Ferries & out doors life - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

We like introduction to paragliding courses... this is mainly owing to the 'free crèche' facility available for Kin, whilst I go flying, and one of the students bought my second glider from me! Great flying conditions on Saturday, here are Kin and I at the training hill in between my two flights (40 & 32 minutes, both flights I decided when to land... really rather good conditions).

Sunday not such a good weather day.

 We 'adopted' Monica, Matt, and their three children and went to cook sausages and burgers and generally play in the woods. Here you can see Kin is holding at least three of the groups rapt attention.

Now they do say that a picture paints 1 000 words... sadly, I don't have pictures showing the kids, defending their food, or roasting food over an open fire... so here goes with the thousand words...

Now folk in the rest of Norway say that the Stavanger region is flat and gets no snow... ummmm, it's April and this is taken after a thirty minute drive from Stavanger (the middle bump in the rear windscreen is Kin).

Getting here led to Kin's second ferry trip (the first was when we brought him home, he slept and didn't get out of the car, so not sure that really counts).

Notice how 'highly stressed' he appears by this ferry trip.

Now I might occasionally knock the host nation; however bare in mind that I live here, and the reason I live here is because there are substantially more things that I like than dislike... That having been said, I'm also an engineer, and we have a terrible affliction that when we see something that doesn't work, we try to fix it (or take it apart to find out how it works and then wonder why it doesn't work any longer). Now Stavanger got this wonderfully innovative new ferry (even commented on in the Naval Architect):

(Picture taken from: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4wkxeNKFomEad5khU_d8OA )
Now she did the journey from Stavanger to Tau in 25 minutes (other ferries took 45 minutes) and she used less fuel than the normal ferries (can't remember the stats, but she's something like 400 te lightship mass, on a catamaran hull form, highly efficient). There were some teething problems when she entered service and the Bukser og Bergings tugs had plenty of work, and tragically two crew members died from fumes in a non ventilated space; however since these problems she's been a great boat... she now tied up at Buoy (island) as she's too efficient! This seems to be an irritating trend that socialist countries maintain; efficiency is to be deplored and discourage, why have a road repaired in one month for X kr, when it can be dragged on for a year for 20X kr... The ferry company commissioned a ferry, the public loved her because she was quick, comfortable and once the teething problems were resolved, she was reliable, and fuel efficient, and now they have taken her out of service... makes perfect sense to someone ELSE...

Here's Kin observing lunch preparations... Now the cunning master plan was to get Kin out for the whole day, sneak in a bit of skiing, give him lunch (he eats three times a day), and then he'd have to defecate somewhere other than my back garden... Nope! It's amazing how long he can store the stuff until he's in comfortable surroundings... think newspaper and relaxing on the toilet... maybe one day he'll crack this and I'll actually get the use of the black bags that I carry on every walk...

Here's a 'pet hate' (if you'll excuse the pun); dog crap... Now a Newfie is a giant breed, he eats and craps accordingly. If we are in the middle of the woods, or well off the beaten track, then it's fertiliser, but in town, on paths, in areas where folk habitually go, it's hygienic and good manners to tidy up after your dog. I have a dog and dog crap annoys me, imagine how irritating it is to folk who don't have dogs. It's especially bad when there is snow. The cold weather freezes the dog crap and it accumulates, which leads to a highly unpleasent time when the snow melts, and you are left with festering piles of dog crap. If I can tidy up after my dog, why can't others, especially in a country that dogs (nature in general - don't get me started on power cables across Hardangavida), aren't looked favourably on.

This is the view from the dinning area (in this obviously flat part of Norway)!!!