Snø i Bergen compared to snow in England

I find reactions to snow fascinating, it's a very strange thing! For those that dont know, in England every year there is typically one day of good snow fall. It will usually happen overnight and then will  be slush shortly after lunch time. I remember once it hit hard in my home town and to say chaos in-sued would be a gross understatement. After a heavily delayed train journey I found myself stuck in the town centre with a suitcase full to bursting point and post apocalyptic scenes all around me.

Hundreds of cars were abandoned all over the town and everyone I knew was stuck in hours of traffic. In the end I spent over an hour dragging my case uphil through several inches of snow where finally I met my Dad in his car. I should point out that the train station to my house was usually a 10 minute journey. I recall this snow lasted a couple of days and my town made national news!

Now lets flip to snø i Bergen, which first appeared a couple of weeks ago. To summarize, a little more traffic (but not much) everyone still goes to work/school and  basically you just get the hell on with it. Norway is a country prepared, very prepared! Bergen does not even get that much snow relative to proper snowy places, yet ploughs are everywhere, winter tires are compulsory and everyone has appropriate wool clothing. In fact Norwegians in my experience have an obsession with wool, it's like holy water and they believe it to be the answer to everything. Wool socks, thermals, hats, mittens the works! Every time I mention any part of my body being cold a Norwegian laughs at me for not covering it with wool.

Due to the fact that Bergen is pretty much guaranteed to have a few weeks of snow a year the nostalgia for it is naturally much lower, people go literally mental in England if they see a single snow flake I swear. I would say many in Bergen enjoy it, especially at first but naturally some find it frustrating, I however though have loved nearly every minute of it. I remember several times I was working outside in my job in what I would describe as blizzards. It was cold, wet and difficult to
work but such an awesome experience, I find hard snow fall really gets the adrenaline pumping. Walking through the city drunk one night in heavy snow was also a very strange and new experience. Everything was so bright it was like day time, which was nice given how few hours of sun there is now, but that's for another post.

Sadly the snow has now disappeared just in time for Christmas and does not look to be returning again in the next few weeks. A very slight disappointment but I've enjoyed the snow so far and it was a little tedious at times so I have bid it farewell for now and hope it returns for little while again in the new year.

Veiw from a balcony on one of the first snowy days

Caught in a blizzard on a walk home from town

This was around christmas either 08 or 09 in England. My brother, a friend and I made a snow rabbit

I dont get it either but it seemed like a good idea at the time, also incase you were wondering, yes the dog did get in the way a lot as I remember

Norwegian language progress and small talk

Ok so now I have all the confused mixed emotions out of the way in the last post, lets get caught up properly shall we. (This started off as a serious update on my current ability in Norwegian and then become a drawn out collection of anecdotes, at which point I thought it was best to stop as it was getting insanely long, just a heads up)

Language: 

What a topic this is, for years when ever I have heard of people emigrating I have always heard the phrase, "6 months to a year you'll have the language no problem". This seems to be a very widely held belief based on essentially nothing as far as I can tell but one that was said to me by pretty much everyone before I emigrated. 

Well the 6 month mark is officially here and its safe to say I am not conversing happily as predicted (albeit the prediction of everyone who has never spent more than two weeks in a foreign speaking country). I will try my best to explain the level I have reached although as I stated months ago this can be very difficult. I have definitely been improving constantly, lets start with that. I learn new words regularly and have even started making my way through a learning Norwegian book. However Progress is still with out doubt much slower than I would like

The one thing that I really like is that very often now people say things to me in Norwegian and I know exactly what they are saying, I am usually just talking about fairly simple statements and questions but still this is very helpful. I follow more and more conversations and I have spent time with people where we have communicated many times without them every having to speak English. That being said I still do not understand quite a lot of the time as well and am still regularly frustrated and confused,  especially when dealing with strangers. One example was when someone came and dropped the weekly fruit basket at work yesterday, assuming I was Norwegian she tried talking to me, I got the first couple of sentences and managed some semi awkward laughs and "ja ja"'s (this is my response to 90% of statements made by strangers I encounter) but then I got completely lost and so I very awkwardly walked away still chuckling slightly and saying "ja ja". This is by no means the first time this has happened!

The problem in these situations is telling someone who is just trying to make a polite passing comment or a bit of small talk in the street or at a shop or something that you didn't understand as you are English is an embarrassing and tedious situation for everyone. The thing is I have discovered that many more people than I had initially thought do not really like talking English, they understand perfectly well but will avoid actually talking it at all costs. This I completely understand as it is the same for me in Norwegian at present. Even though I often understand it still takes too long to properly construct a decent Norwegian response and I still feel very very stupid in terms of my pronunciation so if ever Im talking to people who know me I talk in English basically all the time. 

Anyway my point is imagine this situation, someone very innocently says some comment about the weather or that the shirt Ive just bought is very popular etc. . . if i fully understand I confidently respond with appropriate laughs, yes's/no's, interested noises and sounds of agreement. However if I don't, I can either gamble on some of the above, or go sorry I didnt get that I'm English. At which point they may either laugh and simply say it again in English, OR panic, look a little worried, spend a second translating it and very uncomfortably saying it in English. At which point we both feel very stupid and lose all confidence in our bilingual abilities. In short, its just not worth it. So I gamble, 80% of the time it all comes off fine and we get on with our lives. Occasionally I look stupid and they give me a confused look but by the time its all slotted into place, we have all once again moved on with our lives. Simple!

Yes I am still alive! Overview of thoughts and feelings.

Hello world, how are you? Firstly I must apologise profusely for my lack of posting for so so long. Please forgive me and thank you to all those who have been reading and commenting while I have been off the grid, I shall not let you all down again. In this post I will briefly explain why and give a quick overview of my thoughts and feelings. Reading back through I have noticed I've used the term "I think" a lot. Its very difficult sometimes to know exactly what you are feeling/felt and why so I have largely just had to hypothesize, I hope it will all become clear. Over the next weeks I will in depth go back over interesting things from the last few months.

So where have I been I hear you cry! The answer is in short, exactly where you left me, Marianne and I are still in our temporary jobs and living with her parents. This is partly the reason for my lack of posting I think, I have been very up and down over the past few months and despite dozens of times writing posts in my head I have never actually been able to get them down. It started with my laptop breaking which was where I had notes for future posts, after I lost this knew I was having to improvise and to be completely honest, I was not at all motivated.

