Here we go again! Avert your eyes if I bored you rigid last time. Turn your attention to the car crash that is Theresa May's handling of the biggest thing to face the country since the second world war. (Dear Theresa, I didn't think it was possible but you are making Thatcher look like a paragon of reasonableness!). Bury your head and hope that by April, everything will be OK.
In Australia, Nareesa was with me to stop me rambling on for too long - no such brakes on my verbal drivel this time. I've exited the European Union (temporarily I hope) to check out life as a rule taker but not a rule maker - I wonder if the Norwegians give a crap? What is the European Economic Area anyway?
So, when you think of Norway, what comes to mind? Space? Lots of empty space? Snow capped mountains, fjords, Jo Nesbo possibly - multiple murders in Oslo? Expensive? Yes, that's it - everything costs a lot!! Well, yes its true, but some things are just worth it... (although not sure the 9 quid I have just paid for a sandwich and a bottle of water comes into that category!). And what I hope will be some of the most spectacular scenery on earth is surely worth it.
The country that had the sense to invest its north sea oil revenues in a sovereign wealth fund instead of frittering it away on tax cuts for the already well off (thank you Margaret Thatcher, you total arse), is of course reputedly the most well off country in the world, with citizens at ease with themselves and with levels of equality we can only dream of in the UK. Mind you, run by the current bunch of cretins at Westminster don't expect things to get any better any time soon. The politicians who continue to spout on about "Norway plus" are not proposing a progressive redistribution of taxes, just a backdoor access to the market we are already part of. There, I haven't even started my travels and I am already banging on about Brexit. Maybe the fact that I will be somewhere on the north coast of Norway overlooking the Barents Sea on the fateful day we are scheduled to leave that is focussing my mind! That and the fact I will already be outside the European Union. Should make getting back into the country easier!
So I start my latest travel adventure, from a cafe overlooking Bergen harbour, I am reflecting on what makes me want to do this - travel on my own, often going ... oh, minutes without anyone to speak to! Actually, despite being thought of as a gregarious extrovert (see pictures of me at last weeks rugby international!), I'm not really. The popular definition of an extrovert is simply outgoing, but ask any decent psychologist (obviously not me) and it is much more complex. While I might appear outgoing it is actually the case that I process internally far more than I draw upon external stimuli - turns out I am actually slightly more of an introvert. I got tested once - by a psychologist - so it must be true!
Anyway enough rambling, I guess I am saying that I love to travel alone, because although I am stimulated by what I see, who I meet and the sights and sounds of the places I visit, I also really enjoy the thoughts, reflections and internal conversations the places and the people generate. I love the freedom to reflect in my own time and to sit, if I choose, in a cafe (like now) for far longer than is "normal" for anyone who isn't actually working. Before I get in too much trouble, don't get me wrong (Nareesa) I love being with you too, but sometimes it is good to be alone, in a place never before visited, to not know exactly where I am or what is round the next corner, figuratively or literally.
Right, probably got myself in a lot of trouble by now, before I've even really started, so better get back to the actual trip. Bergen, at first sight, seems like a rather nice place. Clean, welcoming as expected, and cold - its 60ºN, roughly level with the Shetland Islands, and only marginally south of Anchorage in Alaska!
So far I haven't explored beyond the harbour - want to save that until Nareesa joins me in two weeks time, after I have been right up and back down the west & north coasts, almost to the Russian border. So for now I will content myself with views of the Bryggen, the old Hanseatic wharf dating back to 1702 after a great fire destroyed the previous buildings. I'm staying the night right here before I find the ferry terminal tomorrow for my voyage north. Then 5 days on a boat through the fjords and into the Arctic Circle - bliss (well, as long as the water stays calm!)
Before I go this evening - evidence that I have gone soft since my travels in my 20s. Travel with Amex, get automatic registration on hotel loyalty scheme and this is what I got in my room. A far cry from cockroaches on my face in a Bangkok hostel!
(I've scoffed the lot - the fruit, not the cockroaches)
And I got a room upgrade.
As before I will fill up the Norway Gallery with just pictures. (Just in case you don't want to read the nonsense - though I can't imagine it!)