Gin Tonic

I hereby declare that my body (especially my liver) will be a gin tonic-free zone for the next six days! And besides the beer on Friday, a beer-free zone as well! The exams are approaching, and I have no time to lose! (and for some funny reason, the day afters seems to be less productive..) Yesterday evening we had the class Christmas party, and it was really fun! I really like the concept of students and teachers socializing, good to know them a little better. Had a chat with one of the teachers about Arsenal and Man Utd. I think the conclusion was that we really don't agree at all. But of course, Man Utd is the best team...

Other news: No job for me in Haugesund that I'm a potential candidate for at the moment, but I'll be back! Future employers, be aware! Also, the Vard Haugesund and FK Haugesund cooperation talks are closely followed here from London. And the 273 million NOK stadium (!) project is also a subject for my curiousity! Sounds a bit much, but hey! Maybe I'll become a "rich uncle" sometime in the future.



The suggestion from the architects. You see "old" Haugesund Stadium closest.

I'll go down to Harald's flat shortly, to make some dinner and eventually eat it as well. So take care, all! And Ragnvald, remember: If the snow seems do go away, make a couple of snowballs and put them in the freezer!

A terrific weekend!

This weekend, Trond, Odd, Roald and Håkon (in descending age order...) came to London for their annual football trip to London. I was lucky enough to roam the streets of London with them almost all weekend. On Thursday we had some drinks and a pleasant meal in a small restaurant in Shepherd's Market before we moved on to a Mexican-Polish (!) bar in the same area. After that, the young and promising continued the journey to Piccadilly Circus and the bar / night club Cheers, while the not so young but still promising ended the evening with a night cap in the apartment in Mayfair. A good night indeed!
The day after, on Friday, we went to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane to see the hilarious musical "The Producers" by the genious Mel Brooks.



The plot is in short about a Broadway producer who, with help from an insecure accountant, discovers that a musical can actually give him more money as a flop. What they only need is the worst play ever written, the worst actor and the worst director. And believe me, they find it... I won't reveal any more, but the name of the play they find is "Springtime for Hitler"...
On Saturday I spent most of the day doing a bit reading and doing the laundry, while the guys saw Arsenal beat Blackburn 3-0, undeserved... But I think the food was good. Later in the evening we had some drinks and then off to Neverland again, preparing ourselves for the biggest moment in my football watching history: To see Manchester United live. And I don't think I could have found a better match to do that. Roald, Håkon and I had seats in the away supporter's section on Upton Park, the home ground of London team West Ham United. Trond and Odd had "borrowed" some season tickets, and discovered to their disappointment tat they had been ripped off, and that someone else had entered the ground with the same tickets. Well, at least they got good seats in a bar near Soho, and good seats on the tube on their way back...
Back to our position in the away section. I'll give two good reasons why that was so brilliant:

1) The Man Utd supporters there were mainly Die Hard supporters, those who sing the most and spend all their money travelling to away games.

2) The atmosphere was really special because it was a ceremony honouring the late George Best, one of the greatest attackers of all time, who passed away on Friday. I'll get back to how great he was in another post.



The game itself looked pretty bad, considering the goal West Ham scored after merely 50 seconds. Terrible defending and a good counter attack by West Ham. The Man Utd players really tested the ex-Man Utd goalkeeper Roy Carroll (as Håkon put it: "Typical... His first brilliant performance in a Man Utd game, and it's against us...") but no more goals were scored in the first half.
In the second half the game turned in Man Utd's favour during the first twenty minutes, when Wayne Rooney and then John O'Shea scored one each. It might be a bit early to compare Rooney with Best now already, but he was still magnificent. Ruud van Nistelrooy had a brilliant chip that hit the bar, a stunning performance. All in all a great match to see. And all the goals were scored right in front of us as well!



Today is monday, and I can feel that the weekend has been busy. The exams are approaching quickly, and there's still a decent amount of knowledge that has to be hammered into my head over the next two weeks. And then comes Christmas with the delicious food, seeing family, meeting friends and in general have a great time. In addition I'll have to read for the January exams. So sleep is a luxury I cannot afford in the next month... All in all I have a great time here in London, but I look forward to returning.

Sports Cafe... SCUK or SUCK?

