2geonomads

Monday 16th June 2014.

Erik has already set off on his bike ride to his office by the time we appear for a very leisurely breakfast.  Blue skies once again so while Erik is keeping the wheels of the Norwegian industry moving we have decided to make the most of this glorious weather and drive out to a nearby lake, Semsvannet, for a short walk. We pick up Bobben and Annie and after a short drive arrive in a beautiful rural setting from where we set off around the lake. Bobben is in very fine form today and he really steps it out on what becomes a fairly lengthy hike. In fact Bobben sets the pace for much of the time and on a couple of occasions rejects suggestions that we should turn back to the car park area.

Annie Bobben Torill

The Crown Prince of Norway resides in this area so it’s good to be able to rub shoulders with royalty, albeit at a distance!

We eventually make our way back to the cafe at the start of the walk and Bobben kindly treats us all to coffee and VERY filling waffles.

A dinner is planned at Bobben’s for that evening so we drop Bobben and Annie off at his house  and get back to E and T’s just in time to see Erik arrive back from work earlier than usual. Obviously, the wheels of industry in Norway are not as dependant on Erik Haug Hansen as we thought!

Bobben is providing the venue for the BBQ/ dinner but Erik and his younger brother Tore are actually preparing the meal. Erik, therefore, walks down to Bobben’s ahead of Torill, Gail and myself to start the ball rolling.

When we join the party we catch up with young Tore and Espen, Bobben’s middle son, who had worked at Ladybird for a time when I was working there. It’s good to meet up with them again,reminisce over the old times, and to meet Espen’s Brazilian fiancée, Janie. Unfortunately, Tore’s wife, Annelene, couldn’t be with us on this occasion. However, Niklas does arrive and acts as resident photographer, taking snaps of all of the oldies for posterity. The only grandchild missing is Sunniva, Erik and Torill’s daughter who is studying veterinary science in Budapest. However, we had been able to have quick chat with her  on Skype the previous evening.

Janie, Espen, Annie, Bobben, Tore, David,Torill, Eric

What follows is yet another fantastic meal, with Tore putting his special stamp on the many of the dishes and this memorable family get-together is in some ways for Gail and myself a fairly emotional reminder of the many wonderful meals we have enjoyed with Bobben and his very special family out on the patio overlooking the garden during our long friendship.

Gail and I stay for a short chat with Bobben and Annie after everyone else has left and then say our farewells to this lovely couple.

Erik definitely getting to bed early as I think The Obese Ferret has worn out this hard-working fellow by his late night chatter. Apart from anything else G and I have to leave early next day for the train to Oslo airport.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Sunday 15th June 2014.

After encountering some fairly ordinary weather during our stay in Europe, Scandinavia is really coming up trumps and we awake to a glorious day. To make the most of this opportunity Erik has kindly arranged for us all to go out on his boat for the day. Apparently, Norway has the highest per capita boat ownership in the world so we don’t expect to be on our own out in the Oslo Fjord.

Erik  has a lovely Nordkapp boat moored a short drive away from their home and our party of six ( Erik, Torill,  Bobben, Annie, Gail and myself ) sets off mid- morning with the temperature in the mid-20 ‘s.

Spots where we can anchor the boat and clamber onto one of the many rocky islands in the fjord are not surprisingly in short supply but we do eventually manage to disembark and set ourselves up for an afternoon picnic. Erik heads off to pick up their eldest son Henrik, who had previously studied at university in Perth ( film and media studies ) while we just lounge around enjoying the sun and this idyllic location. On his return Erik donned a wetsuit and collected a an impressive quantity of mussels from the shallow waters off the rocks.

As we returned to the marina  a veritable armada of boats, of all shapes and sizes, was making its way through the many channels and clearly for many boaties it was more important to be seen rather than merely enjoy this pristine environment. We did come across Erik and Torill’s younger son, Niklas, on a boat with a group of mates and they certainly didn’t fit into the ‘ be seen ‘ category!

After a fairly tiring afternoon for Bobben and Annie they returned to Bobben’s house for some rest before once more gathering at E and T’s house for yet another superb BBQ on the outdoors deck. Niklas also arrived with his girlfriend Silje whom he had met when they were both studying in Edinburgh.