Its not all doom and gloom my any means, I have had some really great times over the last few months and I look forward to telling you about them! But yes things have also been hard as our temporary situation drags out for longer than planned. I feel bad as I wanted to articulate my feelings so many times as after all this was meant to in some ways an aid for others and a memory for myself. That being said though, my inability to ever actually sit down and open up is probably as good an indication as any as to how I have felt in a strange sort of way. The days, weeks and months have at many times simply flowed into one with time passing faster than I had ever imagined it could while also frustrating dragging out and making me so painfully aware that things were as I should have guessed, harder than expected.

I think I remember stating in an early post that I expected the first couple of months to be quite fun and novel, and then the months to follow to be a very hard slog. Well I have never been more right although I have discovered that being aware of a challenge and actually facing it are two very very different things. A large amount of the problem has been is I think I dont like to admit to myself, or more importantly anyone else, how hard things are at times. I like to think I am always level headed and optimistic and I find it essential that others see this in me too. The last thing I want is the loved ones around me worrying, and being the insanely caring and loving people they are it is very easy to have that happen.

The bottom line is in all honesty, I am fine, really! Its difficult to be completely certain sometimes as I spend so long telling myself and others this that I forget if I'm lying, but I'm not! Yes things are hard, harder than expected, I am frustrated with the language, living and employment situation, of course I am. But all that aside I am managing ok and I am still 100% sure this is the place for me to be and that things will work themselves out very soon.

I wonder whether the weather is something to worry about in Norway

The weather was an inevitable subject I had to speak about at some point. I was trying to wait a little while in order to have a clear picture of things generally. I now think I have seen enough of the varied weather patterns hear to give a fair reflection, I also had a request from an anonymous reader who was curious/worried about it. Well I hope this helps;

Firstly I must put this into context, I can only remark on the weather in Bergen in the western part of Norway  and only for the short time I have spent here. That is several weeks last summer, a couple of weeks at Christmas and then the last two and a half months.

Now with the disclaimer out the way lets get to the point, I would say the weather here is generally . . . as expected, if anything nicer. A little anti-climactic I know and I shall explain. Bergen is about the same distance from the equator as Scotland, seeing this on TV in the British weather forecast I knew largely what to expect and that was; a bit colder than most of England, a little wetter and some proper snow in the Winter. Both this summer and last have both been largely and most importantly relatively, very nice. From what I've seen from English people complaining, nicer than what they had, but then again nothing gives English people more pleasure than moaning about the weather. To take the comparison away from England and be more general I must say for many days it was over 20 degrees C, shorts were worn many times and we seemed to be having BBQs and eating outside nearly every day! Sure it was by no means tropical , one wouldn't suddenly think they have walked into Egypt, or even south of France. However it was very pleasant and I did pick up a nice tan. I must even confess that last year after several hours sun bathing without any protection my stupid English skin even got a little burnt!

So thats the summer, pretty good right? Nothing to worry about I'd say, well now for the other extreme, winter. I came over on December 26th Expecting meters of snow all around and the city to look like a cliché Christmas card. I had seen it in the sun and marvelled at its beauty and I was really looking forward to seeing it covered in white. I was however disappointed to say the least. Decent snow fall is common in Bergen as throughout large parts of Norway in the winter. Last year however it just wasn't quite cold enough and instead I just saw large amounts of rain. Occasional lashings of snow, but never settled and was always quickly washed away again. On the whole it was pretty cold. Around 5 degrees I guess. Again, not very far away from what I am used too and I would say very manageable. It might sound terrible if your used to tropical weather and having never lived in a hot country myself I wouldn't know what it is like but I would say its fine! Not ideal, but totally liveable, it wont stop you doing anything, just invest in some good weather fighting clothes!

I must also add that one day we travelled about an hour on a coach to go skiing and we found loads of snow. I was fascinated by how close it was. So ski enthusiasts, fear not, good snow is never far away in Norwegian winter time, even if it has failed to arrive on your doorstep. 

We are now entering Autumn in Bergen and this is obvious as it starts to rain a lot more. Bergen is famous for being insanely wet. Now as Autumn is the wettest season here and I have not been here during it I cant comment but so far I would agree that at times there is a lot of rain, and when it does rain it can be very aggressive. Yesterday for example I went out and it was stormy for a large part of the day and I was well soaked through. However the previous day had been lovely with a slight chill in the air but not a cloud in the sky and today has been cloudy but mostly dry.

So in summary of what I hope is a slightly useful summary for those wondering about the weather in this part of the world I would say Bergen is pretty unextreme all over and like many other parts of Europe. If you are fearing freezing temperatures most of the year then you are mistaken, that is left for the crazy people in the north.

Do however invest in an umbrella, just incase ;)

Last summer, me outside bryggen. Not a cloud in the sky

Skiing last winter just outside Bergen. It was actually very warm while skiing, although that didn't stop us enjoying some awesome hot chocolate while waiting for the bus home. Good times!

EMPLOYED!

Now dont get too excited, as I can see you were. It's very uninteresting but I am pleased none the less. I have just get a job which I started on Monday. I am doing maintenance and stuff but essentially I'm just a general labourer and handy man/bitch. Obviously not ideal and its only a temporary contract but I shall start with the positives, of which there are several! (I originally mentioned the specific company but probably not a good idea in retrospect and as its not relevant I have decided to take it out.)

I can finally complete my application for proper long term residency! This is a big deal, I have described myself several times as a 'glorified tourist' as that is kind of how I felt, unemployed and not even allowed to open a bank account. But now with contract and passport in hand I can wonder down to the police station (I havent actually done this yet but will soon) and pick up a personal/birth/national insurance/social security number or whatever you call it in your particular country. I also strongly believe this will boost my chances of getting a long term job doing something in my field. I understand that no one wants to hire the fresh of the boat Englishman with no proof of his Norwegian written or oral or even that he would work well with other Norwegians. Its completely fair enough, I've only ever worked in England and although I may put in a personal statement 'works well with all types of people etc,' I had no real documented proof. But now I do and hopefully it shall be a big boost to future applications. I am also sure that working around Norwegians all day will help me with my Norwegian which is progressing still nicely at a very slow speed.

O yer and I almost forgot it pays very well, loads by English standards for such a position. Obviously it doesnt go as far here and most positions pay much higher than in the UK but still I'm chuffed.