Sports Cafe UK, or SCUK as they like to call themselves, disappointed us AGAIN on Wednesday. The occasion was Norway's away game in the second leg of the World Cup Play Off, against the Czech Republic. Last time the bar let us down was when Rosenborg played against Real Madrid at Lerkendal. We called the place to check that they would show the game. But did they? No... The only channel they had that showed parts of the game was some Arab station that switched between four different matches, constantly. That was really crap, and I was there with one Real Madrid supporter (Robert) and one Rosenborg supporter (Harald).
This time, they also claimed that they would show the match. And they did, if you call showing the second half 50/50 with the Slovakia-Spain match. And the most annoying part was that other matches shown were Wales-Cyprus (!), Ivory Coast-Italy(!!) and not to mention some minutes of a Lorenzo Lamas film(!!!!). Of course these were all more interesting than a Play Off match where the outcome still was unclear (Hey, I'm Norwegian, I have to say that!)... And the Slovakia-Spain match. Such tension! Spain won the first leg 4-0, and Slovakia was barely on Spain's side of the pitch in the entire first half. Well there's excitement! I think the Sports Cafe is a terrific palce to go to see Champions League matches and England games, but this was really disappointing. I'll use this opportunity to congratulate Czech Republic. Well, I guess it was deserved over two matches.
Now to something completely different! This weekend I'm going back to Haugesund. Kjersti and Asbjørn are both reaching their 25th birtday, so the 50th anniversary is to be thoroughly celebrated! I really look forward to see Elisabeth again, along with all my friends. The weekend will without a shadow of a doubt be great!
I'll celebrate for Australia and Trinidad & Tobago as well the weekend. At least SOME B-nations in football made it...

Happy birthday, Harald!

Harald, one of the Norwegian bunch in my class, is 24 years old (or young) today. This soon to be energy trader has become a good friend, and one of my presents to him is that I will grant his lifelong wish to get his 15 minutes of fame. So here he is:



One of his great achievements this autumn was when he went straight from nachspiel to play in a football tournament. Despite the fact he's in the Energy, Trade & Finance class he played for the Shipping class. And even though he had problems kicking the ball in the first game, he actually scored some goals and the Shipping team ended up winning the tournament! I think this is all part of his luck though, and I look forward to my shoulder recovering so I can squish him in squash!
We had a great time yesterday, when we celebrated his birthday. The celebration started a bit slow, with Norway being embarassed against the Czech Republic. Although the game ended 1-0 to the Czechs, the Norwegian team played so bad it was terrible to watch. I've never been to the Seamen's Church in London (or in any other city for that matter) before, it was nice. After the game we went to Maxwell's near Covent Garden to eat and celebrate. A couple of hours later we ended up at the Garden Club 50 metres away, also a nice place. All in all it was a good evening! So once again, happy birthday!

Only in Sweden...

Today, a suspicious looking man walked towards an airplane at the airport in the Swedish city Karlstad. The man wore a uniform, and carried 2 suitcases. A nervous person phoned the police, explaining the situation, and the whole airport was evacuated...
You may now wonder what REALLY happened. Did the airport explode? Was it David Duchovny in a new X-files episode? Is this the start of 24 season 4? Not at all! The suspicious looking man was a pilot, going to work...



"But I work here!"

It's raining cats and dogs!

The origin of this expression is somewhat dodgy. One possible explanation is that in 17th century Britain, after a cloudburst the gutters would overflow with a filthy torrent that included dead animals. Another explanation is that the expression is derived from mythology where witches, in the shape of cats, rode with the wind, and that the Norse god Odin controlled the rain (through his dogs). My favourite though, is that Johnathan Swift wrote the sentence “I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs” in the book "Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation" in 1738.



Cover of the New Yorker

Well, enough of this... The reason for me bringing up this topic is that it REALLY rained cats and dogs today. We had been at All Bar One in the City, having our traditional Friday beers. Robert, Harald and me decided to go to Farringdon and have a good meal at Pizza Express. (Don't let the name fool you, it's a really nice place with good food and nice interior) It was raining a light, dusky rain when we walked towards the restaurant. Suddenly, the sky just opened, and the wind changed to storm in 1.2 seconds. I've lived in rainy Haugesund practically all my life, but I have NEVER experienced anything like this. The umbrellas didn't stand a chance, and the wind made us all soaking wet in no time. Luckily Harald managed to grab a cab before we drowned...
As you might suspect, we all survived, and I'm now safe and sound in my flat. Tomorrow we're going to the Norwegian Seamen's Church to se Norway's match against the Czech Republic in one of two play off games, to decide which team will play in the World Cup next year in Germany. Harald is also celebrating his birthday tomorrow, so after the game we'll go to T.G.I. Friday's. For a while it was a dream for us to go to Prague for a week to celebrate his birthday and see the 2nd leg of the play off, but economic and curricular considerations ensured it remained a dream... After all, I'm going back to Haugesund next weekend anyway. And I'm really looking forward to it!

