Interesting conundrum about history and dates

It has recently been reported in the newspaper that the second largest on-line encycolpedia in Norway, den Store Norsklexicon, has changed all dates labelled AD or BC  to Before or After our current calender's time.

To use AD or BC could be construed as basing history on a purely christian/puritan viewpoint.

It is an interesting point, but I am not sure whether before or after 'our' current time works either. Where does that leave Bhuddists or Shinto believers? Is their 'time' not good enough for 'our' time. It still bases the reckoning of time on the Christian idea of pre and post the Christian Era.

Apparently it was a monk in the 6th century, Dionysius Exigius who first came up with the idea of using Christ's birth as the beginning of a new era, and dating historical events from that time. Year 0, however, does not exist, and Jesus was supposedly born during the reign of King Herod who died in 4 BC, which is really confusing! However, since it was the monastery's and monks who had the time and education to record historical events, everything is written from the viewpoint of the new (Christian) era as a dating benchmark.

Amazing the conundrums we set ourselves to be so politically correct!!

Not yet November and snow has caused a little chaos!

As the picture shows, ignoring warnings from the weatherman that snow is on the way, and NOT changing your summer tyres to winter tyres can be hazardous!

It doesn't take much to get out of control when the road is like a slush puppy! Quite how the recovery truck is going to tow it off the road divider would be interesting to watch! I imagine there will be more damage done to the underside before it can be rocked free - ouch! (Picture taken from bt.no website).

That was last night, and this morning we woke up to a pretty view from our balcony - looks like icing sugar! By the way that was at 9.15 this morning! The sun comes up behind us and you can just see the reflection on the water of Store Lundegaardsvatten.



Looks like we have a cold weekend in store!

Fish, fish, fish!

As you can imagine, with its long coastline the Norwegians eat alot of fish.  Cod, ling, halibut, monkfish, mackerel and herring, trout and eel - all kinds of fish are caught here. Fish farms are a big thing here. So far it is salmon that is the main harvest, althugh there is some sea trout too. 

Although farmed salmon is not as good as wild salmon (it has a lower omega 3-7 content and is much more fatty) the ease of farming has meant it can be produced fairly cheaply and has led to a boom in exports. Surprisingly enough that boom has been led by a demand not for fish fillets for use in cooked dishes, but for raw salmon to be used in sushi or sashimi.

Even Japan, the mecca of raw fish production and consumption, is importing tons of Norwegian salmon for use in sushi bars and restaurants all over the country!  Amazing since in the 1970's no Japanese sushi chef had ever heard of salmon as an ingredient for the Japanese national dish.

Now, over half the salmon exported from Norway is eaten raw! And it is close to replacing tuna as the main sushi fish ingredient.

So it appears the Norwegians have cornered the market on salmon. What next? Well cod is now on the menu. Cod cannot be farmed as easily, but there is plenty of it in the icy cold waters around Lofoten and north Norway. So, sensing another new market opportunity, Norway is now promoting cod as the new sushi fish.  I wonder though how successful that will be?  Cod has little taste or texture, which is what makes it so good in sauces and pies.

One amazing thing - Norwegians eat alot of sushi here at home too (mainly salmon, and maki rolls!). Sushi restaurants are springing up everywhere, offering take away or eat in experiences. Many of the restaurants used to be small take-aways offering burgers and pizza (often run by Vietnamese families). Switching to sushi and sashimi apparently has been good business for many of them, and they save money too as there is much less cooking involved

Raw fish is becoming big business here!

Beer Wars!

Living in Norway you soon learn that there is quite alot of rivalry between the eastern side and western side of the country, and in some cases the twain will never meet!

NSB (the Norwegian railway company) has recently released figures showing that more people/tourists are taking the picturesque rail route from Oslo in the east to Bergen in the west via Finse. The journey takes about 8 hours, although many break their joirney at Finse the highest station on the entire Norwegian railway system, at 1,222 m, in order to experience the wonderful scenery.

There are no roads at Finse, and hiking, cycling, skiing etc. are the activities of choice there. George Lucas filmed scenes here for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back (the planet Hothi), and Scott of the Antarctic trained here.

