We made it. Just.

I billed our travelling day to Ned as a big adventure; car journey with Grandma, train to London, another train to the airport, plane to Oslo, plane to Trondheim and there we would see daddy and Maisie and we would drive to our new house!

He was Very Excited! as only small boys can be  (I think).  He told everyone (including those quite clearly not interested) about the 2 trains and the 2 planes (another thing only small people do).

The first part of the journey; getting to London was easy. The car journey was fine, the train to Paddington was easy,  although I did get stuck in the ticket barrier (I'll save that for another time but suffice to say it wasn't pretty) , and the Heathrow Express was great. However things started To Go Wrong once we got to the airport............

Ned and I caused chaos at the bag drop as our bag was either not registering or registering twice. Eventually a lady from SAS came over and explained that because we were transferring, the system was booking the bag in twice, oh and by the way you'll have to collect your bag and take it to the drop off in departures and go back through security. ......say what?

"Right" I said, "all in 45 minutes. With a 3 yr old?"  "Oh yes", came the reply, "SAS wouldn't sell you a ticket if it couldn't be done in that time" .   "So what happens if the flight is delayed and I miss my connection?"  (always thinking of the positives!), " I don't know, you'll have to ask at check in if you miss it."..........thanks......

So filling me with confidence (not) we set off through security, being told regularly that you can't take that bottle of water through! did you know you've got liquids in your bag?  I did refrain from shouting "Can't you spot a stressed mother when you see one?! "................How? Read the signs people......

For those of you who know Ned, this bit won't come as a surprise...........Whilst in the queue to go through security and x-ray, he started dicking about (technical term for toddler malpractice) which resulted in his falling over backwards and banging his head...........A lovely security lady offered to get a medic to look at it (sorry what), the lady in the queue was a nurse and also wanted to have a look - Ned became scared and didn't want anyone to look at him, and I did the most useful thing ever (for a stressed mum) and burst into tears (and I wasn't wearing waterproof mascara!)  They were very lovely and very kind, but Ned showed no after effects. (other than being irritating, I on the hand had panda eyes).

Then there was the lovely cleaning lady who had obviously heard our 'discussion' about Ned wearing pull ups on the plane, not pants. (as we wouldn't have time to go to the loo)  who asked Ned why was he crying. I don't know where she was from originally, but she had such a lovely accent, and she stopped him from crying - I wanted to hug her!

He cheered up even more when we saw the airplanes and the badger carts (baggage carts). On boarding, I overheard another mum talking to her little boy (possibly 7) about their connecting flight. It transpired that they too where heading to Trondheim, but she knew about the collecting hold baggage malarkey, armed with hand luggage only wished us luck!

Ned fell asleep which was the only good thing about the flight, as it arrived about 10/15 minutes late. For ease I'd taken off my watch, but it also meant that I had no idea what the time was and also meant I was continuously checking the time. I asked Neddy if he had his running feet on, and we were off!

 

Through security (who analysed Ned even though his photo was taken when he was 8 months old so at 3 of course his photo isn't the bloody same!) Along a very long walk way, down an escalator, to baggage claim. Found the 'ugly' bag (borrowed my mums suitcase which is ugly so no one steals it!), through the arrivals hall, up the lift, out into departures, to the wrong bag drop off, back to the SAS bag drop off, who asked me what was special about my bag, as I was at the special baggage drop off, not normal bag drop off (I looked at the 2 men there and pleaded)  I've only got 15 mins to make my connecting flight, please take my bag I don't know where the normal drop off is.  Bless them, they recognised the desperation on my face... so I left my bag, shouted "Tusen Takk!" as we headed off for the family priority lane, as they were shouting which departure gate I needed.

 

Now the queue for security was long, but the family lane cuts out the waiting, although the man at the head of the queue was not going to let me in, but I was terribly rude and completely barged in. 

Through security, and then the bags got held up. I'd left the iPad in one bag and the portable DVD player in the other, and we also bumped into the lady off the Oslo flight who was also having a stress, but she did return Ned to me who had run off and I hadn't spotted as I was dealing with the security people!  She went off, with me asking her to hold the flight!

