Cherry tree

So, these questions then. Were they difficult? Weeeell....

The first question was a bit of a trap question. As Yamini rightly pointed out, it was at the time the British 'owned' India and heads of state being what they are (hungry for bigger titles it seems), Queen Victoria thought it would be nice to be empress of India as well as being queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Vicky became Empress of India in 1876 and was so until her death in 1901. My given dates were 1893 to 1897, which fall within her reign. As I said, a bit of a trap there. Plus I talked about emperor and Vicky of course was empress, since she was of the female woman persuasion type. 

However, I think we can all safely say that Yamini got the right answer, which was Queen Victoria. 

My second question has honestly been on my mind for years. I think the first time I mentioned it, was on a road trip with my sister in Wales. Which was somewhere in 1995 I believe. We were driving up a hill and the road seemed to go nowhere, just up into heaven. Whatever happened to the other six heavens? Well, I expected answers (and rolling eyes, like my sister's), but definitely not Yamini's answer! 

It was probably the longest comment ever on my blog, not counting all those spam comments of course, but it was very informative. Although it did only give us one version of the seven heavens. So, just in case you want to read up some more: here is a Wikipedia link to the seven heavens which explains a bit more.

After those two questions and its answers, I think we all would say that Yamini is the clear winner and deserving of the eternal fame and a klem (which is a Norwegian hug) from Brom, who is very excited!! The photo is NOT photoshopped, since they did actually meet in 2015!

...and that's the answer 4

Now for those of you who read my blog regularly, you might have noticed a little oversight in the past few weeks. On my 'ask me anything' post I had received seven comments, six of those were questions. I answered them in chronological order as they came in. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Number 4, the question by Anvilcloud was missing. 

He was sneaky. He didn't just ask me one thing. He managed in his one comment to ask me two/three things. Related, yet seperate questions. Questions that needed some serious thinking about before I could give an answer. Because they didn't deal with the weather or my dinner, but with something completely different. Something deeper. So, without further ado, here is his first question: On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with your decision to move to Norway? 

I knew before coming that life in Norway would be different from the Netherlands, even if the lifestyles of those two countries are very similar. Or so I was told. Some things are definitely better. The area in which I drive every day has so many beautiful spots and views that I am always amazed by it. Of course I lucked out on finding the amazing place where I live in this beautiful spot. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful. Something I would not get back in the Netherlands. A 9,5 for that. 

Some things are not so good. Although they could be different if I were to choose so. The job, even though the views and the routes are lovely, can be really boring. In my heart I am a coach driver. Driving a group around for a week, showing them lovely sights. Not that stopping every. single. stop. to let somebody get off or get on! I could of course get back to touring. It would mean less pay and getting back to working all hours of the day. I do not want to go back to that, however much I love that job.  A 6 for the job.

Some things are more or less the same. Yes, everything might cost more over here, but I earn more as well. I don't starve, I don't have to count my pennies (or øres) and when I want to buy something I can. The health service is comparable and so is the red tape. Love it or loathe it, it's what it is. A 7,5. Which means that the average would be 7.6. Average!

Anvilcloud's second question can be seen as one or two. I took it as two. Here it is: Do you envisage staying forever or someday returning to The Netherlands? 

The answer to the first part would be no. Not because I don't like it here (I do), but financially. I have built up some pension in the Netherlands and some here in Norway. Once I retire those two pensions will be put together. However, the Dutch pension will not be adjusted to Norwegian living costs, meaning I would have less to live on. And with the higher living costs here, that would mean I could probably not afford it, meaning I would have to move to a place where I could afford to live. 

The answer to the second part would be no as well. If I were to move anywhere, it would be to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Closer to my sister. Get a place and be disgraceful together! That is however far in the future and you never know what life throws at you!

I hope I was able to answer everybody's questions in a satisfactory manner. And if you have any more...

...and that's the answer 6

Pain yes, crying no!

Murphy and Stanley wanted to know about what three words I would use to describe myself. And I really had to think about that one. 

