A quick update..

The weather has been fairly grim for most of the last week so alas I haven’t been able to go any walks for a wee while - or at least that‘s the excuse I’m sticking with.

It transpires (or at least seems to me) that there are 2 sorts of “services” that we do at the old folks’ home - one type is a communion service and the other is more of a social occasion. At this second one there is mixture of singing hymns and chats with the priest (and of course the very welcome coffee afterwards). As part or his “chat”, Svein, the current priest, introduced me and a wee round of applause was the result. Alas this was not because of any prowess at the piano or such like but because I came from the same place as Peter Dass’ father. The British equivalent would be along the lines of being congratulated for coming from the same place as Shakespeare’s father. Still, any applause is much appreciated - too often have I stood at the conclusion of a piece in a concert desperately praying for some sort of reaction.

On Sunday I took part in a pilgrimage with the children who are being confirmed in Dønnes later this week. We met at the top of Donnesfjell and worked our way down. At one point, one of the girls was given a fright by a spider and I was able to impress with my “fuglen spiser edderkoppen” (the bird is eating the spider) which I have been waiting to use in conversation for months.

May 17th was Norway Day and after reading about it in the Arctic Organist’s blog I had been looking forward to. The day before I had been in the local Coop and purchased a rather attractive Norway candle and it was lovely seeing all the flags fluttering the breeze as I drove round the island.

A lot of my stuff is still in boxes in Stavseng but as I knew everybody would be dressed up v smartly and/or in traditional garb I thought I’d make the effort and get out my smartest suit. Much relief when I discovered that despite all the kafe og kake that braces were still required. Though maybe not quite as much as they had been in the past. Alas not a scooby where the braces were so there was a certain amount of wandering round with one hand in pocket just in case I felt the waistband working its way lower.

There were 2 services - one in Nordvik and the other in Herøy. I didn’t actually have much to do - there were wind bands playing at both so my contribution was very minimal. Classy obviously, but still minimal. I was very worried about getting stuck behind parades or such like so had agreed with the priest that I would nip away after I had finished my contribution at the first service. I didn’t so ended up being far too early at the next service but better far too early than a little too late. Being stuck in the church I didn’t get a chance to see the parades but certainly heard the drums. After the service we all (and I suspect it was almost all the inhabitants!) adjourned to the school hall where refreshments were served and then we were entertained by the entire school singing what I gather was a medley of traditional Norwegian songs - most dressed in traditional outfits and waving flags. Wonderful stuff.

After the singing and the speeches, Trine and Svein very kindly invited me back for a lovely lunch of salmon and some things that I believe are referred to as “vegetables”.

As with a lot of other groups - we’re coming to the end of the musical season so it’s the big build up to the end of season concerts.

The first concert looming is Dønnahorn which is one Saturday 28th. There aren’t really any “proper” keyboard parts for most of the pieces so I’m mainly playing tuned percussion parts - marimba/ xylophone/ vibes etc. Due to my prowess on these i have also been promoted to real percussion as well - in one of pieces I’m playing vibroslap and bongos. It was a real vibroslap while I found the note (C) on the keyboard that sounded like a bongo. Due to needing the finger for the bongo I was hitting the vibroslap on my knee which was pretty sore by the end of the night. Research followed this week and I discovered that Bb was vibroslap so no sore knee this week!

The Kammerchor are giving a concert this Saturday (21st) but I’m unable to attend as I have 2 services to play for. One of them is a baptism for a Romanian family and in an excellent twist they don’t speak Norwegian so the entire service will be in English. This is a development that should only be encouraged!

The Kammerchor end of season concert is in June and will take place in Dønneskirk at 11pm at night - v excited about this. Slightly less excited about having to memorise a Norwegian song though…. struggle enough to learn stuff in my own language.

Amother venture which I’ve agreed to help out is “Operapub” which is pretty much what is says on the tin. As part of a Herøy day, a group of singers take opera music to the pub which should be an interesting experience :-)

My assimilation into Norwegian life continues - now have a Norwegian phone number. On the downside, I think switching Sims has knackered my online banking so fun and games…. everything is v inter connected here so because of these problems I can’t sort out things like the phone bill, the car etc. But as I alway say, hey ho - it’ll get sorted.