Oslo

So im sat in a pub (a real pub, not a fancy schmancy bar) with a pint of real beer, sat next to Tami, watching sheffield united on a wide screen tv, and it hits me...hang on...how the hell did i get here??? queue wobbly screen and flashback mode...

...i went to Oslo for a job interview...and let me tell you, thats one hell of a journey. 2 hours from niigata to tokyo, 1 hour to the airport where i stayed overnight, check in 3 hours before the flight, 11 hours on the oldest klm 747 in existence (i swear i saw the pilot getting out and turn the propellers at the front by hand), 5 hours killing time in amsterdams schiphol airport (not the worst airport to spend 5 hours to be fair), 2 hours flight to oslo, then 30 mins on a train to the city, the a taxi to my hotel...well, i say taxi to the hotel, i came out of the station in oslo and as it was past midnight and i was extremely tired and my interview was at 10:00am the following morning and jumped in a taxi and told him the name of my hotel, the taxi driver tells me that its not that far to my hotel...but as im tired and dont want to start wandering around trying to find it, i tell him its ok and to just get me there. so we pull out of the station, turn left up the street (which has a barrier down the middle) for about 200 yards, do a u-turn at the lights, then go for another 200 yards then he stops and points at my hotel...which is actually literally...and i mean absolutely literally across the road from the station, its literally on the other side of the road, just the width of a 4 lane road away. bugger. double bugger as he charges me £12 to take me across the street...am too tired to argue (and a little embarassed)

i make it through a 4 1/2 hour presentation and interview and get back to town. by this point im very tired but decide to go for a walk while its still light. walked around the beautiful city of oslo for a couple of hours, and man alive, its cold. i took my hand out of my gloves to take a photo and my hand literally nearly froze, it was -9 celcius when i landed, and about -4 on the friday. i go back to the hotel to sleep, and sleep for 2 hours and nearly dont wake up at all, but managed to drag myself out into oslo for dinner and a beer. they actually sell english newspapers in oslo, so i sit in a pub with a beer and the paper...bliss!

saturday morning i go to the airport to pick up tami, who needs a weekend away from london and who thankfully for me volunteered to keep my company for the weekend, as its only 2 hours flight from heathrow.

we spend a lovely afternoon walking around a snowy, pretty and freezing oslo. now, when i lived in kuala lumpur, the first time she came out to visit, that very first night, sheffield united were playing arsenal in the fa cup (and we are never never on tv!)...so on her first night i did the gentlemanly thing and took her to the game! (well....) so when we saw a pub in oslo that was showing sheffield united v liverpool live on tv...well...god bless her for rolling her eyes in mock distain and dragging me inside. so im sat ina pub next to her in oslo watchin my team...it suddenly struck me how bizarre it all seemed. japan seemed so far away at that point, and was like i was back in england again. anyway, me and my brother are confirmed jinx's, everytime we go to a game together we lose...so when me and tam get in the pub (20 mins after kick-off) its 0-0...by the time i go to the bar and sit down, we're losing 2-0...the parkes jinx strikes again! well, we actually end up losing 4-0..enough said. the pub was predictably packed with norwegian liverpool supporters (liverpool are very famous worldwide)..and no one ever supports sheff utd unless their from sheffield. well, on the screen in the norwegian studio, they had a norwegian liverpool fan, and from somewhere theyd managed to find a norwegian sheff utd fan!! his name was Lars...at that moment i loved lars! i must find him if i move there! had no idea what he was saying but god bless him (it has since occurred to me that he could have just been part of the prodcution crew as they couldnt find a norwegian sheff utd fan..but..)

after the game we wandered to the royal palace (i think) where they had a few ice sculptures lit up in blue which was nice. there was some kind of 'event' there, loads of people outside the palace and a stage with a big brass band all facing the palace balcony, there were tv cameras and all sorts...funniest thing, we were all freezing, waiting. finally, the conductor rose, tapped his baton and all of the musicians got ready to play, he then began conducting, all the musicians took a big breath in and started to play...thing is...i couldnt hear anything, i thought maybe a flute had started and i couldnt hear it...but no, they were all 'playing', even the drummers...but not a sound, not a sausage...then we heard a faint backing track...they were miming! but the tv cameras were all filming it was just hilarious to watch a full brass band including percussion...miming! we left for dinner. at dinner, we did eventually hear them and fireworks going off later that night.

now, one important thng about oslo. IT IS SO FECKING EXPENSIVE!! a pint of beer costs over £6! a cheap bottle of house wine cost £25!! its such an expensive place, basic cars (peugeot 207) costs around £60,000, everything is just wildley expensive, much much more expensive than tokyo or london...jeez, £6 a pint! it all comes down to the fact that there are only 6 million inhabitants in norway, and as its a huge country (3000km in length) then the infrastructure is expensive, so it has to be paid for in high taxes

i left sunday morning for the airport. now, i had a connection in schiphol again, but this time i had an hour between landing from oslo to taking off to tokyo...cutting it fine by any standards...but when i saw the 'runway' was just a blanket of snow...i froze (deliberate)...we took off 40 mins late as they had to de-ice the plane as well as the runway. the bad thing about klm, is that a friend of mine's mum flew from uk to tokyo via schiphol and missed her connecting flight as her klm inwards flight was late, and they wouldnt refund her or put her on another flight, she had to pay again for a new ticket! (never fly klm!...or buy anything Sony...but thats another story) so i was a tad panciky...well, we landed 15 mins late, so all is ok i thought, until i got to the airport, and my gate was the opposite end of the terminal, i literally ran like a madman with all my bags through schiphol, and just just made it to my gate as they were closing...sooooo relieved!

got back on monday lunchtime, and straight to the office, just as tam was getting into work straight from oslo...and she had an extra day there!

not actually got jetlag at all at the mo, dont think my body actually left japan time, and was back before it re-adjusted.

off to hong kong next week for a final interview with another company....decisions to be made methinks... i certainly love oslo though, such a beautiful place, and has world class snowboard slopes very very close, just a 30 min train ride from the centre of oslo...lillihammer is not far away also. such a beautiful place, and then people seem lovely...

...watch this space.

it also emerges (yesterday) that there is a glint of hope that we may stay open in japan...plus i have a phone interview for a job with toyota in brussels next week...too many choices!!! aarrgghh!!