That a-ha Article

First of all, please let me say a big thank you to all the 6000 miles… readers who took the time to send me that BBC article about a-ha’s role in popularising electric vehicles in Norway. It’s this sort of reader engagement that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, and I really am very grateful.

I’m also clearly sending out some very specific vibes on here though, because I received links to this article no fewer than eleven times, on three different platforms, and from four different continents, all within a couple of hours of it being published.

Amazing.

Had I heard this story before? Well, yes, but only recently: in this thread on twitter early last year.

And yes, seemingly because of the efforts of Morten et al., it seems that Norway – who made all their money from invading Scotland in the 9th Century dirty oil – are now well ahead of the curve when it comes to electric cars:

In the first half of 2022, 78% of new car sales in Norway were pure electric.
The country intends to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025 which is five years ahead of the UK.

and:

Add to that the fact that almost 99% of Norway’s electricity comes from renewable sources (and that climate change will make it wetter and windier there, ironically meaning more opportunities for hydroelectric and wind power), and it’s actually a very green picture for a nation which exported 114million cubic metres of oil in 2022 (and will increase that by 15% next year).

Merely moving climate change elsewhere won’t help anyone. Except apparently, as noted above, Norway.

But I suppose that I’m being a little cynical. This isn’t really greenwashing: Norway is actually giving other nations a great example to follow when it comes to electric vehicles.

And it was all thanks to a-ha.

[Did you manage to get the “The Sun Always Shines On EV” pun in? – Ed.]

Day 613 – Escape to Norway

Except, you can’t, obviously. Because we’re not allowed to go there, just like we’re not allowed to go to Oman or Guatemala or… er… Angola or Rwanda. They’re so obviously racist.

#awkward

Anyway, I went to Mauritius in 2016, but we can’t go to there either, so I’ve been reliving another 2016 trip: Norway. And I’ve mostly been doing it by chilling out in my office chair while taking a train from Bergen to Flåm (via Myrdal, obviously).

Like this:

Bang it up to 4K, sit back and let someone else do the driving.

It’s actually quite accurate for the live weather today as it leaves Bergen: cold and grey. And I know that because I had a wander onto the live webcam overlooking the city this morning. Sadly, as I write, it being winter and Bergen being quite far Norf, it’s already going dark there.

All the little lights. Very pretty. Decent vaccination numbers too.

Day 40 – 4 years ago

It was a different world.

We were travelling to Norway on this day 4 years ago. Overnight flights being the vehicle of choice, we arrived tomorrow.

It was an amazing three days. And one day – some way, somehow – we will go back.

It’s unlikely to be today though. And so these photos will have to serve as a gorgeous reminder of those halcyon times.
Please click through and live vicariously through 2016 me.

Windows 10 Norway Lock Screen Image

Most of the images that Windows 10 users get to see when logging in are fairly average, IMHO. Generic stock photos which are pretty, but nothing more. And then there’s that one of the alpine lake which is quite spectacular, but the ‘tog has left his or her rucksack in the foreground. Doh!

It’s the sort of rookie error I am brilliant at making. And that’s why I don’t get my shots selected for Windows 10 lock screens. It’s also why whomever took that alpine lake one should have been overlooked as well.

But I digress. Often.

I did like this one that popped up today though:

Yeah, it’s the Norway connection again.

I mean, we can all tell where this is, but I had to ask Google to find out exactly where it is. And that place are:

Flatanger, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, Europe.

It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lauvsnes. Other villages include Jøssund, Hasvåg, and Vik.

There’s it.

If you want to steal save any of the images you find on your Windows 10 lock screen, there’s good news in that they are all already on your computer. They’re just very well hidden. There’s a good page here detailing the method to find and extract them.

Knock yourselves out.

Mads For It

Via Nigel Danson in the blogroll, please find herewith attached a link to the Instagram account of one Mads Peter Iversen.

Here is the link. And here are a couple of his photos.

An award-winning Danish landscape photographer, he specialises in Aurora Borealis shots and other wonderful Scandi things.

I’m now following him. You should too.