to my jumper..

I called the vet and was told it most probably had internal injuries and to put it in a box and see if it survived the next 24 hours. I then went onto the internet and searched for ways to take care of bats, and basically you just put them in a dark box with holes and some kitchen towel or something like that that it can hide in, and leave it in a warm room to recuperate. After a couple of hours the bat was desperately trying to get out, so I took it outside and set it free. And it flew off, so I hope it only suffered a bit of shock and will only have a small hole in one wing as a reminder of the whole ordeal..

Finally some photos

2007-09-09T17:15:00.000+02:00

This is from one of our walks in Nordmarka this summer. There were loads of blueberries and we stopped constantly to eat some. I must admit I'm a forest berry girl. I love eating blueberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, blackberries and all other berries found in the forest.

This is S on the same walk, and although you cannot see it, Tryvann tower is on the top of one of the hills in the background. Although it looks a bit grim, the weather was perfect for walking. Not too hot and not too cold.

This is me (really) lying in the heather on the North Yorkshire Moors. It's like lying on a really soft mattress. I was amazed how comfortable it was. It has made me realise I need to try camping on the moors at least once. Sleep under starry skies (hopefully no rain) one summer night.

Our resident squirrel, at least until the toast caught fire in the toaster. Really cute and quite cautious. Took it about 10-15 min to dare take the bread from my hand, and it wasn't that warm in the morning, so my hand got rather cold quickly.

The perils of exercising

2007-08-30T20:56:00.000+02:00

Ultimately, when exercising, you get hurt (physically) in some way or other, and usually it's just bruises and scratches. I've fallen over on my bike and had a bruise from the chain down my shin, capsised in a river, landing on a rock and getting a huge bruise on my thigh/bum, and various other small episodes.

In fact, I bump into everything all the time, and have bruises on my thighs and arms from corners in various heights, the worst one I got was from a low table in a shop. Anyway, there are also other perils of exercising, and that is getting to and from the selected area for doing the exercising. As it is, mostly it has been around Semsvann.

Today I went for a run. Easing into running again, it was going to be a 30 min run and then get home to do some cleaning and getting an early night. Everything was going well until I was halfway round the lake in the car (we park at Tveiter farm and run into the hills instead of round the lake). Anyway, I met a truck, and the road to the farm is a narrow forest road, so I had to drive off the road to let the truck past.. BIG MISTAKE!!!

The verge was s bit (lot) steeper than I expected, and before I knew it, the car was stuck on the verge, the outer front tire off the ground, and not moving forwards or backwards. As luck would have it, everyone I know in the area, with a car, are out of the country, so I was a bit lost as to who to call. I walked to the nearest farm, but the place was totally empty, I couldn't even find a front door.

I called S, who was in a meeting in the UK, and he tried to find someone with a car who could help me out. Eventually, after loads of people stopping and trying to come up with a solution that would work, a truck (possibly THE truck) returned, and the driver was able to pull me onto the road again. There was a point whilst he was doing this that I was a bit worried the car would flip over into the trees, but luckily this didn't happen. Not least because I hadn't put on the seatbelt when I got into the car, and after the truck had started towing me out I couldn't get the belt out to put it on. Not forgetting to put that on if I ever land in that kind of situation again.

Whilst the truck was helping me out, it was impossible for people to pass, so there were quite a few people there in the end, and everyone had an opinion and was shouting orders/suggestions. At one point there was so much of this I, who was trying to steer the car, got really confused and had no idea what to do. So the lady standing just outside stuck her arm in turned the wheel. Not the best thing to happen, but at least she could hear what the truck driver was saying, and could see a bit more of what was happening than I could.

One of the guys who came to help, opened the back door and stood in the door frame to add weight to the back of the car. Apparently it wasn't just me who was worried the car would flip, others were holding onto the door through the window and everywhere else they could get a hold. It was really great that so many people stopped and helped. It made me realise that even Norwegians try to help when they can, and when you're really stuck they come out of their shells and do try to help.

So, all is well that ends well :)

Wine vs water

2007-08-21T13:05:00.001+02:00

Applies not only to men!!

2007-08-19T12:08:00.000+02:00

I've read Bridget Jones Diary several times, and I think the phrase "emotional fuckwittage" is exceptionally good, but I have come to realise lately that it does not only apply to men!!

There are many women out there who are emotional fuckwittages, and lately we've had to deal with one in particular. It always surprises me when people just aren't willing to admit they got something wrong, or that they're taking their emotions (read irritation and frustration) out on people who have nothing to do with it. And refuse to acknowledge that they are doing something wrong, and refuse to apologise for it later. And even think that the other person should be the one apologising.

My own definition of emotional fuckwittage is someone who has no control over their emotions, so self centered and self absorbed that they cannot see that any of their actions result in any bad reactions (every action has a reaction and therefore consequences) and who therefore think that anything is the way they remember it, even though you have proof of it not being so. Also, parents who use their children to hurt the other parent, make it more difficult for the other parent, and who fight with the other parent in front of their children.

The past few days I have been witness to a most spectacular display of emotional fuckwittage. Including a parent hurtling awful things to another, in front of the children. All I will say is that as far as I'm concerned, that act alone makes you an immeasurable bad parent! There is no excuse whatsoever for doing that, ever! All it ever does is put the children in the worst ever position and does absolutely nothing good for them, only for the parent doing the act. If you cannot control your emotions more than that, the person in question is incredibly immature. And nine times out of ten, it comes back and bites you in the arse in the future. It might be that the said children loose respect for you when they get older, or that they even go so far as to not want to see you much, and only when forced to.

What it boils down to is controlling your emotions. Anger is admittedly difficult to control, but all the more reason for bringing doing just that. I don't believe in having fights and slinging matches "to clear the air". They so easily escalate to screaming something at someone you actually love, just to hurt them. Something you cannot take back, nor something they will forget. If it is bad enough it'll be niggling at the back of their minds and resurface whenever something goes wrong. Is that really worth it? The way I see it it says more about the respect you have for that person than anything else.

I find it much easier and better to clear the air by either cooling down and talking about it properly, or nipping it in the bud, so to speak, before it gets so big you have pent up feelings that just boil over. And if it comes to the point that everything the other person does irritates and annoys you, you either end the relationship or admit that there is a problem and get help. All depending on what kind of relationship it is. As for parents who have ended the relationship but have to stay in contact due to children, get a grip. Think of the children and how YOUR actions affect them.

So, I have realised that emotional fuckwittage is as good a description for women who have no control over their emotions, as it is for the men described in Bridget Jones Diary. And at times a better description. The same women will most probably think that I am a traitor to women, women should stand together and all that. But they are just as good at being emotional fuckwittages to other women, and I cannot identify with that kind of woman. They are also usually the high maintenance kind, expecting their boyfriends to be romantic and buy them flowers, when they never do anything remotely romantic back. It's all take and no give with them.

Anyway, I've done my ranting and raving now, and it's most probably not making sense to anyone but me, but I needed to get it off my chest anyway.

Wonderful week..!!

2007-08-13T15:21:00.000+02:00

We went to the UK on holiday last week, to The North Yorkshire Moors, close to Pickering and York. We had a great holiday! Sun and scattered clouds for the first couple of days, and sun and practically no clouds for the rest. I even managed to get sunburned!!

We arrived in the UK last Friday, and went to pick up the boys. They live a couple of hours drive from the airport, and from there it's usually a couple of hours drive up to S' parents. We used over 4 hours from the boys to S' parents! By the time we got there we were so fed up of the car none of us wanted to set foot into it again. Not a good start to the holiday, considering we had a 4hr+ drive the next day, if the traffic wasn't bad.

Saturday we spent the morning getting all the shopping done. Since we come over from Norway, and we fly Ryanair, there is a limit to what we can bring "from home", and we had to buy everything, even small things like spices, herbs, soap and aluminum foil. We then had to repack our suitcases and manage to get all of us, our luggage, food and shopping, plus two bikes in a small Ford Focus. Not really a small car, but boy did it feel small that day.

After a fair amout of packing and repacking, we managed to get it all off and set off around lunchtime. S' parents, who were also going off and had manged to set off a couple of hours before us, called to let us know where there was traffic, but by the time we got there, there was none. We only came across traffic in Pickering, having avoided York, and this was due to a Steam Fair. We managed to get to our cabin in 3.5 hours!!

We were a bit disappointed when we got there, they obviously expected you to bring everything but the kitchen sink, so we had to go out and get tea-towels and dish washing liquid and other things which we had not thought of, that being provided in all the other places we have previously stayed. And whoever had stayed there before us were obviously not too worried about whether the cups etc were clean, so the first thing we had to do was get dish washing tablets for the dishwasher and wash all the stuff in the cupboards...

Sunday we went to Robin Hood's Bay, to the beach. We all put on sunscreen, but you always forget one or two places. Both me and S got sunburned on the top of our feet, S much worse than me. I had problems wearing shoes and boots for a couple of days, I can only imagine what it would be like for him. I also managed to get a bit burned on my back, just next to my arms, a favoured place for sunburns, I just never learn..

Monday we went for a walk up on the moors, and on our short walk we walked through fields, ferns, blueberry bushes, heather and bog. It was just amazing how it changed around you. It was also quite nice to lie down in the heather with the sun.

Tuesday was a day for playing in streams. The sun was out, but it was also the windiest day of the week, so I had a windproof jacket on most of the time. The water was freezing, but that did not stop us from damming up the stream, although I will admit to not doing much of the work, my hands got so cold I could hardly move my fingers. The boys got soaked, one of them managed to sit down in the stream and the other was into the water up to his thighs and well over his wellies... So much for wearing wellies :)

The next few days we spent cycling, in Dalby Forest and around the holiday park where we were staying, we went to see a local chocolate factory and lunched in Hutton-le-Hole and watched the ducks in the river in Pickering. In other words, we spent the day outside, every day. We were just not willing to sit inside and watch the sun through the windows.

We also had 4-5 pheasants and a squirrel come by regularly for food, and even got the squirrel to get bread from our of my hand. I have never had a squirrel eat out of my hand before. However, the squirrel stopped coming after we forgot the toast in the toaster and it caught fire and filled the place with smoke..

Saturday we headed back to Stuart's parents place, and had a minor slump when we thought we had to drive down to the boys place to pick up something we left there, but we managed to sort out a temporary solution. Not good to hand back hire cars minus certain things, like the parcel thingy that covers the boot in hatchbacks.

We managed to spend some time with Kathrine, and S' brother and sister-in-law, which was really nice. She has grown so much. She now sits on her own and has this mop of hair. I'm really taken with the hair. She's the first baby I know who still has her hair. All the others have lost the little amount they were born with and were as close to bold as you can get, until after their first birthday sometime. Will post a picture soon.

When we returned on Sunday Sprout was really glad to see us. She spent the week on my mom's porch, and my mom felt so sorry for her. However, she can't have been that bad off, her fur was glossy and soft, and she had put on weight.. However, she was very glad to see us, and let us know that all night, meowing and going on. She has since calmed down and is now back to normal, thank god.

Wake me up...

2007-07-30T15:08:00.001+02:00

There is that old Wham song, "Wake me up before you go", and I feel it applies in some way to me these days. I thought I was getting enough sleep, but I'm so tired these days I have no idea how to stay awake at work. My eyes just want to shut and I could just curl up under my desk and sleep for a couple of hours..

I've started training more than I've done so far this year, it's been really slow going. I'm not one for doing loads on my own, I'm much better at it if there is someone else to do it with. And S is busy training for Atacama and keeping his fitness up, so he's way ahead of me. But even after long walks and paracetamol to remove the aching bones and muscles, I don't feel rested in the morning.

I used to be able to manage on 6-7 hours sleep in summer, but currently I can hardly stay awake after almost 8 hours. I feel like shit and like I'm not totally with it, and it's not very nice at all.

I blame the weather!! We've hardly had any sun since middle on June, and I need sun. I thought it wasn't bothering me much, since I've been working all summer, but it looks like my body is telling me to go into early hibernation until the sun returns.

I don't think I'll be "Singing in the rain" anytime soon...

Sprout update..

2007-07-23T12:15:00.000+02:00

Sprout is warming to us, and feeling safer by the day, not to mention still bringing in mice that she has caught.. The other night, whilst S was in the UK, Sprout came in meowing like mad. I was half awake, needing the loo, so I got up to see what the racket was all about, and true as bob, there was a dead mouse lying right outside the bedroom door, with Sprout standing next to it, looking up at me and meowing.

I tried shooing her out the window, but she wouldn't budge a mm, just looked up at me with expecting eyes. Quite what she was expecting I have no idea, but I wasn't really in any state to deal with it, so eventually I got a plastic bag, grabbed the mouse by it's tail and threw it out the front door, Sprout running after it. Then she turned on the doorstep, Tamil's old butcher block, and looked at me with more expectancy. I told her what a good job she'd done, closed the door and went back to bed.

