Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Jethro Tull – Aqualung

I guess Jethro Tull could deserve quite a few write up albums but Aqualung was along side Thick as a brick  the one that did most impact on me . Recorded late 1970 and released almost on my birthday in march 71 . From the opening riff of Aqualung I loved Martin Barres guitar work , the almost heavy Black Sabbath like sound really appealed to me . This together with the Ian Andersons folk like singing and flute was a perfect mix in my mind so Jethro Tull have always been a big favourite of mine . In those days we also looked a lot at album covers and I do remember the sleeve of Stand up as very cool with the figure of Ian “standing up” as you opened the sleeve. Well back to Aqualung . Cross eyed mary is in my mind a little bit of a filler as it don`t really (or did not ) deliver anything new but still a good rock and roll track . Mother Goose is a great folk song I think . with some nice guitar “plucking” from Martin . Up to me is a jolly song with some great flute playing and one of my favourite tracks and remids me of Buree probably the first famous song by Jethro Tull. But then into the real stuff with My God  with its spanish guitar opening  feel into a great riff again kinda Tony Iommie like , in fact Tony Iommie (From Black Sabbath) played with  Jethro Tull for a short while , he is featured on Rolling Stones Rock and roll circus where Jethro Tull has a song with Tony on Guitar , later in the track Ian also gets really into his Flute . Hymn 43 and Slipstream are again both great tracks ,but when the Piano opens into  Locomotive breath and builds into the guitar and flute  riffs , that’s when the Aqualung album gets into gear . It`s only fitting that the last track is  Wind up as this is a great track with its  mellow feel, anti religion lyrics and great singing from Ian , again we have the great guitar riffs of Martin . 

I think I may have played an air guitar riff or two to this album.

I have seen Jethro Tull only once Live , just outside Granada Spain a few years ago , quite frankly I don`t remember how it was (not that I was drunk) but I don`t think it was anything really special.

Other great Jethro Tull tracks / Albums .
Buree
To cry you a song
Thick as a Brick
A passion Play
Living in the past

Web site : www.j-tull.com/

Back to summer

Hola , just back in Peru after escaping in a decent way the snow and chaos on European Airports .
Here it`s 23 degrees . Pogo arrived surprisingly well,  he is sick of Kidney Failure for those of you that did not know , we give him special diet and hopefully he can live with it with a good life quality . I am worried about the "hide and seek" game but think it will be fine .

My musical blogging will continue in the new year or before .

A merry christmas to all of you

Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya ya`s Out

I have very fond memories of this record . It was one that was dragged around to most parties we had in the early 70`s . My best friend at that moment Leif Hovland was infected by this album and most of us others would watch him almost in trance when it was played . 

This is the first Rolling Stones album with Mick Taylor as Brian Jones had died earlier that year (it was recorded in 1969 released in 1970) and also the last on Decca .  After the Brilliance of Beggars Banquet and  Let it Bleed this for me almost “closed” the book on some type of the songs that the Stones played . After this they ventured into Sticky Fingers ,Exile on Main street and  Some Girls etc. which all where good albums but I believe  not the same bluesy feel to it as the earlier ones .

This album where recorded in the US mainly New York , and the cover shows a “happy” Charlie Watts jumping around a donkey . Not sure what it actually means to Get Yer Ya Ya´s out (anybody know ?) but it sounds good for a Live album .

If you revisit the album listen to the guitar solo on Sympathy for the Devil (about 3 min`s into the song)  it´s great and you can almost understand Leif`s Trance .
The Stones still going strong after most of them are 65-70 years old and probably one of the band`s in the world that has done the most touring . I have had the pleasure of seeing them at least 3 times that I remember , the last time a couple of years ago in Spain the Bigger Bang tour and it was defenately the best time , I also saw "Forty Licks" tour in Las Vegas but was not impressed with that .
Keith Richards has always been one of my favourites not so much for his Guitar Playing but more for the coolness of the character . In terms of musical skills I believe Charlie Watts must be one of the steadiest drummers in the business.

My favourite tracks from Get Yer Ya Ya`s out are :

Stay Cat Blues

Midnight Rambler

Sympathy for the Devil

Live With Me

Street Fighting Man

Other favourite Stones tracks :

2000 light years from home

Ruby Tuesday

We love you

Paint It Black

Have you seen my Mother

Monkey Man

You got the silver

Memory Motel

Hey Negrita

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

It`s only Rock and roll

Wild Horses

Miss You

Far away Eyes

Sister Morphine

(and many many more maybe , just maybe there will be another Stones album later  )
http://www.rollingstones.com

Direct comment to Olav

New "regime"

As described in emails I`m  starting a new regime on my blog , during the next few months I will blog about Albums from the past, that has made an impact on my life , there will be albums from the 70`s onwards and I will try and provide a few facts + some reviews of my own of the tracks . If I can I will try and find some obscure things .
So expect albums from , Cockney rebel , Stones , Led Zeppelin , etc  and some more obscure one´s

They will not be in any particular order .

