In an unusual twist of experimentation this is a joint blog post...... :O
.....So on this rather cold September evening with the sun setting earlier, I thought it was time to reminisce over this summers Nordic expedition.
A 2 week stay always goes quick, especially when meeting builders (now a normal holiday treat), tripping to ikea (no more please) and on this occasion entertaining our first guests :)
When we first started to mention our idea to buy a house in Norway and one day move there, some of our friends were really supportive; some were indifferent; some thought we were (are) mad and some tried to get us to move to Bristol instead!
We've known T & E for nearly 13 years, in fact I met T shortly after Jim and I got married - we worked for the same organisation doing the same job; me in Exeter her in Bristol. And now Jim is god father to their eldest daughter, M, and the kids call each other their God families.
We've tried to persuade them to visit Norway before we bought the house, but the timing didn't work. Until this year, when they said yep, they'd love to come out and visit during our 2 week trip.
So whilst Grampa was wallpapering the dining room, the kids and I were making our friends room as tidy and as pretty as we could; stringing up fairy lights, making beds, hoovering the walls (cos they're made of wood) and collecting wild flowers.
So whilst Grampa was wallpapering the dining room, the kids and I were making our friends room as tidy and as pretty as we could; stringing up fairy lights, making beds, hoovering the walls (cos they're made of wood) and collecting wild flowers.
I had one moment of complete 'Oh my god they're going to miss the flight!' when I texted T to find out where they were. She replied 'Still on the M25, check in at 6pm', only it was already 5.40pm! Confusion reigned for a while and I couldn't understand why Jim was looking so relaxed. 'But it's almost 6!', I wailed, 'they'll miss the flight!'
Eventually I realised the flaw in my thinking, it might well be nearly 6 in Norway, but it was only nearly 5 in the UK, and of course they'd have enough time to check in etc. (They didn't have a huge amount of time once they'd made it through check in and security, but that's a tale for another time!)
So Saturday dawned slightly cloudy, and Jim and I decided to brave the solar shower (in honour of our friends coming later) - with extra hot water in mine, but it was still on the rather cold side! He managed to perfect the art of showering naked in the front garden whilst not being seen across the valley (he wishes....) or by the postman (luckily they only deliver to your box mounted on a post nearby and not on your house in Norway)
(Ha bet you thought it was going to be a photo of Jim showering! No, just the kids watching him shower!)
Our guests are lovely old friends of ours (aka Broadsword or Danny Boy not sure which) and whilst we wanted to pull out all the stops to show them what our little piece of Scandinavia has to offer (they are Nordic Virgins or norgins / virdics as we like to say.....which is course complete bollocks as I've never used that expression in life before and it's highly unlikely ever to catch on....) we were also very aware of the lack in facilities....however....as far as I'm aware no one fell into the composting loo or touched the seemingly endless abundance of wolfsbane growing everywhere (thank you Edd for the identification). ...although the kids did manage a tandem toilet stop, turns out the 2 adjacent seats are fun when you're little.....yet to be tried in adult life (unless i just wasn't invited...?)
We managed to explore the mountains, discover waterfalls, explore an old mine (don't worry it was a guided tour - Olavsgruva, highly recommended), visit Røros and the church (which by the way in case I haven't said before was the inspiration for Disney's Frozen church in Arendal!). We even managed to insult the French, which is something one should never pass up on holiday (ok...so it wasn't a full on insult, but more of a jokey little fun when in the mine and we sent the French in the wrong direction.....oh come on you know you would to.....btw they were fine and made it out safely...at least I'm pretty sure that was them I saw leaving....)
One of the great delights of having friends on holiday (and grandpa as well) is that as well as the hard work demolishing the huge area of rose bay willow herb which was occupying the majority of the garden area (by hand sytheing I would hasten to add, albeit it was less Poldark more Trumpton...) it was the fact the we were able to have some great get togethers and share what to date has been quite a eccentric dream of ours which others have often thought we were crazy about.
One such evening was a great BBQ (in norwegian called a grilling) at which I finally got to use my newly purchased Espegård Bålpanne (posh hanging fire pit) which I had been coveting since our original norwegian trips........this is jim now in case you hadn't realised.....
I made some new benches from old barn structural timber which had been lying about (let's hope I don't need that at some point) and then we (aka the chuckle brothers) set about erecting a temporary canopy in case of rain (which of course never came as the sun shone, like it did most of the time!).
The canopy, benches and fire pit were almost worthy of a feature spread in country living (well 'country hanging out' maybe, if they don't do that periodical then they should...I might publish that myself .....one thing at a time). There was the the 9 of us plus our great friends Morten and Lill from the village, who we were finally able to say thank you to in style. There were also 2 of their granddaughters who had travelled from Trondheim on the bus on their own (2 hour trip....they are 9 and 7....imagine doing that in England!!!!) they were very excited about meeting Maisie again and she even had a play date down at their place earlier in the day. We also had a late night visit from Arvid and his wife (the original owner of the house) who popped over to say hei! And make sure we were ok!
We drank the very lovely bottle of champagne Grampa bought Jim for his 40th that I carted all the way to Norway in the ugly suitcase (have we mentioned the ugly suitcase before?!) during mine and Neds epic journey last October!
We drank the very lovely bottle of champagne Grampa bought Jim for his 40th that I carted all the way to Norway in the ugly suitcase (have we mentioned the ugly suitcase before?!) during mine and Neds epic journey last October!
So it turns out the language of children's games is universal and knows no boundaries with them playing musical cups, loom bands, bracelets, stickers, endless cartwheels (oh dear god the endless cartwheels.....) and colouring and we even got to the bottom of norwegian cluedo which they had just discovered!
It is with some sadness though that I must report that the language of adults is not so universal. Whilst I always thought I was doing quite well with my Norwegian, it turns out that on occasion (many recent occasions it seems) that the reason my request for a bag at the supermarket was always greeted with amusement was in fact because I had been asking for a sausage and not a bag.....easily done. pølsen = sausage ......Posen = bag. If in doubt ask a 9 year old to explain.......oops.