Negatives then, well I'll only touch on them as I'm in a staying positive mood. The contract states its a short term deal until when the jobs done or December 31st, whichever comes first. Therefore could in theory be over any day, a couple of months has been suggested as an approximation and I hope that is the case. The problem here of course is that even if it is as long as two months, it may not be enough to boost my CV, improve my Norwegian and then a month later when all the money has run out again I'm in the exact same place I was last week! Also the job itself is very boring, so far I have been begging for things to do, been sent home twice by 15.00 and I really want to work a proper 8-4 to earn the money but just hasnt been enough to do. I'm hoping that as they see my enthusiasm they find more. Easy money is nice in theory but I want to show I'm worth having around so they keep me. Meant to be doing a load of painting tomorrow so that should be good, nice lengthy tangible task, perfect.

Anyway that is all for now. I am proud to have joined the club of crappy first jobs in a foreign country, I've heard of a few interesting stories before and by their standards mine is pretty good. Please share your first expat job stories with me if you have them  :)

Beautiful Norwegian Red Sky.

Yesterday it was beautifully warm and like so many times over the last few months we sat in the garden catching some rays and having a BBQ. Popped out later that evening and the sky was looking awesome as the sun was setting behind a moutain and beaming its last rays through the broken cloud formations.

I only had my iPhone on me at the time so the quality is not the best and I have slightly edited them to get the full effect. The colours truly were very vibrant, a lovely site.

Sunday the day of rest, best spent hungover

Although still unemployed, due to my girlfriend Marianne now working regular office hours we have entered the world of living for the weekend and Saturday night being the big one for the week. The night life itself I will save for another time but I just wanted to quickly touch upon Sundays in Norway.

Traditionally I think in many parts of the world everything closed on Sunday, you were meant to go to Church, see your family and all that jazz. This is of course no longer the case again in most places as far as I'm aware. In England for example although shops will typically close a little earlier, basically everything is open. Many banks even work full days Saturdays now so its probably only time before even they have to face the grind with the rest of those who work in retail and hospitality and swing open there doors on what was once the sacred day of rest.

In Norway however, everything is closed on Sunday. When I say everything, I really of course mean most things, but still loads more than I would expect. Bergen it seems to me has a lot of shopping malls for example, apparently you just can't have enough H&M and Carlings (clothing stores) within a thirty mile radius. It therefore seems strange that of just two none working days in the week they are all closed. If you look a little deeper though this does sort itself out quite nicely. These stores are largely open till 20/21 in the evening throughout the week and with the majority of Norwegian offices clearing at 16:00 (and not a minute later if what I have been told about Norwegian working culture is to be believed) then this gives ample time to still shop during the week and saving Sunday for its blissful simplicity.

It's not just the shopping malls though, the supermarkets too. In order to be legally allowed to trade on a Sunday the store in question must be of a certain size, I can tell you from experience this size is small. About a quarter of the size of a regular Norwegian supermarket which itself less than half the size of a decent English supermarket. I have no doubt American ones are several times bigger than that again. I'm aware that probably all got rather confusing, and short of creating a crude diagram I must ask you simply take my word for it, you have to be prepared for Sundays. You don't want to be under-supplied, its deeply tedious

The easiest way of not having to think or worry about all this hullabaloo in my opinion is to make sure you plan to have a big night Saturday and have along with your preparations for the night also organised yourself for the subsequent hangover on Sunday and then, viola! You don't want to leave, you don't need to leave, who cares whats open. Bliss.

The point that started this all off in my brain was that this weekend Marianne and I went out Friday, this meant hungover Saturday and a chilled Saturday night in. This was then inevitably followed  by a very boring Sunday. The weather had not quite lived up to our hopes for a trip to the sea and therefore we were left twiddling our thumps all day. If I'm being totally honest this doesn't bother me too much, I have previously been described as an expert at doing nothing, and some may consider a hangover to be doing nothing! But I'm afraid you would be wrong, a hangover is like putting the tent down after a camping trip, a tedious but necessary task that follows the initial enjoyment.

As always I have found myself going off on so many tangents, who knows what my initial point was and I have no idea how this post ended up so long so I should probably quit digging.

Please feel free to suggest you best Sunday activities :D

IF

I'm not certain if I mentioned it in a previous post but I clearly remember saying to myself and a few close friends & family that I thought the first couple of months after I moved to Norway would probably be fun and then get increasingly difficult, stressful and depressing until the end of the first year. I then suspected it would get easier after that and hopefully truly comfortable and at home after around three years. Given I am fortunate enough to have time on my side still being just 22, this was a timetable I had accepted.

I am now just three days off the two month mark and I think I am well on target. I have been slightly negative at moments but largely things have been really fun. A few nights out, a couple of little trips, visitors from home and the best mark I could have hoped for in my degree. I must look back very fondly on most of that time.

The low feelings however are slowly peering their ugly heads in small waves as I plod along day to day, searching for jobs and generally just waiting for something immense to happen. This will however not be a negative post, oh no! Instead I will share one of my tricks for staying positive, and it is through the words of 'IF' by Rudyard Kipling. I remember few things from my childhood as clearly as I remember the first time my Dad read me this poem. I was instantly moved by it and kept a copy in my room for a quick read whenever I was feeling down. 

Years later it still works as well as it ever did, I'm sure many of you would have heard it many times but I just read it after receiving my fifth job rejection e-mail in two days and I felt the need to remind the world of these wise words. I have been heavily considering getting IF tattooed somewhere and if it carries on keeping me upbeat I think I will have to.

http://vimeo.com/1305608

The link is to a slightly better quality version of the same video. Personally I prefer to read the poem out loud to myself to get the full effect hence why I have posted the whole thing below. However this is a really nicely put together video that is well worth a look at.

IF

• If you can keep your head when all about you
• Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
• If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
• But make allowance for their doubting too;
• If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
• Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
• Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
• And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
•  
• If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
• If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
• If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
• And treat those two impostors just the same;
• If you can bear to hear the truth you ’ve spoken
• Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
• Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
• And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
•  
• If you can make one heap of all your winnings
• And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
• And lose, and start again at your beginnings
• And never breathe a word about your loss;
• If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
• To serve your turn long after they are gone,
• And so hold on when there is nothing in you
• Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
•  
• If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
• Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
• If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
• If all men count with you, but none too much;
• If you can fill the unforgiving minute
• With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
• Yours is the Earth and everything that ’s in it,
• And—which is more—you ’ll be a Man, my son!