I have always seen myself as a bit of a cry-baby, until I was told that in fact, I am not. I will continue doing what I do even when others would have long since thrown in the towel. Meaning I might not be as much of a cry-baby I always thought I was. 

I never really saw myself as adventurous. I just liked to see new things and meet new people and go new places. Is that adventurous? I would have said curious more than adventurous, but perhaps in my case they might be the same.

Christmas and knitting in one go.

I know that some people think me strange. I love Eurovision and war documentaries. I love Christmas and food programmes (just not Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver or that awful Marco Pierre White who gives me the heebie jeebies). I love biathlon and knitting. I love the cinema and reading. 

I would like to be thought of as a writer. I know now that a novel might be beyond my grasp, but if I can write a story that others want to read, even if it is only about Miss Oswin and her dislike for snow, I feel that I am a writer.

I know for a fact that I am lazy. If I get the choice to go for a walk or sit in front of the computer/television, I choose the latter. If I get the choice to do the dishes/laundry/cleaning or sit in front of the computer/television, I choose the latter. I am always hopeful that some magic elves come out and do my housework and make me fit again. I think they might be stuck in that time machine in my basement. 

I would like others to think of me as loving. I love my friends and family, although I don't always show it in a good way. I certainly don't say it often enough. But I do. Love them I mean. As I told a friend recently, if I didn't, they wouldn't be in my life. Because over the years I have realised that even if you don't always see eye to eye about something, some people are better in than out, even with the differences.

Out of all those things, I think I would want to use the following words to really describe myself: adventurous, loving and writer. And I think that encapsulates most of what and who I am.

...and that's the answer 5

Lottery numbers? Seriously???

Frankie Furter and Ernie were a bit cheeky and requested to know the lottery numbers. Which I could give them of course, but they would only work if they had a time machine! Which I don't. Unless you count that weird thing in the basement, but I have yet to figure out how to work it...

They did have a second and more serious question though: the average temperature in Norway! Now, there is a question for me. And virtually unanswerable. It's like asking the average temperature of the United States. Alaska brings the temperature down, Hawaii takes it up. It's the same with Norway. 

The country is so long and thin that there are so many differences. The northernmost part of the country is within the polar circle. The southern part is just above Aberdeen in Scotland. Then it depends whether it is east or west, especially down south, where the country is at its widest. I live in the west. It rains. Winters are usually brown/green with a lot of water and low, but not freezing temperatures. In the east, winters are usually white with below zero temperatures. The far north white and below zero again. 

Summers in the west are green and wet. In the east green and a little less wet. Temperatures are okay, although in 2014 it was a perfect summer with a lot of warmth and very little rain. 

Of course, even where I live snow and cold can come. As long as the wind is from the east (Russia/Siberia), we get below and snow. But as soon as the wind comes from the west, which it does mostly, it means above and rain. 

But, I haven't mentioned a single number yet! Well, after some serious digging, I found out that the average temperature in the north was about +2 degrees Celsius (35 F), the average where I live about 10 C (50F). Winters are -10C (14F) in the north, 2C (35F) where I live. Summers are 13C (55F) up north, 15C (59F) where I live. However, the temperatures are on the rise here in Norway as well. 

I hope this more or less answers your question?

...and that's the answer 3

Yamini had quite a mundane question for me: what's for dinner? Because she liked my stories about my stove and me. Well, I will need to tell you a little story first. 

When I lived in the Netherlands, my mother would call me sometime around November and asked me whether I felt like Snert that winterseason. Snert being a Dutch pea soup that will warm you and fill you. It is thick.  Very very thick. Spoon upright thick. Some years I would answer no, knowing I didn't feel like eating that particular dish during that winter. Other years I would say yes and a few days after the phone call I would usually come home to a note on the kitchen counter, saying there was snert in the freezer. 