There were no more signs of the mouse the next day, neither inside nor outside.

She's also a couch cat, and getting to be a small biffer too, so if we're not careful we're going to have an overweight cat.. We're getting used to the couch thing, and the fussy thing, since we're not used to it, and it's quite nice. It's nice to have a cat the jumps up and wants a fuss on the lap. Having said that, we still miss Tamil, and we would love to have them both.

Sprout does have a couple of playful moments. But whether she's just not so playful, or whether she doesn't feel comfortable enough to be really playful, only time will tell. she also had a not so pleasant meeting with the Black Cat!! I haven't seen it around for a while, so I thought maybe it had moved or something, but yesterday there was a lot of cat screeching outside, and down by the stream there was a stand-off between Sprout and the Black Cat. Sprout was holding her ground. I think she learned a thing or two when she had a litter, so she was not easily intimidated, but then neither was Tamil. I was not going to stand and wait for Sprout to come back with a bite, so I threw a piece of wood towards them and sent them running in either direction.

In just over a week we're off to the UK for a holiday with the boys, so Sprout is going to my mom's to spend the holiday there. She'll have to get used to it, we're planning on dropping her off there whenever we go on holiday. Much better for her than thinking she has been abandoned again..

Picture of Sprout

2007-07-16T12:38:00.001+02:00

Here is a picture of Sprout. Not that you can see much of her, she's very much at home and stretched out on the couch..

Busy, busy, busy...

2007-07-16T12:22:00.000+02:00

This weekend has been busy. And there has not been enough time to do all the stuff I wanted to do.

S decided he was going to try his really long bike route on Saturday, and that he was going to get up and go really early. So we spent Friday preparing, and taking it easy. Last week was a really long week, and by Friday I was in no mood to be social, so I even skipped the pub. I also had a call last week from a lady who said there was a black cat running around in their neighbourhood, but she wasn't sure if it was Tamil or not, so I wanted to go there and look around and see if I saw her.

Unfortunately the week caught up with me before I managed to go, and I just got too tired. There would be no point going looking for her in the early evening, she wouldn't come out if there was too much noise around, so we decided to leave it for Saturday.

On Saturday S woke up really early and got up to go out. I was up for 2 min at 6.20pm, and then I went back to bed, it being way too early for me. So I went back to bed. When I woke up I took it easy and lay in bed reading for a bit to wake up. Then I heard a person going to the loo, in our flat!! I got such a fright. I sneaked out into the hall, and walked slowly towards the entrance where the loo is. And out pops S.. He had been to tired to set off, so he'd gone to sleep on the couch for a couple of hours and had only just woken up.

He sett off a few hours later than I thought, and a couple of hours later I threw my bike in the car and drove out to meet him. he had then been biking for over 2.5 hours, and it started raining. I thought, bugger it, if I'm not going to do anything when it's raining, I'm not going to do anything at all this summer. I think I have given up on getting a summer this year. It's just going to rain away..

Anyway, I got the bike out and set off to meet him, going up and down flippen hills. Being my first proper bike ride this year, I was not prepared for loads of hills. But then again, where do you go in Norway and not get hills? I biked for about 25 minutes, then I thought it was just pissing down far too much, and S would not want to slow down to my pace, he would get very cold up the hill, so I turned and went back. When I was closer to the car and S still hadn't caught me up (the return trip going faster than I thought - I had warmed up), I turned around again and went back again. It definitely went easier this time. And the rain wasn't so bad as long as I was going up the hill. Down it got a bit chilly.

On my second time to the top of the really big hill s caught me up and we biked back to the car together. There I left S to do the last hour on his own, and I went home in the car and straight into a nice, hot shower. There is nothing like a hot shower after an hour of cycling in the rain. A bath would be better, but that is a luxury.. that we don't have..

It took a bit of time to recover, I used muscles I haven't used in months. Not to mention that the raining got worse as the afternoon and evening progressed. We only got out to look for Tamil at 10pm, and since it was so wet I was dubious as to whether she would appear if it was her. But I hoped she would, and if I didn't I wouldn't sleep as I would be wondering. So, after having walked around the entire area, and no Tamil, we got back and to bed rather late.

Sunday we went for one of our walks again, but this time we decided to make it a bit shorter. So we chose a 5-6 hour walk. We walked 3 hours up to the top of a hill/mountain, and used 2.5 hours on the walk back to the car. We were initially planning on a different route back, but the walk to the top took a bit longer than expected, so we decided to go the same way back. It was basically walking upwards the whole way there, and down the whole way back. And included a fair amount of bog-hopping.

If walking in Norway there's 3 things that's certain:
1. There are loads of hills. There is no way round this!!
2. There's loads of bogs, and all trails/footpaths cross them.
3. There are tons and tons of mosquitoes! And then some more..

But we did it, and this time I only got one small blister. My feet are improving, and so is my knowledge of what kind of socks etc work :)

July..

2007-07-09T16:37:00.000+02:00

July is the month when everyone is on holiday in Norway. Nurseries close for the month, there are no places to send kids, so parents have to take time off to watch them. When I was small there were no such things as summer camps. I think there is one or two now for kids in the city, so they can get out of the city, but I can't say for certain.

Normally everyone in Oslo, further north and inland go to the coast, or at least most of them. Places like Tønsberg get so packed with tourists that the locals that have not managed to get away, hide in the places the tourists don't go to.

Going to the pier for a drink or even a stroll is next to impossible, and when the weather is nice, the beaches are so packed and there's so many boats on the fjord, you start wondering where all these people can possibly stay. Unfortunately there's loads of places for them to stay in, so there is never a roof on how many come. And each year there's more and more..

I went down to visit my mom on Saturday. She needed a driver as her car was in for service, and we decided to do the very Norwegian thing and buy shrimps on the pier and have them with white wine in the evening. (Get fresh shrimps, a fresh loaf of white bread, mayo and lemon juice. remove the shell from the shrimps and load them on a piece of bread and add as much mayo and lemon juice as you like.)

We got a really nice white wine from South Africa (of course..) and then walked through Tønsberg to get the shrimps, from Roar i Bua, the only place to get shrimps in Tønsberg. The whole town was heaving. There were so many people I felt claustrophobic walking past a couple of shops. I did, however, manage to get a summer jacket, and it just happened to be the smallest shop in the whole center, so I used about 2 min to try it on and see if it fit, then paid for it and got out.. It was on sale, so the price was good enough for that :)

But everywhere you went there were throngs of tourists. You could hear they were not locals, and see it for that matter, and after having lived in Tønsberg for many years, I just have had enough of it all. I try to avoid it altogether in summer, but that is not always doable. We never go to the most popular beaches. Apart from being meat markets and places where people show off, you can't just jump into the water from the edge, and you have to lie on sand. If you're really lucky you might get a small patch of grass, but you have to be there really early!

Instead we go to this less popular beach, where we walk out along the edge and find some smooth rock to lie on where we can jump straight into the water (there is no other option) and you get a bit of rock to yourself.

Anyway, I find it really stressful in Tønsberg in July, there is just nowhere to relax, it's crowded and there are a lot of people who don't know their way around suddenly stopping in front of you so you almost walk straight into them. Hopefully it'll be a while to next time I have to go Tønsberg town again :)

What a load of crap!!

2007-07-02T12:11:00.000+02:00

I wish that bloody company would get their act together and make something that actually works, or that other companies make pages and software that can be used with other browsers, browsers that actually work!!

I hate using IE as it has this tendency to suddenly stop working, and it'll let other programs run automatically in the background. Not to mention all the f#¤%ing security holes, and I can just go on for ever. But I think even more annoying is when companies still make software programs where you have to use IE if you access them from the net. I mean, hello!!, is there anyone in there who cannot see that IE sucks big time?????

I have been trying for hours to access the software for registering hours at work, but for some reason IE has decided to block all pop-ups, despite the fact that the pop-up blocker is OFF!! And the same then goes for the company web mail. They both open in new pages from a collected page, but that is an absolute no-go in IE. So, I can now access web mail in Firefox and the registration software in Opera. Luckily there's browsers out there who can fool these stupid software idiots and pretend to be IE when it's needed.

And they work!!! They don't suddenly stop working, download something you don't want, or install crap through stupid security holes that should never have been there in the first place. Not to mention they follow the standards set by W3, and as long as stupid web designers manage to design pages according to the standards, the pages will work on all browsers, apart from IE, who decidedly do not follow W3 standards.

DEATH TO IE!!!!

Oh, and more more thing, their support sucks equally as much!! They mix between English and Norwegian sites, and there is nowhere you can actually say you only want it in English!! Say you google for a solution, you get a link in google and f#¤%ing Microsoft gives you a totally irrelevant site in Norwegian!!! Just because I sit in Norway does not mean I want it in Norwegian. What if I wasn't Norwegian??? Bloody s#!t Microsoft!!!!

And if that wasn't all, they're vultures for your money. First you pay for f¤#%ing licenses then you still have to pay for support!!!!! I can understand free browsers like Opera and Firefox charging for support, but if you pay for a product support should at the very least be free, at least at Microsoft prices!!!

I wish all companies in the world would open their eyes to Linux and free ware, and I would never have to touch IE and Microsoft again!!

New Cat

2007-06-25T13:14:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago we got a new cat. We're still looking for Tamil, and we haven't quite given up hope she will one day return to us, although it seems less likely as time goes on.

Our new cat has received the name Sprout. We've been listening to Harry Potter in the car (read by Stephen Fry) and decided to call her after Professor Sprout. It started out as a joke, but it has stuck, as it tends to do. She is a beautiful little female, almost fully white underneath and patches of sandy yellow and stripy grey on her back, tail and most of her head.

She came to us via my mom. My mom used to have this lady who rented the flat in the basement, although that is technically not true. In order to rent you actually have to pay rent, so I guess she was technically a squatter. Anyway, this lady was (and still is) not quite right and has got it into her head she is going to save cats from shelters. After a while she wants to save more cats, and the ones she doesn't care for anymore are put down (and we suspect she drowned at least one too). Sprout (then called Aila - but we can't keep that name, it is too close to one of the glamour models in Norway, Ayla) managed to do a Steve McQueen and escape. And was lost for at least 2 months.

Whilst mom was visiting my sister in Florida, Sprout moved in and was settled by the time mom returned. Not hard for her to move in, with 5 cats there already, it's just a matter of staking out a small part as territory (under the kitchen table) and steal some food now and then. So, we decided to give it a go. We went down and had a look, and came back with a new member of the family.

The first 24-36hrs she spent under our bed, and we named her "the under the bed cat". The next 24 hours she spent on top of the bed, slowly extending the "circle" to include the kitchen and the bathroom. The third night we shut her out of the bedroom (due to lack of sleep) and she took up residence on our couch. After a week she was ready to venture out. and since then she spends the nights outside and the days on our bed or couch.

She is a really fussy cat, likes to be fussed and sleeps on your lap, but not much into playing, so she is the total opposite of Tamil. Wonder how that will go if Tamil comes back. However, like Tamil she is good at catching mice, or she got lucky last night. Unlike Tamil, she takes them with inside to show us. Never mind that it was the middle of the night and we were fast asleep. Nothing a bit (read: lot) of really load meowing won't fix. After a few minutes I managed to crawl out of bed and open the door. There she's sitting with the dead mouse, showing it to me. I just managed to say "Good girl", closed the door and crawled back to bed.

True as anything, by the time I got back to bed, I needed the toilet and by the time I managed to get back to bed again, I was no longer semi-conscious, and it took a while to fall asleep again. Just having fallen asleep (or so it felt like) Sprout decided she was going to spend the rest of the night with us, but instead of stealthily and noiselessly coming in the window, she made such a racket we both sat up and looked around wondering what was happening.

There are always teething problems when a new member of the family arrives, but this one I'm nipping in the bud. Any more night time hunts ending in loud meowing outside out bedroom door, and she will soon find she cannot get out at night and her hunting has to be conducted during the day..

Blummen weather

2007-06-17T15:12:00.000+02:00

If it could just make up it's mind to either be summer or not, I would be happy. Not this constant change between early springtime cool at night and temperate during the day to scorching hot, office like a sauna and hardly any wind during the day and so hot you can hardly sleep at night.

In April we had lovely, sunny weather, warm enough to wear just a t-shirt outside but still cool at night. Then the temperature dropped and it was back to wearing jackets and cardigans/jumpers and wool socks. Then in May it all got nice again. Not as nice as it had been towards end of April, but warm enough to at least drop the coat during the day.

The last week of May S' sons came to visit and it rained Monday to Friday. Just had to. Poured down like never before. The end of our garden was drowning and the streams were so full we could barely get across if there wasn't a bridge.

