NEW SOFA?

As Dolly left for basketball practice Thursday night, I figured I should seize the opportunity of another 'stunt buy'!

I had found a rather nice used couch at finn.no which seemed a very good buy, that I figured would fit nicely in the guest bedroom/library/office of our new apartment. Dolly had seen a picture of it, and thought it looked good. But the text said it was purple/blue, and Dolly would not accept buying a purple sofa. I have noticed that sometimes purple appears more blue in digital pictures, so I was concerned. But I took a chance.

I kindly asked our landlord Knut to help me pick it up with his humongous American van (the wheels were so elastic I felt very woozy-sick afterwards). Fortunately, the couch was more blue than purple, and with the right decoration pillows I thought it would fit right into the imagined style of our new room.

We brought it back home, along with a nice CD shelf the seller wanted to get rid of for free, and placed it in the living room. When Dolly came home, she exclaimed "What's this!" She had spotted the CD shelf. A moment later she said "Oh you got it?!" "Yes, did I get it right?" I wanted her to confirm, which she did, and here it is:




On the right you can see a slice of the CD shelf as well. Dolly's objection to that was "but we don't have any CD's!" Which of course is true...

Though relatively successful, we agreed that there would be no more of these stunt buys on my part! We are currently in the exciting process of selecting furniture for our new apartment, together...

NEW APARTMENT?

While my wife Dolly was on a week-long expedition on a fishing boat in the North Sea a couple of weeks ago, I took the liberty to buy us a new apartment. Means of communication were lacking, at least until Dolly discovered a satellite phone on day 5, when she finally got a hold of me.

"I have some big news," I told her, and she eagerly responded: "Liverpool beat Chelsea in the semi-finals!" "Yeah!" I said, and she was excited and said she had been wondering how the game had gone. She seemed to have forgotten about the showing I went to, however, and I had to remind her of it. "So did it get sold?" she asked. "Yes," I said in a normal, calm voice. "So what did it go for?" she wanted to know. I told her the final price.

Before this showing we had been to about 20 others, and in about 5 bidding rounds in which we lost out. We had become so accustomed to being let down after being excited, and she didn't expect anything different from this showing. Especially not since she wasn't there to see it.

"So did you bid?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. Silence. I then proclaimed: "Dolly, we got it!" Prolonged silence.

"What, you bought it? You are kidding" she (m)uttered with a soft, confused voice, with the sense of paralyzing disbelief one would feel when an exam grade turns out three times lower than expected. "Yes, we have an apartment!" I proclaimed. We lost the satellite connection.

For three days I knew this, while Dolly knew nothing. It was a strange situation, and I couldn't wait to tell her.

Moments later she called me up again, still confused, but now sounding a little more hopeful. It didn't take long before she actually realized what had happened and now the conversation turned quite cheerful. It was as though she had first received the poor exam result of someone else, and then found out that her grade indeed was a top grade!

When she returned from the North Sea, she told me she hadn't slept that following night - her thoughts of a new apartment were rocking like her boat in the heavy seas.

I must admit that my 'stunt' was a little less risky than it may appear (many have commented on my 'bravery', thank you very much). We had both looked at pictures of this apartment online before Dolly left for the expedition, and Dolly thought we should go for this one, provided the price was right. I fought off the competitor bidders to arrive at a reasonable price, and now everyone is happy!

We've struck gold, knock on wood!

FOWLER SCORES THE WINNER ON HIS B-DAY!

Here's a happy fellow, after scoring the only goal that gave Liverpool the win over Bolton today.

I have been an enthusiastic supporter of Liverpool Football Club since I was nine years old. Robbie Fowler (picture) is one of Liverpool's all-time top goalscorers and was one of my heroes in my teens. I had my bedroom walls filled with posters of him (and this impressed Dolly when she first came to Norway). In 2001, he was sold to another club, but he never settled. His heart was always at Liverpool, and the fans loved him more than any player.

Then, in January this year, he made a sensational return to Liverpool, coming from Manchester City on a free transfer. He was fighting the tears during his first interview, and the manager had never before seen a player so happy to sign a contract!

Since January he has scored several goals already, and helped Liverpool to a great season. Last week Liverpool beat Chelsea FC 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-finals, so we (Dolly has also become a great supporter) are looking forward to the final in this world-famous football (soccer) cup!

Chelsea have now won the Premier League (English top division) two years in a row, after a Russian billionaire bought the club and poured unlimited money into it. Liverpool are in third position in the league table, with Manchester United second. Next season Liverpool have ambitions to win the Premier League for the first time in 17 years! But Liverpool FC does have the most league titles in the history of English football (18). We are looking forward to an exciting new season in August (we usually go to The Scotsman Pub to watch every game), but also to the World Cup this summer (I have signed up for Chinese online streaming television, tvkoo, where games will be shown). Because English football has been and is so popular in Norway, many Norwegians have the English national team as their favourite national team. Liverpool's Captain Steven Gerrard, one of the world's best players, will play for England and we will cheer them on in the hope of winning the World Cup again (last time was 1966).

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

Blog is short for "web log". So welcome to my log on the web!

My wife, Dolly, has her own blog. My ambition is to live up to her excellent blogging standards, and to complement her many interesting stories and perspectives!

I hope you will stop by every now and then!

Please don't hesitate to leave comments!