Doesn't time fly?

The first time I saw her was when she was about 4 months old. She was due to be christened and I was asked to be one of her godmothers. When she was about four, I took her to the zoo in Bristol. When she was nine I took her to London where we rode the underground and saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When she was about fifteen/sixteen I went shopping with her (that's an experience by itself: shopping with a teen).

She is 18 now. And off to university soon. I am a proud godmother! 

Herman's mackerels

Herman needed a hobby. So, he bought a fishing pole. Went fishing in the North Sea (or the Sound of Karm). Caught a few fish. Gave me some, because I had invited him for apple pie. To which he had arrived on the wrong day, so I gave him some apple pie a few days later. 

Herman didn't just give me two fishies. He gave me ten! Ten mackerels to be precise. What was I supposed to do with ten headless and tailless mackerels? Don't get me wrong: I like fish and I like mackerel. But me and cooking fish don't really go together that well. I either burn it or I ruin it some other way. I didn't want to ruin those ten mackerels. Because as I said: I like mackerel. 

It took me a few days thinking about it. I then decided to just use a frying pan and fry them. Use a bit of fish herbs and hopefully enjoy it afterwards. Well, you know what: I guess I can do something with fish, because they taste great! 

Thank you Herman. Or should I say dziękuję... (however that may be pronounced)

'Blue'

No, this isn't a photo of Norway. This is a photo I took (or my sister, I am not quite sure) when I was in the Netherlands in May. It's quite easy to spot the difference: Norway has mountains and hills. The Netherlands do not! At least not to the extent that Norway has. 

But the prompt this week asked for blue, so I had to look for one with blue in it. I think I found one! The photo was taken while we were driving along the River IJssel to get to a mill where they sold rye which my sister wanted for some reason. 

This is my 62nd entry for Photo Theme for Thursday. Why not join?

A year on

It's been a year now. A year since the life of a young man changed forever. A young man who only wanted a better life for himself and tried to get to England. But he died crossing the motorway in northern France. He might have thought I drove a lorry. That he had enough time to get to the other side. I drove a coach. He wasn't fast enough. I saw him too late. And in an instant his life was over. 

I was in shock that day. The adrenalin kept me going. I didn't know what to think or feel, I just knew I had to answer the police's questions truthfully and correctly. Submit to alcohol and drugtests. Allow them to take all the paperwork I had on me. 

By 4pm (over 12 hours after the accident) I was told no charges were filed against me. It had been an accident. I was free to go home, come back to France if I wanted. Free. I was collected by one of the bosses at the company who took me home to my parents. Where I explained the whole thing again. The next day I visited my parents' gp. She told me I was good to go. Blood pressure and heart rate both normal. It took another day and a half before I felt like I was me again. Sort of. 

I got psychological help. I told people about what had happened. The first time I drove on my own again I noticed everything coming out of the shadows. It lessened fortunately. I became more confident again. 

Then I moved to Norway. Started a new life. Forgot about it. A bit. Because it will always be there. In the back of my head. Tucked away. Knowing that whilst I started a new life, he didn't. Couldn't. Because man is no match for a coach.  

Mojitos and herring

The weekend just gone was the annual Herring Jazz Festival here in Haugesund. Which for the company I work for and especially the people who organise the staff outings (fellow colleagues) is a good enough reason to organise a party of their own. And in contrast to almost all other parties, this one was going to be an all-you-can-eat-and-drink-for-a-set-price party. Which for Norwegians (and import Norwegians) is a great thing. 

I dressed up in some of my finest and took the bus into town. I was one of the first to arrive, but that was good: it gave me a bit of a headstart. The food consisted of meat and salads and the drinks were plentiful. Beers, white and red wines from the box, vodka drinks, mojitos (from a can) and something that sounds a bit like piranha, but obviously isn't. I made it my goal to try one of each. 

Yes, this is raw herring I am guzzling down. At 11.30pm!!!

The party was great. Of course I hadn't thought of bringing my camera, but there were several others who had and they took great photos and not so great photos. I don't think I was drunk, but even tipsy will make me a bit louder than usual (and I am loud to start with), so I was doing great! When the party seemed to be winding down a couple of us went down into the center of town. Hopefully we would catch some jazz. It was really busy down there though and when it started raining we decided to head back. The party itself had finished, so it was only a question of how to get home. In the end one of our sober working colleagues drove us home. It was a good night!

Photo on Sunday 2013-19

Do I really need to say something about this view from my living room? No, I didn't think so either...

'Rain'

Over the past week and a half we have had some strange weather here in Norway. At least the West coast where I reside. Like the past weekend. Friday had been awfully hot and the expectations had been that early Saturday morning (basically the middle of the night) there would be thunderstorms and a lot of rain. A great deal of rain! But I slept soundly and when I woke up to go to work, the roads were dry and the sky wasn't clear, but it wasn't threatening either.

Only an hour or so later it changed. The professed rain was arriving! And my did it arrive! Within minutes of the rain starting, rivers came down the road. Swirling water where it would go down into the sewage system, deep puddles and even bigger splash-ups while driving through said puddles. 

It seemed to come down in waves though. It would ease off for a few minutes and then a new load would be coming down. The photo was take from the bus during a lull. It was still raining, but not as heavily. This brave man is holding an umbrella, but I know from experience that that was quite futile, since there was quite a bit of wind as well!

This is my 61st entry for Photo Theme for Thursday. Why not join?

Herman

I like meeting up with friends. Either at a restaurant, or at home, or on top of a mountain! It's fun. One of my friends makes absolutely yummy cakes. But... so do I! For the Eurovision party I had (which nobody but me watched by the way), I made a Dutch apple pie. And they loved it! So, I decided to make another one and have an apple pie night. 

Now, I needed to invite some of my new friends. After all, having a lovely apple pie and then having to eat it all by myself is not nice. I started asking people over. Some of my female friends, some of my male colleagues. 

One of those colleagues is Polish. He isn't that fluent yet in Norwegian. But I like him, he is nice, he is funny and I feel he needs a bigger dose of Norwegian. I invited him along for my Wednesday apple pie night. In Norwegian Wednesday is onsdag. Sunday is søndag. He understood Sunday. And as I was watching a film last night, I saw him coming of the bus. 

We had a nice evening. He told me about how he got to live in Norway, a bit about his wife and daughters, about his home, about his life in general. He might not be able to come on Wednesday, but one piece of apple pie will certainly be going to Herman*!

*Herman is not his real name. But since he looks a lot like a Dutch comedian called Herman, I tend to call him Herman, before calling him by his real name!

Photo on Sunday 2013-18

As I was sitting behind my computer the other day I looked up and saw this vessel come past. I wonder what 'new' country he will be looting, pillaging and plundring! Of course I couldn't really get a nice photo from inside (I tried), so I had to go outside, walk a bit down the road and try again. 

By then he was already moving off into the distance. Ready to conquer!

'Modern'

A few years ago I was driving for the Airforce Days in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. Since we had to cross several canals there were also several bridges and this one bridge had to come up to let some boat or other through. It was very wonky and crooked and modern looking and where I normally don't take photos of bridges, I did take one of this one. 

This is my 60th entry for Photo Theme for Thursday. Why not join?