Then it got hot. Really hot. Thursday to Monday (a week ago) it was over 30 degrees every day, our office was a sauna, thinking was near impossible after lunch and anything important you wanted to do had to be planned for before lunch. Sleeping was difficult, there was absolutely no wind!! We couldn't get a breeze when we had all the doors and windows open even.

Then, last week, it dropped to 5-7 degrees C during the night and 12-15 during the day for a few days, getting warmer towards the weekend. It was really nice on Saturday, but you could feel there was no real heat when you stood in the shade. And Sunday it rained all day again.

I don't really mind the raining, we need it and our lawn needs it, but I could do without the huge swings in temperature!!

Still no Tamil

2007-05-31T07:38:00.000+02:00

It's now been over 3 weeks, and there has been no sign of Tamil. I have, however, found out just how many cats like her there is around. Before she went missing I hadn't seen another cat like her, but either most cats that look like that have gone missing lately, or there are a few more around than I thought, and the latter sounds more realistic.

I'll admit I have never done as much to find a cat before as this time, but that might be because o internet and the area we live in. I used to live in a small area with one local newspaper covering a huge local population and the best you could do was put in a notice, a couple of posters at the local supermarkets and notify the vets in the area.

With Tamil I have put notices in two papers and I'm wondering about a third, several internet sites for missing and found cats, posters all around our area as well as with all the vets and some supermarkets. I have called all the SPCA equivalent places in the area and further, as well as any other place I can think of.

We thought we had found her two weeks ago, but no such luck, so I'm still looking. Maybe some old dear has taken her in and is feeding her, a dear with bad eyesight and not so mobile. That would explain the lack of response. She could be dead, of course, but I think not. She's too quick and nimble to get caught by a badger or fox. Not a fat slob like a couple of the other cats in the area..

One of these days I might look less and less and maybe even miss her a bit less, but that is not right now. I miss her more than ever right now. It's been raining for days and I keep wondering if she's ok, if she's keeping dry somewhere and getting food, or if she's gotten locked in somewhere and is not getting food and water.

Bloody singleminded idiots

2007-05-17T16:18:00.000+02:00

So, my favourite, and only radiostation I listen to, Pandora, has been closed to people with IP addresses outside the US. So, the idiots on the top of the music industry has in effect shut off a lot of people's only channel to hear new music..

I hate listening to normal radio stations, they all play the same music, and just talk rubish. Here it's mostly R&B, and whilst some of it's good, I'm more of a Rock and Alternativ person, pluss House and Trance.. So I have my radiostations on Pandora, playing the kind of music I like and introducing me to new music and artists all the time. And if I like them, I buy the CD.

So now I won't be buying any new CD's because I won't be hearing any new good music, I'll be listening to my old stuff as the radiostations are just bollocks!

Happy 17th May!!

2007-05-17T15:51:00.000+02:00

Today is Norways birthday, so happy birthday everyone!!

I'm spending the day mostly inside as there isn't really a lot to do when I don't know anyoen to hang out with. This is, of course, totally my own fault, as I haven't actually checked if anyone around here is available. I did get an invitation to go in to Oslo, thanks D, but I would also like to spend the day with S, even though he is working :)

I also found out yesterday there is a site for missing and found cats, Nettkatten. So, I've added Tamil to the site and hope she is found by someone nice enough to look at the site. I did find an advert for a found cat, but I'm not getting my hopes up before I've had a look at it. Unfortunately that can not be today as it's 17th May and the lady with the found cat is not at home.

I've been a bit busy looking for Tamil lately, so I'll try to catch up a bit today...

And let me start by saying I'm so glad it's 17th May and the bloody Russ will go back to being normal (semi) people again! Living in Asker means living in the area where all the people have too much money and all the Russ have busses with huge sound systems. And in the middle of the night, after it got dark (very late), some buss started playing music for the entire Asker area, keeping everyone awake. I was so tired on Wednesday I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Where the hell is my cat?

2007-05-14T12:45:00.000+02:00

I would love to know who has walked off with my cat, and where she is, and then I would give the idiots a good telling off, and a good right hook!!

She's still not back, and it'll be a week tomorrow. I miss her so much!! I miss her meowing when she comes inside, every single time, and I miss her attacking my feet if I walk past her without giving her a scratch. I miss her following me around, whether I go to the loo or to the bathroom, drinking water from the tap in the bathroom, and lying on mat until I've finished my morning routine.

I miss her mess when she eats, taking dry food in her mouth and walking to any random carped in the vicinity, dropping it all on the carpet and then eating it. I miss her lying on the dining room table or in the windowsill. I miss her jumping up on our laps, now that she's finally started doing that, and I also miss her jumping down as soon as you fuss her.

I miss her wanting a fuss but moving just out of reach and I miss her pole dancing on her scratching pole. I miss her jumping after her mice when we throw them, and sliding on the rug down the corridor after the said mice. I miss her stalking us, and I miss her using our front step as a butchers block/table when she's caught mice.

And most of all I miss her company and cute face. And I will miss her even more when S is out traveling...

In fact, I miss her so much that yesterday I put away her baskets and scratching pole, all her mice, brush and other toys as I cannot walk around and look at it and not know where is or if she'll ever come back...

Desperately seeking Tamil

2007-05-11T09:32:00.000+02:00

My lack of posting is due to my efforts being put into finding Tamil, who has been missing since Tuesday.

If anyone sees her, please let me know.

Only two blisters..

2007-05-03T21:48:00.000+02:00

So, we went for another walk last weekend. We decided to try Nordmarka this time, from Sollihøgda. We aimed for a mountain top about 12km in a straight line. That was before we missed a turn and got slightly lost. Not to mention the fact that the trails did not follow the straight line.. So we ended up walking almost 40km.

The only thing about getting lost in the mountains and "marka" in Norway is that you're bound to end up big-hopping. And we did quite a bit of that before we figured out where we were and where to go. Our new hikingboots really got put to the test. And they held up. In fact, I'm really impressed with my boots. After 40km all I had was two blisters, one under the same toe on either foot.

We've decided to have a go at walking Nordmarka Marathon this Sunday, and maybe we'll even remember the camera this time, so I can post some pictures. We saw some really good views on Sunday and with any luck the weather is not bad and we get some fabulous views again.

So, wish us luck :)

I'm doomed..

2007-04-24T15:46:00.000+02:00

By now I'm doomed several times over!! I keep getting these annoying e-mails where it says that if you don't forward the e-mail to 20 people in 10 seconds you're going to be unlucky in love, work, family and friends for the rest of your life.

I very rarely send them on. I might send a couple, but I take away the "Send it on or you'll die" stuff and just send it because I think it's funny or sweet. And the people who get it never know, so they won't feel obliged to send it on, and everyone is happy.

I've had e-mail for about a decade now, and ultimately you get the same mails now and then. What I have noticed is that the doomsday ones started out as jokes that people sent, and somewhere down the line some idiot decides to add a doomsday prophecy if you don't forward it. How stupid is that?

I'm not the only one doing this, I have noticed that these annoying e-mails do not do the round as well as those without the annoying prophecies. So there, stop adding stupid things to good jokes!!

Anyway, if you ever feel like sending one of those annoying little sh!ts my way, dont!! Or at least remove the whole "send this on or you die.." thingy.

I will say this though, I don't mind petitions and such things, if they are serious.

Spring walks

2007-04-24T14:53:00.000+02:00

The weather has just been glorious, and we've taken as much advantage of it as we could. Last weekend, just over a week ago, S and I went out for a 3.5 hour (17km) walk, on the tracks in Vestmarka. There was some snow left in the shade, and where there were ski tracks during the winter, but most of it was gone. We were walking in t-shirts and even catching some sun :D

On the Sunday I also went out walking with Karla, Nordic Walking, with the poles. As Karla pointed out, we were the youngest by far, walking with sticks/poles. The others were over 70 and had problems walking without.. My poles were too short though, so I had to change them for longer ones, which I haven't had a chance to try out yet :(

Then the weather turned colder, but the sun was still shining. So on the Saturday that just passed, S and I went out on a 5hr walk (about 24km...) and let me tell you my legs were dead afterwards. I was ok as long as I kept going, but when I sat down in the car it was just like my legs shut down. And every time I got up to do something, my legs just didn't work as they should for the first couple of steps.

On Sunday it started raining, so we stayed inside. Just as well, since S was off to the UK in the evening. We did need rain, it was really dry and there was dust and pollen everywhere! The trees also needed rain, so now they can all turn green instead of the miserable grey and brown they have been.

I've made it through 16 episodes of House series 2, and I'm going to try to not watch all of them whist S is in the UK, I have planned to do loads of other things whilst he is gone. This month is the month for handing in tax return papers here, and I finally got it all done yesterday. Luckily we can now do it over the internet, otherwise I'd have to drive around Sandvika to try to figure out where I needed to hand them in. Now I just have to fix my phone so I can receive MMS', pack away all the winter clothes and clean the flat.

Easter

2007-04-18T17:17:00.000+02:00

The UK was great. It was everything I hoped for and more, with weather resembling summer weather.

We spent most of the time outside, going for walks or cycling. The boys really enjoy cycling, so that was a favourite. We only went to the indoor playcenter once, and to the movies, as it was overcast for one day and the following morning.

All in all I think we spent half a day shopping, getting the sparkling wine, hiking boots and a couple of tops. Spaced over 3 days, of course. It was just too nice to even think of shopping any more than the absolute essentials. And as you all know, with our dislike for shopping, that suites us perfectly.

Kathrine is really cute. She had this mohican hairstyle, and it'll be such a shame when it disappears. Although I can understand it if she doesn't think so when she gets older. She had brown hair and blue eyes, always a killer, and really soft hair. She already hated being carried facing the person carrying, as so many babies do, and would let you know if you were holding her incorrectly. Way to go :)

Also, she liked you to bend up and down (legs) whilst holding her. Very good exercises for the knees, but it can be a killer for the legs and back after a while. However, I'm supposed to be doing those exercises already (I know I'm a bad girl for not doing them), so I didn't mind holding her at all.

The boys were very good with her. They love babies and let you know all the time. They loved to try to make her smile or stop crying, until their attention was drawn back to the lego or blocks they were playing with.

I got my fill of Candy Coated Easter Eggs, I still have a full pack in the cupboard, and I bought loads of sparkling wine. We had 3 bottles whilst we were there, and I took two with back to Norway ;)

We even had Borewors, the SA braai specialty, and everyone loved it. Not my favourite after a bad experience, but that didn't stop me from trying it, and it was good. I also got some billtong for my brother, which he was over the moon for getting. I'm a nice sister, aren't I?

Other than that we didn't do much. Other than making model airplanes. Great hobby that I think we should take up at home too. I could sit there with S' youngest son on my lap and build a plane with him for hours. We would sit like that after dinner in the evening, until it was time for the boys to go to bed. Let it be known that a 5 year old does not sit still for long, so he was on and off :)

Hope you all had a great Easter!!

Easter is here!!

2007-03-30T16:56:00.000+02:00

Well, it's here for us anyway :)

We're off to the UK tomorrow, and so it feels like Easter and holiday is just around the corner. I'm just going home to pack and then we drive down to mom's to spend the night there (and get a bit more sleep) and then we're off on the first Ryanair flight to the UK.

I have a shoppinglist ready for the Duty Free - Biotherm Anti-Drying Body-Milk and Norwegian chocolate. Maybe a bottle of something for the evenings, but only maybe. I'll try to make my way to the South African store fairly quickly, and get some J.C. le Roux and Beacon's candy covered chocolate eggs.

As for what I need whilst in the UK, hikingboots are on the top of my list. I cannot stand the ones i have anymore, I can hardly wear them. I just get sore heels and blisters. I have tried everything I can think of, and the only thing that works remotely is plasters. I don't want to have to wear plasters every time I wear my boots.

What I really want is Garmont hiking boots. I had one pair where the heel disintegrated, but aside from that the boots are the best I have ever come accross.The fact that my heel disintegrated is just a fluke, I'm sure. No one had ever heard of that happening before.

I will of course try to get to Next to get some clothes. I will try very hard not to pack too much, and have space for whatever we get. Like the sparkling wine. I've wished for nice weather, and by the looks of it my wish will come true, but this is me we're talking about, and knowing my luck it will rain most of the week. But even that won't put a damper on my spirits.
I'm really looking forward to this trip and to seeing the boys and little Kathrine.

So, have a great holiday everyone :)

Funny tree

2007-03-28T12:49:00.000+02:00

I just have to publish this photo we took on our last skitrip this winter. It was taken on a hilltop with a viewpoint, except we didn't see anything but mist and low hanging clouds. And this tree..