Min mor i Bergen/ My Mother in Bergen

Last weekend my dear old mother and her husband Dave visited Marianne and I in jolly old Bergen. Sadly just a short 3 night visit and the weather was the worst I'd seen since I moved here. Being a mixed party of British and Norwegian however as you may imagine we were all used to this kind of obstacle and more than capable of laughing at it and refusing to let it hinder. Weather aside for now though (I plan to post about this soon) we had an awesome time and I thought I'd let you into what we thought was a great couple things to do. Sadly though after starting I realised as always I had far too much I wanted to say so I'm just going to talk about a bit of it now and other bits at a another time. (I have finally made a list of future blog topics as I always forget and therefore should be posting much more regularly)

They arrived early on a Friday evening and we all spent the night indulging in the very Norwegian activities of eating steak, drinking boxed wine and talking about how beautiful wooden houses are. We then got a relatively early night in preparation for the following days activities. We began the next morning and each subsequent morning with a big Norwegian style breakfast of baked bread rolls and a table full of exciting toppings, unsurprisingly this went down a storm. We then headed into Bergen centre to show  them the sites. I think we spent around two hours or more wondering around seeing loads of points of interest such as; Bryggen, the fish market, blue stone etc. These are all fairly obvious attractions and all well worth a wonder round. They may not play a regular part in my life in Norway but I do feel that they are great interesting things that are lovely to have close by and a must see for any tourist visiting Bergen.

After being driven slightly insane by my mothers insistence of photographing every thing in sight it was time to travel up Fløyen. A quick wikipedia search will tell you this is the most visited of the seven mountains of Bergen and it has a funicular that takes you 320 meters up that is used by tourists and citizens alike all year round. More importantly I say, it is great day out with hours of lovely walks both easy or treturous. It also provides some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. I've been to the top of the Empire state building, The Statue of Liberty, Snowdonia and a number of other British mountains and the veiws from Fløyen destroy them all in my humble opinoin. The beautiful combination of sea, forest, mountains and the city itself is just spellbinding. I have been up Fløyen I think four times now and I plan to do it many many more. Its not even just the main veiwing platform at the top of the funicular, go for a wonder around and find your own private angle to enjoy Bergen from. Few things can make me forget of England so easily and I consider myself very fortunate to live in such a beautiful city.

We went walking for about an hour up Fløyen and when the rain set in hard we found cover and enjoyed some skillingsboller, a tasty traditionally Bergen cinnamon bun. We then took a nice leisurely walk down the mountain which takes less than an hour and makes you feel you've made up for the laziness of getting the funicular up. 


I fear I must leave it there for now and once again begin my job application duties but I shall return soon, promise. 

Bryggen at the bottom and a very foggy Fløyen behind. Fortunatly the fog cleared soon after so we could actually see when we went up. As it often does though fog did make it look cool

Looking up at Fløyen from the city. In the middle you can see some of the funicular track and the building and viewing platform at the top where you get off

This was actually from the first time I went up Fløyen, it starting raining and everyone took cover allowing me to have the viewing platform to myself and capturing this lovely image. I felt like I was looking over my future Kingdom, it was a very peaceful and contemplative moment. (And also quite wet)

Jeg prøver å lære meg norsk

Translation: I'm trying to learn Norwegian

Having a quick flick through my posts I've decided I have definitely not talked enough about learning Norwegian. After thinking about it for a while I can think of a few reasons why this is, I think its mainly because its a touchy subject and if I'm honest I've not been trying hard enough. I hate admitting it to myself but its true. I am learning a little all the time but I'm probably not being nearly as forceful with myself, I'm also a very hard critic.

So what level am I at now you may ask, and I would answer, a very low one (although Marianne being the kind loving person she is would probably disagree, at least she does to my face). I'm learning its very very difficult to assess progress, something I find very frustrating. On the one hand, I do know many words, and the very basics of sentence structure. I have a comically large knowledge of food in Norwegian for example and I know all the basic human activities such as;

Jeg er trøtt - I am tired.
Skal vi sove - Shall we sleep
Jeg er sulten - I am Hungry
Skal vi spiser - Shall we eat
Må på do - Directly translates as must on toilet, not the most polite way I understand but totally acceptable.
Douche - Shower

And yer lots of other basic things like that. I also know enough about the written language that most of the time I can read things in the correct way. Such as knowing the extra letters and pronouncing and not pronouncing certain letters, the e at the end of a word for example, it would be silent in English but isnt in Norwegian, and its more of an 'a' sound. Douche for exaple is pronouched 'doosha'. (I discuss this in the following two posts too http://gent-turning-troll.blogspot.no/2012/02/tias-birthday.html, http://gent-turning-troll.blogspot.no/2012/01/pals-birthday.html)

Combining my small known vocabulary with common sense words that sound like English and even more common sense of scenario and body language/gestures I am often pleasantly surprised and surprise others with the short conversations I can follow. However its very much pot luck, sometimes even short simple statements I have not got the foggiest whats being said.

There is of course also the dialect problem. People from Bergen for example speak what is called 'Bergensk' and this is a far cry from the Eastern dialect heard in and around Oslo. Its like comparing really extreme London cockney and Newcastle geordie accents, its technically the same language, but only just. This creates a problem for me as 90% of the shows on TV and 100% of the available audio books and online tutorials pronounce words completely differently to the way I've been taught so far and the from the people I hear speaking every day. All in all its a mine field of stress and confusion.

I'm going to bring this to a close as I could probably write thousands of words on this but I'll summarise by just saying, I love learning in small doses, I find it genuinely interesting, and I also want more than anything to be able to speak Norwegian. Not just for huge amount easier it would make my life but also for the people around me who are so patient with my ignorant English ways. But alas it is not easy, so I should probably stop writing about it and start practising.

A very helpful little kids book that I really must spend more time reading

After the Holiday. The good, the bad and the tedious.

I've been living in Bergen a month now and its fair to say the holiday period is well and truly over. Marianne even started her new job yesterday so I'm on my jack jones most of the day. So what have I been doing?

Lets start with the positive, went out a couple times in the last week or so and really enjoyed myself, plenty of bars and stuff and I have discovered you can even get drinks here from as little as 29kr if you use your noggin. Definitely becoming much more comfortable generally, met plenty of people and even managed a couple of hours of football the other day which although I'm still suffering, I really enjoyed.