The Hansen family Toril, Annie,Bobbin,David, Eric

Previously collected mussels, cooked in wine, garlic and herbs, went down a treat, as a entree to the sumptuous feast.

Needless to say a good time was had by all and it capped off a memorable day with the Hansens.

Erik and I  don’t  talk as far into the night on this occasion as he has to go to work the next day while we layabouts continue to live a life of leisure.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Saturday 14th June 2014

As we have a long north ahead of us we take a very early breakfast at Villa Helena and we are on our way soon after 9.00 am.

Sake , Britt-Marie , Sven and Anna have all treated us royally during our short stay and once again we have been able to catch with our good friends without missing a beat after a number of years.

With a bit of prompting from Britt-Marie we have told Sake that we will come back in 3 years time for his 70th birthday and the opening of the exciting extensions to his summer house.

The beautiful scenery of Bohuslan makes for a very pleasant drive north and we stop of at the Vitlycke Museum which tells the story of the many petroglyphs to be found in the area. Our visit here coincides with the arrival of a rally and a very long procession of Corvette Stingrays in superb condition. Sake does toy with the idea of trying to slip into the parade but decides that discretion is the better part of valour!

We had originally planned to take the bus and train on this part of our trip but Sake , in a much appreciated gesture, is driving us everywhere, including up to Oslo. On the way we take a detour to the delightful coastal town of Drobak in Southern Norway to meet up with Marianne , Sake’s older sister. I have not seen Marianne for a very long time and it ‘s lovely to catch up with her. She is looking very well and is the image of her late Mum, Siv.

We take a pre-lunch walk around the town, which is staging a choir festival this weekend, and then enjoy a great seafood lunch overlooking the bay. Coffee and a scrumptious sponge cake at Marianne’s flat which affords us a wonderful view over the water round off our visit to Drobak.

Sake and BM are returning to overnight at Marianne’s but we say our fond farewells with the hope that it will not be another 40 years before we  meet up again ( we will both be 11o!)

Hans Ake

Marianne, Britt-Marie, David

Sake decides to take the route along the western side of the Oslo fjord to reach Billingstad which is itself a superb west of the city. The decision is spot on as the scenery makes for a far more pleasant drive than the one through the centre of Oslo.

Using Gail’s TomTom we duly arrive at the home of Erik and Toril Hansen, the son and daughter-in law of Bobben Hansen, my very long-term friend from my Ladybird Childrenswear days?

Another fond farewell ( we seem to be making a habit of this) to Sake and Britt-Marie who have gone out of their way to make our days with them all that we could wish for and much more. One of these days we must get them out to Aus.

We settle into our room in Erik and Toril’s  lovely home and  just before dinner out on their patio Bobben and his partner Annie arrive from Bobben’s home just down the road. My old mate has had a pretty rough time over the past couple of years health-wise  ( he is now 81 ) but some fantastic support from his family and Annie ( at 85 she is truly amazing)  has helped him recover in part from his mild stroke of a couple of years ago. More on Bobben later.

The Hansen family Toril, Annie,Bobben,David, Eric

After a long day I probably sit up too late chatting to Erik, in particular, but we do have 6 years to catch up on.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Friday 13th June 2014

Sake has, in his meticulous way, planned a route for us to take so that we can really gain an appreciation of the archipelago , especially the town of Marstrand and the rest of Orust itself.

Marstrand is located on the west coast midway between Gothenburg and Orust and overlooks the stretch of water known as Skagerrak. We take a stroll through the town centre and pay a short visit to the fortress above the town, before enjoying a fine open air lunch on the waterfront. During the afternoon we head back north and visit the small community of Mollosund on the south-western tip of Orust. Sake then gives us a real Cooks Tour of Orust which is a revelation with its rolling hills and a far greater variety of scenery than we had anticipated. In contrast to Vrango where we saw more conventional houses ,dwellings on Orust are far more rustic and apart from the main town of Henan the island seems to have fewer built-up areas.

A full but highly enjoyable day ends when Sven and Anna host a very impressive dinner in their guest house.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Thursday 12th June 2014

Nothing really planned for the morning other than to pack our suitcases and prepare for the next leg of our trip north of Gothenburg. Stefan has a deadline to meet for some  articles on the Soccer World Cup for the Swedish Football Federation website so he starts to give some thought as what gems of wisdom he will be able to come up with. He has always had a remarkable ability to work under the pressure of such deadlines and today he shows his usual unhurried , calm approach to the job at hand.