Murphy's Law

2007-03-28T12:35:00.000+02:00

It just had to happen. I had to get sick, and just in time for going to the UK..

On Monday I woke up with a swollen throat, at least that is what it felt like. And in the evening it started itching a bit, but not too bad. So on Tuesday I got hold of CuraMed, some tablets containing the first milk the cow gives after calving. (Like they give that to us. My guess is it's all a hoax, but people say it works and I thought I'd give it a go.) Only to find that I could not sleep at all last night. My throat was itching, dry and uncomfortable, and I was trying my best not to cough.

I eventually got up and took some of S' cough syrup, the one that tastes like hell but has morphine in it, and it knocked me out for 4 hours, but that was it, after that there was no more sleep to be got. So I lay awake from 4.30am until the alarm went at 6.30am.

So I went to see the doctor today. They didn't want to give me an appointment at first, but I said I managed to get one eventually, only to turn up and be told they had made a mistake and my appointment was tomorrow. Luckily they were very helpful and got me first to go for the tests (strep test for my throat and that hole in the finger to see if it's bacterial or virus). And as usual it was virus. I don't think I have ever had a bacterial related illness. I've been told to let it run it's course and get plenty of sleep.

Well, I'm sure most people would be happy to hear that, sleep as much as you can, but I have never been able to sleep during the day, and with the lovely sunshine we're currently having, I can just forget to sleep today. I'll just have to aim for an early night. No House tonight..

Addictions and flue

2007-03-21T10:57:00.000+01:00

It's been a couple of weeks since last time, and all I can say is I blame addictions and flue. First we went to my aunt's 60th birthday celebration just over two weeks ago, and stayed at my mum's for the night. For Christmas I got her the first series of "House, M.D.", a hospital series from the states.

I got it because S had seen a couple of episodes and said it was good, and because it has Hugh Laurie in it. He's a really good British actor, a comedian, and I remember him best as the upper class idiot in "Jeeves and Wooster". I was a bit dubious to him being a British comedian playing an American doctor. But on the Saturday, whilst hanging out at mom's place, I started watching it.

And got totally hooked. In the space of a week I watched all 22 episodes. I even watched House instead of CSI (Las Vegas), and that must be a first for me, willingly watching something else. I just love the cynical, and at times obnoxious, character Hugh Laurie plays. I've tried to catch the names they have for all the possible diagnosis' they have, but it's just impossible.

So, I've decided to buy the second series whilst I'm in the UK for Easter, but this time I'm going to pace myself and not watch all the episodes at once. It's nice to have something to watch for a bit more than a week :)

Just as we were coming to the end of the series, S got the flue, and really bad. He spent the weekend in bed, having aching bones and sensitive skin, and all those symptoms of flue, and a bad cough to go with it. I was also not well on Friday, my head swimming and not being able to keep my eyes open. But that seems to be the extent of my sickness, that and a head ache and hot flushes every day.

At first I thought it was because I had to get stronger contacts and that the contacts for my one eye was too strong, but yesterday I tried my old contacts and today I'm wearing glasses, and I've still got a head ache. Oh well, at least I'm not as bad as S, I can still work and get out of the flat.

Tamil has loved the fact that S has been home and she's had some company. She's now using the cat flap all on her own, and is in and out all day long. She also meows every time she comes in to check where we are and that we're still there. Then she comes up for a stroke and then she wants to play. The other evening she came inside at quite a speed and stood looking at her cat flap very cautiously, ready to run. Either it was the nasty black cat up the road, and she can now get away from it, or it might have been the deer or a fox. I like to think it was the nasty cat, and that we might not have to go to the vet with ugly bites anymore..

The next step in the process is to reinstate the magnetic functionality, and hopefully we won't have any stray or unwelcome cats inside. I have, however, realised that we will find an endless amount of mice, and that she will no longer be content eating mice on the doorstep...

Siberia hits Norway

2007-02-20T18:11:00.000+01:00

It's f'ing cold here, and getting worse!! These are the moments I wish we were not living here, and I wish I had a portable heater I could take with me and that heats up the air around me when I walk home from the train station. And it's going to get worse tomrrow..

In the news they say it's some remnant coldfront from Siberia (something they call "Siberia Cold") hitting us, with "chill-to-the-bones-in-less-than-a-second" winds. Walking home this evening was painful. My nose felt like it was about to fall off (if I could have felt it that is). Not that it's particularly cold. It was colder last week, but there was hardly any wind. The winds we're having now is lethal to say the least..

And what luck we're having, our bathroom floor is stone cold! Well, it's tiles, but the underfloor heating is not working, and tiles in this weather means we could almost be standing outside in the snow. Not to mention the fact that we have a showercorner, not a cabinet, not a shower in a bathtub combination, just a shower in the corner of the bathroom with a showercurtain. So we have to stand on the stone cold floor to shower.

Needless to say we now turn on the shower to really hot, let it flow for a few minutes (heats up the floor and the bathroom - which is also cold) and then attempt to shower. And we don't hang about after showering. Get dried and get out is our current motto for the bathroom.

I went to the hairdresser the other day to solve the fringe falling in my eyes and giving me a headache problem. As most of you know, I'm sure, I hate the hairdrier and stay as far away from it as I possibly can. And all hairdressers love the darn thing. So, my fringe was cut after it was blowdried straight. The result, after I wash it and leave it to dry by itself, is that I now have ot be careful not to end up looking like a wannabe member of Queen in the 70's. But that will hopefully be a temporary 1-2 week problem (judging by the speed which my hair is growing at the moment). Not to mention that with the Siberia Cold it's also drier that it's been all winter, if that is possible, and so my hair looks, acts and feels like it's been blowdried anyway.

My lipbalm is my favoured object at the moment :)

Brain shutdown..

2007-02-14T13:50:00.000+01:00

What do you do when your brain decides to have the day off but neglects to inform you?? You struggle big time!! Night to yesterday was not a good night. I could not fall asleep, and instead of waking S up I went and tried to sleep on the couch. This meant the I was woken up by Tamil wanting a fuss (why, oh why does she want to fuss in the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep, and not during the day when I'm awake???), some idiot revving his moped outside, the heaters turning on and off, and any number of other things. The result being very little sleep.

As expected I was nackered yesterday, but at least my brain functioned. I think it was slow in figuring out it had not rested enough, or it just had too much to catch up on to sort during sleep, that it's gotten stuck somewhere and has not managed to get out... Either way it's not going to have much to process tonight, it seems to be operating on an absolute minimum (luckily using that for work). I feel more like a zombie today than yesterday, and I find it a bit disconcerting.

Or maybe I should just ride the wave of my blond moment day, do huge amounts of really stupid things and hope to have forgotten it all tomorrow (hidden in some deep, dark corner of the brain).

Tagged

2007-02-06T17:58:00.000+01:00

I have been tagged by Susann. And I'm meant to write down 5 of my darkest secrets. The thing is, secrets are just that, secrets. So instead I will do the 5 most embarrasing things to have happened to me.

1. Whilst I lived in SA I went to East London for three weeks with one of my best friends, L. We took the train there and back, a long 22hr train trip each way. On the way to East London we changed cabin, just as they were handing out blankets and pillows to those who had rented such for the night. (We could not afford 1st class, so we were stuck in 2nd, where blankets and pillows were not a given.) So, whilst walking from the one cabin to the other, I decided to jump over this huge sailors bag that they kept the blankets in. My foot got caught on the bag and I fell flat in the middle of the corridor. Everyone stuck their heads out to see how it went, and I, having managed to knock the air out of my lungs, struggled to get up and into our new cabin as soon as possible.

2-5. Since then I have learned to laugh of myself and if something remotely embarrasing happens, I laugh, shrug it off and don't think any more about it. Other than relaying it to friends and family. Unfortunately, this means that even finding one more embarrasing moment is a bit of a struggle, so for now I'm going to have to think about it and get back to ya :)

PS.
If you remember any, please feel free to remind me ;)

Time flies when you're having fun :)

2007-02-05T19:37:00.001+01:00

I really enjoy my new job. It might not be a lot of coding at the moment, but I'm working on it. Let's see what tomorrow brings.. ;)

There is a play currently showing here in Oslo called "Pupperty of the Penis", and I tried desperately to get a seat close to Karla. It was not to happen, and I'm not brave enough to go sit on my own. I wish I was, I really want to go see it. See two grown men do things with their penises must be such fun. Just a huge laugh :D

Yesterday S and I went out for a 5hr20min walk in Vestmarka. There is still a fair amount of snow, but not nice to ski on. It has been raining, so most of the tracks are hard and have a ice sheet on them. Makes it too hard to crash, and not nice to ski. So we decided to walk instead, to train for the Atacama Crossing. I was so knackered afterwards I could hardly walk. I also fell and twisted my knee, which didn't help. So last night was a struggle, or as S would say "I struggled like a dog with one leg".

Anyway, back to the walk. It was very nice to walk instead of ski, and we followed blue walking trails, so there were places no one had wlak (where we took a wrong turn and had to take a shortcut to the right train) and places where only one person and his dog had walked earlier. Some of the places I would really like to see again this summer. They looked really stunning.

We started the walk by climbing a hill (more like a cliff) up Skaugumåsen. It was a really tough climb, but worht it. The view was amazing!! We then walked to Vestmarksetra parking and furhter on to Grønnland where we rested in the sun for a short while. On the way down to Gupu I got the shakes for the first time. I have never had that before. It's where your body runs out of glucose and has to switch over to burning fat. It was really freaky. I got light headed, couldn't concentrate, almost walked into a tree and generally felt really weird. My body was screaming for food, so I ate some nuts, but kept going. It didn't last long, but I'm still glad I had S there who has been through the shakes many times and knew just what to do.

On Saturday we went to the movies and saw the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, and I must admit I was rahter dubious to a blonde Bonde, but Daniel Craig did a really good job, and I really enjoyed it. I just found the latest Bond movies to be all about conquering girls and not enough about being a secret agent. I liked the hands-on fighting, the excellent quips and having a lot of Bonds behaviour explained. Like why he is cold and detatched with regards to women, why he wears the suit etc.

Last weekend S' company had a fomral do, like a black tie party. It was great fun, but I wobbled the whole time. I'm not used to wearing high heels, and never stilletos. I'm going to have to find some solution to learning how to wear those kinds of shoes. Trying to avid them will be too hard (I don't like many shoes, so having to look at heel design too is going to narrow them down to practically none). S and I sat at the noisiest table, but I can bet you a milion it was the table that had the most fun.

I also tried my hand at Black Jack gambling, and made a few bob (unfortunately I couldn't use my winnings on anything). The theme of the night was Casino Royale, and there were gambling tables set up throughout the area. S tried some Texas version of poker (same as is played in the Casino Royale movie). I must admit that until I built up the courage to just remove my shoes and carry them in my had, I was more interested in sitting down than doing anything else. The food was excellent and the dessert was Creme Brule, my favourite dessert. It had fresh fruit on and was just the bets creme brule I have ever had!!

Wednesday before this S and I went out skiing after work one day. It was really cold, so much so that I had to wear a balaclava for the long hill down at the end. Going over the big lake it wsa so cold I got icetaps on my eyelashes. It was amazingly cold to breathe too. I later learned it was -18 degrees celcius that night...

This sums up the last two weeks, and time just flies when you're having fun :)

A week in my new job

2007-01-24T13:18:00.000+01:00

So far I have not been assigned to a project, so I'm reading for my Java 5 certificate. It's very nice to get a slower start than I'm used to, and a bit unnerving.. I sit and read and get paid for it. Not that I'm complaining, because that is the last thing I'd do. I just find it very different :)

Las weekend, after having worked here for 4.5 days, we went off to Hafjell for teambuilding/workshops. It was a good way to get to know people. I met a lot of nice colleagues I would not have met otherwise (most consultants works at client sites), and even had a small family reunion...

The bus trip up was ok, since we left about midday. We did a quiz in the bus and I got to know the guys in my group (Austria). We were divided into countries for company Olympic games. It was a nice group of people, and we managed the questions purely because one of us were a guru when it came to anything related to Olympic games..

Once up at the hotel we had an introduction by the top management and a presentation from a guy from Lucky Næroset, a small village where people were leaving and no one was moving in, on how they turned the trend and now IMT is building a lab there. Very funny, and very educational, on how attitude is everything.

