Didn't get too drunk last night.
A bus was due to pick us up at 1815 from the Asker transport hub. I started in Lancelots with a bottle of Bulmers. Hans-Herman turned up in a jacket, tie and a bag. Bag? To contain the shoes of course! Duh! I hoped he was a bit over dressed.
The bus was a bit late as it had tried to pick a non-existant crowd up from the office and then had to go round the houses a bit to get back to us.
More were picked up from Sandvika and other locations before ending up at the new hotel.
I'm always a bit dubious of a hotel which has the word 'Quality' at the beginning. Do they have to remind everybody all the time it's supposed to be of a certain quality? You don't see the Ritz, Claridges or The Dorchester doing it! Maybe it is the brand name and they aren't actually quality at all.
It turned out to be a very posh evening. Most people were in shirt, tie and jacket! Some very smart jackets. Always been a bit jealous of people who can carry that off. Felt decidedly under-dressed in a pair of jeans (freshly washed of course), collarless shirt and a smart jumper. The clunky practical footwear didn't help either. The few people I did know assured me it'd be okay. Oh well chin up and brash it out as always.
MarkL warned me that the arranged 0145 bus wouldn't be getting back to Asker until about 3am. Urmm, wasn't planning on staying out that bloody late.
As we came through the reception we were presented with a champagne glass of some bubbly stuff or apple jiuce for those non-drinkers. General chit chat in the reception area in front of the dining/dance room.
After they opened the doors it was a bit of a scramble to find a seat. I couldn't see a seating plan, which I thought a bit odd. How were they going to know where all the specific eaters were sitting? This was a non-issue as it turned out to be a buffet. I sat with a table full of couples. Feeling even more excluded now. I did make an effort to chat to a bloke I'd never seen before. The whole room was full of them so I'd need to start somewhere. I was joined by Tommy who's family were away on a holiday.
Why is the tea always gone? Changed the radio to Cerys Mathews on 6Music.
The compere, who sat at, and also played the piano, seemed to be a regular at WG events as he asked who'd been there at the summer event in Bygdoy. Oh dear I thought is this going to be my worst nightmare for a party, where we have to be sycophantic to a load of upper management while they gave speeches? Right at the start we got the SLB QHSE information about fire escapes and smoking policy from the hotel management.
There was enough to drink as long as you asked the serving staff for it. I started into some red wine. A Cona Sur Syrah.
The buffet was a scramble. They did try and stagger it a bit by saying which tables were going first etc. I am constantly amazed by people at these kinds of events. In the stack of plates two, on the top of large stacks, obviously hadn't been cleaned to same standard as the rest. Rather than take them both off and give them to serving staff to deal with so that people could access the plates beneath, people were just leaving them there and tutting! How does that bloody help? I leant through the scrum grabbed them both and delivered them to a member of hotel staff. Problem sorted with the minimum of fuss.
I managed to get two rounds of buffet, trying a little bit of stuff I don't usually have. At this typpe of event I'll always try at least one thing new, My philosophy is that somebody else is paying and if I don't like it I can leave it and try something else. The seafood was actually very good. Sometimes the rewards don't seem to justify the effort in peeling and shelling. I might have to try and get mussels etc from the local supermarkets to see what they're like. I asked some Norwegians why the sausage was called 'Christmas Sausage'. Maybe it had some special ingredient that was traditional during the midwinter festival? Nobody knew?
Editing this blog in the text editor is actually a lot easier than in the blog website itself as the browser doesn't seem to support cut and paste very well. You can select everything okay but small segments of text is a real pain.
The dessert section wasn't too bad either, with lots of creamy, sticky puddings. I didn't find the cheese board until after it'd been moved to a new section. Not too bad. We were only allowed 1 small glass of brandy each?
After the majority of the food had been consumed the entertainment started. A competition between the tables was started by the piano dude. He'd start playing part of a well known song and we'd be asked to leap up and sing the chorus. Not from where he left off but only the chorus. It was quite entertaining actually. Good bit of ice breaking. Unfortunately I didn't get very many except the Abba and Dolly Parton? What does that say about me?
A few of the tables near the stage were cleared away as a dancefloor. A band was also setting up. Quite suddenly the band struck up and a singer was heard, but not seen on stage. As we all looked around the singer was in the middle of the tables. She was very good. As she got on stage the dancers appeared. One particular couple were really in step with each other. They must know and be comfortable with each other. Quite impressed with that.
I enjoyed the band. The guitarist seemed to enjoy his solos a lot. They were quite good with popular songs. This was until the keyboard player joined in a duet with the singer to sing the Eurythmics hit 'Sisters are doing it for themselves'. She sounded flat. Good time to make an exit I thought. It was about 2315hrs.
I managed to find the bus stop at the back of the hotel. There was already some snow on the ground. It was falling as fine flakes. Bus arrived right on time at 2338hrs. Bit shocked to find the bus to the station was going to be 50NOK, until I realised that it would also cover the train from Skoyen to Asker. Had to wait at Skoyen for about 20mins before the train arrived. Got back to the flat not long before 0030.
That's probably quite enough about last night. I didn't cover every single minute but almost.
Now on to today. Going to be a lot less I can assure you.
Woke up to see that there had been a light falling of snow during the night.
Unlike the UK this doesn't seem cause panic or the screaming suspension of life as we know it.
As I was preparing brunch I saw three snow ploughs, spread across the whole carriageway, head up the motorway in convoy.
Cooked quite a bit for brunch. 4 rashers of bacon (extra crispy), 2 pork sausages, beans, toast and a fried egg.
Usual Sunday activities today. Ironing the week's shirts, hoovering and general tidying. Once I get the energy levels back up that is.
