Tonight - the annual Extended Board of The Norwegian Malt Whisky Society's Christmas Party, at Terje's. We've been promised taco's to eat, and whisky to drink - so it promises to be fun. Just have to take care, since I'm going to work tomorrow.
Tomorrow - just got an invite to a party at a mates, who also just happens to import alcoholic beverages to Norway (mainly cognac and whisky). That will definately be great fun. Now to break the news to Robin.
'Tis the season to ask what people got for Christmas. So here a brief summary:
From Robin I got no less than three prezzies. One containing a T-Shirt with a motif that she obviously thought proper for me to wander around with, a calendar with imagery from the Norwegian version of this book. And to top it off a great big box containing a huge bag of sweets, crisps, coffee and Scottish shortbread. Mixed in with this was a small, green box that held a pair of wonderful, silver cufflinks - with a thistle-motif, made in the Orkneys.
My mother is already making me a folksuit, so I really wasn't expecting prezzies from her, but still I got a hat and brooch for this suit, and my brother and his finance got me a pair of cufflinks from the same series.
From my mates I got a couple of mugs and some very nice chocolates (thanx Ståle & Torun), and a great big bottle (one litre) of Glenmorangie Traditional 10yo Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky (thanx Gaute & Erik). I addition to this I also received some wine (Bjørg), sweets (Jorun) and a book (Bjørn).
If you add to this the knives Robin and I bought for ourselves at the Crafts Fair earier this year, it totals up to a pretty good haul.
Althought he biggest prezzie arrived on Christmas Day, when Robin came 'home'.
Just a small mention on the fact that two new airline have started flight to and from Oslo, Norway.
Basiq Air flies out of the Netherlands and has a daily flight, starting on February the 29th, between Oslo (OSL - Gardermoen) and Amsterdam (RTM - Rotterdam). Prices start from 29.99 Euros, and can be booked at the airline's homepage.
German Wings is, as the name implies, a German airline that flies between Oslo (OSL - Gardermoen) and Cologne/Bonn (CGN), starting on the 28th of March. Prices start from 19 Euros, and can be booked at the airline's homepage.
That's it from me about airline for a while (maybe).
While we are on the subject of airlines. It seems that a wide range of travelagents here in Norway operate with what they themselves call 'ethnic prices'. This is a system where a person who's genes originate from the area he or she is flying to, get's a lower price that others. This came to the papers attention when to mates where going to Pakistan together, and where charged two very different prices. The gentleman with a Pakistani-sounding name was charged 9.500 kroner (approx £800) for a first-class ticket, while the gentleman with a Norwegian-sounding name was charged 13.300 (approx £1120) for touristclass. The agent in Norway for the airline in question (Pakistan International Airlines) admits that they have two different price-structures according to ethnicity.
The Centre against Ethnic Discrimination (SMED) say that they know about it, but will do nothing about it, claiming they haven't got enough information on the case. They will not do anything active to get such information either.
I just wonder, if it's been the other way around - what kind of reaction would that provoke...
Now what is it with people. Even when there are reserved seating they line up infront of the gate to be first onboard. Why? I can understand it when there are no reserved seats, but even then they behave like madmen, and almost every single time the first people on board sit in the front rows. So there thwey stand, putting away their thing and removing their coats, as if they have all the time in the world, since only about 150 people are waiting to pass by. And what do the next person in line do? Of course stop infront of row 2 and it all starts all over again.
But back to the idiots I encountered on my flight back to Oslo yesterday. The airline, sympathetically enough, announced that people sitting in rows 16 and backwards should use the stairs and enter through the back entrance. People in rows 1 through 15 should use the front entrance. Of course a lot of people, being to wrapped up in getting on the plane first, didn't notice this so the chaos then became complete. People who had places in the back went towards the front entrance before being made aware they where supposed to use the back one. So they stopped, exited through the side-door and headed towards the back of the plane. This prompted everybody to stop and do nothing, before following the first people who went towards the back. Inside the plane chaos soon followed, since people sitting in the front had entered through the back, and vice-versa.
And to wrap it up a little kick on the shins to the airline. SAS prides it self for being a full-service airline, in contrast to the no-service (aka no-frills) airlines. This, according to SAS, seems to constitute the handing out of a papercup for instant-coffee or lousy tea (with way to little milk available) and a cold beverage consiting of tiny boxes of soda, a tiny carton on german orange juice or a cup of lukewarm water.
It shouldn't really surprise me that this is what they call service, since another airline (now a part of the SAS-group) once started with something they called Best and Back. Best being full-service (i.e. with newspapers and a 'meal') while Back was an attempt on a no-frills sort of thing. The problem was that they said the difference in price simply was the cost of the 'extra-service', consisting of a newspaper and a meal. In other words the airline calculated the cost of a newspaper (you where really only allowed to take one), that in cost 10 kroner in the shops, and the meal (consisting of a dry bun with ham and lettuce, a cup of coffee and a small cup of juice) to be around 300 kroner. Even though Norway is a high-priced country, 290 kroner for a bun, some coffe and some juice, is quite steep. They soon scrapped the program, since people didn't want to pay the extra money for the lousy food.
Just a short rant before I'm off for my Christmas-holidays.
Robin and I went to see Return of the King the other day, and I must say the film was impressing. Although I must confess that I prefer the books. Nontheless I still will be purchasing the extended DVD next winter.
On our way back from the cinema we had to wait for a while at a busstop, and there spark where flying, literally. We were doing a bit of kissing and such, and sparks flew. It may have helped that Robin's got a fake fur, that might be generating a bit of static electricity.