After the presentation we got our room keys and headed off to our rooms. In the lift I happened to meet my second cousin. I haven't seen him in a couple of years, and it was for a funeral last time, so I wasn't even sure it was him, but luckily he recognised me. The really weird thing was that it wasn't only him there, but his brother too. So we had a mini-reunion at the hotel :)

On Saturday we had another presentation the workshops, then lunch and after that it was time for the company Olympics. We were given equipments (mini-skis from the 80's and a toboggan) and fake mustaches for team spirit (not to mention silliness). We then proceeded to the games, where we stood and cheered for our team members participating in the events in -9 degrees C and a full snowstorm. It was an experience not easily forgotten, and by the time the last event was completed, over half the teams were disqualified. In other words, team spirits and good humor played a big role, not to mention the wanting to win at all cost :)

Sunday I left early. I had not brought any equipment for skiing, and I was not in any form to rent after the dinner and partying the night before. I was home just before 4pm, and went cross country skiing with S at 5pm. We got almost 40cm of snow that weekend, so all the ski tracks were prepared and it was even snowing whilst we were out.

So I have now worked here for just over a week, and it's very nice so far. People are easy to talk to and very helpful, but I find they almost always are in IT companies.

What a day

2007-01-15T18:08:00.000+01:00

This has been a really eventful day. Weekend, really.. It started yesterday with another long walk, this time in daylight. The last snow melted, and some more arrived on Friday, but it was quite warm, so the snow was heavy and wet. It took us 4hrs20min to walk 16-17km. Long enough, I think :)

When we got back we relaxeda bit, then tried to call S' brother, K. K and his wife, C, were expecting a baby now in early Jan, and so we wanted to know if there was any action. And there definitely was!! In fact, when S spoke to K they were going out the door heading for hospital. The baby just didn't fancy coming out..

So we tried to relax and hope for good news, playing TP and watching Planet Earth, but eventually we were so tired we headed off to bed.

This morning, at 8am, Kathrine Rose was born. Beautiful name! And the first girl in the family. S has two boys and C's sister has 2 boys. So we're off for a long weekend to the UK to visit in Feb. Looking forward to meeting the latest addition to the family.

Also, it was my first day at my new job today, and everything went well. Will take a couple of weeks to get into the basics, and a bit longer to get into the not so basics. But it was nice, and the place seems nice, and my new colleagues seem very nice :)

A few tidbits

2007-01-13T10:52:00.000+01:00

Christmas was great!! We went to the UK to celebrate with S' family and his sons and we had a great time. We took the boys to this indoor play centre (looked for a link, but the page only works in IE, which is just not good enough!) with a climbing wall, trampolines and loads of climbingframe stuff. It's a really good place for kids. S and I had a go on the trampolies every time we went there, and we were getting quite good towards the end. Never knew how much of a workout a trampoline can give you until I tried it. I could hardly move my back after the first time.

We put in a catflap for Tamil a few days before we left, but it was too cold to play the catflap game and teach her how to use it, so we're still trying to showe her out the flap whenever she wants to go out. However, this has resulted in her not wanting to go out, and therefore not exercising as much as she used to, and therefore putting on weight.. Half of it is extra fur, and we've started calling her furball/fluffball.

It was my birthday last week and for the first time since I I met S, he was home for the first time on my birthday. That is, he arrived home on my birthday. We had a lovely meal consisting of salmon filets with creamy basil and mushroom sauce, asparagus and rice. S gave me a surprice too. My birthday present is a longweekend seeing Norway, including a dog-sledding activity. And when he got home he gave me a present and said I needed something to open on the day, and gave me a small present consiting of a really nice pair of earrings. Some guys just know exactly what to do :D

Last little bit of tidbit is that I'm back on antibiotics again, 6-8 weeks this time. My rash on my chin has persisted and I finally gave in and went to see the doctor. So I'm looking at 6-8 weeks of upset tummy and lots of yoghurt/probiotics.

Last day at my old job

2007-01-13T10:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was my final day at my old job, and it didn't really hit me before around noon that I was no longer going back there. I have been so busy all week, trying to train the new guy and get everything ready, that there was no time to think about it.

So I only started realising what was going to happen midday and it felt abit weird. I'm moving on to something I really want to do, but it's still a bit sad that you're not going to be working with the same people anymore, or go in to the same office on Monday.

However, I do look forward to going back to development and the new challanges awaiting me :)

Walk in the dark

2007-01-08T20:54:00.000+01:00

This weekend started out as a bit of a write-off. We slept late (due to my coughing) and I spent half the day waiting to see the doctor (again, due to my cough). I have had a cough since we were in the UK, and after we got back it's just got worse. Whereas it had been a daytime cough in the UK, it turned into a nighttime only cough when I got back. This meant I was keeping S up too, so I slept on the couch.

After 4 nights of little sleep, I went to see the doctor. Seeing as it was now Saturday, I had to wait my turn, and all those with worse problems went in before me. This meant that I sat there waiting for over 3 hours.. And finally I got my cough syrup, the one that tastes of the worst possible thing you can imagine. It's meant to be the best you can get here, which doesn't say much as what they give you here is weak compared to other places. But generally it works. It works in such a way that it stops the coughing in the coughing place in the brain. And it contains morphine, so you get dead tired too.

So, after spenfing all that time sitting still inside, I was ready to burst, but not talk. Talking dried out my throat and made me cough during the day. So S and I decided we would go out for a walk after dark. Well, it had to be after dark, it was already dark by the time I got my perscription from the chemist.

Off we went, with head torches and hot drinks in thermos flasks, into the woods and mountains where we normally go skiing in winter. Another point worth mentioning is that it snowed on Friday, about 2cm, so there was a layer of snow in most places, and everything was so much lighter we could switch of the toches in many places.

All went well for the first hour or so, then we followed this footpath that obviously turns into a stream when it rains, and there was a good layer of ice below the snow. It went how you think, we both fell flat. S fell first, and it looked really painfull. It was over this little bump of mountain sticking out of the ground, and the water had been running over, but it was imposible to see with the snow covering it.

After a couple of falls we stuck to the parts where we could see the grass and stuff coming through the snow. At least then we managed to stay on our feet and not injure any limbs. However, the walk was fantastic, the stars amazing, the quietness of the trees and snow just made it magical. We walked in companiable silence or spoke in soft voices and just had a great time.

So, to wrap up, the cough syrup only made me really tired, but it didn't stop my coughing at all :(

Uprade ;)

2007-01-08T19:55:00.000+01:00

I finally sat down and took the time to upgarde to the new blog. I also decided to change the look at the same time. Nothing like a bit of change. And I have moved to the dark side..

I find this template a bit less, and as they say, less is more. I was thinking of going for black, but then I'd just gettold off. I have too many clothes in black, and I like having black too much. I've been told I need colour and liveliness, but that is not getting me anywhere either.

Oh well, I'll try this one for now and see how it goes.

Why we take so long......

2007-01-05T09:24:00.000+01:00

When you have to visit a public lavatory, you usually find a queue of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter. The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your handbag on the door hook, if there were one, but there isn't - - so you carefully, but quickly, drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume "The Stance."

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold "The Stance."

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the EMPTY toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mom's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!" Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your handbag. That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It is still smaller than your thumbnail.

Someone pushes open your stall door because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your handbag, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your handbag topple backward against the cistern of the toilet. "OCCUPIED!" you scream, as you reach for the door dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly on the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course.

You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try.

You know your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain, her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, "You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get."

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a firehose that somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too. At that point, you give up. You
are soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the basins.

Now, you can't figure out how to operate the taps with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting. You are no longer able to smile politely to them.

A kind soul at the very end of the queue points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it into the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this."

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used and left the men's toilets. Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your handbag hanging around your neck?"

This is dedicated to women everywhere who have to deal with a public toilet. It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked question about why women go to the loos in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your
handbag and hand you Kleenex under the door.

Arrogance

2006-12-17T11:38:00.000+01:00

The arrogance of some places is just unbelievable!! S was meant to get back from the US yesterday, but his first flight was cancelled due to bad weather and that started a whole avalanche of bad flights.

He was meant to fly from Midlands to Houston in the morning, but had to get a new flight about midday. Then his new flight was delayed 2 hours. Not the worst thing to happen, but when you've already spent half a day at an airport, that is about half a day too long. So he eventually makes it to Houston where he has to spend the night.

He then gets to the airport yesterday to go to Newark and from there to Oslo, but again the flight is delayed, indefinitely, due to maintenance problems. With a 1 hour connection in Newark there is no way he is going to make his flight, so he changes it to go through Paris instead. And this time the flight is not delayed or cancelled.

However, after a long and rough trip and not getting further than Houston, he is tired, fedd up and as frustrated as you can get (at least I think so, as that is how I would be). So the arrival time he gives me is wrong. I wake up this morning and decide to check arrival times before scooting off. Lo and behold, there is no flight from Paris at expected time. S has no battery left on his mobile, so getting hold of him is a no go, and I have no desires to spend a possible 3 hours at the most boring airport in the world, Gardemoen (Oslo International Airport), at rip-off prices for parking and for coffee.

So I decide to call Charles de Galle to see if I can get a message through to him and find out his arrival time. I get a number from the service people at Gardemoen and start my calling. The first number I get has a voice message in French and then they hang up. Doing some internet googling I find out this is meant to be a 24hr customer service number. I find that incredibly arrogant. A message in only French at an international airport..

So I call Gardemoen again and get another number. And this time there is a message in English, and I get to talk to a lady who speaks a bit of English, and she puts me through to someone who puts down the phone on me. So I decide to try again. This time I am told there is no way to deliver messages and for information to dial an extention number. So I try again, dialing the extention number. And I get passed on from one person to another, all of them saying it is not possible to get a message through, but I must hold the line and they send me to some other arrogant b%$£h. The last one I get before I hang up is a lady who puts me back on hold as soon as I've said "Hello".

Well stuff that for an idea. I have had enough of arrogant french people. If you have an international airport don't bloddy expect everyone to talk french. If anything it makes me want to learn the language even less interesting, they can bloddy well get of their high horses (that they have put themselves on) and stop thinking they are the center of the earth. They are worse than the Norwegians. At least people here realise not everyone speaks Norwegian.

Unless you're fluent in french, calling Charles de Galle is not going to get you anywhere. And definitely not the help you need.

The Vibrator

2006-12-15T22:31:00.000+01:00

As a mom passes her daughter's closed bedroom
Door, she heard a strange buzzing noise coming from
Within. Opening the door, she observed her daughter
Giving herself a real workout with a vibrator. Shocked,
she asked: "what in the world are you doing?"
The daughter replied: "mom, i'm thirty-five years
Old, unmarried, and this thing is about as close as
I'll ever get to a husband! Please, go away and leave
Me alone."
The next day, the girl's father heard the same
Buzz coming from the other side of the closed bedroom
Door. Upon entering the room, he observed his daughter
Making passionate love to her vibrator. To his query
As to what she was doing, the daughter said:
"dad i'm thirty-five, unmarried, and this thing
Is about as close as i'll ever get to a husband.
Please, go away and leave me alone."
A couple days later, mom came home from a
Shopping trip, placed the groceries on the kitchen
Counter, and heard that buzzing noise coming from, of
All places, the living room.
She entered that area and observed her husband
Sitting on the couch, downing a cold beer, and staring
At the tv.
The vibrator was next to him on the couch,
Buzzing like crazy. The wife asked: "what the hell are you
Doing?"

The husband replied: "i'm watching football with
My son-in-law."

Tamil update

2006-11-29T11:44:00.000+01:00

The vet confirmed it.. Tamil has been bitten by another cat. Luckily I got her to the vet before it had become a fullblown abscess, so the vet just rinsed it a bit and injected her, and the wound directly, with anitibiotics.

He also said that since we got it cleaned so early I didn't have to find someone to give her antibiotics whilst we were gone, I just had to give her daily doses, morning and evening, up until and including the Friday evening. However, I'm wondering about keeping her inside whilst we're gone, in case that darn cat comes around again.

The poor thing got knocked out at the vet and is now struggeling to ridd hreself of that drowsy, "not quite with it" feeling. She stumbling around and her feet go shooting off from under her when she walks on the wooden floor. I feel so sorry for her, but there is nothing I can do to help her. It is, howeve, quite comical. She's sleeping now, but when she first got up, her legs all wobly, walking like she was smashed out of her mind, feet going everywhere, I just couldn't stop myself laughing.

She will be fine, with yet another puncture wound scar. Just one thing keeps popping into my mind all the time.. Why always the left front foot? Never the right, or any back feet. I can understand the back feet, they are hard to get at, but why always the left??

Aaaarrrrghhh!!!

2006-11-28T20:52:00.000+01:00

First a little not, I see font option is back again :)

Then let me just say AAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!! If I ever see that f'ing black cat again I'm going to throw everything I can get my hands at after it and chase it off so it never dears come close to this place again. If only I wasn't so shy I woul stamp over to the owner and claim the vet bills from them, telling them to sterilise that bastard!!

I will never understand people who do not sterilise their cats should be kicked in the arse to next century. And their excuse that they do not want to take away the only fun they have, just goes to show they need their brains looked at too. They are bloody cats, not humas, and they do not know the fun in fighting, chasing and having raging hormones so they can procreate. They become neighbourhood terrorists.

