Oh dear, oh dear

So sorry. I seem to have gone dumb as an oyster lately. I will attempt to get a grip, but can’t guarantee anything.

Anyhow: So, what’s new?

Well, here in the lovely city of Trondheim I am no longer “between jobs”, I have employment, of sorts, at the University. It’s a temp job that may become permanent (now that would be nice), though at the moment the being that is the university seems to have its usual commitophobia and can’t seem to make any sorts of decisions at all. Apart from that the job is highly enjoyable.

On the home front, marriage is suiting me fine and we have a hole in our ceiling which enables us to see the upstairs neighbour’s kitchen, bathroom and broom-cupboard from our bathroom and to have conversations while one of us is in the bathroom and the other one in the kitchen. We can also tell which football team our neighbour roots for whenever the football is on, but that’s by the by. This hole is due to a leak in one of the pipes of said neighbour. Mind you, it’s better to have holes in the ceiling than in the floor – much less risk of falling through them for one – and according to the workmen they are about to tear up the whole floor of the bathroom upstairs, whereas we can, with a bit of strategically placed plastic to cover the holes, live pretty much as normal (which is not very normal, I dare say, but normal for us, anyway).

Ach

Sorry. I’m going to have to withdraw from the ‘thon.

There is just no way I’ll be able to stay up until tomorrow afternoon, especially as I’ve actually got to be awake and all on Monday seeing as I’ve actually got a temp-job next week. Had I been able to spend a couple of days getting back in line, it might have been possible, I lost my ability to change my sleeping pattern around willy-nilly some time in the late 90’s, unfortunately.

My apologies. Better luck next year, eh?

Go check out the people who are doing it, though – and get those sponsorship dollars, kroner og euro rolling…

All set

Well, sort of. I’ve signed up for the Blogathon and even managed to get my ribbon banner in the correct position after a few tries…

I’ll still be blogging for Plan International, just like in 2003, so I’ll try to provide you with a bit of information about them, and why I think they are wort supporting, leading up to 6th August. I’ll also try to post a bit more in general, now that we have broadband again I have no excuse for the drought that’s been going on here lately.

Shame on me.

Still, please come back for more, and please sign up to sponsor me…

Confuzzled

I’ve just discovered some comments left in the poetry section (turns out I didn’t have e-mail new comments checked for that “blog”) that have left me baffled. They’ve been left on Wendy Cope’s The Uncertainty of the Poet and the first one seems to refer to the poem as a painting… If anyone can shed some light on what these people are on about, I’d be very pleased indeed…

Report

I suppose y’all wouldn’t mind a bit of a report on the trip to Copenhagen, as at least it’ll give you something to read (it’s been slim pickings here, lately).

On arrival Thursday evening we found our way to the B (no &B as there was no breakfast) reasonably easily. After getting the keys and dumping the luggage we set out to locate Kruts Karport, as it was rumoured to pride itself on its whisky selection. No disappointments here, we spent the rest of the evening sampling whiskies, then wandered down to the centre of town and strolled most of “Str?get” (having a couple of hot dogs, mandatory when in Denmark, along the way) on our way back.

Woke ridiculously early (7 am or so, a trend that continued the whole weekend, actually) Friday morning, but lazed around for a while in the hope that at least a few caf?s would be open by the time we left the house. We found one, at least, on our stroll into town, and had ourselves some lovely sm?rrebr?d (Martin) and “italian bun” with frikadeller (me). Timing it perfectly (by chance, it must be said) we stumbled upon Juuls Vinhandel (whose basement is packed with whisky) just after opening, and left there with lighter wallets but heavier backpacks. And they got worse… First we found a booksale off an old church on Str?get, all books 40 dkk, where I found a couple of Haakon Mielches (I kind of collect them) and a Dea Trier M?rch (ditto) and a history of English literature with a nice long entry on Jane Austen (and I definitely collect those). Then we stopped by a few more whisky carrying booze-shops… And started on Ms Bookish’s list of good good sources for second hand books (in English), and soon our arms were growing weary and long and I uttered the wish that we were interested in something lest heavy than books and whisky to which Martin suggested that we start collecting marshmalows instead. Considered this a reasonably good idea, at the time. Anyway, we headed back to the B(not&B) to dump things and then went in search of Scotspain (another whisky-shop, yes, I know) where we again filled our backpacks… Deciding enough was enough we went in search of some decent alchohol in glasses rather than bottles, and found The Blommsday (which I kept referring to as Doomsday) Bar pleasant (they had proper cider) and Charlies Bar an ace (proper cider and som many beers and real ales on tap that Martin could have spent the whole weekend there, and, as if that wasn’t enough, about twenty different single malts, all independent bottlers, and the best cheddar flavoured crisps we have ever tried – in short, heaven – in fact, the only thing wrong with Charlies is they don’t have food – except crisps – so you have to leave the place occasionally – and oh, it gets packed because it’s tiny).

