Negotiation, Norway and Winter Tyres

Choices have been made and discussions are in progress. It looks likely at this stage that I’ll be in Finland for longer than initially planed. We’re at an agreement internally and it just needs to be confirmed with Baltic.

It took a little longer to get there after a night in Helsinki, but it was great to get away from Finland for the weekend and see some very contrasting landscapes. Finland is flat, but Norway didn’t seem to have a flat surface in the place, except maybe the runway we landed on. An advantage to my flight being delayed meant that I arrived in daylight as opposed to after midnight, this made making my way from Ålesund airport out to Hareid much more pleasant and easier. Oli meet me at Hareid and we then drove back over to Ulsteinvik, where he dropped me at his place and went back to work. I spent the afternoon wandering up the hill to check out the view and then met Oli back out at work. We had a pretty chilled evening with some beers and pizza, and general catching up.

On the Saturday we drove out to Runde, we picked up one of Oli’s Friends (Anne) and Tim (Another AMC graduate whom I met in Italy last year) who was staying with Anne for the weekend. Runde is a little island further from the mainland than Ulstien. We crossed at least 5 or six islands to get out there. The bridges varied in complexity, but were mostly single lane with a passing lane at the top. Oli commented that they have too much money in the area, spending lots to build bridges and tunnels to connect small numbers of people with smaller numbers of people. I think it was less than 15 people live on Runde throughout the year (it’s a holiday spot) but there is a bridge that cost god knows how much to get there. We walked up to the top of the island in the howling wind. We were very glad that the wind wasn’t blowing the other direction, as the gusts easily made you lose your balance. In Summer apparently there are birds nested up the top, but they had all already headed south. The rain set in on our way back.

In the evening we went out from some drinks and also caught up with Noel (another AMC graduate). It was quite odd sitting in this small town bar on the coast of Norway with 4 guys who had all studied in Launceston.

Sunday saw patches of clear skies but none big enough to get out in and do anything. We spent the day watching repetitive TV and movies.

On Monday morning I got a lift back to the Ferry at Hareid from Anne with Tim. Tim and I spent a while walking through Ålesund in the rain trying to find some breakfast. I then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon exploring, mostly in the rain which did eventually stop.

On Tuesday after my very late flight in I was tired but happy to have had the long weekend. I was surprised when Eurpocar came and collected the Polo and then returned it with Winter Tyres. They are a bit noisy but I’m thankful for them.