We have had a ball with Stefan over the past three days and he has been the perfect host. Hopefully, we will be able to reciprocate when he and Marianne come to Aus in the future.

Noon sees the arrival at Stefan’s of another old friend from the 1960’s in Gothenburg, Hans-Ake Fridh who will take us up to the island of Orust, north of Gothenburg.Hans-Ake and I first met in a cafe called Rosengrens in 1967 and I became good friends with him and his family. In 1968 we had taken a trip to Norway in my old VW  Beetle, during which I managed to reverse into a tree and tear off the rear mudguard. This was re-attached  using a combination of wire and string so we did eventually get the old car back home to Gothenburg. Sadly the vehicle met its demise some weeks later in the centre of the city when it came to a halt. A local policeman who was obviously more  auto- savvy than me checked things out and told me that it had no oil in it and the engine had gone to meet its maker. No surprise really  as I had never even considered that the car might need oil.

Sake and I have kept in contact over the years and we’re glad to have the opportunity to visit him and his partner Britt-Marie at his Orust summer house.

We take a leisurely drive to  Slussen in the north-east region of Orust , which is one of the many beautiful islands in this picturesque archipelago.

Sake has plans to substantially increase the size of his summer house over the next couple of years but at this stage it cannot accommodate a couple of guests. However, Sake has arranged with his friends Sven and Anna Lundström for us to stay in their guesthouse Villa Helena just down the road.

Sven and Anna had been to Australia a few years ago and they had stayed with us in Melbourne. They had also parked their campervan on the farm belonging to Chip , Gail’s brother in Busselton. Since that time Sven has been ill but he is now on the road to recovery, albeit at a slower pace than this very active fellow would probably like to see.

Villa Helena is a very well-appointed B&B and we are given a very comfortable room for our 2 night stay.

Sake’s house is in a delightful location and once the planned extensions take place he and Britt-Marie will have a superb, away-from-it-all property.

Just to acquaint ourselves a bit with this part of Orust we take a short walk down to to the  jetty looking out over the stretch of a water separating Orust from the  mainland.

Sake and BM serve up a lovely meal in his house and we are joined by Sven and Anna to round off a very enjoyable day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Wednesday 11th June 2014

A nice relaxed start to the day and under very sunny skies we take a ferry from the jetty near Stefan’s apartment to downtown Gothenburg.  A snack lunch is taken at a restaurant on the waterfront and in my rush to tell Gail that the shrimp platter will be too filling for her I end up giving this assertive advice to an elderly lady who has somehow taken Gail’s place in the queue behind me. Either my eyes are getting worse or I have finally accepted that my chat-up line will now only work with octogenarians!

As we have avoided buying gifts in light of the relatively low baggage allowance on Air Berlin we have set aside some time to do some shopping and for the first time on this trip my titanium knee sets off the security alarm in the Ahlens Dept. Store. This brings a security guy coming coming over to check me out. I then get Gail to take my day pack off me so as to prove that it is, indeed the knee that is causing the problem. On subsequent visits to the store the same thing happens but security guard relaxes when Gail explains to him that I am doing it intentionally as I am an attention-seeker.

Stefan and I leave Gail on her own for about 45 minutes to do some solo shopping as we are both ‘target shoppers’ and, therefore, a pain in the proverbial to Mrs I. We use this time to walk up the main Kungssportsavenyn and revisit some of the places I recall from my days in Gothenburg in the 60’s. Stefan has definitely carved out a very successful career for himself in sports journalism and he seems to greet any number of well-known identities as we take our stroll.

Stefan apartment overlooking Gota River

The evening has been set aside for inner at an Italian restaurant in Eriksberg , near to Stefan’s with two good friends from my football playing days in Gothenburg, Eddie Dahlberg and Rolf Johansson. A very enjoyable meal is followed by a chat over coffee back at Stefan’s with Gail having to listen to a stream of no doubt highly inaccurate  reminiscences on our sterling football careers

Obese Ferret,Stefan,Rolf

Stefan lives very close to Rolf and seems to call on the poor fellow when any practical work or repairs need to be carried out in flat of Mr Thylin, whose ineptitude in such matters makes me look like a professional handyman.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.