If any suggestions I would really appreciate any reminders ....

The first you see below :

The Human Menagerie - Cockney Rebel

Recorded and released in 1973 , this album "came" to me when I was working as a manager for a record shop in Sandnes (near Stavanger) . At that time I was 17 years old and nobody in the area had heard of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. Not quite sure how I discovered the album but in those days I more often than not looked at covers and made up a mind that it had to be listened to .
I ended up selling more Cockney Rebel albums than any other record shop at that time .
Wow what a "trip" it was I remember we used to play Sebastian and Death trip at full volume and the choir/string sections was threatening to blow the speakers away .
In retrospect the opening track Hideaway is still one of my favourite tracks  , with it`s violin used almost as a lead guitar something that Mr.Harley did a lot on the first albums ." It was summer or maybe spring I can`t remember " is a line that really fits my life at the moment . His lyrics where really not so much about anything although Steve Harley worked as a reporter for various papers and therefor maybe should have "something to say". I believe he wrote more stories that rhymed and I believe something  had to do with drugs at that time  , or maybe his background suffering of Polio and spent almost 4 years in hospital, anyway who cares , the music was making an impression to me .
Although Cockney Rebel or Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel as they where called after the second album Psychomodo went on to gain a some success with Judy Teen , Make me smile and a Beatles cover Here come the sun I don`t really think they gained as much success as they really deserved. Especially I think the song Tumbling Down deserved more credit , but it was always a concert favourite and a show stopper  .
I assume I could just as well written about Psychomodo but since The Human Menagerie was the first I suggest this is the most fitting . Steve is still recording and playing live concerts mostly around northern Europe but not to great success other than for  die hard fans . I remember seeing him in Stavanger I believe it must have been in the 80`s and it still stands out as one of the best concerts I have seen .
He has a web site : http://www.steveharley.com/

Stand out tracks :
Hideaway
Mirror Freak
Sebastian
Death Trip
Chameleon

Good tracks on other albums
Here comes the sun
Tumbling Down
Make me smile
Sling it
Bed in the corner
Psychomodo
Riding the waves (for Virginia Woolf)

Golf`s up

When the silly season starts on the PGA tour the real season starts here in Spain , I`m sure some will call it silly here as well , but with summer out of the way it`s  time for some serious golf . It really starts around 1st September with different tournaments , club championship , President`s Trophy , and not least Maaland`s very limited Invitational . My summer "camp" if you like have not been great with so much visitors and the weather quite hot I have been steadily gone up in Hcp even over 10 for a while ....But with the club championship I started taking it seriously and came in 3rd which is very very good for me . Since then we got rained off in the President`s Trophy , and after that a few 3rd places a win and a 2nd in Monday Club and recently a 4th in the Sydkusten Trophy . But today the guys are coming in force from Norway , and the fun starts . Tomorrow is the DUELO ANUAL with the Spanish. It`s being held at Atalaya , a course that should suit us , we have played the Duelo now for 7 years I believe and we have never won it . So maybe, maybe this year is our turn . Monday starts the Maaland`s very limited Invitational , this year we play probably the best selection of golf courses we have done , it`s Los Naranjos , St.Maria , Torrequebrada , Sotogrande and Santana . We will see who emerges triumphant ...Untill then Fore....

Tullegutt

Sorry guys I have to do this In Norwegian ...
Spilte golf turnering i går , Norske Sjömannskirken , Det var hele 8 stk Som spilte så ikke veldig godt organisert , men Som presten så för har slo ut min top flight ball jeg ga Han . Jesus begynte med 12 , så hvem vet hvor Dette ender ? Personlig tror jeg Det ender med fallitt , maken til golf " etikette" har jeg skjelden sett ! Men jeg storkoste meg ....spilte med en eldre kar Som hadde vært sjef for Veritas diverse plasser i verden , skulle tro de hadde Sans for skikkelig kvalitet , eller er Det Som ellers i Det norske samfunn at Det er korrupt !!! Ok denne Karen var en uskyldig eldre kar Som var godslig Som bare Det , men ett syn på golfbanen , hver gang Han slo ett dårlig slag ( og Det var ofte) dunket Han køllen i bakken og ropte "Tullegutt Tullegutt" hva skal du si til sånn ? At Han var dårlig å telle var vel ikke annet enn å forvente , men når Han på hull 5 misset en 20 cm putt for dobbel bogy og i tillegg misset returen for 7 , deretter plukker han ballen opp plasserer den der han misset putten for 6 fra og putter den i derette går han av greenen og annonserer til meg "jeg fikk 6" . For å være snill sa jeg Det må bli 6 med en parantes rundt ! Hvoretter Han forbauset utbryter " hvorfor Det? Umistelig og en skikkelig "tullegutt" ....Det må nevnes at jeg vant turneringen 7 poeng foran Nr 2 .

Crabs from Norway

I just had to write this little story .... Johan my friend from Norway arrived today on the same flight as my son and his friend . Johan is here because he´s going to take Miriam , Adriana´s friend from Peru for a small trip . So he´s trying to make "sweet talk" I assume . But the opening line today was , " I brought crabs from Norway " ?????!!!! Luckily I think I was the only one who got the "double" meaning.......
The Crab by the way was very good.