So we collected everything and then went for it.  The flight was flashing boarding, and we were at gate 30 needing to get to number 13. (Should I be worried)

Ned was a superstar, although his poor little legs were giving out, he managed to get to the gate without being carried. Got to the gate and a lady asked us if we were going to Haugesland, I said no, Trondheim! And another lady check in lady shouted Trondheim and waved us over! 

I cannot tell you how relieved we were.

We were the penultimate passengers on the plane, but by the skin of our teeth we made it! Best thing of the whole experience..........the little high five my boy gave me.

It's the white roof over there.....

Maisie and I are on our last night together before kath and ned join us for the rest of the week, and we then head back home again on Sunday and back to .....don't say the W word! 

So far this week I have undertaken the very important tasks of setting up the woodshed, by neatly stacking the wood I could find ( there is still about a tonne in the barn to shift), reinstalling the barn window which had blown out since we were last here in august ( when we viewed) and just generally tidying and sorting all the stuff in the house.  Not sure if I said before,  but we bought the house and all it's contents which includes everything from furniture and a 30 year old bag of coffee through to an amazing old loom and telegrams from a wedding in 1947! 

Anyhow, today I met my new best friend, Jan, ålens finest electrician, to discuss getting the house rewired and such things as the best location for the new distribution board. Given he doesn't speak much English (albeit infinitely better than my norwegian of course)  and my Norwegian is boarder line at best, we did pretty well and even had a joke together......at least I think we were laughing about the same thing! 

So after agreeing a plan, he told me I needed to strip the old electrics out so he could do the rewire, and that has been today's task. So I now have sore fingers, aching arms and a pile of old cable on the from garden / field. The old fittings were mostly Bakelite so exploded into pieces  when you tugged the wire hard enough! 

Anyhow,  when I said goodby to Jan, I asked him if he new anyone who could help me with the drainage and he gave me a couple of names including harald who is the farmer who cuts the field ( yet to speak to him! ). I asked jan if he knew Arvid. ( the person we bought the house off) and of course he did - his brother in law bought some land off arvid a few years back........brother in laws name - harald of course! So the joke we shared, I think , was the fact that ålen ( or maybe it's the whole of Norway as there are  so few people here, which is in the top10 highlights of this great place) is actually identical to north devon where everybody knows each other or is related......

And what of the white roof, well so far this week when I've asked whereabouts someone lives,  it seems to be normal to point out the persons  house on the valley side and say 'over there, next to the trees, with the white roof'. Who needs addresses anyway! 

Music to warm the heart

For those of you that don't know I'm a massive polar exploration fan.........and of the things I found out over the years is that earnest Shackleton insisted on one of his crew taking a banjo to brighten the long dark polar days.  Well I didn't pack my banjo, this time, but we did find a piano at our lodgings.....bye the banjo photo is actually the banjo that got taken to Antarctic by Shackleton ( it was on display at Falmouth maritime museum last year when we took the kids!) 

.....I found it.

.......So in a jar at the back of the woodshed I found the front door key........and boy what a key it is .

So here it is :)

So we have bought an old farm house, 2 barns and about an acre of land located on mountain side in the sor trondelag village of ålen in Norway  The house was built in 1880 by a family who made shoes and 8 children! 

It's a beautiful house which is a bit like a museum. It still contains all the old shoe making equipment and original features, such as the log burners and some hand made furniture including a bed with the children's names carved in. And in the barns there is all sorts of stuff from old vintage skis and sledges as well as the original horse carts! 

It's a listed house ( or the norwegian equivalent) and hasn't been lived in for almost 30 years ! We've had the pleasure of buying it from the great grandson of the original owner and what a project it is. Kind of grand designs meets no going back crossed with escape to the country...... And a bit of ice road truckers thrown in for good measure ;) some photo teasers. 

Booking a bloody flight - part 2.

Since I posted the first part of booking a flight, a number of things have come to light.

1. I don't have to catch the train from Tiverton at 7.30, meaning I don't have to get up at 5.30.

2. I don't have to go to terminal 5 and then go back to terminal 2!

3. Ned will love the train journey.

4. There is lots of time to check in, even if we are late.

5. We only have 45 minutes to catch our connecting flight in Oslo.

6. Oslo airport isn't as big as Gatwick or Heathrow, so hopefully we'll be okay.........

7. Ned is very excited about our 2 train trips and 2 flights!

I'll let you know how we get on.