Back to the train though. On board the only beer served is danish Carlsberg and Ringnes from Oslo. Bergen's well-known beer Hansa does not get a look in on the Bergen line! Obviously Hansa are none to happy with the situation, and there seems little explanation from NSB as to why they offer a 'foreign' beer rather than a Norwegian one.

Of course, Bergen does return the favour in spades. Ringnes is just not available in most of the pubs and bars here. No it's Hansa all the way and as a close second - yes you've guessed it Carlsberg!

Looks like Carlsberg is doing very well out of the east/west rivalry!

Cost of living is just so high here ...

Well, the government revealed its budget for next year yesterday, and hidden in all the paper and rhetoric was an interesting increase in customs duty on imported meat and cheese.

I've long known about the protectionist attitude Norwegians have towards their farmers, who because of the climate and high cost of living produce extremely expensive food!! However, I was shocked to read this. For example, beef, which used to get customs duty of just under £20 per kilo slapped on it at the border will now be subject to a wapping 344% duty. That means a £10 kilo of beef will actually cost an importer nearly £35 per kilo and that is before it has got to the shops!

Lamb will have a huge 429% duty laid on it and cheese will get a 277% duty charged (although some more popular imported cheese will stay at the 'lower' rate paying a fixed rate of NOK 26.15 per kilo instead.

That is so protectionist it is unbelievable. With imports price fixed out of the market there is no competition to the Norwegian meat and cheese producers, so they can basically charge whatever they like (although I guess common sense would stop them from charging more than imported meat and cheese - suppose it depends on how greedy everyone is in the producer/seller food chain).

This time the EU can do nothing about it, as Norway is perfectly within its rights apparently according to the WTO trade agreement made in 1995. So with 70% of all food imports coming.from the EU, they are understandably a little upset. Particularly in the current economic climate!

One thing is that Norway has decided not to slap dity on imports from developing countries, which apparently includes Argentina - they have good beef there I hear!

Sweets, crisps and a new law proposal!

Most Norwegians live within easy walking or driving distance of fantastic scenery whether it be coastline or mountainside. It s perhaps not unusual then that according to Statistics Norway quite a large percentage of the Norwegian population of all ages goes hunting, fishing, skiing, sbowboarding, biking, running or hiking either regularly or at least once a year.

I was surprised then to read today that the Government is so afraid of the increase in obesity in Norwegian children that it wants to ban the advertising of sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks, crisps, ready meals such as pizzas and even drinking yoghurts (too much sugar). The ban would predominantly focus on advertising slots during children's TV programmes, but since the Government defines a child now as anyone under 18, it really means TV advertising would be banned completely.

For one, it is rare to see an obese Noregian child, and for another would a ban really change people's eating habits? I suppose if you don't know about Coca Cola, you may not go and buy it in a shop. Maybe some parents succumb to the pester power of their children when they go shopping, I don't know. But somehow I doubt that a ban on advertising would immediately lead to those who are overweight shedding the kilos!

The sweets and crisps are still going to be on sale - uness of course the Government is thinking of putting all unhealthy foods into a 'Crap food Shop' specially set up and probably located next door to the 'Wine Monopoly Store' (the only place where Norwegians can buy wine, spirits and strong beers and cider - remember Norwegians have a love/hate relationship with alcohol!).

The next step would be to ban children from buying these terrible addictive products so you would have to show ID to proove you were over 18 before you could go in to the store. Imagine it, an 18 year old being arrested and fined for supplying a minor with a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps!

Ah well, it will probably never happen, mainly because such a law would discriminate against so many Norwegian products and Norwegian businesses, oh and probably a few EU laws as well!

One of those days ...

Hmm, autumn is here. Have just suffered a wet weekend and now Monday seems to be more of the same! Now you remember why you have 2 sets of wet weather gear in he cupboard - 1 drying whilst you put the other on to go shopping!

All this rain means hydro electricity is really cheap here - well it would be if the EU allowed Norway to sell at the rate it wants too. Due to EU competition laws that would be seen to be an unfair advantage for the rest of the Union, so we still have to pay the highly inflated tariffs imposed on all countries within the EU - and yes, you are right Norway is not even a member!

OK on with the Souwester and wellington boots - am snorkelling off to town!