The evil GPS lady...

Right. I've made it to a friends house in Oslo. But just barely. All right, granted it's not ideal to drive 2 hours to Oslo while the snow is falling heavily, but in Norway you have to expect that sort of thing, so I went anyway. After about 45 mins, however, I almost became an integral and very permanent part of the backside of a trailer; it had it's taillights snowed down, so I didn't spot the breaklights, and this was in a 90 km/h zone. Thankfully I've done my share of powersliding on ice and snow, and could countersteer the slider I was involuntarily performing in 70km/h behind the very huge trailer. Hokay, I was definitely awake now, and paying close attention to any breaklights that might appear from here on in.

Oslo is not a city I'm familiar with, barring a few blocks downtown, so I borrowed my dad's GPS to save me from trying to find my way around by explanation and through pure luck. But the little lady living inside the GPS was in a rather funny mood, and decided to guide me about a mile from where I was supposed to be, into an area packed with houses, and full of narrow one-way streets, parked cars and old men shuffling snow. Oh, and these narrow streets were covered in 10 cm of snow, which my rear wheel driven car doesn't like. At all. Oh good. After some gentle persuasion (ie banging the GPS against the dashboard), I managed to change the mind of the lady living inside it, and she reluctantly agreed to direct me to the right location. If I had driven blindy after her directions, however, I would've driven down a one way blind street into a clump of bushes. When I finally parked my car I could swear I heard her sniggering from inside her little box. I hate her.

"The Worlds Most Beautiful Rally"

Not my words, but Loeb's. I'm not much of a patriot, if I ever talk about "my country" it's usually while cursing it for being too cold/rainy/icy/grey/windy/whatever. But the past week, and especially this weekend, Norway and it's climate has been on it's best behavior, and in turn that laid the foundation for one hell of a rally weekend. Yes yes, people locally and nationally complain about it being too costly to arrange, the deficits, the low spectator numbers and the few idiots who have to drink too much on these occasions. But those of us who did get their bums out of the sofa's and out into the cold (and didn't fall asleep in a snowfilled ditch in -20) - we had a blast. All right, I'll admit, Friday was a bummer - as you can read about in the previous post, but being a poor bugger who can't afford to just buy a rally pass, I had to work to join the fun. And a small, idealistic part of me actually thinks that "someone have to work as volunteers on these things, otherwise arrangements like these would never happen".


Sunday started early for me, about 5.45 in the morning, and by 6.45 I was at our stand at SS18/21 in Våler, help setting everything up. We were going to sell burgers, hot dogs, coffee and ecological vegetable "rallysoup" made by the farmer I work for. Our little shop was about 10 metres from the finish line - which gave me a very good but rather brief view of the cars passing by.

Now, taking pictures of cars going by at 100km/hour wasn't all that easy, as it turns out. At least not for a newbie like me - luckily I knew where I could change the settings for shutter speed, and with a bit of trial and error I got there in the end. However, my camera can only take about 3 pictures a second, which usually resulted in one photo of the frond end of a car, one of the rear end of a car, and one empty frame. I did get a few good shots, however, and it was a good practice session.

Most of my photographs from this day can be seen here, in a facebook album. Will post them on Flickr when I've figured out my bloody Yahoo ID and password... *mutters*

Wrooooom!

Oh yes, it's here again! WRC Rally Norway is back, and I'm loving it. Or at least, I love the idea of it - I'm such a sucker for rally, it's the only sport I can be mildly arsed to care about. I like cars, I even love some of them, and with two car mechanics in my close family and my brother being a petrol head, I've been sort of programmed since birth to like cars. Or, as they say here, "Rally in the blood". If I'd been more stubborn as a kid, and my mum hadn't been so horribly overprotective and anxious I might've nagged myself into starting with motorsports. I've even asked my dad to sponsor a co-driver course (Y'know, those who read the maps for the drivers? 4 right, over crest..) , but got categorically denied and forbidden to partake in any such activity. Hrmpfh.

