A Farewell to Beamish (part two)
Friday. The first of a million nights in. The start of winter in Oslo; minus one degree according to the thermometer hanging outside my window. Grieg's opus 57 on the record player. Potatoes on the boil. A text message comes through on the telephonic device. Per Gisle: Guess what I am drinking? Beamish... found two cans at Majorstua. Mm. Barry: Were they the last 2? I would have bought the lot Per Gisle: Only two. Last two in Norway? Barry: I would guess so. I left a Beamish glass in Brugata for you Per Gisle: Yes thanks. I am holding it in my left hand Barry: I must broadcast this event on the internet. Have you anything to say to the millions of Beamish fans out there? Per Gisle: Beamish makes me wanna drink! Why is this important, you wonder? Read part one. Who is this man, you ponder? Per...
A Farewell to Beamish
About a year ago, when it became inevitable that I would take a larger role in running our bar business, I decided I might as well make this life liveable by ordering in the drink that I would be drinking at home in Ireland, i.e. stout. As stout on tap wasn't an option, draught Beamish in can, brewed in Ireland, was a nice and easy alternative (forget Guinness: the stuff you get is brewed here in Norway, like, what's the point?). But now Beamish is no longer being imported, and we can't get it. Obviously the importer wasn't making a huge economic yield from Beamish. But it seems surprising that in Norway, the second richest country in the world per capita, you can't get the drink you want! Surely if there's more spending money, the diversity of available products should increase, and only inferior goods should disappear from the market?...
GNP versus Life Expectancy
Gross national product (GNP) per capita, to use the Wikipedia definition, "is the dollar value of a country's final output of goods and services in a year, divided by its population. It reflects the average income of a country's citizens." Lets see how Norway's doing compared to other countries in GNP, and see how that compares to a list of countries by life expectancy. If we look at a list of countries by GNP per capita we see that Luxembourg comes first ($56,900), and Norway is second ($41,900). The USA comes third ($41,500) and my obviously wealthy land of origin, the Republic of Ireland ($40,000) comes fourth. I've also lived in the UK, which only scrapes into the charts at #16 ($30,300). Friends of mine in various countries abroad will be interested to see where they slot in: Iceland is 5th, Canada 8th, Japan 12th, Australia 13th... sorry but it...
Hanna er savnet (Hanna is missing) (updated)
This came by email last night; I've been asked to spread this. It's a missing girl in Norway, and many Norwegians read "North" (I know). Her name is Hanna. Click the picture for a larger image. The text below is as I received it; there's also a photo of her tattoo. (5 Nov: This story has been updated). VÅR KJÆRE DATTER, HANNA ELIASSEN RAMSENG, HAR VÆRT SAVNET SIDEN TORSDAG 13 SEPT. HANNA ER 167 CM HØY, SLANK, LYS I HUDEN, HAR HALVLANGT LYSBLEKET HÅR, MEN KAN HA FARGET HÅRET ELLER KLIPT SEG. PÅ INNSIDEN AV HØYRE HÅNDLEDD HAR HUN EN TATOVERING. HANNA ER EI BLID, POSITIV OG FLOTT JENTE SOM ER STERKT SAVNET AV FORELDRE, SØSKEN, VENNER OG ØVRIGE FAMILIE HAR DU SETT HANNA, RING ASTRID PÅ TLF 99 03 61 84 JAN HÅKON PÅ TLF 45 20 57 94 Update: According to ba-avis.no on 21 September, Hanna was found...
Norwegian Lesson
In order to improve my Norwegian, I've been translating some common English words and phrases for myself. Should you ever find yourself in Norway, you'll find these extra-handy. Norwegian readers can get in touch with me to correct any mistakes. Joy division: Glede divisjon Unknown pleasures: Ukjent fornøyelser Outside: Ute* Disorder: Uorden Day of the lords: Herrenes dag Candidate: Kandidat Insight: Innsikt New dawn fades: Nytt daggry visner Inside: Inn* She's lost control: Hun har mistet kontroll Shadowplay: Skyggelek Wilderness: Villmark Interzone: Intersone I remember nothing: Jeg husker ingen ting** *The double-meaning here is lost, i.e. they are the two sides of a record. Could innside ("inside side") or uteside ("outside side") be used? **I had to use this phrase today. Update. A Norwegian writes: Using "innside" and "utside" would be more correct in this context. "Gledesdivisjon" or "glededivisjon" in one word, even if it's not a real word. "Ingenting"...