More to follow I`m sure

3 things and then more later

Hi
It has been a long time and at least one of my friends miss my blogging so here I am again ...I`m going to write about 3 things this time they are : 1. Spainish sign posting , 2. A latino concert   3. The cultural centre that Marbella is .Then in next blog I`ll go back and catch up since may ,  lets start with the signposting.

1.Spanish signposting
Without knowing your experience with Spanish road signs I will share mine . In Spain they really don`t have any real sense of helping people with the signs, example . Saturday we where going to a concert , tickets where bought on the internet via "ticketmaster" . On the ticket it says : Auditorium Municipal Malaga , fine should be fairly simple and I did not even think about finding out before a few hours before we needed to go ?(I should have ) Then I start searching Google Maps , nothing . Then I search for the Auditorium Municipal Malaga hei hei there it is a site and on the site there is a google  MAP  with an "arrow" of where it is . I print it out and have fairly good idea where it is . So we set off . After looking around where it should be we ask somebody, they almost laugh and tell`s us it`s a completely different place . We set of in that direction and then is when  we get into the normal Spanish sign posting . Signs to "Feria" is relatively easy to find until they suddenly stops . After a few misses we are back on track . Scourer around the area nothing really looks like a concert arena . Again we need to ask people (which says that about 100 people already have stopped to ask directions so thank god it`s not only us ). We finally find it , then the good thing about Spain kicks in , we can park almost anywhere so we park on a lawn almost next to the entrance , yippie ....(or not ...)

2.A latino concert.
Adriana was desperate to go to this "Alejandro Fernandes" concert , so after the trials of finding it we arrive just in time, we only miss the first minute (I wished it was more ). There must have been 10 000 people (strange that they all found it ) and out of them 8 000 are women . I soon find out why because this Latino "Fløtepus" (Creamkitten ) is a big hit with the ladies . He is actually Mexican so he has a 12 piece Mariatchi orchestra with him , and that`s the only good thing for me . He`s wizzing around the stage first in his Mexican outfit , then in a black jeans , shirt and jacket , then in black T shirt and jacket , when he takes of the jacket on stage we get the loudest roar of the night from the ladies . He (like most Latino men) knows  how to "work" the ladies with sweet talk and moves so I would imagine most seats where quite sticky after a while . He did a bit for the few guys as well, as he dressed in Spanish fotball shirt in the end singing fotball songs Ole , ole , ole .... He carried on for more than 2 hours and I was really on the brink of dying it was NOT for me at all.
Leaving in the car which was conveniently parked just outside we found our self in a maze of finding back to the highway .... again no signs and after going around for a while we almost had to go into Malaga centre to find signs back to Marbella....

3. The cultural centre that Marbella is..

It`s not the first year I really think there is something wrong with the marketing/editorial of Marbella , I keep reading of how cultural it is , how jet setting and great everything is , and for most of you it does not come as a surprise that I`m very very sceptical about it , not to talk about the food (maybe another time we`ll do that ). Ok I must admit that my standpoint is that at least some rock , pop music should be included in a cultural centre ? Not ? So what has Marbella to offer this summer ? The big ones are Kool and the Gang , Seal , Rose Roys (remember Car Wash ?) An ABBA tribute and the only thing I`m going to Faithless . What a show ? When rest of Europe have great festivals with most of the hottest bands around we get these old timers and one hit wonders, not only that rest of Europe have shitty weather so it´s a risk putting on these festivals , here the weather is great from May till October 98 % guaranty of no rain. Just as a sideline Andalucia is running some adverts in the local magazines where the slogan is  " Andalusia everything under par  " Great .... everybody that knows a little English knows that the phrase "under Par" means not good , in fact "Over Par" means good (except in golf ) . So please somebody put on some better acts ....(and AD`S , or maybe they really mean not good as they should be )

Until next time ......

A real busy life

Hi "everybody" I´m back on the blog a lot have been happening since last time , not all very interesting but nevertheless a lot of things ... As you know I`m back in Spain and just after I got back I lifted off again to Bilbao to see my Poker Friends from Norway for a weekend of gastronomic food , and some art at the Guggenheimer . Everybody was a day late because of the ash problems but we did finally arrive Friday instead of Thursday except Helge which was only with us Saturday morning :-) ....
Friday we went first to the Guggenheimer and I must say it was very impressive , outside quite imposing and interesting , inside also architectual but we where I believe very lucky with the exhibits . We saw Anish Kapoor (http://www.anishkapoor.com). An Indian Born artist which had a lot of interesting sculptures , there where machines shooting Blood Red wax into a corner , pigment sculptures , concrete "forms" and mirrors etc . Also impressive was some "things" with only a black hole , it was sooooo black that we could not see "anything" ... I really recommend anybody to have take a trip and see it it`s on until October . In the night we wondered around Bilbao , eating tapas and drinking .
Saturday we went to San Sebastian which is a very nice little city , the tapas where out of this world some of them sooooo good that I want to go back just for that . Since the trip was shortened by a day we only got to spend a night and then Sunday we drove along the cost (or at least a little bit , as it was more woods) but anyway we ended up in a small fishing village about an hour from Bilbao and in a restaurant there and had a fish that I can safely say it`s the best fish meal in MY LIFE ... It was soooooo good that it´s quite impossible to comprehend how they make it as it was ONLY fish with some garlic and oil , nothing else , but the TASTE ,,,, whoooola.

