2015 is coming to and end and it’s been another good year. There are already a long series of posts from my 2015 African Adventure but I’ve had a few more good times.
2015 started out with a long road trip instead of a short haul flight. For the first time that I can remember we had lightning and thunder in January. We hardly get any in the summertime so this was a rare occasion. The lightning managed to strike at my local airport and destroy important equipment,. This lead to the complete shut down of the airport.
So I got the option to wait three days for the next flight or take the night bus to Oslo. I needed to get back south and got a nine hour trip on the bus instead of a hour long flight.
And going through the mountains in the winter time can be very interesting.
Not the best start.
Later in January we did a trip to Kvitfjell with people for work. This was the fist time I got to meet most of my new colleagues since I joined the company the year before. We rented a great big cabin, made some nice food and those who enjoy skiing did so. I’m not into skiing at all, but I’m always ready for some after ski party.
I also got to try driving a snowmobile for the first time in my life, and we had a couple of fun hours racing each other on a track not far from where we stayed.
In the end on March I left on my 2015 African Adventure which has to be the highlight of the year. I had a wonderful time making new friends and meeting back up with a old one while getting a load of new great memories of Africa. Before doing my first trip to Africa back in 2010 I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. I guess there was something there to fall in love with and I did so. I’m hoping to be able to make more trips there later.
When I got back I was just in time for one of my best friends bachelorette party. We got to have a great time before handing her over to her wife to be in the wedding a few weeks later.
At the end of the month we had another work trip. This time to Homborsund Lighthouse for two days of planning the autumns activity and for some fun.
Mai was a very busy month. With my friends wedding, our work trip and the I went to the annual Pink Caravan meet in Sweden.
This year the rain and the cold made the Pink Caravan meet a memorable trip, not all in a good sense. We still had fun and I met some old friends and got some new. But it’s always better being outside when the sun is out.
Since I went to Africa for Easter I didn’t really do a lot of stuff in the summer month. I went to Geilo for a summer trip with Sørkedalen Brass where I play. It was just a weekend but a very enjoyable one. We were lucky with the weather which is always a gamble when travelling in Norway.
When we got to August I did a similar trip to Töcksfors just across the border in Sweden. We try to have a start up weekend for the wind band I play in every August. Just to get everyone together again after the summer holidays and to set the music for the coming season. I guess the social part is the most important aspect of it.
The autumn is always the longest part of the year, few days off and often a lot to do. Even so I managed to do a bit of travelling.
I went to a October fest in Calella, Spain, with Sofienberg Musikkorps. This is the second time we have travelled to the festival and it’s great. We spent a long weekend there where we played two concerts and took part in a parade. Just getting to a sunny reasonable warm place in the end of September is a good thing, and where there is beer it’s even better.
In November I got called up to do a rather different trip. Due to the extreme increase of refugees coming to Norway the facilities to house and process the people coming across the border was overwhelmed. This was especially true for the northern parts. Temporary facilities were generated by using the school gym and tents, but with winter on it’s way it wasn’t a good solution. I’m part of the Norwegian Civil Defence which is an organization that’s based on conscription. We are tasked with lending support to police, fire and medical services when there are large incidents which need additional manpower. Most of the time we do stuff like fighting forest fires, preventing floods and searching for people who are lost.
This time we were sent north to Kirkenes, way up in the north eastern part of Norway, to help get a new camp up and running. I’ve never been that far north east before and even if we worked very long hours the few days we spent there we got to see a bit of the surroundings.
The whole thing of refugees travelling for so long through Russia to get to Norway is amazing. Unfortunately a lot of the people crossing the border at that point came from places that aren’t eligible to be considered refugees and these had to be shipped back to their country of origin. Adding even more pressure to on the system. But for me it was a trip well worth it, and with me I had others who did a great job. Despite the fact that the pay is bad and it really never fits into once daily life.
It’s been quite a year and now I’m back at my parents place where we have had a nice Christmas celebration and a few relaxing days before 2016 comes with more opportunities.
Hope you all had a great 2015.
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