If you’re the person who found this site using the search string “Narvesen Sewing Machine“, happening to drop in again, would you mind please explaining what you were looking for? Narvesen is such a well-recognised news agent brand name in Norway, that I have problems imagining what connection it could have to sewing machines. Thank you, that is all.
Yours,
the librarian
(ever eager to learn)
Today was a good day. I spent most of it moving some more furniture around (I partly rearranged the living room a week or two ago), tidied up a bit and moved some books around. I now have a few open spaces on my shelves (it won’t last) and the books are no longer heaped on top of each other in a space-saving-but-not-particularly-good-for-them manner. Hamsun is now next to * on the shelf instead of on top of him. Very good. As a result of the furniture rearranging, I now have more usable open space. Also very good. I even got around to vacuuming the floor.
Topped it off with a Trivial Pursuit evening. Perfect company, more or less. Two old friends and a potential new friend. Another person should have been there, but was prevented, which was unfortunate. Anyway, one can’t have everything, I suppose. As it was, I provided them with Meg’s Toucan Lasagne (delish) and red wine, playing at being the perfect host. Not quite perfect enough to let the guests win, though, as I was on the winning team. Well, at least I had a good time. No one else complained, but they may simply have been too polite to say anything.
The experiment will be repeated shortly. Preferably at a time when the missing person can be present. I might try another of Meg’s recipes. Based on the sucsess of the lasagne, I have aquired a profound respect for her culinary abilities.
I like cooking for company (whereas cooking for one is not much fun at all). I really need to get the kitchen sorted so that I can do more of it. At the moment it’s not very condusive to culinary excersions, and I therefore invite people over for dinner far less often than I would like.
Oh, and there’s lasagne left over for my dinner tomorrow. Ah…
Voice on the stereo: whatsername singing All by Myself (the Bridget Jones soundtrack)
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I’ve just watched Waiting to Exhale (I also saw it in the cinema when it came out, it was on telly this evening), and the first half certainly has a lot of “I’d rather have a good cuppa” moments. Crikey. Anyhoo, I cried all the way through the second half, so I suppose that’s good. Or is it?
Well, at least the men weren’t all bastards. Most of them were, obviously, but not all.
Voice in my head: Whitney Houston singing Saving All my Love for You (which makes sense, seeing as she was in that sort of relationship for a while in the movie – though she threw the bastard over after a while, I’m glad to say. Whew, but he was sexy, though. Pity, that. Still, that whole “I’m doing what’s best for my child by cheating on my wife” act is rather off-putting, so I’m glad she threw his drink at him. Still…)
Untranslatable joke laughed at this week:
Må bjørnejegere betale bamsemums?
Voice in my head: female voice (don’t know who, whoever sings it on “The best Christmas album in the world, ever”) singing the “Come and trim my Christmas tree, with some decorations bought at Tiffany’s” verse from Santa Baby (yes, just that one verse) and Robbie Williams chiming in with “Straighten up and fly right, straighten up and stay right, straighten up and fly right, hoo-ton papa don’t you blow your top” as a refrain. (Is it “hoo-ton”, or “hoot on” or “who don”? I dunno. Something of the kind.) If you want me I’ll be in my corner muttering quitely to myself.
Valentine’s Day. It’s coming up.
Yeah, right, as if you hadn’t noticed, what with all the shops coming out with a “fluffy pink with hearts and chocolate” rash.
Anyway, Meg has created some wonderful anti-valentine cards that you may wish to send to your loved ones (or otherwise). I am certainly in the process of coming up with suitable recipients. Keep an eye on your mailboxes.
I took a test on some website where one of the questions was:
Within the past 6 months, how often did you use a seat belt when riding in or driving a car, truck or other motorized vehicle?
And the alternatives:
Rarely or not at all
Some of the time
Almost all of the time
Now, is it just me or is there a missing alternative here, as in ALL the time? I get into a car, I put on the seatbelt. This is a completely involuntary action, pure autopilot. Nevermind that we might be waiting for one of the other passengers and might sit in the car for half an hour before actually going anywhere, sitting in a car with no seatbelt on feels inherently wrong, so I just don’t.
Voice in my head: A very odd medley of “Yes, sir, I can boogie” in a squeaky girl’s voice and a scratchy Evert Taube recording of “Flickan i Havana”
1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn’t have breakfast, why not?