Then back to Marbella for a few days (in fact a week ) with Golf  games and practising for the Cannes Invitational at Espen`s place .
Here we arrived Sunday and went strait to Terre Blanche course which is a very nice place with 2 courses . We play the Chateau course which is very nice but strange things in France when it comes to the Slope as you always receive many shots extra , Kjell (40 points) received 10 shots which I think is quite stupid but this goes around most places in France Maybe they don`t like to play their normal hcp or can`t hit anything long . As the course are not really long either just over 6000 meters should be normal for a good golf course .
Next day as frank arrived we where off to Monaco , and Monte Carlo golf which is a great place on top of Monaco and some holes you can look down on the city and over the sea. The first holes we had ok weather then after 6-7 holes it started raining and continued the rest of the round , Gisle came in with 37 points .
The next days was rained away and we did some sightseeing , Then we where supposed to play one of my favorite courses . Cannes Mougines a great place , but due to uncertain weather we skipped it and ended up playing a cheaper course , and it was terrible , again they received shots on a course less then 5000 meters ???????? I had to play from white tee´s as they did not have slope for yellow on my Hcp ....So the strangeness carried on .... needless to say I played like shit ... we did avoid the rain though .
Next day was off to St.Tropez as this was an extra day since we missed Tuesday . The course was Gassin Country Club , a real nice place with a high level of service and very friendly people , the course was very nice although quite hilly . Unfortunately we needed to dash off quickly for me to catch the plane but at least I won the round with 36 p.  We should come back here I believe . Also here we got lot´s of shots though .... I wonder if French people play global tournaments how they will do as their Hcp`s must be lower than rest of the "world" ...
I need to clean up my PC in order to add some photos , will try and do next few days ..
chau

Ashes to Ashes a Cinderella story

Well ,  been sometime since leaving Peru . Have spent the time in Norway mostly inside in the cold weather , played Golf once , good,  79 shots I may add . Had a few good  in fact very good  meals in a new restaurant , got my new drivers license , made an agreement with the tenant that don`t pay and learnt  a lot about volcanic ash and how to book and change  flights trains hotels etc .

I  was supposed to go to Spain last Saturday but of course the Country of  Island sent Ash and not Cash as most Europeans asked from them . It`s quite incredible how this cloud have disrupted our lives , also only based on theoretical computer models. 
I think everybody understand that flying straight into a cloud of Ash like the BA flight back 28 (yes 28) years ago did , but some particles thinned out miles away ????? 


In Stavanger we did not see even one grain of "ash" falling down , not even with the rain over the weekend . When in Spain we often get cars etc covered in sand dust from Sahara when it rains , but this Volcanic ash does not fall down ??? How can that be is it lighter or as light as Air ???? Quite frankly I think this is/was over dramatized .  


Anyway I have felt like  running an travel agency for the last week . First my flight to Spain was cancelled , even before that I saw the picture so I booked a new flight the week after (only once a week directly from Stavanger ) . Then I started looking into getting a car because I missed Spain and the warm weather Stavanger was freezing cold , also there was / is plans to have a long weekend in Bilbao with the Poker boys . 


The car I was getting was an old transport car from Marnburg , this car had been standing idle since December in the snow and cold , I did not look forward to drive almost 4000 km in it  although I would have had company by Pogo  so I told myself it was a Boys trip or a Father /son trip or whatever I missed warm weather . 
The prices of ferries from Stavanger SKY ROCKETED from a few €`s to hundreds  . In the end the car was beyond repair (thank god) . Then I looked at some other cars for sale I was going to buy a BMW 5 series 20 year old , but it was sold just ahead of me , maybe to another Ash victim ???? Then the clouds started to look a little better and EU got together and looked into the silliness of their models so some flights started flying . 


I booked one from Oslo to Spain without knowing how to get to Oslo ..... Then I booked a train to Oslo (got the last seat incl. Dog space ). But the sheer thought of dragging 2 suitcases , 1 big cage for Pogo and Pogo on line dragging all directions to smell the piss of other dogs  , plus hand luggage  into a train with a seat the size of the cheapest airline seat on the cheapest airline and NO space for the luggage plus 7 hours in a small uncomfortable seat  was just  too much and I cancelled it . The plan was to await a few days and either fly the Saturday or if everything looked still ashgrim get another car . 
Speaking about car I went to the local BMW/Porsche dealer they had some nice cars , it was between a Porsche Panamera or a BMW 318d Touring , but luckily they could not get the Licence plates for export within a day or 2 . The Porsche by the way was not really an option not with the dog :-) ...