This evening Tamil has an abscess. It is on her left front leg, the same one this f'ing cat keeps biting her on. I suppose there is a VERY small possibility this is not the same cat, or even a cat at all, but it's only a few weeks ago since last time she was bitten. It wasn't a big bite then, and nothing came of it, but this time she's limping, she won't let me near it (that might be because I squeesed it whilst talking to the vet) and she's a bit under the weather.

So we have been given the first appointment with the vet tomorrow, and they have to put her under, open the abscess, squeese out all the puss, rinse it and give her anitbiotics. Which is just great!! It could not possibly have happened at a worse time. She will have 5 days of antibiotic, 2 og which we will be in the UK.. I'm going to have to talk to the vet tomorrow and see what we can come up with. Hopefully a possible solution.

I will keep you updated..

Shopping part 2

2006-11-19T22:32:00.000+01:00

We are off to the UK for our annual shopping trip. Combining Christmas shopping and clothes shopping. Seeing as my new job is as a consultant, I have to get clothes that are not washed out jeans and some raggy top. Not to mention clothes that actually fit anf that I like at the same time. Not an easy combination.

So I've been checking out Next's stuff, and I'm definitely going to order some stuff before we go over. I just wish there was a Next here, or that you could order over the internet and have it sent here.

Anyways, we off, out of here for 4 whole days. And I have to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas before then. I'm going to try to make a list so I son't have to spend all 4 days shopping. My plans are Fish 'n Chips, Chineese food and maybe some Indian. And also spend time with S' family just relaxing.

Job

2006-11-19T22:27:00.000+01:00

I got a new job!! I'm going back to development!! I'm so excited I can't begin to say.

My new job will be as a Java consultant. I have C/C++ experience, but now I'll be doing Java. It won't be so hard, but I'll have to knuckle down and work hard.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all :D

Gross men

2006-11-19T22:02:00.000+01:00

So, as you all know I take the train into Oslo for work every day, and lately I have been taking a later train than I usually do. Well, I'm going to try to avoid that in the future.

I usually walk to the last enteance/exit of the train as this is clsest to the exit of the train station. Especially now that it's cold outside. I'm not the only one who does this, and it's like this little group of people who meet up at the last exit. Well, I'm not going to be part of that group anymore.

Two days in a row this guy was playing pocket tennis behind my back whilst waiting for the train to get into the station. I was standing facing the exit and saw it in the exit window. Tell me, how can some men be so gross and think that no one sees them? How can some men be so gross?????

I'm so grossed out I do not want to go near that train again for ages. And if that's the one I have to take, I'll not go the rear of the train.

The perils of shopping!

2006-10-17T14:41:00.000+02:00

I should learn. When I find something I like I should buy it in different colour and thereby have clothes for a while. And maybe one day I will find some shop where I can purchase everything online and never have to set foot in a shopping center again..

The current fashion for undernourished little boys (and this is the female fashion) does not fit me in any way possible. I'm not big, at least I didn't think I was, but I do have a classical hourglass figure, and apparently they are so out of fashion that it's not possible to find clothes that look even remotely nice.

Anyways, I have found out I need to change my style as the only jeans available in Norway are skinnyfit with legs that go in at the ankle. Anyone who doesn't have the "undernourished little boy" figure thereby look like a cone with a bum the size of mainland Europe. So I decided to buy "grown-up" clothes instead, but apparently the fashion has managed to sneak into all types of clothes.

I went out to have a look for trousers, nice looking wool or cotton trousers that can be worn for practically any occasion. After first having dragged S out for 1 hour to Mexx, where I managed to find a skirt, 3 or 4 weeks ago, I thought I'd save him the stress of my bad mood and went on my own. I first went to Benetton, and found a really nice pair of trousers, even in my size. But when I tried them on I could bareley get them over my knees!! So I went back and got another pair, 2 sizes bigger. They were nice, after all. But that did not work either, as they then looked like I had taken and empty potato sack (the kind used at fairs to for the sack-race) and cut them in the middle to make the legs.

So on I went, determinded to find maybe one thing. I also need a coat as my winter coat is coming apart at the seams (no exaggeration!) But however much I looked, and however many trousers and coats I tried, they were all for the "undernourished little boy" and looked like hell on me. To be fair I did find a pair of jeans that did not go in at the ankles, but they were still very tight around the hips, and not what I was looking for.

So, my quest goes on. I never thought it would be this difficult to find clothes. I think Next shoudl seriously think of branching out to Norway, so I can get some proper clothes that son't look like they were saved from the 80's..

Laws which Newton forgot to publish

2006-10-16T14:28:00.001+02:00

1. LAW OF QUEUE: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

2. LAW OF TELEPHONE: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

3. LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

4. LAW OF THE WORKSHOP: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

5. LAW OF THE ALIBI:If u tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.

6. BATH THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

7. LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen
with.

8. LAW OF THE RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will!

9. LAW OF BIOMECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

10.THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the furthest from the aisle arrive last.

11.LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Finally!!!

2006-10-15T19:11:00.000+02:00

I finally got hold of the pictures from Egypt, and I have resized them so I can post them here.

Here we are, standing at on of the most popular sites of the pyramids, where you can ride camels to the "viewing point" where you can get all three puramids, one in front of the other. We decided that we had seen enough, having spent 2.5 hours walking around them.

This is outside the Mosque of Muhammed Ali, at the Citadell in Cairo. Most females had to wear an Obaia-like jacket, but since my sleeves covered my elbows I was ok. At the back you can see the clock that Muhammed Ali got from one of the King Luis' of France for the Obelisk that is in Paris. This clock has never worked, so it was definitely a swap in favour of the French.

This is the Temple of Philea, on of the many temples that were moved when they built the High Dam at Aswan, and made Lake Nasser. The island it originally stood on is totally submerged, and hence they moved it to an island close by. They now have a pole sticking up of the water to show where the temple originally stood.

Here I am, standing outside the entrance to the Rameses II Temple at Abu Simbel. There are two temples there, one for Rameses II and one for his wife, Nefertari. These temples were moved 100m upwards when they constructed the High Dam. There were several Temples that were located in Nubia that were moved. When they constructed the High Dam they had to relocate the entire population og Nubia, and they reckon there are several undiscovered temples and tombs now buried under the lake.

This is the remaining Obelisk outside Luxor Temple. There is meant to be one on the other side of the entrance, but that is the one that is in Paris now. That is if memory serves me correct. Half the temple was buried under ground, and in one part you can see a mosque that has been built on top, about 15m up. The Luxor Temple and Temple of Karnak are joined by a avenue of spinx's, but only parts have been recovered/unburied. This is because there is another mosque and a church standing right on top.

Here we are, just inside the Valley Of The Kings, where you can see the mummy of Tutankhamun in his tomb. However, I enjoyed the Hatshepsut Temple and the Valley Of The Queens more. We thought of doing a balloon trip over the Valleys, but then decided we had had enough early mornings and wanted a sleep in.

This is the boat we went out on when we went on our snorkeling thrip. The very same one S went out on with his company about 4 weeks earlier. And the one I got so sunburned on I could not sit the next day. I don't think I'll ever forget that. I also don't think I'll ever forget the importance of sunfactor and putting on more after every swim.

So, after having been gone for a while, yet again, I am back with flair.. or pictures at least.

I have been moved to a new project at work, and this, as all others, is hectic and it's taking all my day and then some to get into it. I have also been doing regular exercise, running and cucling, to keep fit. I kind of feel like I should start taking care of myself, and maybe get a bit warmer. I have gotten tired of always having cold toes, fingers, ears and nose. So I try.. and hopefully it helps :)

Blonde!!!

2006-09-14T09:56:00.000+02:00

Found this clip from the Norwegian version of the realityshow for "Beauty and the Geek", called "The Professor and the Princess" in Norwegian.

It is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen, and just goes to show how blonde someone can be!!

Good joke :)

2006-09-12T16:26:00.000+02:00

Bubba was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I betcha I know them."

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "OK, Bubba, how about Tom Cruise?"

"Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends and I can prove it." So Bubba and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door and, sure enough, Tom Cruise shouts, "Bubba! Great to see you! You and your friend come right in and join me for lunch!"

Although impressed, Bubba's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house, he tells Bubba that he thinks Bubba's knowing Cruise was just luck.

"No, no, just name anyone else," Bubba says. "President Bush," his boss quickly retorts.

"Yep," Bubba says, "I know him. Let's fly out to Washington." And off they go. At the White House Bush spots Bubba on the tour and motions him and his boss over saying, "Bubba, what a surprise! I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up."

Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds, he expresses his doubts to Bubba, who again implores him to name anyone else.

"The Pope," his boss replies.

"Sure!" says Bubba. "I've known the Pope a long time." So off they fly to Rome. Bubba and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Bubba says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." And he disappears into the crowd headed toward St. Peter's. The boss is thinking to himself ... yeah, that's just a put off ... I've got Bubba now!

Sure enough half an hour later Bubba emerges with the Pope on the balcony. By the time he makes his way back down to where his boss is, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics. Working his way to his boss's side, Bubba asks him, " Boss! What in the world happened?"

His boss looks up and says weakly, "I was doing just fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the Japanese tourist next to me asked, "Who's that on the balcony with Bubba?"

Keeping fit...

2006-09-04T13:14:00.000+02:00

S has signed up to partake in the Attacama Crossing next year. That is a 250km race accross the Atacama Dessert in 7 days. I have applied for a volunteer position. I know my limits, and they fall way short of that.

I did, however, decide I would start running. I have said to S for a while I wanted to give it a go again, but I was a bit sceptical and reserved, alst time I only had to do two runs before I had shin splins that were so bad I could hardly walk. Never mind that I had the worst trainers ever and ran on tarmac.

Anyways, I have been running 4.5km 3 times a week for the last couple of weeks, and still no shin splins. This might be because S got very bad shin splins and now does all these exercises, warm-ups and stretches that I do with him. I guess I'm riding the wave of S' injury, but as he says, better avoid it altogether than have to work through it.

I do cheat a bit, though, my 4.5km is all downhill. We walk up to the top of a hill, then run down in a bit of a round-about way. And it is all on footpaths, no track and no road. The only disadvantage is that with all the rain we're having, most of it is sump and slippery, so our feet and trainers are drenched and we've had a couple of near misses, or fallen flat, on our 39 minute run. In fact there is a couple of places where I walk carefully across as the rock is so slippery you fall no matter what you do.

But I manage, sort of. I look like hell and feel like I'm about to die at the end of it. And still I get out and do it again 2 days later. Maybe I need a brainscan.. S read in a bug it takes 3 months of running before you get "the bug". I'm just wondering how long those 3 months are going to feel as we head into autumn with more rain and colder weather, not to mention DARKER!

Wish me luck as I presue this new hobby, and hopefully it will last :)

Holland...

2006-08-29T15:39:00.000+02:00

Last weekend we went to a birthday celebration in Dordrecht, Holland. Talk about going to lengths for a party, but then what don't you do for friends.

We had to get up early on Saturday to make the flight, and a good thing we decided to not leave later, there were busses instead of trains for part of the way to the airport. So we finally got to the airport and of course Norway has been affected by all the extra security measures, and we all have to remove out shoes to have them x-rayed.

As far as I heard, that was only supposed to be for people flying to the US. So why do we all have to do this? It just creates queus both side of the security check. People removing their shoes, on top of everything else, and people putting their shoes back on afterwards. Because they don't say anything about it before you're standing there, so how are you meant to know you have to remove them?

Anyway, we got on our way eventually, and the flight down was quite nice. There was even some space, I didn't feel like tinned sardines. Not sure if S is of the same opinion, we didn't get seats next to each other, and he's much taller than me.

We met a friend of mine from SA, T, in Amsterdam, at Schipol. This is when I found out that the international airport in Oslo leaves a lot to be desired. It must be the most boring airport in the world. Schipol had shops and cafeterias and fastfood outlets and even a supermarket. There was something to do there whilst you wait to checkin, or the flight you're waiting for is delayed.

It was really nice seeing T again, like old times. I hope she has a chance to visit us before she moves back to SA. Not many of my friends in SA has seen Norway, and although it is cold, wet and dark, there is some things to see too. E.g. ME!!

Anyways, we caught an InterCity train from Schipol to Dordrecht, and it only took an hour, so it wasn't so bad. The hotel was right by the trainstation, and S' brother and sister-in-law were staying there too, so all in all it was rather nice.