Day of the Parasite
04.30 Wednesday morning. I turn out the light and go to sleep. 06:38am, I'm woken by a text message from my flatmate, who's away on her farm: "The news tells everybody in oslo to boil the drinking water even to teeth brush.. Fordi det er små parasitter i vannet. Regner med at du ikke hører nyheter." The Norwegian part of the message means "Because there are small parasites in the water. I figured that you didn't hear the news." Yes, of course I wouldn't be listening to the radio at that time of the morning, I was asleep! Well, well, bad news travels fast, as my father says from time to time. I made a mental note and went back to sleep. 10.25am, I'm woken by another text message, this time from an ex-flatmate, who we'll call The Elk: "Parasitt oppdaget i drikkevannet i Oslo i natt. Kok i 3...
The Hashish War
Oslo, 12.45 am. I've just done a quick check on the street corner. Nothing. Usually there would be a bunch of Somali guys selling hash around here, mere feet from the door to my yard. But as you can see from Østkantaivsa of 11 October, Hasjkrigen, "the hash war" is going down. In the picture the cops are arresting someone. In Oslo, hash is sold quite openly along a route that begins at Grønland T-Bane (tube, subway) station, goes along the river and ends at the street corners of the bottom of Grünerløkka, right where I live. In the first couple of weeks of October the fuzz have arrested over 80 people in their latest clampdown. Elsewhere in the rag a journalist reports from the front line, accompanying undercover heat along the river. There's an amusing episode in which two young girl buyers give them the slip, and the officer...
Oslo Politics
Last month there was a local election in Oslo, and it's amazing how the traditional left-right divide remains so pronounced. Judge for yourself whether you think this is extreme or not. Here is a list of some of the things the left-wing parties were FOR and the right-wing parties were AGAINST: Building more car parks to prevent the increase of traffic in the city centre; continuing to allow library books to be lent for free; continuing to allow school bands to practise at school for free; keeping the Munch Museum at its current location; offering full-time positions to the 5,000 part-time workers in welfare services for the elderly; giving free security alarms to the elderly; establishing a crime-prevention team in every district; preventing the sale of more council housing; tighter control on alcohol licensing hours and on the granting of serving licenses; and preventing the privatization of water, care homes,...
Confusion over the Kjeller Incident
On 12 September, the environmental organization Bellona reported on their website that "The Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) experienced a leak on Saturday in a pump used in conjunction with the recombination circuit at the Kjeller reactor outside of Oslo, resulting in a small release of radioactivity into the environment for about 15 minutes, IFE officials acknowledged over the weekend." When an English friend told me about this, I was very confused. "But Norway doesn't have any nuclear power stations," I said. "It's all hydro-electricity here." He then pointed out that there was a large golfball-like object outside the city, and it was from there that the radioactivity was released! I looked up Norway's nuclear energy policy on Wikipedia, where it stated clearly that no nuclear plant has ever been established in Norway. Then on 22 September there was a story on norwaypost.no, reporting that "Plans have been presented...
North FAQ?
Random picture of me: singing with Dacianos in June 2007. Click for a larger one (a new feature added by popular demand from North readers). One reader emailed me this list of questions, adding that "What I was thinking was that if you kept a list of some of the more interesting and humorous questions and answers from people (not just me) you could put them on your site for all to read. This would also save people asking you the same questions over and over again." While I might construct a Frequently Asked Questions page, most of the emails I receive are along the lines of "Am 31 years a Ghanaian based in Italy looking for Norway woman for a serious relationship that i hope to get to marriage" or, occasionally, "Hello, I am a vampire!" So I'll answer these new questions as a blog entry for now. How...