Best news of all is I got my University Results last week and to my shock I got a 2.1!!  I'm aware most people dont know what that is so I will tell you, it's essentially a B, the second highest grade and given my very slow and lazy start to Uni something that neither I nor anyone else every thought I would manage. I was quite simply chuffed to bits!! (for those that dont know this expression see Hugh Laurie's interview with Ellen for a translation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE )

So on to the bad, finding a job is my no shock number one! Finding out in the same week I got a great grade I never thought I'd get only to then realise I will still not get anything close to a decent job in the near future was a major moment killer. I found one job I really liked the look of online that although probably still way out of my league I was a tiny bit excited to look into, only to phone them and be told, "yer I know it says we would consider graduates but only really those with an engineering background, without that and very little experience I would be pessimistic, we usually get well over a hundred applicants for positions like this. But do feel free to apply". Well thanks for nothing man, well except your honesty, guess its not actually his fault but I need to blame someone! I did apply, mainly just because I had nothing better to do with my time but I eagerly await the thanks for trying but bugger off from them along with a couple of other jobs I've ambitiously put myself forward for.

Now for the tedious bit, I actually got offered a job over a week ago, sadly though this was for a very busy restaurant in the centre of town that insisted that I work every weekend and evenings and commit to be their long term. Now I've done that before and know I am more than capable of working long hours in a restaurant running around all the time (although I did develop some worrying knee problems at times) however I've moved all the way to Bergen to be with my girlfriend, what is the point in doing that if we then have conflicting jobs that result in us literally never seeing each other and just meaning neither of us ever get any sleep as we are disturbed by the other. In the end it was just a big no go, and with that it occurred to me that pretty much anything in hospitality was also going to be the same, so the one area that although I didn't actually want to work in again I thought I could at least settle with before I came I now cant really do. So where does that put me, sitting on my arse at home depressingly searching through dozens of jobs I can't do. Oh Goody!

Still one must keep positive, and most of the time, I am, something has to come along soon right? In the mean time I consider myself very lucky to have a nice roof over my head and food on the table thanks to Marianne's insanely kind family. After all things could be loads worse and one must have a little perspective, so actually, ignore the forth and fifth paragraphs, everything is good really I cant really complain.

Summer Solstice

It was recently the summer solstice as most of you are probably aware, where I come from this is celebrated by going to Stone Henge and checking out some crazy druids (I've never actually done it but I'm assured that is the done thing). In Norway they have huge community bonfires, seems very unnecessary as its so light for so long, you'd think this would be a better idea in the winter, but who am I to argue with custom.

Marianne and I took the opportunity to go out into the long evening sun to take come nice (cliche) pictures. I found it very strange to still see it so light gone 23.00 and the sun didnt really disappear until about midnight. It also meant it was quite warm too and ideal for a nice walk. I have been looking forward to moving to Norway for all the walking and amazing views and although I have not done as much as I maybe should I have really enjoyed what I have done. This country really is stunningly beautiful and I hope I never stop seeing it. 

Finally I would like to mention the zebra crossings here. Now yes we have them all over England and I shouldn't find it that strange but I do as they are everywhere, it seems every street you are just meant to happily wonder into confident the cars will always stop for you, I find myself waiting at the side constantly waiting for an opening only to see cars stop and look and feel like a muppet. What I love about Zebra crossings here though really is the signs. A few new ones have popped up with a stick figure on them which is tragic as the original is a guy in a suit and trilby hat. I think it is very funky and honestly makes me smile most days, I think I may start to petition against the new stick man!

Really enjoyed getting this photo, although cars where coming far too often and looked very stupid. It was 23.18 here, and as you can see, so bright

This was 23.15 here and it was a lot lighter than this picture makes it out to be. I  had an obsession with the lonely tree in the middle of the mountain, thought it was awesome!

Cliche silhouette photo taken with my iPhone, couldnt resist. Taken at Midnight

Lads Cabin Trip

Apologies once again for the gap between posts, it is shocking however this time I have a better excuse than ever.

Last week I was with little notice invited to a lads week in a Cabin just outside Stavanger. There were between 5 and 8 of us throughout the week ( this was because people came and went as per there personal commitments not due to fatalities) and I was the only Englishman invading what was a very long tradition between this group of life long buddies. I was a little worried before the trip, being a clear outsider only knowing one of the guys well (Pål my girlfriends, sisters boyfriend) and meeting 3 of the others just once before. I needn't of  worried though, everyone was great and I had an awesome week!

We spent all our time simply chilling, chatting and drinking. Drinking a lot in fact! Despite suffering heavily each morning and one in particular where I didn't move for around 10 hours (except to excuse myself for regurgitation) it never stopped me enjoying the big BBQs we had every single night. A great idea that was met with zero resistance every time from every man present.

But anyway that is enough of all that, I really wanted to mention a few other observations I have made about Norway. Firstly many people have cabins in the country, I found this strange coming from England where space is scarce and property is expensive but given the change ratios of land to people in Norway it does make total sense. I've always been a big fan of camping and the cabin culture is similar in many ways and I'm hooked early. People should enjoy their own countries for a little get away and realise that going abroad and spending thousands is not always necessary. I  even came back from the cabin trip with a nice little tan!

What I found most interesting though was the location of this Cabin. To get to it, one could either drive up a very steep rocky road (impossible with front wheel drive and a challenge in anything not designed for off road driving) or park a little way down the mountain and walk (this is what we had to do). This does not sound so bad and in hindsight it wasnt. But at the time as I was trying to drag my case 5 minutes up a wet hill using a mud track and climbing over rocks I couldnt help think that noone would ever do this in England. Why would you build a house somewhere you cant easily get to? its madness!! we visited a peer later in the week and again to get from one side to the other you had to scale over rocks, this didnt bother me at all but I just found it really strange no one had built a path. 

I asked one of the guys about all this lack of convenience stuff (trying very hard to appear inquisitive and not just lazy) and he explained quite simply that in a country like Norway with so many mountains, rivers and other natural obstacles and such a sparse population their is just no point trying to avoid things all the time and Norwegians are very happy to accept the challenge. Personally I think there is definitely a novelty element here and it wouldnt hurt to build an extra path or two, but what is wrong with a nice little challenging novelty. Answer, nothing actually so I should probably just drop it.

One of the many beautiful panoramic views from the cabin. I already wish I had more but drinking and BBQs seemed much more important at the time

Last days in England

After a stressful day trying to sort out residency and all that jazz in Norway I've decided its the last thing I wont to blog about. I am therefore going to go back in time and touch on my last few days in England as I was too busy to actually right about it at the time.

The last few days in England were surprisingly unstrange, despite packing and leaving Chester, saying goodbyes etc etc it really hadn't sunk in what I was doing. Everything had happened so fast over the last few months there hadn't been time to think about it. This was kind of deliberate as we had just wanted to get out there and settled as soon as we could. 

