2 go mad in Norway?

It’s turned into another scorcher in Cape Town today, with the mercury (actually, I use an electronic digital system, but you know what I mean) peaking at just under 30°C. Compare that with Oslo where the mercury is still sensibly hiding under the bedclothes and “peaked” at -9°C, but with a “feels like” reading of -13°C.
All of which leads me think that I am going to freeze my nuts off while I’m over there. But that’s fine, because I’m going to have a damn good time in the snow as well.
Although, for safety’s sake, I won’t be playing snowballs in the mountains.

© eoin ryan

This is from the wonderful SpaceAvalanche.com, which is well worth a visit if you have a bit of a dark sense of humour (like I do) or a few hours to while away (like I don’t).

One month…

This time next month, I’ll be boarding a large jet-engined aircraft – vuvuzela in hand – for my trip to Europe on The Last Hurrah 2010 tour. It therefore seems fitting that we should indulge ourselves with a little more a-ha goodness. This one is from their 1990 album East of the Sun, West of the Moon and it’s called I Call Your Name.

A great song that made it to number 45 in the French singles chart. Because they have no taste.

I should be at Grand West watching Crowded House tonight, but I’m not feeling great and the kids are still recovering from ear and sinus infections respectively, so I’ve stayed home to look after them. And me.
In an ironic twist of fate, Mrs 6000 took the babysitter along to the concert.

Nothing, however, will stop me from making an appearance at the Oslo Spektrum in a few weeks time. I could be oozing blood from every orifice (very African) and I’d still be there singing along.
It would be nice to just be healthy that night, though.

Should I pay or should I go?

File under: titles which sounded good at the time, Blog post

BA have asked me very nicely if I’d like to pay R225 (their version of £20, with the Rand’s current stupidly high levels) for the privilege of choosing my seat for my flight to London next month. And they also offered me the chance to pay the same amount again to choose my seat on the flight back.
Having long legs and being sat on a plane for 12 hours is no fun (although it’s really cool the rest of the time). If you have young kids, you get one of those bulkhead seats, which is better; but what the journey giveth, the journey taketh away, because then you’re travelling with young kids. I covered the trials and tribulations of that about a year ago. Good post, that.

I was almost tempted with BA’s generous offer until I found out that my R225 wouldn’t actually allow me to choose a decent – and by “decent”, I mean “exit row” – seat.
No – I have to cough up £50 each way for that. And that’s a lot of money. Especially when you convert it into a universal currency that everyone can understand: dollars beer. I can’t actually book those seats until 14 days before I fly, but working on BA’s current exchange rate, £50 = R562.50. And at bottle store prices, that’s more than 102 bottles of Carling Black Label.

Each. Way.

So, no. I’ll take my chances with the normal 24 hour online check in and I’ll settle for an aisle seat. Virtually any aisle seat. And if I don’t get an aisle seat and I have a dreadful flight, then I’ll reconsider booking an aisle seat for the return journey for £20.

And I have a good day to look forward to when I arrive. Tickets are in the process of being acquired for the undisputed Match of that Day, Bristol City versus Sheffield United, which I am very excited about and which means my journey from Cape Town to Sheffield will take about 26 hours. Plus check-in time. Plus getting to the airport early so the kids can come along and see me through the departure gate.
Bring forth those 102 bottles of Carling Black Label. And a couple of Red Bulls as well.

In other news (and somewhat off-topic), please take the time to look at this:
5 Things That Have Been Found In Fat People’s Skin Folds

Don’t throw your lifelines away

There aren’t many pop videos which begin with a poem written by a king.
In fact, if you can name any at all, I’ll be impressed. And that’s going to leave you high and dry when that “name a pop video which begins with a poem written by a king” question comes up at the next pub quiz you go to.

Instead then – tell them about this video: Lifelines by a-ha, which is prefaced by a poem written in 1977 by King Olav V of Norway :

When I look back
I see the landscapes
That I have walked through
But it is different

All the great trees are gone
It seems there are
Remnants of them

But it is the afterglow
Inside of you

Of all those you met
Who meant something in your life

And then the video, based on the Norwegian short film A Year Along the Abandoned Road and filmed in the abandoned Norwegian fishing village of Børfjord.

…and presented to you this evening not just to assist with future pub quizzing, but also to mark two months before a-ha’s last ever gig in the UK, which will take place on November 27th at Wembley Arena: one of the venues where I saw them perform on their Lifelines tour (on 12th October 2002).
The 27th November 2010 is, incidentally, also the date that I land in the UK for The Last Hurrah tour.

It all seems to fit.

Booked

Things are coming together nicely for The Last Hurrah with the booking of the flights and the accommodation for the Oslo leg of the trip: the internet is a wonderful thing.

Budget flights from Gatwick were very easy to book, although I had to specify upfront that I wasn’t going to be bringing any diving equipment with me, which was a disappointment but did save some cash. Also, since it’s just an overnighter, I also chose “no hold baggage” – saving another €13, but leaving each of us each with an allowance of just 10kg of hand baggage and meaning that I’m going to be wearing a LOT of clothing on the flight. As you do when heading to Norway in December, I guess.

The hotel was more problematic. The location had to be good: handy for the much vaunted 210kph flytoget rail service – which unsurprisingly arrives and departs from the main railway station – but more so for the concert venue. Oh, and reasonably economical too. And that’s no easy thing to do when playing around with Scandinavian pricing.

I used Google maps extensively before plumping for the perfect place, booked it and all was done. Then I decided to have a look at Streetview. Ah. Is that the place we’re staying, just above the (ahem) “Red Windmill Bar”?
Yes, yes – I think it is.

Because while the cat is at home (with the kittens), the mouse will frequent hotels above dodgy pubs full of Scandinavian women.

Allegedly, anyway.