NRK Licence Division - you are not this bad...

I got a leaflet in my mailbox today (the snail mail mailbox). It was from the TV Licensing ENFORCEMENT Division. It was the closest I've ever been to a threat letter from a company. The logo of the firm is: "TV Licencing - Easier to pay. Harder to avoid." And the whole brochure is packed with sweet formulations like "Any evidence collected may be used in court", "They could even apply for a search warrant to investigate your property."... This is really comforting, if I include the fact that I once a month come back from the school and meet notes like "The Hall manager was in your room today" on my desk. What a sweet and heart-warming country! Feel like I'm in a boarding school of some sort...

This Saturday Harald and I ordered a pizza from St. Pauls pizza. Although it wasn't heavenly tasty, and the delivery guy didn't have wings, it was still a good meal. (Not that healthy, but who's counting calories...) This was at the same time as we saw the "Around the world in 80 days" movie, in Knut's flat. As we were sitting in their "living room", I didn't know the flat letter. Instead I gave the delivery guy my cell phone number, so he could call me when he arrived. 30 minutes later, one of the other inhabitants came into the living room, saying that a pizza was waiting in the hall reception (with a delivery guy attached to it).

I went out to pay, and was called to the reception window by a sweet young lady. Her words, that sounded like a machine gun, were: "WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE THIS MAN YOUR ROOM NUMBER??! I HAD TO CALL -ALL- THE RESIDENTS IN YOUR FLAT TO FIND YOU!!" I calmly responded that I had given my cell phone number, but hadn't received a call, therefore I couldn't see why this was my problem... Flabbergasted, she pointed at the pizza guy: "TALK TO HIM, IT'S NOT MY PIZZA!!" "But you asked me??!" I responded, a bit surprised by her sudden change of attention. To this she of course chose not to respond, and instead she focused on something in front of her that looked like a guest list or something... Must have been really interesting, because she didn't look up when I wished her a pleasant evening after I had tipped the pizza guy. My point of writing this is first of all that some people tend to believe that power is something you have to show (strangely enough even if they have no power...). I don't have an authority problem, just an idiot problem. I am yet to see a written verbal warning in oral wrapping on this one, but I haven't stopped hoping..

But enough of this path to nowhere... Back to TV Licencing! Any TV in my flat will make me liable for paying a Licence fee of £126.50. Or £42, if I choose the ultra modern black&white solution. Did I say any TV, by the way? No, that would be understandable. Any television, set-top box, video recorder, DVD recorder or computer with a broadcast card will make me a criminal offender if I don't pay the licence. Except TV-sets solely powered by its own internal BATTERIES... Of course. That makes perfect sense...
But if you think this is a braindead solution, consider this:

If you are registered blind, you are eligible for a 50% reduction in the licence fee.

50% reduction? Of course! After all a TV set can be considered a 50% watching and 50% hearing experience! I mean, the TV licencing Enforcement Division is not an unreasonable company...

They even believe in miracles!

If you're applying for a Blind Concessionary Licence for the first time, or if it has been five years since you provided proof of your entitlement, we will need to ask you for some information to confirm that you qualify.

Yes! The perentage of persons gaining vision after being blind must be huge. Good thing they "keep an eye out" for possible returners from the dark... My conclusion is probably that the Licence division in NRK is a mild and gentle one. I remember the time Licence control came to Gyldenpris. Word of mouth (and MSN) made the operation successful for about 27 seconds.

Easy!

Gimme me a challenge... No, seriously. It went very well! A lot to do, but I managed to do it in time. Hopefully I'll get a good mark.

Managerial Accounting

Today is my first exam at Cass Business School. Subject: Managerial Accounting. It will last from 9 to 12, and my guess is that it won't be too difficult. Usually I'm quite stressed up about those exams. Some people believe that's a bad thing, and maybe it is for some. For me, though, it's just makes me more focused on the task. So stress is positive up to a certain level!
The exam will mainly focus on several ratios to interpret a company report, along with making a cash flow statement (probably). I've done it so many times now, I'm on auto pilot. And I have also seen a previous exam answer, which in my opinion was too generously rewarded...
The final conclusion this morning must therefore be that I am putting more pressure on myself by writing here that the exam will be easy.. It will be interesting to see if it makes me more focused! Have a nice day!