Saying goodbye to everyone wasn't even particularly sad if I'm honest. I'd been living away from home for 4 years at Uni so I didn't see most people very often and the point which I kept trying to sell to everyone was that the trip to Bergen wasn't that different in length and cost to a trip upnorth to where I was at Uni anyway. Ok its a fair bit more hassle but from where I grew up, its an hour or so to a the airport, a two hour flight, followed by like half an hour from the airport to where we are living in Bergen. In fact if you take out the tedious waiting around the airport the time spent travelling is actually shorter. This is of great comfort to me, I think I would feel a lot more edgy I think if it cost me hundreds of pounds and half a day or more on a plane if I needed to get home.

My advice to people I think would be if your considering a big move, just go for it, don't think about it too much as if your like me you wont be able to truly imagine it anyway just make the decision and go. People were so happy for me and in many cases very jealous. Lots of people I spoke to wished they had an opportunity like the one I was presented with and considered me very brave for taking it. Personally I don't think I've been brave, I didn't want to be anywhere in particular, I just wanted to be with Marianne, and she wanted to be in Bergen. I'd been their, I knew it was lovely, everyone I'd met had been great and every statistic I could lay my hands on seemed to suggest Norway is like the best place in the world for raising a family. It was an easy decision!

I love England, and there are things I miss already and many things I always will and when the plane left the ground at Gatwick airport 8 days ago I was full of strange feelings and emotions. But none of them were regret, and when I touched down in Norway and when I wake up every day, I am a happy man. What more could one ask for. 

On one my last days in England we all went to the New Forest for a hike. Perfect day out to see some beautiful English country side.

Feeding some of the famous wild horses of the New Forest

A cow had gotten out of a field onto the public path and was rather distressed. We all teamed together to herd her back in. (I really hope it was into the right field)

I think I may have been a little half cut at this point but this picture is from my Leaving bash in Basingstoke and nicely shows the decorating by my Mum of a centre photo of me and Marianne with the English flags coming out from my side and the Norwegian ones from here. It was very thoughtful and went down a treat. Maps were also laid out so people could work out where in the world Norway and more specifically Bergen actually was, not unsurprisingly most didn't have a scooby do. 

Officially Ex-Pat!!

It is disgraceful of me that this post has taken me so long to write but I wasnt sure where to start. But here it goes, I am now officially living in Norway arriving here Monday afternoon, greeted by beautiful sunshine. This was a massive treat especially as there were floods all over England as I was leaving. The first evening Marianne's siblings, and nieces all joined us at her parents for a cracking BBQ, I even got a slight tan before running inside to catch the England game (I have never mentioned before I'm a huge footy fan but I will try to not fill up this blog with all that jazz).

It was a great day, as were the few that followed, we have been fairly relaxed most of the time, catching up/meeting people but we have also begun the dreaded job search. It has been less than a week but I can already see that this is going to be a very long, depressing process. It seems the only jobs that dont require to be fluent in Norwegian are Engineering jobs. I just finished a Bachelor in Management and Marketing and have no manual trade behind me so safe to say I'm up the creek without a paddle. The plan I think is to continue to apply for formal office jobs I know I will never get while also wondering around the cafes and restaurants in the city. Barista would be quite nice as its a little interaction, social hours and I've dont it before so fancy myself as pretty skilled.

Anyway thats enough of the pessimism, I am actually loving Norway so far, everyone is being so so kind and patient and I dont think I'll ever get bored of looking out of the window and being surrounded by mountains and just generally gorgeous scenery. I've even pretty much gotten used to and accepted some of the insane pricing here. 

I look forward to posting in a lot more detail about all the interesting observations I'm making over here that make me laugh and think and on a daily basis, but so long for now! 

End of the Chester Chapter

Well that was a stressful few days! Marianne and I have now officially left Chester, a place that was a great home to me for 4 amazing years while I was at Uni. I can safely say the 18 year old boy that left Basingstoke those few years ago is a very different person to the 22 year old man that drove back on his motorbike in the pouring rain yesterday (I now have a cold).

I have learned so much (very little of it taught to me by lecturers), met so many interesting people and had some amazing experiences. I would need a separate blog to even begin going through the many different happenings over that time, I may occasionally touch back. Chester has been an amazing adventure and a very deliberate one. When choosing a University all those years ago I knew I wanted to get away from my home town. By English standards the northern town of Chester over 200 miles was a pretty big commitment, a great choice that I never regretted.

I am now back in my home town of Basingstoke for a few days, where I will be saying my good byes to all my family and friends before heading to Norway on Monday. All becoming very very real!

The famous Chester Eastgate clock

(Stolen from my friend Andy's Image a day blog., it is in my followed blogs and well worth a look)

The Flaming Queen

For those that don't know the Olympics is in London this year and it is also the Queens Diamond Jubilee, celebrating 60 years on the throne. Chester was particularly lucky to be a part of these experiences as the Queen visited Chester Zoo recently and yesterday a couple of friends and I witnessed they Olympic flame being run through the streets of this dear city (sadly I was unable to see the her maj)

Union Jacks are flying everywhere and as a patriot it gives me great pride to see the country coming together in such a way. There is of course the awareness that in 12 days time I will no longer be living in England. This could be seen as a negative I suppose, I think it would have been nice to see everyone get together in Olympic spirit but its not like I could afford to ever see events live anyway. So instead I'm just soaking up these last few dollops of British pride and taking them with me on my travels. It will also be a great excuse to watch loads of British tele to help ease me in.

We may be a crazy magpie, mongrel nation with influences from all over the world due to are being conquered and conquering but this is a blessing and something I embrace. I love the fact the Tea, and Fish and Chips are about as English as St George (which is not at all). I hope that team GB do us proud and the whole Olympics is a banging success and Long Live the Queen!

Here Comes the Sun!

Like every other blog I've seen I think I will have to do the obligatory celebration of Sun post. Safe to say the sun has got his hat on and it is lovely out there at a tidy 26 degrees C.  Hot weather is of course awesome and strolling around in shorts and t-shirt really is the way to live. Sadly though despite being described as olive skinned and Italian looking (Largely by customers at the Italian restaurant I worked at who were just wishfully hoping, o yer and a drunk dude outside a mexican themed cocktail bar) I am like many Englishman, a little dodgy in the sun and sun cream is a must as I become the worst kind of person if I get burned and can not fathom other peoples casual attitude to intense discomfort.