Saturday we decided to view the ?resundsbro from the train and popped over to Malm? (Sweden). Realising we’d gone a bit mad on the whisky, we thought we’d import it to Norway in batches (thus avoiding paying too much tax when importing – you’re only allowed one litre tax free each time you enter the country), by bringing it to Sweden and sending it to Linda… Wiley boozers we are… Anyway, Malm? turned out to be a pleasant place for an outing, except the Pub we wanted to end our trip in for a spot of lunch and perhaps a pint, The Bishop’s Arms, turned out to not open until four pm, and we were otherwise done with Malm? at one – so we headed back to wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen instead, and tested some of the other recommendations in the Rough Guide eating and drinking sections. Gullivers Pub did have free pretzels, but despite having quite a few beers on tap, there was no cider and not a drop of real ale, so we quickly passed on. A more pleasant discovery (not in the Rough Guide, yet) was The Brew Pub – a micro brewery – their own beer was not yet ready, but they had an interesting selection of other beers and very nice food indeed. Tried getting a bottle of champagne on the way back “home” but failed. Must check up on Danish licencing laws, as Irma had champagne in the cooler, but the cooler was locked, and they had covered all their beer in a black cloth, clearly indicating “no shopping”.

Started off Sunday with a late breakfast at Kong Pedersen (usefully situated between our B(not&B) and the Storm P. museum) – they were slooooow and somewhat pricey (well, they should have been, but due to a misunderstanding concerning Martin’s order we got a discount and ended up on the cheap side instead), but the food was worth it – gorgeous and plentiful. They also did a brunch buffet, which looked equally delish, and a test is to be recommended if you’re ever in the area. We rolled more than strolled down to the Storm P. museum, which was considerate enough to let us watch a half-hour video on his life while digesting before making a tour of the actual museum. We also saw the Museum Erotica, which was an odd experience on a Sunday morning (actually, I suppose it was early afternoon by that time), went for a quick pint at Charlies and then on to Tivoli. I got to ride the big rollercoaster (which is not bad, but only really has one good dip – the rest being loops and corkscrews which don’t really thrill me much) twice, the Golden Tower (the ride where they lift you up to rooftop height (great view) and let you hang there for a bit, just long enough to start thinking “I don’t think I really want to do this after all” before they drop you) once and Rutchebanen – which is really the best of them. Have I mentioned that I prefer wooden coasters? After Tivoli, we had another pint at the Bloomsday, a wonderful pizza at Ristorante Solo d’Italiana (or something similar) and then went over to Charlies where we settled in for the long haul (that is, until we were thrown out some time after eleven when they were supposed to close).

Monday morning it was pouring with rain, which was just as well, since it made it much less of a wrench to head for the airport and home.

Bad hair day

I went to bed with my hair still damp yesterday. This was not a good idea. I’m trying to convince myself that it looks kind of charming with my hair sticking out like that, but I’m not doing a good job of it. If I need to go outside today – which is doubtful, actually – I’ll have to stick my head in a bucket of water first.

On the upside – off to Copenhagen tomorrow. Armed with guidebooks that list various places to get beer and ale and even cider on tap and Ms Bookish‘s list of second-hand bookshops, this promises to be a nice long weekend.