That's about it for the next few days, I'm off in three hours time, and the last present was wrapped only ten minutes ago. Even got hand of a little surprise gift for Robin, that she'll get when she comes up to Trondheim om Christmas Day.
So last night was spent at the Opera. The piece was Werther by Jules Massenet. A curious thing is that the opera it self is in French, but based upon the writing of German hero Goethe and placed in Wetzlar near Frankfurt, Germany.
We had a very nice time, even though the intermission was too short and the bell which called us back was highyl annoying.
Read mor about Werther here.
NASA has finally found a scapegoat to blame for the Columbia-shuttle disaster: Microsoft Powerpoint!
The engineers who where analyzing the risks of landing a shuttle with wing-damage presented their findings in a series of Powerpoint-slides that was so packed with information that the people who got the presentation, mainly middle management, didn't understand that it actually was a life-and-death situation.
This according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and Nettavisen.
Last thing to come out after this 'fish' was burided the other day is that the local council chairman want to erect a memorial monument for Keiko!
Is it just me or is the world gone mad?
On that note I just found out that Keiko's death was the top story on CNN until they got Saddam. On Norwegian telly the final hour of the men's cross-country relay competition got priority over the pressconference about Saddam's capture. This, I belive, was because Norway was winning, and as we all now, the most important thing in the world is that Norway wins something - even though it's in a sportsevent nobody else really participates in... It sort of like the Americans and their 'World Series Baseball' (number of participating countries: 1). But they have a 'National Hockey Leauge' where there are a total of two countries participating.
Last night was the season's last dance-evening. So there was a minor feast with pigs in blankets, sweets, mince pies, christmas cake, gløgg and other things more or less christmasy.
Which brings me to the end of this rant. It's only eigth days left, and more present to buy, and to send (when is the date for guaranteed delivery nationally again?).
Cranial intruder: John Lennon - 'So this is X-mas (War is over)'
Damn this busy season. I haven't got any time left over, it seems. I've just barely got time to update the blog. But tomorrow is another day, then I'm going to the Opera to see 'Werther'. No prize if you guess whom will be accompaning me.
A couple of Danish youths where on their way to get some beer at 2am on Sunday. At some point they became aware that a couple of uniformed policeofficers where apprehending a drunk driver. They felt that the policeofficers where too rough with the driver, who was resisting arrest. They wanted to tell the officers to 'cool it'. They did this by running over and punching and kicking the officers with all their might.
At a hearing they where remanded in custody until their case ome up, where they face up to 60 days imprisonment, and will therefore be forced to spend Christmas in jail. When hearing this on of the boys was furious and bit a policeofficer's arm. He now faces yet another criminal charge.
A Norwegian millionaire has had some abd days lately. First he was denied a place on a board of a oublishing house on the grounds he wasn't a woman. And now he's been banned from a football-stadium after writing not-so-flattering things about women's football. He said on a radioshow that:
'Women's football is like watching moving sacks of flour, where nine out of every ten pass never gets there.'
Finally... The whale that was made famous when a Norwegian polictician wanted to make meatballs of it, oh yeah and I think it was in a couple of minor American motion pictures too.
I can't belive how a whale can make so many people absolutely ga-ga. Millions have been spent trying to set it free, but has anybody asked the whale - it didn't seem to want to be set free, beeing unable to catch it's own food and normally enjoying the company on man.
But the worst part beeing - the people who 'took care' of this whale has gotten their whis - Keiko's been burid on shore! I'm not the least surprised if I hear that they've brought over a whole score of priests to lay the whale to rest. Madness I tell you, absolute madness!
That is one of the most tireing weekenda I've ever been part of, not counting the weekend cabintrips we had when I was studying.
On friday there was the anual Christmas Dinner with the board of the Norwegian Malt Whisky Society, where Robin and Bente has cooked us a proper feast with two ducks and all the trimmings. Add then a few mugs of mulled whitewine, a couple of bottles of wine, a good portion of Aquavitae and add to that copious amounts of whisky. It was great fun, but I didn't get up until 2-3 o'clock on the following Saturday.
Saturday was also a day of festivities, with the company Christmas Dinner. This years venue was Palace Grill, an informal gourmet-restaurant who's been known to throw people out if they demand thing. The best thing to do hee is to come in off the street, there are no reservations possible, sit down a say 'I wan't to eat', and you will get one of the best meals of your life. We had nine courses and I was still full most of the Sunday.
...til Christmas.
I've ever so slightly started to prepare to clean my flat before Christmas. I'm not that inspired by this task, but I guess it just has to be done.
Ah well - back to work.
According to the Norwegian webpaper Nettavisen a Danish bank is breaking new ground to lure in new business.
Upon opening an account you're automaticly enrolled in their 'Plus Klub'-program. Some of the advantages as a member is that you get in free on several nightclubs around Denmark, and in addition you get cheaper drinks (up to half price off on a bottle of liquor).
Got to see the extended-DVD last night. Smashing!
Still haven't figured out why they had to include that long scene in Osgiliath, it not beeing in the book or anything. Only reason I could see was to get a 'natural' setting for Samwise's peptalk-monologue to Frodo.
Still, can't wait to see the final part. I've got tickets to December the 20th, at Oslo's main cineman - middleseats, front row!
Maybe a few days late, but what the hey...
Me and Robin attended the St Andrews Day Ball, arranged by the Oslo Scottish Country Dance Group and the Caledonian Society of Norway. A marvelous evening.
There was dinner first, and then there was dancing until the wee hours of the night. I highly recommend attending such a ball to all of you out there.
Keep checking the dance group's webpage for pictures.