A bus was due to pick us up at 1815 from the Asker transport hub. I started in Lancelots with a bottle of Bulmers. Hans-Herman turned up in a jacket, tie and a bag. Bag? To contain the shoes of course! Duh! I hoped he was a bit over dressed.
The bus was a bit late as it had tried to pick a non-existant crowd up from the office and then had to go round the houses a bit to get back to us.
More were picked up from Sandvika and other locations before ending up at the new hotel.
I'm always a bit dubious of a hotel which has the word 'Quality' at the beginning. Do they have to remind everybody all the time it's supposed to be of a certain quality? You don't see the Ritz, Claridges or The Dorchester doing it! Maybe it is the brand name and they aren't actually quality at all.
It turned out to be a very posh evening. Most people were in shirt, tie and jacket! Some very smart jackets. Always been a bit jealous of people who can carry that off. Felt decidedly under-dressed in a pair of jeans (freshly washed of course), collarless shirt and a smart jumper. The clunky practical footwear didn't help either. The few people I did know assured me it'd be okay. Oh well chin up and brash it out as always.
MarkL warned me that the arranged 0145 bus wouldn't be getting back to Asker until about 3am. Urmm, wasn't planning on staying out that bloody late.
As we came through the reception we were presented with a champagne glass of some bubbly stuff or apple jiuce for those non-drinkers. General chit chat in the reception area in front of the dining/dance room.
After they opened the doors it was a bit of a scramble to find a seat. I couldn't see a seating plan, which I thought a bit odd. How were they going to know where all the specific eaters were sitting? This was a non-issue as it turned out to be a buffet. I sat with a table full of couples. Feeling even more excluded now. I did make an effort to chat to a bloke I'd never seen before. The whole room was full of them so I'd need to start somewhere. I was joined by Tommy who's family were away on a holiday.
Why is the tea always gone? Changed the radio to Cerys Mathews on 6Music.
The compere, who sat at, and also played the piano, seemed to be a regular at WG events as he asked who'd been there at the summer event in Bygdoy. Oh dear I thought is this going to be my worst nightmare for a party, where we have to be sycophantic to a load of upper management while they gave speeches? Right at the start we got the SLB QHSE information about fire escapes and smoking policy from the hotel management.
There was enough to drink as long as you asked the serving staff for it. I started into some red wine. A Cona Sur Syrah.
The buffet was a scramble. They did try and stagger it a bit by saying which tables were going first etc. I am constantly amazed by people at these kinds of events. In the stack of plates two, on the top of large stacks, obviously hadn't been cleaned to same standard as the rest. Rather than take them both off and give them to serving staff to deal with so that people could access the plates beneath, people were just leaving them there and tutting! How does that bloody help? I leant through the scrum grabbed them both and delivered them to a member of hotel staff. Problem sorted with the minimum of fuss.
I managed to get two rounds of buffet, trying a little bit of stuff I don't usually have. At this typpe of event I'll always try at least one thing new, My philosophy is that somebody else is paying and if I don't like it I can leave it and try something else. The seafood was actually very good. Sometimes the rewards don't seem to justify the effort in peeling and shelling. I might have to try and get mussels etc from the local supermarkets to see what they're like. I asked some Norwegians why the sausage was called 'Christmas Sausage'. Maybe it had some special ingredient that was traditional during the midwinter festival? Nobody knew?
Editing this blog in the text editor is actually a lot easier than in the blog website itself as the browser doesn't seem to support cut and paste very well. You can select everything okay but small segments of text is a real pain.
The dessert section wasn't too bad either, with lots of creamy, sticky puddings. I didn't find the cheese board until after it'd been moved to a new section. Not too bad. We were only allowed 1 small glass of brandy each?
After the majority of the food had been consumed the entertainment started. A competition between the tables was started by the piano dude. He'd start playing part of a well known song and we'd be asked to leap up and sing the chorus. Not from where he left off but only the chorus. It was quite entertaining actually. Good bit of ice breaking. Unfortunately I didn't get very many except the Abba and Dolly Parton? What does that say about me?
A few of the tables near the stage were cleared away as a dancefloor. A band was also setting up. Quite suddenly the band struck up and a singer was heard, but not seen on stage. As we all looked around the singer was in the middle of the tables. She was very good. As she got on stage the dancers appeared. One particular couple were really in step with each other. They must know and be comfortable with each other. Quite impressed with that.
I enjoyed the band. The guitarist seemed to enjoy his solos a lot. They were quite good with popular songs. This was until the keyboard player joined in a duet with the singer to sing the Eurythmics hit 'Sisters are doing it for themselves'. She sounded flat. Good time to make an exit I thought. It was about 2315hrs.
I managed to find the bus stop at the back of the hotel. There was already some snow on the ground. It was falling as fine flakes. Bus arrived right on time at 2338hrs. Bit shocked to find the bus to the station was going to be 50NOK, until I realised that it would also cover the train from Skoyen to Asker. Had to wait at Skoyen for about 20mins before the train arrived. Got back to the flat not long before 0030.
That's probably quite enough about last night. I didn't cover every single minute but almost.
Now on to today. Going to be a lot less I can assure you.
Woke up to see that there had been a light falling of snow during the night.
Unlike the UK this doesn't seem cause panic or the screaming suspension of life as we know it.
As I was preparing brunch I saw three snow ploughs, spread across the whole carriageway, head up the motorway in convoy.
Cooked quite a bit for brunch. 4 rashers of bacon (extra crispy), 2 pork sausages, beans, toast and a fried egg.
Usual Sunday activities today. Ironing the week's shirts, hoovering and general tidying. Once I get the energy levels back up that is.
Chatted with Tracey-Anne on Skype this evening. Dad still has issues with Skype. Apparently it looks okay at his end but on my end he's 90deg out. Had speed issues with it as well to both.
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