Then I moved to a different country. And having my Mum come around with snert isn't that obvious. Which means I have to get it some other way if I feel like it. Fortunately there is google and there are plenty of snert recipes out there. Then I had to get the ingredients, which proved a bit harder. Yes, the potato and leek and carrot, the sausage, speck/bacon and meat is fine. But some of the other ingredients are a bit harder. In the end I went with what was there: parsnip and something else I already forgot the name of.

In the end however, I got all the ingredients and proceeded to make the soup (potatoes not shown in the photo). The end result? Well, like the first time I made it over here in Norway: not good! It smelled like snert, and it even tasted of snert. But the consistency was way too liquid (too much water perhaps?) and I had to use the blender to turn the peas into something resembling edible and even then it was like eating grit. I had one bowl and threw the rest of it out (I saved the meat though).

Yamini's question: what's for dinner? Ehm... pancakes!

...and that's the answer 2

In Belgium

Another question was from Marie Smith who wanted to know where I got my spirit of adventure from. To be quite honest: I don't really know. I grew up in a stable household and I don't think there was much adventure there. However, from a young age, I have always wanted to be where I wasn't. That train that left the station? I wanted to be on it. Even if it only went tweny kilometers down the tracks to the next town and then came back! It was to somewhere I wasn't, it was to somewhere new. 

Adventures in 'how to loose your money and tell the police in Yugoslavia while very hungover'

Over the years, that wanting to go to somewhere else, somewhere new grew until I finally got the chance when I got a phone call from a friend of mine: she hated where she worked and wanted to go home. Unless I could come. I asked my parents, they said okay and off I went. To a place deep in Belgium where I had never been and where they spoke French! I didn't. I arrived by train and waited for my (Dutch) ride. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, an hour, and still I was sitting just outside that station. Finally after more than an hour and a half he showed. He had gone shopping before picking me up! Instead of picking me up and then going shopping!! Idi... Mor... Nincompoop!

In England

That really started my sense of adventure. I only stayed there for three weeks and really loved it. The year after, I made my way to Yugoslavia (as it was known back then) for six months. One month at home and three months in Brussels. Straight on to Sicily, Italy (7 months). One month at home before heading off to the French Alps (6 months), another month at home and then two and a half years in England, before finally moving back home.

In the Netherlands I worked for several temping agencies and did all sorts of low and unskilled jobs: cleaning, factories, kitchens and canteens. All through though, I (again) wanted more. I tried the army, but couldn't get in (too unfit) and then my father gave me the advice to try bus driving lessons. I passed on my second try, got a job at the first try, nearly lost my job over the amount of damages I had those first three months, but seventeen year later, I am still at it.

Adventures in 'snake wrangling'. 

I don't know what the future will hold for me. I hope there will be many more adventures, but where and what they will be? Your guess is as good as mine!

...and that's the answer 1

Wow, several really good questions and they require some really good answers of course. The first question was posed by Madi and her Mom and wonders about the name 'Brom'. What does it mean and where does it come from?

The Dutch word brom comes from the verb 'brommen' which basically means to growl. Not a menacing growl, more of a low rumbly growl. It also means to grumble, as in grumbling over the low temperature of the porridge for example. But I think Brom got his name because there is a word in the Netherlands "Brombeer". The first part meaning the grumble and the second part meaning bear. It is used for people who are a bit on the grumbly side. And Brom's full name is actually Brom Beer (Grumble Bear). Of course Brom is nowhere near being grumbly, being the nicest teddy you could imagine. And he loves to dress up and meeting new friends!

...that's the question

A few years ago I gave people the chance to ask me questions and I would (try to) answer each one. Sometimes I answered outright, other times I would refer to a post I had done earlier. Well, being a lazy so and so, I thought I would do so again, since there are so many new faces reading my blog. Of course you don't have to be a new face to ask a question, you faithful long-time readers are quite welcome to ask questions as well. 

So, is there something you want to know? You can ask anything (and I mean anything) and I will try and answer, although I do reserve the right to not answer of course. It is after all my blog. I will answer any questions in posts coming up (see how lazy I am: not wanting to think of what to write about and letting you do all the work?).

Get asking!

Photo taken in Verona, Italy in 1997