Then they started very suddenly to fly out of Stavanger , I jumped and booked a flight to Oslo with Norwegian .  As I was watching the flight "screens" on internet later  the flight got cancelled ...grrrrrr. The SAS flight 3 hours later was ok so I booked this one .... My god friend Johan got again to my rescue and drove me to the airport with the 2 suitcases , the cage , the hand luggage and the dog. By that time I had managed to reserve a hotel at Oslo airport with the Dog .  This is not always possible in Spain it`s almost impossible to bring a dog . On the way to  the airport we heard on the radio with 4 minutes difference that the airport (all in Norway) was open and 4 min later that Stavanger was closed .... getting closer we saw a Norwegian plane taxing and taking off ! Strange .... it was 7:20 pm . 30 minutes after the flight that said cancelled . Getting into the airport the flight on the screen said : LAST CALL . and then disappeared of the screen. Then Sas said they would not fly ( they had found a grain of ash on a plane) , in fact they said the airport was closed , Norwegian said the airport was open .....Avinor the airport authorities said the airport was Open. Are Sas pussies ? They claimed Norwegian flew "on your own responsbility ? Don`t we always ? .. So we waited and waited (even drove around the area , sightseeing things I did not even existed in Stavanger ) .  Back to the airport Sas still did not know if the wanted to fly , so I did not check in ... BUT all of a sudden it said GO TO GATE and I hurried to check in , got the bags in , the Cage with the dog and ran to the gate , my named being called out to hurry by the staff .... Asked the purser to confirm the dog was on the plane , confirmed ..... should have asked about the suitcases ! .... 


Arriving Oslo of course the suitcases where not there , the Dog was  but no suitcases . How could this be ? The people who "packs" the planes must have been sitting on their asses the whole day and when suddenly a plane (it was at least 3 hours since the last one took off) was to leave they could not get all suitcases into the plane ?????  They got some , maybe 50 % of them but of course mine was not among those. So now they say they will be delivered manana . And I`m supposed to be in Bilbao .... well I said monday is fine , the good thing is that I get 375 € to spend on clothes . So Bilbao next ..... Dream on 


This morning they called me from Stavanger Ashes have been spotted again and planes cancelled ..... what the ....So should I stay or should I go ... alone . Decided to change the flight until tomorrow by then at least my friend Per traveling from Oslo will come , or so we hope .... Untill then .......  ( by the way Cinderella is called Askepott in Norwegian , Askepott directly translated Pot of Ash ....)

Adios Peru (for now)

So my visit to Peru has come to and end for now , i`m actually back in Norway but not for long. The months in Peru where great I enjoyed myself a lot , played a lot of Golf , met a lot of new friends and  ate a lot of good food . The picture right is of 12 scallops which costs less than 2 $. Mmmmm

 I don`t think I have written about driving in Lima before , but for any of you that  come and visit, this is a "must" to try . It`s actually quite fun , a friend of mine said it was like playing chess and I think that describe it very good as you really have to plan your moves well ahead . The micros (small busses) and the countless taxis (could use some here in Norway) stops , moves, crosses all as they want with absolutely NO consideration of what`s behind , in front, or pedestrians for that matter . Luckily they don`t drive to fast and that why it´s not "that" many accidents . Another thing in the traffic "picture" is all the performers that when you stop for red lights will perform or sell you all kind of things . Performers are normally acrobats , juglers or hip hop dancers , sellers sells almost everything ; Soda`s , Icecream , sweets , Books , CD`s, movies , mobile phone chargers , sunglasses , car shades , purses etc.

So from Peru to Norway and then to Spain I will miss a lot of things , friends , food , weather but now it`s time for Europe and what that will bring the next fee months, time will only tell.

Peru life (second last part )

My Peru visit is coming to an end soon , the last days will be spent in Lima and on the beach . I would really like to go to a Novalima concert but my wife won`t go , she claims we have seen them "enough" times .Bearing in mind all my golf games I have played  I think this idea has to be given up ... (maybe not ) ....The peruians have great ironic humour as an example (I wish I had some pictures ) on the beach weekends there are always light aircrafts flying around with commercial banners . This I expect they have figured out is a no brainer , thousands of people lying on the beach with their nose in the sky. Most of them also  drinking and eating quite "hard" . The favourite banners on sunday morning seem´s to be for headache pills , toothpaste , mouth rinsing liquid . The latest I saw this weekend was : Heppamax - Ciuda tu Higalo ... for the non spanish speaking. Happamax (beeing the product) take care of you LIVER ... After a summer where they have been drinking heavily it`s probably a good idea ....

Golf greenkeepers and ball pickers

Hello again , I just forgot to say that on this course here the girls that looks after the driving range uses RAKES to collect and pick up the balls , No buggy here with a collection system , they can use hours doing this after a busy day , Although the days are usually not that busy , during the week it feels like my private golf course . It`s not often you also see the greenstaff driving to the green or similar in a motorcycle with a container of pesticide on their back. Others comes in pick up trucks . The maintenance though is very very good and most courses I have played can envy Asia golf their quality .