We went off to the party thinking we were going for a braai, but we either got the wrong end of the stick, or they forgot to notify us of the change of plans. There was no braai, just some snacks and loads of beer and wine. So we stood around waiting for the snacks and hoping for enough to fill our very empty tummies. Which we did get to do. It was a nice party, with the brits in one end and the dutch in the other, and not much mingeling. Can't say anything about the others, but my Afrikaans is so bad, trying to communicate with a Dutch person is so not going to happen!!

We also found out there were no InterCity trains the next day, so the roundabout way, with two train changes, took twice the amount of time and wasn't very comfortable. And we had to get up early again. Not that that was a drag, we woke up 1.5 hours before the alarm clock and had plenty of time. but not at the airport. We stressed through and finally got to the right departure area (the screen was sending us to the wrong area). After a lot of removal (shoes - again! and this time for the Schengen area departure area) and packing it again, we got to our flight.

This time, however, they had decided we didn't need space, and it felt like we had less space than what you get on Ryanair. Thought those days were out, but apparently not. So I can't say I'll fly commercial airlines for the space, as that is non-existent on some of the planes.

We caught the train to Asker, but had to get on a bus halfway there, and finally we were home. I was ready to crash, but it was only mid-afternoon, so I got busy washing the clothes that had piled up after the UK holiday a week earlier, and just getting everything in order. S went out for a bikeride and got ridd of some pent up energy and frustration. He also got some fresh air, which I envied him. I could also have gone out, I just felt the need to get to the bottom of the washbasket for once.

So here we are, at the beginning of the week, and I feel like I have ben working for 2 weeks straight. I am not going anywhere next weekend, even if you pay me a million pouds! I am relaxing at home keeping poor Tamil company. She'll think we've deserted her just now. And I'm sleeping late!!!!

Back update

2006-08-29T14:33:00.000+02:00

It's fixed!! I had a slightly sore back after the weekend, but by and large, it is fixed. I can sit, I can run, I can even do belly dancing classes, so I'll say it's as good as new.

Holiday time is my time..

2006-08-29T14:31:00.000+02:00

Our annual holiday going to different places in the UK is over and it's not the same to be back in Norway with the rain and work.. But then when is work the same as holiday?

This year we went to Derbyshire, to Sandybrook Pine Lodges. It was a great place, good for children and a pub for us. Not that we spent a lot of time there. In fact, we only went there the last couple of nights.

The walks, however, were amazing, and the boys were so good at walking. We didn't have to drag them along, and we all had a good time. We climbed a couple of mountains, follwed a few rivers/streams and had lunch on the moors/hills almost every day. There is nothing that beats lunch sitting on a hill or in a meadow outside.

There was the odd shower when we were walking, but there was so much to look at and so much to do. We met a duck and her two ducklings who were so used to people they let us stroke them. All for some food. Then there was a heron that we followed downstream trying to see it catsh a fish. Unfortunately the camera clicked a bit too loud so we scared it off. We also saw a "Dipper" dipping around in the river.

We went to see Thors Cave and many other cabes in the area, and even went into Speedwell Cavern, riding a boat through the old mine. Afterwards we walked up this valley with loads of small caves all the way. It was also very crowded, so in true style we walked onto the hills and headed for another, less crowded path.

I think the most exciting thing was the rivers and streams, though. They loved getting in and damming it up or clearing a way for the water. Boys will be boys :D
it's just not that much fun when you have wet boots that don't want to dry out afterwards.

We went to Alton Towers one day, but the queues were long, there weren't a lot of rides for smaller kids and the small things you could do, like trampoline, cost extra, which is ridiculus when you've already paid a fortune to enter. So I think we will skip that another time. We also ended up going on the one day the heavens decided to open up and there was a storm with thunder and lightning. So, after a couple of hours of rides, a lunsj and waiting for the rain to subside, we decided to call it a day, and got totally soaked on the way to the car. Needless to say it cleared up after that.

You might also have noticed all the problems at the airports in the UK. Of course we ended up travelling on the Thursday it happened, to the UK. We were lucky to have an evening flight, so it wasn't cancelled like to many others were, but we were allowed normal handluggage to the UK, but coming back 10 days later, this was not the case. I had to check in my handluggage as an extra suitcase and pay extra for kg's and the bag. I was not impressed. One thing is for sure, Ryanair can take their money claim and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I'm sure they earned all their losses in when charging full price for the handluggage bag we had to check in.

Maybe, maybe not...

2006-08-02T14:55:00.000+02:00

I'm not sure whether I should say anything, as it might jinx it, but I'll say it anyway.. My back is much better!!! I went to this physiotherapist with 2 extra years of education, and he fixed my back. Never mind that I had to undress to my underwear (and I was wearing really old, embarrasing underwear).
He did a couple of chiropractitioner tricks and loosened the lower 5 discs in my spine (before the coccyx) and massaged the muscle that runs diagonally from my ribs to the lower 5 discs and the back of the hip-bone. He also tried to loosen the discs and muscle between my shoulder blades, but they have had over 4 weeks of "hardening up", and there was no way they were going to let anyone push them around. So he gave me some exercises to do every day until I see him again.

Next time I might just wear my Bridget Jones underwear and at least feel a bit less embarassed..

I have also taken up running. OK, so I've had two runs, but I'm trying :)
I went for a 4 km (mostly downhill) offroad run on Sunday and yesterday, and I managed to run all 4 km without stopping. and without getting shinsplins and sore knees. I'm amased at myself, let alone anything else. I thought I was going to have to give up about halfway, but I managed.

I have anther run tomorrow and one on Saturday morning, then I have a break until Tuesday evening. At least that is the plan.. I will not set anything in stone as I'm a bit worried abotu getting shinsplins. I got that last time I tried to run.. But that was years ago, on tarmac with trainers/shoes not meant to run in (cheap and plastic and no air or gel or anything like that).

One step further

2006-07-28T16:18:00.000+02:00

This is applicable to several areas at the moment..

I have asked S to bring his dvd burner/player for his laptop so I can copy the pictures from Egypt to my laptop. All I then need is a photo edit program so I can resize them. Might have to ask someone for help/advice on which program to use.

Then there is my back, an everlasting issue, it would seem. After doing so well last week, it has regressed to being sore this week. I have now got an appointment with a "manuelltherapist" - directly translated from Norwegian - which is a physiotherapist with two extra years of education, and knowledge of triggerpoint stuff.

I got the results from the MRI scan and x-rays, and they showed that everything was normal, so I now got confirmation on what I knew, that it is muscular. Then it's just to get the correct treatment and get ridd of it once and for all. And hopefully for it never to return again...

Going to the UK in two weeks, so I have to get moving on things now. Can't have this back whilst on flights and driving.

No pain, no gain

2006-07-19T16:57:00.000+02:00

Or so they say.... Well, after the last couple of weeks, my gain should be huge. And it is. I now have full understanding for those with back pains and chronic stress pains. Not a chance I will dismiss them in the future. Not that I have in the past, the memory of my mom's back pains are too fresh, even if she hasn't had one for close to 15 years.

I seriously thought it would go away within a week, but it persisted and is technically still there. At least my back is still sore, but it has moved.. It is now the long muscles that go up along my spine that are stiff and knotted.

I went to alternative medicine tratment last week, and was told about an excellent Chineese Massage place in Oslo. With actual chineese massage therapists. I have promised S a massage for a while. One of my best friends in SA is a massage therapist and gave me a massage once. Pure heaven!! I've been telling him how nice it was, and he did give up caffein for 3 weeks, so I treated him to it.

So on Sunday, after S had had a 4h45min run and I'd had a walk, we went to The Dragonfly for chineese massage. I had focus on the back and S had focus on the legs. And it was so nice to feel my muscles relaxing and the knots releasing.

The place was just fantastic. It had what I think is typical chineese decor, with bamboo and wood furniture and these stones in the walkways. The atmosphere was just great. You were able to relax and enjoy it. You should at the rates charged in Norway. You expect royal treatment!

After the massage we relaxed in their relaxing lounge with a cup of Jasmin green tea. I would love to go every weak, but I would be bankrupt before I knew it if I did. However, I have decided to treat myself to an aromatherapy massage sometime in the future...

So far this week my back hasn't been so bad. It's a bit stiff today, but it was ok yesterday - hardly felt it. The doc has referred me to have a MR scan, so I've got an appointment with a big, round scanner today. Not too comfortable with machines like these, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've also got a referral to see a physiotherapist, but the one I knew was good is on holiday, so I have to find someone else.

That's just it, all of Norway goes on holiday in July. I tried to get an appointment with an acupuncture guy when my back first started acting up, and I'm still waiting for a reply to the message I left on his voicemail. I'll see how the MR scan goes and then try to find another physio or something.

Later...
I have now been for the MR scan, and I had to also do x-rays. Have no idea how it went, the results will be sent to my doctor early next week. And the way it works here, I will only be told anything if they fins something wrong. Otherwise they don't bother. This annoys me like anything, as you wonder all the time what the results are etc.

Cat sitting

2006-07-18T13:45:00.000+02:00

My faithful Tamil watchers have relocated to Australia and I now have to find someone who can feed Tamil for about 10 days in August. I don't want to inconvenience people either, so I hate asking.

However, it will have to be done. The optimal solution woul dhave been if she didn't mind driving so much. Then we could take her to mom's place and leave here there. But she hyperventilates on the drive to the vet (10 mins max), so a drive to Tønsberg (50 min) is out of the question.

So I will enlist S' help and set out to find a cat sitter, or feeder as it is. She's not much trouble, and goes in and out as she pleases, and all she needs is food, water and a fuss if she happens to come along at the right time. Not a demanding cat, in other words :)

Neglected

2006-07-08T20:15:00.000+02:00

This entry is going to take me ages to write, but it's just going to have to be this way. I feel bad for not having written in a while, but with my current back sitting is not much of an option, and trying to write on a laptop whilst either walking or lying on your back is not easy. So I sit and write until my back protests and then get up and either walk around or lie down on the couch and read.

As I said, my sister and her kids were here on holiday, and it was great! I would love to post photos, but I only have the photos from my sister and they are way too big in size. For some reason my laptop will not read my CD with Adobe Photoshop, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to so. Won't last long, just have to download it, I suppose :)

My back got sore on Saturday, and it's just a case of the muscles in the small of my back tightening and then what feels like locking in that position. Sunday I was barely able to move, but with Ibuprofen things got better. Unfortunately I ran out of those on Monday, and this being Norway, had to go to the doctor to get new on Tuesday. They only sell 200mg Ibuprofen over the counter here, and that doesn't do much when your back feels like it's trying to break free in the worst possible way.

I was put on 60% sickleave for the rest of the week, which never happened, as per usual. Every evening has been spent on my back either reading or watching a DVD. I have read one Harlan Coben and one Katy Reich and almost finished with the 3rd book. That is all this week, so you can imagine how bored I am.

I was meant to go to a birthday celebration on Friday, but since it was dinner in a restaurant I was unable to go. Couldn't face sitting for another hour or more after 5 hours at work. Instead I spent another evening on the couch. Today my mom is coming to visit, with her dog Basil. We're going to go for a long walk in the forest, which will hopefully loosen my back and make the rest of the day a breeze.

On top of getting my back in a knot on Saturday I managed to get loads of spyware and malware on my PC. Not much fun at all. I only managed to get rid of it all yesterday, with the help of a security expert. So now I can enter passwords again without the fear of these being sent to unwanted parties. Took me forever, and I installed a lot anti-adware/spyware removers, and instead of only having one, I now have 4. But at least now I'm safe for a bit. Maybe I'll stick to Linux next time. Lot less problems.

Back to my sis. It was really nice to see my niece and nephew again, I haven't seen them in 4 years. They have grown a lot, as they tend to when they are kids, but they still looked like they used to. Just a bit older. And they are really well behaved. OK, so they don't eat everything, but if I remember correctly, neither did I. I said I didn't like it because I didn't like the look of it, or because I knew it was fish or liver or black pudding. But as I grew older, I tried more food and found out I love fish, but I still hate peas. I think it's too late to change my mind on peas now, so they don't come in our door. If S wants peas, he has to get it somewhere else..

The first Friday they were here I was able to get off work, so they came to visit me (it was S' birthday so I had plans for the evening) and we went for a long walk in Vestmarka. The kids loved it. Not once did they say their feet were tired or asked if we were back at the car soon. They picked a huge bouquet of wild flowers (this is allowed and accepted in Norway, in fact everyone does it), waded through streams and climbed rock's and did your basic adventuring everywhere except on the track.

My niece managed to get her foot stuck in a huge puddle of mudd, and my nephew climbed a huge rock right in front of a waterfall. We met a lamb who had lost it's mummy, but found her again, and got chowed by mosquito's (me). It too about twice the time as I would walk it normally, but we were not walking my pace, and we chatted and had a really good time. Right about when we were the furtherst away from the car it looked like it might start raining, in fact it did rain a couple of drops, but it never got further than that, and a good thing that was, neither of us had brought waterproof anything. Other than the wellies we were wearing.

