The Leirdal Blog

Yesterday the first snow this winter arrived in Oslo. As usual people think they will get away a few more days without switching to winter tires, when they suddenly realise that they are wrong. The right lane almost did not move at all.

Cloudberry is the English name for "Multe". This one of the names where I think the English name is a lot better than the Norwegian one. I guess the Norwegian name is old and have a lot of history back to the Old Norse language, but just read the English name. Cloud... berry...

The name says it all, they are found in the clouds.

When visiting my family this summer I also managed to pick a few cloudberries up in the mountains above my home village. And among the picking I also managed to attempt a few photographs of berries with the mountains and sky in the background. It didn't turn out that magnificent, but I have to experiment in order to get better.

The Norwegian rock group Madrugada lost one of their key members, Robert Burås, last year. He contributed heavily on their last album, released a few months after his death. They have now decided that they do not want to continue as Madrugada any longer. According to the media of course. So if you are a fan, like me, this year might be the last chance to experience one of the greatest bands to come from Norway.

I recently attended a performance of theirs earlier this month in Trondheim. If you get a chance, check out their performance schedule and enjoy a great band and their music.

In Oslo, outside the National theatre railway station.

There has been a a lot of blogging and pictures from the new Opera in Oslo on several blogs and sites all over the world. Here comes another one. I am not sure if this is better than other pictures, but I felt it was kind of interesting.

Another interesting thing I experienced when visiting the new Opera building is that the infrastructure leading up to the Opera is not completely finished yet. Among else the elevator down from the walkway crossing the motor-way was not working, making it kind of difficult for disabled people to access the building. In addition to this there was no easy way to access the area by bike.

So this seems to be the new cycle lane from the Opera and back across the motor-way.

As I've told earlier, I recently visited Stockholm. While we were there we had a walk along one of the parks there and we spotted this strange action. A lot of Barnacle geese came swimming hurriedly passed us. They were in a great rush obviously, as they used both wings and feet to get maximum speed. I managed to grab a few pics, but I had to wonder what had caused them to behave so strangely. But I only had to turn my head to discover the culprit. Please read the full post to see the last image showing the big bad boy.

Me: Are you that Evert Taube (in Swedish) guy?

Evert Taube: ... Y..yees?

Me: Did you write "Flickan i Havanna" ?

Evert Taube: ... Yes?

Me: Did you write "Så länge skutan kan gå"?

Evert Taube: Yes?

Me: Did you write "Så skimrande var aldrig havet"?

Evert Taube: Yes...

Me: I don't like those songs, or that kind of music.... (turns away and walks)

Evert Taube: ....

I've just spent the weekend in Stockholm together with my girlfriend. A nice city to visit as long as the sun is shining and the weather is warm. And luckily for us, that was the case this weekend. Among else we went for a long walk trough the Djurgården park. A nice park with a lot of birds. Several pictures will soon follow