It's been 2 years since last time Rally Norway was here, and back then I was as broke as I am now, but luckily my brother worked as a marshal then, and got some free passes, which gave me the chance to see four different rally stages. This year, however, I am working myself. Which gave me a shiny Marshal's badge. And the opportunity to stand outside in -18 degrees celcius for 6 hours, alone, watching a road. Yes, a road. Not that the road needed watching, it could manage perfectly on its own, I just had to watch that people didn't use it to get to a super stage. Of course I could see the purpose, if people had found out that this was a shortcut down to a super stage, and one that no one else was using, it would've been used a lot. Which would block the path for ambulance, red cross and anyone else who needed to get to the rally road quickly. And I did get a free weekend pass out of it, which is a bloody expensive piece of plastic to get. But I have to say that it got cold and boring very quickly. I was so far away from the track that I didn't see a single thing, I could just hear the engines in the distance. On top of everything I was behind a patch of tree's that naturally blocked out the sun which could've provided some warmth. But I have to admit, it is rather pretty outside with 50cm of snow and the sun shining beautifully from a clear blue sky. Perfect rally weather!

On Sunday I am going to work as a volunteer for the rally once again, but this time at another place, and with something else - selling food. I know for a fact that I won't be alone, I'll be closer to the track (a lot closer), and I'll be near a heat source (the barbeqeue). So Sunday will definately be better. And now that I've established that I haven't managed to ruin my £460 camera, I'll hopefully be taking some pretty awesome pictures. In the meanwhile you'll have to make do with this one I managed to take with my camera phone today. Which is also on the web.

Festival preparations...

Note to self: Buy this when it get's closer to summer at Lippi Selk'Bag.

Oh, and this at filthyfox.co.uk or funkyleisure.co.uk

Mayor of the Friend Zone!

All right. I am not a particularily feminine person. Yes, I have boobs, and an above average amount of scarves and shoes, but out of 15 pairs I think one or two are high heeled, and I can't wear those without falling on my face. I drink beer, watch Top Gear, love gaming, drive a tractor, can build a PC and never ever talk about make up. But does that mean I can't be seen as a potential girl friend? Seriously, do I have to dress up, dig up those high heels, put on a ton of make up, giggle and act... girly?

I had an apiffany over a glass of beer at the pub this weekend; Maybe I am just so "starved for affection" -I hate that term- or desperate or whatever, that I keep mistaking every guy I can talk to for a potential ... someone. I get so caught up in the fact that I actually have something to talk to other people about, that I forget that it's a natural thing, it's what people do: Talk to each other. It's normal. But it seems I always end up in the friend zone. I think I actually am, together with Ross from Friends, the Mayer of the Friend Zone.

In other news nothing much has happened - I still work at the farm, although it's not as much fun as it used to be. I hate pigs more than ever, everything feels like we're doing it the hard way, and a guy just quit to start another job - typically this was one of the people I talked to the most at work, and which put in most of the effort. It's heavy work, most of this, and now we're two people left pulling much of the load. Yay. So, in an attempt to give myself something to look forward to, I sent in my application for school next fall. That's right, I'm going to start Nurse's school! I'm not sure if I look forward to it or dreading it the most - I guess I'm just terrified of finding out that I'm still not able to study.

And now to something completely different - and altogether non-emotional; Go watch Wanted! Why? A: It's James McAvoy, and he's brilliant (allthough not at speaking american - it just looks plain wrong). B: It's what any comic-based "super hero" movie should've been. Yes, it's silly, over the top, unlikely and unrealistic in so many ways - but if you do the same thing as with any other action movies based on a comic book or a super hero and just go with it - it kicks ass. Ok, super hero might be the wrong term, but in the comics they did wear costumes, which basically is the only thing that separates these characters from "super heroes". It felt a bit like "Fight Club" meets "Van Helsing" or.. something or other. Go watch, will you?

This is an old Tom Waits song, which I feel suits me rather nicely this late late night, after coming back from the pub, feeling rather turned down and frustrated.


"Well, I hope that I don't fall in love with you,
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue.
Well, the music plays and you display
Your heart for me to see.
I had a beer and now I hear
You calling out for me.
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well, the room is crowded, people everywhere,
And I wonder, should I offer you a chair?
Well, if you sit down with this old clown,
Take that frown and break it,
Before the evening's gone away,
I think that we could make it.
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well, the night does funny things inside a man.
These old tomcat feelings you don't understand.
Well, I turn around and look at you,
You light a cigarette,
I wish I had the guts to bum one,
But we've never met.
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you."

I can see that you are lonesome just like me,
And it being late you'd like some company.
Well, I turn around and look at you,
And you look back at me.
The guy you're with, he's up and split,
The chair next to you's free.
And I hope that you don't fall in love with me.

Now it's closing time, the music's fading out.
Last call for drinks, I'll have another stout.
Well I turn around to look at you,
you're nowhere to be found,
I search the place for your lost face,
guess I'll have another round
And I think that I just fell in love with you.