We went down to Tonsberg on the Saturday and ate shrimps and played with the kids. We were all a bit babalas (hungover) on Sunday, so we just went for a walk and then headed back home. With summer being here and the traffic down south on Friday and back north or Sunday being so bad (it seems every person in Oslo is going south for the weekend), we didn't want to hang around waiting to use an extra hour standing in queues home.

Last weekend my sister and the kids came here again on the Friday, but this time I wasn't able to get the day off, so they had a look around Oslo first. There's Vigelansparken (the park with all the naked statues, and the castle. There are also a few other things, like Holmenollen, but you either need a lot of time (public transport), or a car. I don't take our car to work, I use the train, so they had to sip that. Besides, they're tearing down Holmenkollen and building a new jump hill (for ski-jumping).

We had a braai in the evening, and the next morning S set off on his travels again, whilst the rest of us had a lazy morning and set off to Tonsberg in the afternoon. In the evening we went to Verdens Ende. I haven't been there for ages, but it's a really nice place and somewhere worth seeing if you are in Norway and have the time.

On Sunday we went up to Slottsfjellet, me walking slowly and feeling very stupid with my back that wasn't quite there, but one thing I learned was that walking was one of the best things I could do, my back wasn't half as sore then. So the rest of the week I have been walking a lot. And it's the only time I don't feel my back at all. Monday Sis and the kids went back to the States and that brings us up to today..

Mom's come and gone. We went for a long walk and Basil went swimming in every lake, river and stream he could get into, and we just had a nice walk. It has done my back a lot of good to go walking, and I just hope it's ok by Monday. Otherwise the doc wants me back for x-rays. I'm not too keen on that, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

I promise to be better at posting, and hopefully there'll be a lot of good weather and loads of stuff to post about.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Long time..

2006-06-28T16:55:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I had time to write, and this is yet another short post :(

My sister is visiting from the States, with her kids, so I'm running back and forth between Asker and Tønsberg. As is everyone else in the Oslo/Asker area, especially on weekends.

It is very normal for people in Oslo to have summer homes along the coast of southern Norway, from about Tønsberg down to Kristiansand, and further I'm sure. The problem is that everyone wants to go to their summer house for weekends. Every weekend. With one main road.. I try not to go anywhere in a southerly direction on Friday. So I go down on Saturday morning. But I still have to go back on Sunday, and we have to either leave early or very late.

Then there is all the so-called tourists. Although I find it a bit odd calling people from Oslo tourists, that is what they are. And they behave worse than any tourists from overseas. I especially found this when I worked in a bar in Tønsberg. The people from Oslo think they are so much better and can behave as they like because Tønsberg is meant to be a small town with small town mentality. luckily it isn't so. But you still get annoyed with these drunk idiots (guys) who are using daddy's summer house and daddy's boat and driving daddy's car and using daddy's money. And then think they are God's gift to women.. Scrub!!

Anyway, we used to have a good laugh whenever they went too far and got hauled in by the police. They would have a NOK15000 fine waiting for them in the morning. Paying for the policeman's ball, as we said in Joburg. They would soon learn, or at least daddy would.

I Passed!!!

2006-06-21T13:28:00.000+02:00

After weeks of hard work and studying, I can proudly tell you that I passed my course. I now have papers that I have up-to-date programming experience, and now I just have to get the job for it.

We're still planning to study and become Sun Certified Java programmers, but we decided we needed a couple of weeks break before preparing for that.

At least we have time to relax and recouperate,a nd enjoy the summer. Just in time for the rain to return...

Q & A's

2006-06-10T23:06:00.000+02:00

I got this from Zeus' blog. As he says, feel free to copy it and answer it.

1. What childhood vacation do you remember the most fondly? Visits to Yorkshire

2. How many colors has your hair been? It's gone from light blonde to blonde with time

3. Would you rather be placed in a tub filled with water snakes or covered with ants? Neither. I'm a squeamish girl. I might be a geek, but I'm a girl non the less.

4. Are you camp Jessica or camp Nick? I would first need to know what it means to be either, so I wouldn't know

5. Do you have a swimming pool? Can we come over? Not any more. It would be a block of ice most of the year..

6. Salty or sweet? Salty!! Especially licourice

7. When did you last get a kiss? This afternoon, from S when he left.

8. Do you play a musical instrument? I used to play the flute..very badly

9. What's your favorite kind of weather? Sunny, all day

10. What are you wearing right now? Pyjamas

Drastic Changes

2006-06-10T22:38:00.000+02:00

It doesn't happen often, but more and more lately. Sometimes I get weird notions and I do drastic changes. Sometimes they are brought on by others, S in particular, other times it is me that feels the need for change. I must admit that the ones brough on by S has had more success than the ones brough on by me.

For example clothes.. I hate shopping for clothes. I think I have mentioned it earlier, but in case you didn't believe me, I will say it again.. I HATE it. Most of all I hate it because I never find anything that suits me. That was until I met S. He has been able to find tops and colours I would never look at twice, talk me into trying them on, at which point I realise they actually look nice (most of the time).

Another example is skiing. I used to hate it and vowed I would never put another pair of skiis on my feet (cross country skiing that is). But with the correct gear and toasty feet it wasn't bad at all, and I realised I enjoyed it quite a bit. For one they made winters in Norway more bearable.

An example brough on by me is the hairdresser. I once went to the hairdresser years ago.. I asked for a cut that really didn't suit me, but the hairdresser was not good enough to point out that it would look horrendous. After that I have been very careful with hairdressers. My favourite is Elena in Jo'burg, but it is rather pricey to go to her on a regular basis these days. She got my hair back into shape and looking good.

So I kept the same hairstyle for ages, and was very reluctant to change it. I went to Snorre at CanCam in Oslo in Jan, and he was really good. He realised I didn't want a high maintenance hairstyle, and suggested and easy hairstyle that suited me. So when I again felt the need to go to the hairdresser, I went back to Snorre.

I had been toying with the idea of a fringe. I wasn't sure, and was leaning towards forgetting it, but I raised the idea with Snorre. He thought it was a good idea, said I had the facial shape and features for almost anyhing, and that we could start with a small/thin fringe that blends in and isn't too intrusive. So I went for it....

It looked really good when he was finished. The only thing is that he used a hairdryer, and I don't even own one. So after I showered I let my hair just dry, like I normally do, forgetting that I do actually have a curl to my hair. It has been so long and heavy, I forget that it's there. So I came out looking like a Madonna/ABBA wannabe...

I have taken more care when showering today, straightening the fringe a bit, and running the brush through my hair. We shall have to wait and see what it's like in the monring.. However, S did notice that I had cut my hair. In fact he noticed so much I was a bit worried he might not like it. But as he said, I have had the same hairstyle for as long as he's know me, he has to get used to it first. Well, that will take a while. He went off traveliing again today. He will be back on Firday, just in time for the weekend :)

So I was wrong...

2006-06-10T22:20:00.000+02:00

I didn't get my life back.. not yet anyway.

The project/adssignment got approved, and this mean we now have an oral exam on Friday 16th. So we went from working flat out on the assignment to reading for the exam, with the exception of last weekend, when we prioritised our relationships (me) or temporarily found housing (B).

B and he husband L had a fire in their apartmentblock last Friday, and suddenly they were without a place to stay. They were really lucky,it wasn't their apartment burning, but it was full of soot and smoke and stank to high heaven. They were even more lucky that there was housing readily available, L's brother was going on holiday for a week. They can move back in this weekend, their flat has been washed down and B has been airing all day. She said she'd move back tomorrow evening, after studying.

To be hones we haven't really started studying until today, it is a 10 min oral exam where we have ot talk through our assignment and answer a question. But the week has been really busy. There have been deadlines all week at work, and with problematic hardware it is not always easy to meet deadlines. I even had to take work with home, which I hate doing. I prefer to leave work at work and rather stay late at work. But sometimes you cannot choose. Not if you want at least a glimps of your better half.

So, today we were going to study. It was just not motivating that it was the warmest day I have had in Norway this year. I know it was warmer in May, but since I wasn't here it doesn't count. First thing we did was walk to McDonalds and buy an icecream each. Then we strolled home and booted the pc and opened the course site. And that is as far as we got when we got visitors.

And old colleague and one of my best friends, K, came by with his wife N and son A. I haven't seen them in 6-7 months, and A was onoly 6 months then, so he has changed a lot and grown so big. But what a heartbreaker. And very quiet. I am now used to kids who are testing out their vocal cords, expecially when they see Tamil, but A was a totally different experience, especially for Tamil. She didn't run a million miles and hide, although she did stay outside. The weather is just too good for her to consider being inside.

After they left we did get round to start reading. We have been given a list of 10 questions with instructions that we will be asked one of them, so we got down to answering them all. Most of them are simple questions (i.e. we understand what they are asking for), but not all of them. We really did struggle with one, but mostly because we didn't understand the question. I will have to send off an e-mail tomorrow to find out if we have answered them correctly.

Keep your finger crossed for me on Friday. Hopefully I will then be able to write more often :)

UK in one day

2006-06-03T14:13:00.000+02:00

I don't reckomend it ever!! It is plausible when you think of it, but not very nice when you do it.

I went over to London Wednesday 17 May, Norways national day. I left really early in the morning and returned late the same evening. I flew BA there and back, and I was not impressed. I have flown Ryanair a lot lately, and it's cheacp, but then you pay for what you get. And at least they are up front about it.

We sat in the plane and waited for 1 hour due to delays at Heathrow. The pilot didn't want to have to ciercle in the air waiting to be aloowed to land. I can understand that, it's not much fun for anybody. I wasn't too worried, I had plenty of time for what I was doing.

We got to Heathrow and they only had 4 people to check passports. At a busy airport like that, I was a bit amazed, but hey, maybe they were striking. Seems to be the thing to do in Norway at the moment. S I queued forever andeventually got through, only to find out that the tube to Terminal 4 was losed and it was bus services instead. Luckily this did not affect the Heathrow Express, so I cashed out and got to London in style and with speed. At least compared to the tube.

I eventually got to where I was ment to be, but it took a while. With my luck I managed to choose the one route where the tubes were delayed, and therefore ended up at the wrong tubestation and trying to find my way to the correct place. I'm surprised to find that very few people in London know the names of the roads aroud their work place. I went into several Boots and other shops to ask for directions, and no one knew any street names or anything. The only thing they could do was point me in the direction of tube stations.

I go there eventually, and after my appointment went off to meet up with an old friend at Canary Warf. It is one of the few places in London I really enjoy. It is right up there with Kew Gardens. I'm not much of a big city person, unless you cound Johannesburg. But then I never lived in Jo'burg center, but in the suburbs. And they have shopping malls and smaller industrial areas and mostly houses. Very different from London.

Anyway, A and I went and had lunch at this Italian coffee bar. They had really nice food and a lemon liquore that was just perfect. The lemon made it not sweet and just great and refreshing. Can't remember the name of it, but it's an Italian drink and apparently very common in Italy.

So, after having stocked up on Ginger Snaps and Ginger Wine, I headed back to the airport again. I only had handluggage, and had been able to check in for both ways in Norway, so I headed straight to the gate.

By this time my feet were killing me. Whatever made me think I could wear heels for hours for the first time in months??? Whatever made me think I could wear heels for more than two hours, I have no idea. But with all the dealys, walking and waiting because of the Circular Line being delayed and so on, I had ended up spending a lot more time on my feet than I had expected.

I managed to hobble around the airport looking for shoes, but they only had really expesive and weird ones. If i'm going to spend loads of money on shoes, they can be called what they like, but they must look at least a bit normal. So I found none.

Having sat by the gate waiting to board and nothing happened, we were told 15 minutes before the flight was ment to have taken off, that the flight was 30 minutes delayed. It had been delayed arriving at Heathrow. Not a problem, I thought, they also said the flight would only take 1h45min so it would mean we would be 15 min later than planned. Not too bad, we were only landing at 10.15pm, and the train home would take another 50 minutes, so it meant I would be home at about 11-11.15pm and I could still get some sleep before having to go to work the next day.

Well, I should have known that with my luck it would not be like they said. We were boarded about 20 minutes before the flight was ment to depart (delayed time) and then we hung around waiting for another hour! So I was only Norway at 11.15 and then had to sprint to cath the 11.36 train and was only home at 00.25am.

So, with all the flying S does with commercial airlines like BA and SAS (and my one last experience with them), they are more often delayed than Ryanair, and although you have to pay for the food on Ryanair, it is a darn site better than the food we were served. The only other airline I have found to be good and on time, is KLM, and so in the future I will be either flying KLM or Ryanair. At least with Ryanair you know what you get. And they are very good at getting you there on time.