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 ....