So there you go , I played 82 today in very strong winds .

Golf (at last )

Hi long time since ...... some even miss my Blogging , fancy that !! Even so here is the long (by some) awaited Golf Blog ..... As most of you know I live almost at a Golf course here in Peru . The golf course is South Americas LONGEST golf course from where we normally play its 7044 yards that` s around 6400 mtrs. Not only is it long it has lots of water hazards and flower beds , no trees though . The flower beds are the problem if you drift out of the fairway and go into especially the YELLOW flowers it`s a lost ball . I call them "ball cannibals"to locals amusement (see photo , yes I know they look harmless) . I have been playing since the last days of December quite a few times a week , every Friday we have a game called Matcheteros , It consist of a varied group of guys in Jan/Feb we where most of the time 10-12 persons, in March it has gone down to 2-3 as school has started and most seem to have a kid or 2 in school. With Macheteros we play almost all formats you can think of in one game , its : Pairs (internally in the foursome) teams against each other , single front , back , game and BY, MATCH PLAY , Water balls for food . In the end a guy puts all results into a Excel sheet and out comes the results which in most cases this year I have won some money . I`m by no means top of the money list , I probably should be as there have been 3 times my winnings has not been entered ,but still it`s been a steady flow of small amounts of $`s.

Lately (since feb) I have started playing with the course PRO , he´s a Peruian native and really a nice guy his name is Luis (see picture). Luis charge me 20 $ for an hours lesson , then he plays 18 holes with me which I`m also supposed to pay for as he "instructs" me during the game , we have an arrangment like If he wins I pay him 20$ if I win I don`t pay for his lesson ..... Fair enough as he don`t really have any money to speak of . So far I`m 5-1-2 (5 wins 1 draw 2 loss) .

We do not play stableford system here it`s all Gross medal play which is very good for my game. Since my "famous" rounds of 75-76-76 in early January I have come back to the more normal 80-86 shoots . I must have played around 30 games (incl the ones I will play this week , today I played 2x18 ) since I got here and in my mind I have only been under 30 stableford points a few times , but not that many over 36 either . It`s hard to tell since there is no slope and I would think since the lenght I would get 2 maybe 3 shots . There are lots of nice holes here in Asia Golf No 13 is an Island green from the men`s tee it`s 165 yards normally against the wind and if I have lost balls, it´s there and sometimes on 9 as that is 439 yards against wind and the green has water all along left side + right side is OB (and canibals ) ...

The easiest holes I think is 1 (538 y)and 18 (528y)both Par 5`s . 18 is the only one to reach in 2 even the hole is 528 yards. If I have a good tee shot close to the water side I can cross the water normally around 220 yards over water , I have been on the green in 2 a number of times and had eagle chances but never made one . Since I need to drive over from the house with my buggy I normally also use it on the course which I should not I should walk , they have caddies here and they are not expensive , there a lot`s of them most of them women but at the moment they do not know much about golf . They will get there though in the end.

Since Asia Golf is 100 km from Lima I believe that as from next week there will not be many people playing her , during the week there will be almost nobody . Except Richard of course an ex dental surgeon from Wales , he lives in Lima . 3 times a week he delivers his son to school at 7 am then drives an hour play golf and drives back again . (almost as dedicated as me)

There has been only a few tournaments in fact only 2 , the first was a strange one Bogie where you got 1 point for birdie Minus 1 point for bogie , needless to say this "antigolf" did not suit me . The last tournament was saturday (see pic) we played Scramble and our team came 4th we lost 2 place because worse than the others back 9, we where 6 under par with a 8 hcp (so -14) the winner had -16 ..

Golf is no good without nice weather and they really have nice weather in the summer here in Peru , the climate is a steady 28-30 degrees every day , on the course since its only a few 100 yards from the sea has a nice wind all the time so I never feel to warm .

Asia golf is built because they want to sell property , it would have been very easy for them to make a mediocre golf club and sell the 500 plots , but no this golf club is a REAL club. The greens are as good as it gets. Much better than courses in Spain , the rest of the course is also ALWAYS in very good nik. In fact I "dread" comming back to the "jumpy" St.Maria greens .

We have 2 clubhouses one by the course and one by the beach (ref: the Pink Floyd concert).The food is great , drinks are plentyful and it`s not at all expensive .

The people are very very friendly and nice so anybody have a chance to play here should do ......

Visit from the cold

Last week I had a visit from my friend Johan , he was just tired of the cold weather in Norway and came over for 10 days . Although it`s a looooong trip I believe he enjoyed his time here. We did quite a lot in the days . Nightclubs , golfcourse , massage , visit to a mountain village in Peru and where happily surprised as they had a village party (see photo) . There where also a Luau in our urbanisation with lots of the usual Salsa , but surprise surprise also some "normal" music. This time people did get drunk and argued , luckily we had left by then . We had invited some friends from "around" , the party was good and the Peruians do know how to throw a party I must admit . (the picture that looks from a hospital is Johan getting a shot of "adios motherf**cr as special drink from the famous MAIN bar .

