“So, what did you get up to on your week away, then?”
“Oh, just ate some whale, watched the last ever concert of a band I’ve been following for 31 years, and placed a known mass of freshly picked rhubarb into swing bin liners.
It’s been great.”
Just wow
Despite having unlimited internet here in the UK, I don’t have unlimited time. That time will probably be better spent doing things other than uploading photos onto Flickr (and than blogging, actually), but that doesn’t mean that you will be forsaken – I have chucked a few pics up there already, and I will continue to write blog posts. Sorry about that.
Norway was amazing, incredible.
I’m lucky enough to live in one of the most dramatically beautiful countries on the planet. This last weekend, I was lucky enough to visit another. Living in Cape Town often gives one a false level of expectation when it comes to seeing other places. There’s not really much that can match it, but the west of Norway did just that. And, dare I say it, possibly more.
If our rail journey from Bergen to Myrdal was breathtaking, then the trip from there to Flåm would have to be described as asphyxiating, and the near six hour fastcraft journey through the fjords back to Bergen would have left us long dead through suffocation.
Sight after utterly incredible sight left us (to continue the pulmonary theme) literally gasping.
There are, as you might expect, several hundred images to wade through, to select the best and discard the rest. And as I said, I’m not doing that just yet. But if there was one image that summed up our visit to Norway better than any other I took, it would be this one. The falu red cottages, built almost into the rocks, the glassy, icy waters of the fjords and – for us at least – the blue sky.
I desperately want to go back, but equally, I desperately don’t: there’s simply no way that a return visit could ever be so perfect.
Could it?
Goodbye Norway
I’m flying back to the UK today.
I hope it’s been an amazing trip.
(I’m writing this in Cape Town last week.)
At this point, a quote from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy seems appropriate:
“Pity,” said Slartibartfast, “that was one of mine. Won an award you know. Lovely crinkly edges. I was most upset to hear about its destruction.”
Destruction? I promise to leave Norway in exactly the state I found it.
Expect some photos coming when I am safely ensconced at my next destination.
Oh, and (the final) tenuous a-ha link: I’m “left without a reason to stay”, as per their 2010 hit Butterfly, Butterfly.
Burn The Witch
Trumpton and Camberwick Green vibes for Radiohead’s latest, dark offering.
I watched this several times, loving the sinister events apparently passed off as normal by the town official.
Some stark messages for the modern society there, with lines like:
Loose talk around tables
Abandon all reason
Avoid all eye contact
Do not react
Shoot the messenger
Blimey. It’s serious stuff.
Tenuous a-ha link: This chilling video and messages in the song frightened The Living Daylights out of me?
Concert Day!
Disclaimer: I’ve been caught out with this sort of post before.
Here’s an alternative version of Cast In Steel, featuring footage and images for the tour’s South American leg last year.
a-ha are due on stage just after 10pm local time at the Bergenhus Festning this evening.
Vi gleder oss!
Tenuous a-ha link: er…