Wimping out / self preservation....

So after spending the last couple of weeks speaking to the local electricity supplier in ålen and a lovely lady called Inge (who I think has had enough of me now), I have failed in my attempts to get the house reconnected to mains electricity :(.   

  Gauldal energi undertook a free inspection and basically confirmed that the electrics needed upgrading - not surprised - but I was hoping that we could at least get a temporary supply so we could get some lights in place for our stay.

  Since that news I have become an expert in small scale generators and been looking at buying a generator to get us some power, but as of yesterday and seeing that it will be potentially snowing (!) and only just Above freezing in the day time and down to -5 at night time, I decided to bite the bullet and book us somewhere to stay nearby instead.   Now you might think this wimping out (ahem) but I more consider it avoiding divorce.....  

Useful shopping tips btw.  Biltema.no.  Kind of like a monster version of screwfix direct meets halfiords. 

And off it goes.

So today I went into the bank and instigated an international money transfer for the purchase of our house, only it's not just a house, it's 2.5 years of planning, over 15 years of doing up houses ( which I have to say I'm still doing at this moment in time) and it's the start of a new chapter.  As cheesy as that sounds it really is and it's yet to write itself. So roll on 3 weeks and the day when we actually take possession and Maisie and I rock up to see what the new chapter brings.......now if you'll excuse I'm going to lie down...........

it's all finn......at least i think it is..... ( the practical stuff of house buying)

I thought it was about time that I shed a bit of light on the actual process of buying a house in Norway. 

On the practical side of things, when you buy property in Norway it's a bit like purchasing in other European countries, in that once you've made an offer it's legally binding. So the trick is to make sure you know what you're getting into! 

As a bit of background, after our very first house viewing encounter almost 2 years ago now, the person who's farm we visited put us onto a website called finn.no.  This site is basically a classified selling website for a collection of papers and agents and you can buy everything from houses and land to cars, holidays and they also list the majority of jobs available.  You have to bear in mind that in a country whose population is only 6 million  that 1 single website is actually perfect! 

On here you can search houses (boligs til salg) and you can search by area, when it was listed etc and list them by price or similar, as well as keeping a favourites list ( minn funn) which means you can track your house. 

In Norway all houses are listed as guide prices and usually with set visiting hours / open days. Anyone can visit ( and I was told by one person it can be a bit of a recreational pastime!) .  After you have visited you can then bid on the house if you actually like it. After the visit and before you bid,  it is your responsibility to make sure you have all the information you need to make a bid,  as once this is submitted and accepted then it is a legally binded contract. Usually the sellers agent will provide a building survey, land details and registration/ kommune  requirements, so unlike in the uk, you have the full package. I should point out that it goes without saying that you should also have your finances / mortgage offer in place ! 

As part of the bid you can stipulate your conditions such as obvious ones like price! But also moving in date, things like including bits of contents and in our case because we bought through a private seller, we referenced all of the conversations we had had to date with the seller about the property such as ongoing costs, rights of way, usage etc. and also how long the bid is valid for. ( if you use an agent then usually this stipulated at around 24 hours) we gave our chap 4 days as the seller was staying in his hut ( hytte) with no internet access! ( it's another norwegian pastime, and for another post )

Once you have made your bid it then gets notified to any other interested party and they are then able to make a counter offer and so it goes on until a winning bid is made.  Now this might seem unfair, but it is such a better system then in the uk where people make offers, then knock them down over time and then fanny around over seemingly endless tiny technicalities. 

So once your offer is accepted then that's it .....you sit and wait to move in! 

Now in our case I am using an agent to organise the legal side of things And money transfer etc. so far be it from sitting on my arse, I'm now currently translating building contracts, registration information and other things. Our agent, a really helpful man called Per speaks great English and has helped us throughout but of course the actual legal documents are in norwegian! ( and why wouldn't they be) oh and one final thing, you will need a d number if you own property on Norway which is basically a tax number, but this seems a relatively easy process to apply........(Again for another post) 

So I've just got back from the post office having posted the above mentioned signed contracts back to Norway...... I'm sure it wi be fine as I think it's to buy the house we saw  : /