This week is my birthday so we are in Lima for a few days there are a bunch of friends coming over to drink ....

Manana is back to the golf course for the 3 weeks I have left before I travel back to western hemisphere . So I would think the next blog could just maybe be about Golf ....untill then

Norway and media

I have as most of you know not been very "pro" Norway and especially the media , which I believe controls everything in Norway , what is the agenda , media sets it . I`m collecting a lot of stories off the internet and one day I might combine them all and show what`s going on . but today I got very provocated again . There is a report from the Engineering society that shows that Norwegian , Railroad , Roads , drainage , water etc etc is grossly neglected in fact to get it to a decent level investments of 160 000 000 000 (hope I get the 0`s right) nkr is needed . This does not come as a surprise at all to me and should not to anyone inside Norway . But what really is bad is that most of the newspapers have this story WAY DOWN on their web sites , more important is : Who`s the presenters in the upcoming Eurovision song contest , some petty argument between a Norwegian skier and a swede , some puppies that is illegal imported . In fact at Nrk`s (Norwegian broadcasting`s web site ) you have to go almost to the bottom to find this story .In fact from the biggest regional newspaper in Stavanger region this story is not even ON the web site .... So to all of you that believe Norway is such a perfect country , wake up........link:http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=579869

Horse with a name

Hi
Last saturday we went to a horse show , yes horse show , the Peru people have a horse they call Passo horse . This horse walks very funny like its tripping along kinda like a ballet dancer its very strange , the result is that the rider does not jump up an down as much as I have seen on "other horses" . The show was called SOY PERU , which means I AM PERU or something like that it was quite chauvenistisc (don`t know how to spell that ) but I assume you get it . The show was in about 15 parts and it was dancers etc dancing on a stage in the middle and the horses dancing around . The real buzz for me was Novalima as they provided most of the music and it`s one of my favorite bands. I include a picture here but since my camera is stolen it`s from my iPhone . Later we went to the BEACH club house of the golf course yes they have both an on course club house and one on the beach . They had contracted a Pink Floyd tribute band to play , unfortunately the Tsunami warning + the Horse show (which was full) had taken most of the people away so it was only about 40 people . They are called Big Pink and are quite good I have seen them here before . The setting though is quite nice , right by the beach and sitting there at 1 am in shorts sipping whisky listing to "Wish you where here" I bet you did.........

Been a while Pt. 2

Last week we went for a trip down to a place called Paracas and then on to Ica . Paracas is a "famous" holiday spot for the Peru people . This area which is next to a town called Pisco (Pisco is also the name of a drink here). This area was badly hit by the earthquake a few years ago . Now they have rebuilt most of the place and there is a new Hilton Hotel + the former Paracas and Hacienda hotels have been rebuilt . I went to look at the Hilton and it`s nice but nowhere as nice as the Paracas hotel this is a fantastic hotel and if the Hilton is 5* this is 9*. So if ever in the area stay there . We went for a boat trip to an Island full of birds, sealions and Penguins , I don`t think I have ever seen so many birds there must have been millions . This brings me back to the reason of the Asia Name as ref. my first post . According to a female caddy the Asia name comes from ketchua (the old peru language ) and refers to bad smell , it so happen that just outside the coast here there is a couple of Island`s where there was lots of birds , and birds shit .This shit or "Guana" as they call it is very smelly hence the name bad smell. This Guana is also a very good fertiliser and is picked up and exported , it was even used to produce explosives as it contains Nitrogen and fosfor . In Paracas they pick up this shit every 7 years and they say the island is covered in 60 cm of birdshit . Judging by the smell this must be a horrific job .
The next day we left for Ica , Santiago (ref 1st posting) has a wineyard there and he invited us for lunch (see picture) . This is a huge place some 700 acres of grapes etc . He produces 6 millions bottles of Wine/Pisco a year , as you can imagen the lunch had a lot of wine , but also good food, and Pisco . It`s about an hour thirty minutes to Ica from Paracas , in the evening we went for a drink to the Paracas hotel which was just 100 meters from the house we stayed in . The house was rented by some friend of us . We left early Friday as we had lunch party (Party party ). This party is THE party of the Lima high society . There are ex prime ministers , defence secretary etc etc and also this year I got to meet an ex UN GENERAL SECRETARY , his name was Perez and some more , he must have been close to 80 year old.
The next day Adriana where woken up by the friends from Paracas they had been alerted of a Tsunami because of the earthquake in Chile , and later in the day the water stood 30 cm up in the house as it is right on the beach . Up here in Asia we did not notice anything but luckily our house is also 30 meter up the hill.
Untill next time ,, Olav

Been a while Pt. 1

It`s been a while since last post , quite a few things have happen , we had a big party in the house on the 21 feb. There where around 80 people altogether . We have a friend (Miguel ) that is in a wheel chair and there is quite a lot of stairs up to the "party level" , taking him up went without problem , but going out when we where all "drunk" was a different case , in fact I was assigned to be on the left side towards the wall , but during the last section of the stairs I was pushed against the wall and lost my footing and ended up head down ass up squezzed between the wall and the chair , in fact he (Miguel) had to grab hold of me . Luckily he did not fall down and all went well in the end . We rented a company to make the food and serve there where 3 waiters and 2 bartenders , we had a bunch of food including 2 small BBQèd pigs . The next day my camera was gone we believe it must be one of the waiters . Therefore the picture above if from another person .