A pot of yogurt and some chocolate (the chocolate just happened to be there on the the table, I don’t normally have chocolate for breakfast, honestly).
2. What’s your favorite cereal?
Corn Flakes, I guess (Kellogg’s, has to be Kellogg’s).
3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
Somewhere around 3-4 times a month, and, no, that’ll do nicely, I don’t want to change it. Except I suppose if I were filthy rich I’d probably eat out more.
4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
Spagetti and crispy bacon. (Fry the bacon, which should be Swedish, smoked and very thinly sliced, to a crisp. Boil the spagetti (al dente). Drain the spagetti, then put it back in the pot and add an egg or two – stir until the egg has solidified. Serve with the crispy bacon. Yummy.)
5. What’s your favorite restaurant? Why?
The Bar of The Old Black Lion, Hay-on-Wye, Wales. The food is gorgeous. The cider they have on tap is unusual and very good. The staff is charming. The building is old and nice and cosy. Oh, and if I’m eating there it probably means I’ve spent the day browing Hay’s bookshops. Which all makes it deceptively close to heaven on earth.
Voice in my head: Whatsisface – “I Don’t Like Mondays” (oddly enough)
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1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero/heroine? Why?
Sølvpilen (“The Silver Arrow” – an indian – or native american, rather – comic-book hero). Don’t know why, exactly. He didn’t have any special powers or anything like that. Well, he seemed pretty intelligent, for a guy, which is to the good, of course. He had a pretty “girlfriend” (Månestråle – “Moonbeam”) and his best friend was a cowboy, which seemed kinda cool.
2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
A cat. My mother is allergic to cats. Come to think of it, so am I.
3. What’s the furthest from home you’ve been?
Vancouver Island must be just about it.
4. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t yet?
Riding a motorcycle.
5. What are your plans for the weekend?
I need to do some de-cluttering this weekend. Other than that, sleep sounds like a good idea.
Voice in my head: Jon Bon Jovi singing the perennial classic Wanted, Dead or Alive
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Too busy by far. No energy. That’s it.
Not too busy to do silly tests, though (ok, so maybe I should reevaluate my priorities).
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Which is quite good. I liked my “second best” choice, too:
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Voice in my head: just a constant buzz, mostly it’s the computer fans all around me, the noise magnified ever so slightly because I am tired as h***
(90275544)
Don’t get me wrong, I wholly approve of public transport. This was just not my day…
I’ve got a meeting at Kolsås at 9:00 – about an hour later than the time I’m normally at work – which really should not present a problem, right?
Well, since I was heading for Arvika (Hi, L!) after work, I got the tram down to the railway station. I put my luggage in left luggage and headed for the subway. When I get to the platform, there’s a train there and on the board it says Kolsås. So I get on the train, a bit dubious, as the boards do not always tell the strict truth, but I figure I can always change… Well, I’m right, the train stops at Stortinget and goes no further. So I get off and jump on the next train, hoping this might be the advertised Kolsås line. It isn’t. I get off at Majorstuen. The train doesn’t leave. It just sits there, randomly opening and shutting doors. This is the point where I send a text message to the people I’m supposed to be meeting with to say I might be a mite late… The train leaves. Another train comes and leaves. A Kolsås line arrives. I figure I might as well get on… We get to Smestad. Announcement on the speakers to the effect that there’s a power failure on the Kolsås line further down, everyone has to get off, buses have been requested. So we all file off and stand around like lemons at the bus stop. A taxi passes, and I flag it down. I finally arrive (once the taxi driver has gotten lost once) at Kolsås, only 20 minutes late. In the guard they are four people, twice as many as normally, they spend three times the time they normally do to let me in (I’m left in the freaking cold for 15 minutes while they figure out which card to give me!!!)
That was the morning. Considering I needed to get the train to Arvika in the afternooon, I was a bit apprehensive. Surely it would not be a flawless experience?
I caught the train, I was at the platform well before time… Just before Kongsvinger – a power failure for the signals… In this part of the country a lot of roads cross the train line with nothing but signals to indicate whether a train is coming or not. The train therefore had to move at snail speed. We rached Arvika after 2:30 hours rather than the scheduled 1:45.
Not my day for public transport. Obviously.
Voice on the stereo: Someone from the Swedish Fame Academy