I must admit I was burnt a little in Bergen last year and was lucky to get away just unscathed after an hour or so sunbathing in a local park with my dear lady this morning and I was wearing sun cream. This is why I am now blogging rather than catching more rays. I shall not complain too much though as I have not been to a proper "hot" country with beaches and swimming pools for several years now and with emigration and inevitable unemployment looming that isnt likely to change any time soon so lets make the most of it! At least I can treat Norway as a holiday, for Marianne she is just going home!

So although slightly worrying and I feel I must almost be in constant fear of what this powerful star we call our sun may do to me I must say it does make one smile incredibly, how can you not feel joy when chilling in a pub garden or strolling through a park with an ice cream. This is how I have spent this week and how I hope to spend the rest of the summer, and I wont be letting any silly little things like responsibility and a complete lack of money stop me, although it may slow me down.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun as much as I am!

Big fan of the Beatles (who isn't, really) and this is one of my favourite if very cliché summer tunes. 

A Vintage Performance in Chester

This weekend my brother came up for another visit and I decided to take him to a local vintage shop as a band I know was playing a gig there. I can quite honestly say it was an immense Saturday afternoon. Chilling enjoying a few beers listening to some quality local music surrounded my an abundance of interesting trinkets and such.

The one slight negative however is that  I and even more so Marianne I think, love this little shop. Full of some awesome vintage furniture and all sorts and if we were staying local we would definitely invest in some of it although given that I'm going to be lucky to get most of my clothes over I'm not even going to think about how I'd manage with cabinets. Still I would not let this detract from the pleasure I still get from enjoying such things in Chester. I have been very lucky to experience so many great things in Chester over 4 years and although I will miss it all dearly I have began to really appreciate all that Chester has. A plethora of fine pubs, bars and restaurants with collections of Real Ale, cocktail menus and quality food that make my mouth water just thinking about them. There are also many great shops and boutiques as well as a quality local music scene including; Folk, Indie, Rock, Jazz and more which more than make up for the low quality DJ's in the bars and clubs.

So with packing beginning, an exam still to do and lots of other things to organise I'm making very sure that I fully appreciate my last couple of weeks in this beautiful city that has been so good to me and although I shall miss many many things I shall leave with a smile content that I made the most of my time and I'm moving onto better things.

Shy and the Fight playing How to stop an Imploding man at Becnicks Wonder Emporium
(The original quality was awesome but sadly I've had to reduce it for upload, but do enjoy)

Hurra for 17. mai!

Me and Marianne outside our local with home made Norwegian flags

How could I have a blog about Norway without talking about 17th of May. It is the Norwegian National day and by all accounts, a very big deal. I have been fortunate enough to experience two of these already with Marianne in England and I'm really looking forward to being in Norway for it next year.

So how have we celebrated Norway day? Well firstly its very important to eat rømmegrøt, which is a sour cream porridge. Very similar to risengrynsgrøt which I have posted about before only more sour and gloopy. Quite strange but I've already built up a slight soft spot for it and done right with lots of sugar, cinnamon and some mutton on the side it does the trick. On 17th May last year I had my first Gul Kaka (yellow cake). Also rather strange, it looks like it should taste of lemon or white chocolate or something but really it just tastes of sugar. Which as a cake is a perfectly acceptable attribute I guess.

I think it would be wrong of me to just focus on the food of this day as its really all about pride and celebration. From what I've seen Norwegians are a very proud and patriotic people, everyone dresses up very smart, waves their flag with pride and has parades to celebrate this most special day., I think this is great and I envy it. As most English will know St Georges Day which is meant to be England's national day to celebrate our patron saint is almost not at all celebrated it seems. For some reason in England we fail to separate national pride from racism and hooliganism. A crying shame but a topic for another day.

I shall end then saying 17 May is a great great day and I cant wait to properly immerse myself in it next year. Norwegians have a lot to be proud of, HURRA!!

Expat-Blog, Finishing Uni and the next adventure

I have made a great discovery. www.expat-blog.com. Really happy I've found this site and annoyed I didnt find it sooner. blogs from expats all over the world. There is many Norway Blogs even a few with people based in Bergen which is where I'm heading and flicking through the forums there seems to be a lot of nice chat. so I'm really look forward to working my way through some of my fellow emigrators to Bergen blogs. I have also added mine to this list so people can hear my experiences. Since doing so my viewing rates have massively increased so feeling the pressure to be interesting, I'll do my best.

Yesterday as well as being the Norwegian national day (I shall make a separate post about this) Was the day I handed in my very last university assignment. A very amazing feeling and with just one exam remaining I can now start dedicating more of my time to preparation for the move without that horrible guilty feeling that I should be doing Uni work. To be frank ever since the whole moving to Norway thing really picked up steam and became a reality its been occupying most my thoughts and I just cant wait to go and start that next chapter of my life making University largely a nuisance. Despite this I am also very pleased to have an idea about what I am doing. I always said that when I finished Uni I would move somewhere new, never knew where, was up for anywhere in the world, just something new and exciting. That is now exactly what I'm doing and I consider myself very fortunate to have that option and to be sharing it with my perfect companion.

Suffice to say I'm feeling very positive about things indeed and as the time draws ever closer I think less of the fears and more of the fun and I have no doubt that it will live up to my expectations. Bring on the adventure!

250 Views, but who are you?

Opening with a lie is probably not a good way to start, I've actually had 249 views on my blog but I'm hoping this post will entice one more. 250 is quite a lot isnt it? seems like it, even when you take out my girlfriend and my mother its still not bad. Nearly 100 in fact are from outside England and Norway and I have absolutely no idea who these people are. Fascinating really!

Sadly though my followers has not increased. Nor have I received a comment from anyone but Marianne and her sister, not even from my mother although I know she has tried but has been unable to work it out yet. I can therefore assume that none of these strangers out there in cyber space who have stumbled upon my humble blog are yet to be enticed. This was always to be expected and as this was largely aimed as something for those close to me to enjoy as an incite into my thoughts it doesn't bother me too much. 

But what should I do differently? More comedy, more facts, more about Norway, more about other stuff, more photos I have no idea. Shorter posts is probably a start but that is something I struggle with as a natural rambler. So while I hope my nearest and dearest continue to enjoy my random thoughts I call upon those stumbling by to throw in their 2 pence also. The final move is drawing closer, lets hope by then I can have a little more of an audience. 

Me and my two biggest fans!