Sneakin Pogo through the ally

Here´s a story that has been going on for this summer and for most part of last summer . In our urbanisation it`s not allowed to have dogs , so what do we do with Pogo ? One option we use a lot last year was to leave him in Lima with a "dogsitter" but it was really a waste as they guy did nothing but taking Pogo out a few times a day , and then watch Tv . This year we smuggle him in and out a few times a day . he goes in the back of the car under the cover and stays very still , for sure he knows that if he`s a good boy he gets to go for a walk . This happens every morning and at least one time in the afternoon . The rest of the time he stays in the ground floor with the 2 maids (when they are not up working) . he seems quite happy with this arrangement. The good thing is he don`t bark and so far nobody has found out . We can not tell anybody as to risk beeing "given away" Sometimes we take him up to our floor . This weekend we have a party so he has to go to a kennel . He is really a good boy an behaves very good.

Dancing days are here again

oooops I don`t know quite how to edit my posts yet so this has to be a new one . The Dancing Peru style they play ONLY Salsa or what they call Pachanga It`s quite obvious that most of the women and quite a few of the men have spent time training dancing , most of them are quite good at it , like everywhere else some songs are a lot more popular than others , and in the middle of yesterday we had the Paella. But very soon they where all at it again , even I don`t get away and I do my best Gringo style. I ended up siiting next to a Teacher and her husband who was a Naval attache . he had been stationed in Germany for the Peruean government , he new some Norwegians from there and meant that Norway must bee a nice place , I told him the truth that I`m not really very PRO Norway as I think there are a lot of things very very wrong in Norway , even yesterday the first day of the winter olympics "we" did not win any medals and that I think was quite a shock for most Norwegians , but more of that later .
Anyway the party ended on a good note around 2:30 or so nobody seemed overly drunk or beeing miserable with their partners .

Observations in Pisco haze

Hi First time doing this , but have been thinking about it for a while , but most of the time my conclusion has been that why would anybody really care what I´m up to . But just realised I don`t care if people don`t care I just want this to be sort of my diary so when I´m older and have forgotten what I was up to I can hopefully remember to look at this !

Well here I am its the 14th feb 2010 (Valentines day ) and I`m in Asia Peru , Asia Peru is a real "funny" place. For a start why is it called Asia ? No idea will try and find out . Why am I here ? Because we have a house here and spend the winter (here is summer) here from end December till after Easter . Asia it`s 100 km from Lima it`s where the Limeneans spend their weekends and holidays between Dec and may . I would say the beach is maybe 10 km long and there are maybe 30 different urbanisation`s along the coast line . They are all very nice as it looks to be a competition among the owners who has the best looking house . We are in an Urbanisation called Play del Golf , Yeeessss Golf they opened a golf course last year it`s just behind the Bora Bora , Playa del Sol and Playa Golf Urbanisation . It´s a very nice Golf course and in excellent condition I will no doubt come back to Golf during my Blogging .

Yesterday we where invited to a party , Party is really the favourite pastime of the people here , there is always a party going on , yesterday was Santiago `s birthday Santiago is one of our neigbours here he own a Pisco and Wine "factory" . He is almost always drunk (maybe thats a litte unfair ) , but of course he has free Pisco and wine ....He speaks with a real rrrrring sound and although my spanish is getting better I can never really understand him , the others are struggeling too. he calls me Gringo which is ok because I am . Again yesterday was his birthday I have no Idea how old he is I assume around my age or slightly older . He has a girlfriend as he is divorced she is a little younger I would say 45 or so , she has a nice ass , but that`s about all.

Yesterday I think there must have been about a 100 people in his do , It`s said to be starting at 9 we arrived at 10 and there where not many people then , but from then on untill 12:30 a steady flow of people , we got free Pisco and wine , but I did not realise so we ordered Burbon and Cuba Libre so we had to pay for that . The do was in the Club house of Playa Golf a quite "funky" looking place next to the huge pool , it`s a restaurant and bar during normal days . He served Sushi which I did not eat and then the ever present Paella ? What is it with the Spanish speaking and Paella I have never got it they spend hours and hours to make it and in the end its a mix of rice and in this case pork and chicken , peas, beans etc etc . The chines call it fried rice and whip it up in a few minutes and quite frankly I think it tastes better .

They even have special cooks brought in to make the Paella , with big huge pans etc . These people yesterday I think had some problems as the food was not ready until almost 1 am . Before (and after) there where dancing . The dancing here seem to