Almost forgot about this place

Still here.

Not Strictly Ballroom

The following is a UK TV ad (for a mobil phone network) which I recently came across.  Not entirely original, but cool none the less.  Really makes you smile (well it did for me )  Liverpool Street Station looked like the Central Station ballroom scene from the Fisher King.

…and just to see what went into setting up this whole event.

I wonder if something like this would ever work in Oslo Central Station.

Talk about a prophecy…

Just came across this story, from back in 2001 just after Bush assumed the presidency, on The Onion (a saitical US based news web site).  This is so prophetic it is quite unnerving

IF…

Will wonders never cease.  Just seen regular AND diet Irn-Bru in a local Meny store.  F***in’ amazing.  This is not actually the first time.  It appeared over year ago in one of the local Rimi stores.  It was only the regular stuff, and even then only a small number of bottels.  Odd thing was, they were just in a box…sitting there…..nowhere near the other soft drinks.   Probably didn’t even know what it was….thinking it was drain cleaner or the like.

There is even a Norwegian Irn-Bru web site.  Things are definitley looking up in Norway

…and if you were wondering what it is with us Scots and our Irn-Bru, checkout the latest ad…base on Kipling’s poem  “If…”.  Says it all…..sigh…..I’d better watch, or am goin’ tae start greetin’ noo

Signs of a nanny state??

Something I learned recently.  Buying over the counter medication in this country is an exercise in futility.   I found this out when trying to buy something for a pretty severe soar throat.

In Norway you can buy Repsils, which you’d think were simply renamed Strepsils (look the same, taste the same, made by the same manufacturer) but no.  As the friendly lady in the Apotek (that’s a Chemist shop here) said, they’re nothing more than sugar candy.  Even she said that you can’t buy the “good” ones here in Norway.

Repsils, the Norwegian neutered version of Strepsils

As you can see, even though the “St” has been removed, the “S” logo remains intact.

Now look at the real thing, as available elsewhere.

The real Original Strepsils

You can see the “magic” ingredients listed on the box, which have been removed from the local variant.   Then there is the really good stuff….don’t even ask

Strepils Plus, the really good stuff.

There are Dual action Repsils available only from the Apotek, but don’t get your hopes up.  Again it’s only more sugar candy, but with a dash of menthol to help relieve a blocked nose.

And just for fun, here’s one you’d probably get locked up for even knowing about

Something to really numb the throat.

It’s not just these throat lozenges which are no no’s.  Stuff such as Lemsip, Benylin, Sudafed which I used to consider as common remedies for cold, flu, coughs…, are all off limits.  Of course you can go to see the doctor, but unless your are death’s door you’ll likely by told to go grin and bear it and be charged your 300kr for the privelage.

Here, have a candy bar instead

Shock…Horror….it snowed here in Norway

One morning last week woke up and there was about 6 inches of snow on the ground.  Wow, it had snowed here in Norway!!  Ok, it shouldn’t be such a surprise but given that the public transport system just ground to halt that morning you’d think it was the first time Norwegians had seen snow   And this seems to happen EVERY year.  Waking up in the morning after the first snow, Norwegains appear to behave as if they’ve never seen the stuff before – abandoned cars at the side of the road and no morning busses.  Then there were the trams in Oslo, suffering the double whammy of not only having the snow on the ground but also under the snow there were the “wrong type” of leaves on the tracks   Yes….they stopped working too.

U folks shld speak proper like i do

Is the English langauge evolving into SMS speak, with all words abbreviated to list of consonants and phonetic spellings?  As the Telegraph explains, apparently so.  Brit kids find spelling and English grammar too difficult so we should encourage dumbing things down.  This is the opinion of John Wells, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics at University College London.  We need to free kids from the “burden” or learning!!!  American-isms should be encourgaed….oh boy, that really is dumbing things down.  Just look at who Americans vote for….to represent and speak for them on the world stage

And for something completely different -

Finally, a voice a reason amongst all the Google sycophants proclaiming Chrome as the second coming.  With a healthy dose of humour, sense, and fuckin shit bollox langauge….El Reg does it again

PS. will post some more stuff about my recent travels to Cracow, Warsaw and Berlin real soon…..promise   Just waiting until i get round to uploading all the pics to flickr.

Every pub should have one

As you know from prevous post, I’m currently in Krakow. More on that later, but for now I just had to post about someting which i came accross in a bar in Krakow. Now I’m not one to start taking photos in the gents toilet, but I just couldn’t resist snapping this (luckily no one else was around).

Yes, its a big sink. The sort you would normally find in a utililty or laundry room. What’s it doing in a gents toilet? The sign above makes this abundantly clear

Even the plug hole was big enough so as not to get clogged up with those pesky bits of diced carrot and sweetcorn.

I could imagine that things could get quite gross on a busy Friday night or during somebodies stag do.

I wonder if they have one in the ladies too???

Of naked extraction

Just got myself a new gadget.  A Naked Portafilter….a WHAT???   It makes pouring an espesso look really cool.  Found that a local mail order place where i sometimes by my coffee beans from suddenly had them for sale.  I just had to have one.     When I orderd it I received an email saying out of stock and that it would be forwarded when back in.  Then I sorta forgot about it.  Anyway, this was about 6 months ago.  Suddenly, out of the blue it turned up.  It was worth the wait….it does look cool.  And you thought there was nothing  to making an espresso….lol….so wrong you were

A bit of culture

Went to the opera last night.  Woohoo….gettin all cultured now    The show, Porgy and Bess, performed by the Cape Town Opera, was pretty damn good.  Not much of an opera buff, but this was…..pretty damn good   The normally staid Norwegians actually gave a deserved standing ovation.  Although the applause wasn’t exactly what I would call rapturous.  Sounded a bit weird,  more like a slightly speeded up slow hand clap.

This was also a chance to vist the new national opera house in Oslo.  Recently completed and an amazing piece of architecture.   The main inside foyer looks really cool in the evening light.

Although, I wasn’t too sure about the inside of the main auditorium. It is all in a Scandinavian wood style, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was inside one of those rounded wooden fruit bowls.

BTW, this was taken during the interval and its not an indication of how popular the show was   It was actually sold out.

Finally, off on summer vacation in a few days. Flying into Krackow and then back from Berlin approximately two weeks later. Turns out that Madonna’s latest concert tour will coincide with my vist to Berlin….just had to get a ticket