Darren Fletcher: THANK YOU!

Darren Fletcher celebrates the only goal in the match

Finally the Manchester United squad understood that the only way to play football is to have the heart on the OUTSIDE of the shirts! After a brillinat first half, United was ahead one-nil against a Chelsea squad that seemed to have met their match... I was on the other hand quite nervous, as Chelsea in game after game has returned in the second half and played brilliant, attacking football. But the Man U players fought like lions and ended Chelsea's impressive 40 game streak of games not lost in the Premiership. But after all, that is also what happened in 2004 with Arsenal.. Maybe Old Trafford again is to be considered a fortress, feared by opposition squads? I really hope so!

For my English readers: Sorry

This post will be in Norwegian from... Now.

Maria har etter en artikkel i Spirit om Norges 100 beste låter laget sin egen topp 10-liste. Hun oppfordrer samtidig andre bloggere til å gjøre det samme, så det skal jeg herved prøve på. Før jeg starter vil jeg imidlertid få påpeke at listen til Spirit har STORE huller og jeg har tatt meg den frihet å gå litt utenfor den T-merkede stien. Disse låtene er umulig å rangere, så jeg vil i likhet med Maria ikke rangere dem innbyrdes (bra idé, Maria!)

BigBang – ”Long Distance Man“ (1999)
Jeg digger Big Bang, og har alle platene deres. Wild Bird og Girl in Oslo sto på lista til Spirit, men min personlige favoritt er likevel denne. Greni og kompani har skjønt det!

Kåre & The Cavemen – ”Rubber City Revolution“ (1999)
Kåre Joao Pedersen (beklager, jeg VET at jeg ikke har helt oversikt over tødler og sånt her...) og hans hulegutter har laget en skikkelig feelgood låt her. Knut Schreiner på gitar er som vanlig KONGE. Jeg kunne valgt omtrent hvilken som helst låt fra Jet Age...

Jokke & Valentinerne – ”Narkoman“ (2002)
Joachim Nielsen var vår tids største rockpoet. Hverdagsbetraktninger og et skakt syn på livet, samt fantastiske tekster og primitiv rock gjør at Jokke lett får en plass på lista mi. Denne låten ble innspilt mens Jokke var i heroinrus, og det høres. Det er så hjerteskjærende å høre ham beskrive hvordan livet er som narkoman. RIP, Jokke. Hils Eddie!

Turboneger – ”The Age Of Pamparius“ (1997)
Tidenes beste introlåt fra kanskje tidenes beste norske album. Hvis jeg en gang drar en Abramovitsj og kjøper et fotball-lag, skal spillerne springe ut på banen til denne låten. I mellomtiden slenger jeg den i CD-spilleren og kjenner det kribler etterhvert som låten bygger seg opp. Fantastisk!

Dumdum Boys – ”Splitter pine” (1989)
Trønderrock på sitt beste, med denne klassiske låten. Prebble Houmb gir gass, og Mr. Kristiansen klemmer ut et av Norges mest kjente gitarriff. Splitter Piiine...

Gluecifer – ”The year of manly living” (2002)
"This is the year of manly living.." Krutt i denne også. Veldig bra kjøremusikk, ihvertfall hvis du skal kjøre fort. Biff Malibu, måtte reunionkonsertene aldri stoppe!

Kaizers Orchestra – ”Ompa til du dør” (2001)
Kaizers fortjener en plass på lista mi for innovativ holdning. De (til nå) tre albumene deres er som et parallelt univers, og den røde tråden på hver plate er ganske unik. "Det kan bli varmt der nede, det kan bli varmt der nede, Svein! Det kan bli Jææævlig varmt der nede". Og med Sjøen på kontrabass (plate 1 0g 2) så er også et lokalt innslag ordnet!

