How to become unpopular in one game…

Thursday involved playing for 3 different occasions - I think only 1 was actually part of the job, 1 think I volunteered for (though it may have indeed been part of the job) and the last 1 I was invited along to and as part of my current policy of saying “yes” I happily pottered along.

The day started at Dønnes Kirk with a class for some youngsters. At the staff meeting on Tuesday I had expressed interest in going along as I thought it might be a good test for my language skills. Sadly my language skills only extended to ”His name is Joseph” and “Her name is Mary” but it’s a start… However, I did manage to ask Helga (over the inevitable coffee) “where does the band play?” for the rehearsal in the evening so quite proud of myself for that,Trine was doing a presentation on the life of Jesus so I was able to play 3 hymns for her/them. Slightly unusual to be playing Away in a Manger in April but that was followed by a Palm Sunday hymn and then (presumably as I had no idea what the words were) a Good Friday or Easter hymn.

My next engagement was back down in Herøy where we were back at the Old Folks home for another service. In the morning I had bit of panic over the timing of the service which I needed to resolve. At the aforementioned staff meeting I had written down 1630 in my notes but when I was working on my “official” Norwegian course on Wednesday I coincidentally was learning times. In Norway, 4.15 and 4.45 are what we’d expect in Scotland - quarter past and quarter to but half 4 to the Norwegians is what we call half 3. I was quite proud of this new information that I had learned and fortunately there was plenty time to check. I thought this would be an excellent chance to show off my new found knowledge so when I got into the office I checked with Bård and long story short, he tells me it was neither and it was actually at 5.30. Bit late I thought but…. Then the minister came and we double checked and it was indeed at 1630 - all that panicking over nothing.

The services in the old folks’ homes are quite simple, I play a little piece before hand, a couple of hymns with a reading and a talk from the minister and then I tinkle a wee piece at the end. At the conclusion of the service we were offered kaffe and kake and who am I to say no…. There was also a lottery game that all the residents that were present + the staff, minister and I took part in. Embarrassingly I won 3 prizes - a bar of chocolate, a pack of chocolate biscuits and some hand soap.

This went on a bit longer than anticipated (modesty aside I was asked for an ”encore“) so alas I was running a bit late for band rehearsal up at Solfjellsjøen so had to tank up the road fairly sharpish. I arrived in time to take part in the Diane Warren medley (Nothing gonna stop us now), March of the Penguins and, a lot more fun, a James Bond medley. There is no vocalist so I get to play all the fun bits - the guitar theme at the start, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and Goldeneye. Good stuff :-)

Friday was another old folks’ service, this time in Solfjellsjøen. No lottery this time but still coffee and cake so all was well!

The people here are very kind to me - they have sorted out accommodation for me until I get settled down and get things sorted out properly. I’ve had to move out of my temporary house to move into a temporary temporary house. I was going to pop past Laila’s to drop off the keys to her house that I’m using but before I could she invited me around for coffee and my new favourite food - kanelsnurrer. I also met her grandson Kristian and after (possibly too many) kanelsnurrers I went for a short walk with Åsmund to try and burn off some calories. My new favourite drink is chilled cappuccino - the minister bought me one on Friday after the service and despite my initial reservation (as many of you will know I’m a latte man) it was delicious. Like melted chocolate ice-cream. Mmmm. Anyway…. I’m staying in the Dønna Guest House which is not open yet (the season starts in May) so I have the whole place to myself. It’s up beside Dønnes Kirk and I’m here for a week or so. Sadly there’s no service at Dønnes tomorrow as it would be the shortest walk I’d ever have to do for a service but tomorrow’s services are a bit further afield and I shall write about them in a future post.

The guest-house is owned by Jens whose best friend lives in Aberfeldy! He actually claimed he was from Aberfeldy when I first met him but I was quickly informed that he was pulling my leg.

You’ll see in one of the pictures there are various portraits up on the wall and enquiries have revealed that they were previous owners of the building/estate.