Getting stuff to Norway (the boring stuff followed by some deep thinking)

Right so getting stuff to Norway, it has been very tedious to say the least. Firstly I really wanted to take my motorbike with me. I'd put a fair bit of money and a lot of love into it and it would have been a nice little piece of freedom and familiarity in my strange new world.

No ferry exists between Norway and England any more. There was once a Newcastle to Bergen rout but it is sadly no more. We did read articles suggesting it would be back for the summer but alas it was not too be and more expensive options would have to be explored.

Firstly I semi seriously looked into the idea of driving a huge van with someone. It is a days worth of driving not including sleeping but I was still tempted as a cool road trip. No company I could find though lets you do one way van renting. Why these huge world wide rental companies cant arrange that I will never know but still that was the fact, and besides petrol ect would probably cost a bomb anyway.

Next idea was a container and have it shipped. One company I checked offered a container for £1500, thanks but no thanks. Another haulage company was around the thousand mark also so we knocked that one on the head pretty sharpish. After all this we then also found out that Import tax on my bike would be about £1000. I couldnt believe it, I was totally wounded and looking at prices over their you can see why the tax is so high. All their bikes are all more than twice the price that they are here. The heartbreaking truth is then I could neither get my bike their nor even sell it and buy another one as I'd still be about a grand short. Tragic, but it was what it was and nothing anyone could do about it (short of giving me £1000 but no one seemed up for it).

Anyway there was still other things we'd like to take over, my nice tele for example and all our belongings. I found out that I could ship ten tea chests (these are about 2/3 times the size of a large suitcase) for £750, once again not an option for us.

So as it can be seen the whole ordeal has been one big cock up from start to finish and finally the solution we have gone for is pay extra to take two suitcases over. This is costing about £50. That should sort all our clothes at a push but basically nothing else. Laptop is a must but my Xbox and projector are doubts and TV of corse a no no, along with all my other positions, guitar, ornaments ect. These will hopefully all be stored with family and then brought over, over time as people visit or we come back and forth.

So there we have it. If your emigrating to Norway and your very low on cash, my experiences suggest your in for bad times. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about all this to be honest. The bike is tragic, as is my lovely TV and I think it will generally be very strange to just not have any of my possessions around me. I suppose I always thought that some of the things I had I would have until I could afford to upgrade them. It is kind of disheartening to just lose so many assets and be left with just a suitcase full of clothes I need to diet to fit back into.

That is being very negative about it I know. I will be fine I have no doubt and these are all things that can be replaced eventually. I dont actually consider myself to be that materialistic, but it can be hard to tell I think. Either way I know it is what it is and nothing can be done and I will manage as there is so many other good things to look forward. I never lose sight of why I am doing this, which is because I believe Marianne and I can build a life over there. The transition wont be easy, but it will all be worth it in the end.

One way ticket!

Firstly I should explain that this massive one month gap between blogs will not happen again. I have been getting absolutely destroyed with Uni work as I come to the final few weeks of a long four years. My dissertation was handed in yesterday for which I couldnt be happier as I can finally be myself again and have fun. I still have a couple more pieces to do and one exam but all is looking good. (As always I'm painfully aware I have no regular followers apart from those who are already fully aware of this but you never know who may one day take an interest in little old me)

So apart from University work what has happened? Answer, LOADS! As much as I'd like to list it all I fear boring the world so instead I'll dive strait in at the most important. Marianne and I have booked our one way tickets to Norway! June 11th is the magical date and yes, it was a very weird thing to do and of coarse yes I am also a little bit terrified while also insanely excited.

As time passes and now that we have a date two very contrasting things are happening. The first is rubbish and that is worrying about moving, packing blah blah blah all VERY tedious and boring and quite frankly its all so mind numbing I dont want to talk about it right now so thankfully you dont have to listen. The second and much more great thing is dates are now being set for leaving parties. AWESOME!

I love parties, any excuse for a massive get together and celebration should be taken full advantage of if you ask me and I quite literally dont understand those that think otherwise. So far I have a two main Soirées organised. One in Chester on the 2nd with all my old work (I left last week due to too having too much work to do and leaving soon anyway) and my Uni budies. Then of corse the obligatory massive family and close friend party for the following weekend just a couple days before we leave back in my home town of Basingstoke. I am very much looking forward to this and people are showing real enthusiasm and I'm sure its going to be great and probably also a little emotional.

I will attempt to once again post regularly and I will even touch on the boring moving stuff  a bit for anyone who reads this blog for advice on emigrating. The other blogs I have found so far have not been particular helpful in that regard so I plan on filling this gap in the market. Until then, thanks for reading and its good to be back!

Hot Cross Buns

It is Easter time again and so as always in England, time for hot cross buns. One of my favourite treats this, a sweet bread bun with sultanas that you toast and butter. Nice and simple, very tasty. I took the liberty of introducing Marianne to these fantastic little things and she liked them but several times asked whats with the cross and what's it made out of. I just laughed, the cross I assume is of religious significance and its just some kind of dough I guess, point being I'd honestly not thought about it for many years.

A nice simply but classic example of how great it can be to get an outside perspective on things and have someone ask questions like what and why. I must also admit I'm aware that the traditional nursery rhyme is pretty pants but another classic!

Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!

One ha' penny, two ha' penny,

Hot cross buns!

Smiles All Round

A Very Proud Boyfriend. I give you Marianne BSc MSc.

 Regular followers will recall that a big occasion was coming. Marianne's graduation and the meeting of all her immediate family and my Mum and her husband Dave. (I shall ignore the fact I know all regular followers were actually therefore present, making the previous statement redundant)

Safe to say it was an amazing few days, truly something I will always remember. The graduation itself was a great ceremony that I am thoroughly looking forward to taking part in myself in a few months all things being equal. Everyone looked amazing and an insane amount of pictures were taken we shall all treasure.

The rest of time was equally brilliant, everyone seemed to have such a great time and get on famously. I knew they probably would, but to actually see the first joining of families go so splendidly I actually found touching. We all really bonded and I know my Mum for one is very happy to have gotten to know the family that have so kindly accepted me into their ranks.

With every day I look forward more to moving to Norway and starting the next chapter of my life and everything is moving brilliantly in the right direction. Just need to get the final stint of Uni out the way, should therefore probably stop writing this and get back to it . . . .

All 8 of us having what was an exceptional meal as always at the Black House Grill Chester.

        Left to right: Bodil (Marianne's Mother), Ivar (Marianne's Father), Me, Pal, 

Tia, Marianne, My Mum and Dave