Madrugada – “Beautyproof” (1999)
Madrugada er en bauta i norsk rock. De siste utgivelsene har høstet strålende kritikker, og det siste albumet har åpnet veien til det VIRKELIG store publikummet. Jeg mener allikevel at Industrial Silence er deres beste plate. En sekser blant femmere. Sivert Høyem er en av få mannlige vokalister som kan få en bryggesjauer til å gråte (Paal Flaata og Pål Angeskår er to andre), og Robert Burås på gitar kommer jeg aldri til å glemme når han A) satt oppå høyttaleren på Flytten oppe under taket og slengte riff rundt seg) og B) sparket etter forsterkeren på den store (oransje) scene på Roskilde i 2001 under Madrugadas kanskje dårligste konsert (ifølge dem selv).

Pogo Pops – “The great fall” (1992)
At Frank Hammerslands popgeni ikke er representert på Spirits liste er kanskje det største hullet i lista. Gruppene Pogo Pops og Popium har krydret Norge med så vakker og fullendt musikk at NOE kanskje ble overført fra New York til Hammerslands hode 8. desember 1980... At Pogo Pops ikke ble STORE i utlandet er fremdeles et av de store spørsmålene i livet...

Motorpsycho - "Pills, powder and passionplays" (1997)
"Angels and Demons at play" regnes av mange som Motorpsychos beste plate. Sterkt undervurdert i Norge, allikevel med en trofast lytterskare. Låten er nydelig, men for meg er den også på denne listen et symbol på GRUPPEN Motorpsycho, som definitivt fortjener en plass på topp ti!

Ja, da sitter jeg og ser på lista mi... Det var mye godrock, gitt! Og jeg kan virkelig stå inne for denne lista. Dere får bare over med faktafeil og sånn, fort gjort. :) Ellers håper jeg at andre bloggere kanskje også kan finne inspirasjon og lage sin egen liste. Jeg innser jo også her at jeg først og fremst har valgt ARTISTENE som jeg syns fortjener en plass på topp 10. Men det er godt nok for meg.
Dette har vært en forholdsvis rolig aften for meg, har sett film sammen med Knut og Harald. Around the world in 80 days med Jackie Chan (!) er vel egentlig den verste radbrekkingen av Jules Vernes bok jeg har sett. Utrolig hvordan enhver bok kan presses (med mer eller mindre hell) inn i Hollywoodstøpeformen. Jeg skulle gjerne sagt at den som sitter med den store blockbusteroppskriften kan ta dette manuset og stappe det opp der sola aldri skinner (eventuelt der kroppen er høyest når man plukker blåbær, sånn omtrent nederst på ryggen.) Men det kan jeg jo ikke si.

Explosions in London!

Am I kidding? No. Another terrorist attack? No. So, what's up then? The answer is: Guy Fawkes Night. In 1605, on November 5, the radical anarchist Guy Fawkes was arrested, caught red-handed with huge amounts of gun powder in a basement below the House of Lords... (I guess Homeland Security wasn't that clever) His comrades were revealed after he was tortured for days. The glorious session ended with poor Guy being "Hanged, drawn and quartered". I won't go to much in detail, other than that the hanging was stopped before he died... For the morbid minded, here's the explanation on Wikipedia.



Hey ho, and a barrel of.... err.... Rum?

To celebrate the failure, the fireworks rule the city until about now (23.00 in England) once a year on this date. The poem that pretty much sums up the events goes like this:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

I feel it is also in place here to add the rest of the poem, for some reason often excluded from the school books...

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Well, I guess that should do it for today. For some reason I remember a certain scene in the film Cold Mountain. Kabooom! For those who wants to read more on the subject, here are some links:

Wikipedia
The Gunpowder Plot Society (I wonder what they do the 364 other days of the year...)

Working time..

I suppose it's time to be a bit more serious and party a little less... I've just arrived here at Francis Rowley Court after working with Managerial Accounting all day. I think I've learned more today than all the Managerial Accounting classes all together... Great! I was at Leif's place where we pushed each other all day with accounting curriculum. And sitting there talking about it really is useful!
We were at a party this weekend down in Chelsea, and it was probably one of the best parties I've ever been to! Great music, great people, great location. Great! Otherwise I try to forget that Vålerenga has won the gold medal in the Norwegian Premiership, and that Man Utd hit the wall against Middlesborough. Terrible!
However, football is not that important at the moment. The Norwegian attacker Dagfinn Enerly broke his neck in the match against Start on Saturday. His condition is still unclear, but hopefully he'll be OK. This really puts things in perspective.



The late Bill Shankly once said ""Some people think football is a matter of life and death... I can assure them it is much more serious than that." I am confident that the episode with Enerly would have made him alter that statement.