Climb every mountain

It's official...Pam has climbed her first mountain! OK so it wasn't 'that' huge but it was a mountain by Norwegian standards at least. That's what comes of getting enveigled (spelling?) with a bunch of expats who think nothing of scaling rock faces for fun....every week. This one was called Dalsnuten, down in Sandnes, and was probably a good one for me to start with, given my severe lack of fitness/stamina. It was worth it though, the views over Stavanger were amazing. Next up is Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) hopefully before the end of September.

You can tell I'm getting more and more settled, from the lack of blog posts...haven't got time! Norsk lessons are in full swing and testing my powers of memory/concentration to the limit. I do them in a 'virtual online classroom' i.e. in front of the computer with a set of headphones and a tutor on the other end of the line. The screen becomes a whiteboard and no English is spoken....eek. I can now say my name and where I come from - Orkenøyene - as well as a whole bunch of other stuff, the most useful of which is probably...jeg forstår ikke (I don't understand). That one will be trotted out a few times over the coming weeks/months!

We had a drive up the coast last Sunday, to Tungenes Lighthouse, which was decommissioned in 1984 but is now preserved as a museum. The living quarters have been made up to look like it would have in the early 70s. You realise how old you are when you're looking around and constantly saying..."Oh I remember that"!

We have our first lot of visitors coming this weekend so the resident tabby has had a stern lecture as to what is acceptable in terms of behaviour. Needless to say it hasn't worked, given that I've just been downstairs to the spare room (or the Swedish Sauna as we like to call it...I'll explain later) to de-fuzz the spare bed! Mike and Fran, if you're reading this, it's not as bad as it sounds...honest! This is Mulder's way of making you feel welcome...I think. Brings to mind when we lived in Banchory-Devenick and his partner-in-crime Scully (RIP) would leave a dead mouse under the spare bed for unsuspecting visitors. We think it was her version of the horse's head in the bed...watching too much Godfather.

And on that note, I'll leave you with a couple of fab photos that Mike took last week. This is sunset over a place called Florø, which is north of here and is where he flies from to get to the Gjøa Field.

Takk for lesing.
Hade!