Longyearbyen - In the Dark

This is my hotel

The main drag - Sunday morning - no cruise ships for 4 months

This is what it looks like in the spring

Stirchley co-op supermarket does not have a polar bear in the window!

Hotel reception

First choose your dogs...

There is a short movie here (91 husky dogs going mad "please choose me!")- it won't show in facebook - you have to click through to the blog - and TURN THE SOUND UP!

My excellent dog sledding was arranged and provided by Christina at Basecamp Explorer Spitzbergen.  Highly recommended

A little doggie-snack for afters

And the sun set in the South...

From Olso at 10:00AM

To Tromsø midday

and Longyearbyen at two in the afternoon:

(its movie and won't show in facebook)

A little trip to Longyearbyen (Flight North)

Looking chilly in Oslo and I have to walk to my...

...Hotel

At last a sensible breakfast "thing that keeps things hot" - a glass window so you can see if what is inside still looks appetizing, hinged so you can open it and self-serve with one hand (the other holds your plate) and a drip ring so the condensation does not end up on the table top. 

Covered walkway back to the terminal

oops - it is warmer in Longyearbyen (78N) than in Bewdley (text from my neighbour says minus 17)

Flying "off the map" - this is my GPS struggling as we go further north

Welcome to Svalbard! (It is two o'clock in the afternoon)

No information on Alcohol* and no baggage

*it is rationed for residents - due to having been a mining outpost where there was very little to do on the weekend but drink and look out into the dark and then drink some more.

How Much?

At Homebase Loctite Super-Glue is £1330 per kg

How does this compare?

Smoked Salmon: £32 thecornishfishmonger.co.uk
2010 Maserati GranTurismo:  £41 www.motortrend.com
Organic Aberdeen Angus Fillet Steak: £52 www.rhug.co.uk
Black Winter Truffles, Grade A: £1,060 www.trufflehunter.co.uk
Loctite Superglue: £1,330 
Royal Beluga Caviar:  £3,880 www.londonfinefoods.co.uk
Gold: £29,430.00 www.taxfreegold.co.uk
Diamond (round, colour I, clarity VS2): £8,064,516 www.pricescope.com

So between Black Winter Truffles and Royal Beluga Caviar... hmmmm

First out of the hat again

Russ was in Ghana and so Peter finessed up a recipe...

and like last year it was mine again

Last Night in Oława

 The hotel bought me a little "leaving gift"

and the owner made me a very special Polish dish - the sort that takes HOURS to cook and therefore can never be found in restaurants and cafes.

We only had "spray" cream and no instructions - so the Irish Coffee did not work too well.

I beat the snow out of Wroclaw but not EMA - those on the Liverpool flight were trapped

Snow Chaos in Poland

The Poles change over to Winter tyres - problem is that they still drive like it is summer - first snow of the season - three accidents seen on the way to work plus several near misses...  The best bit was someone impatient decided to overtake the snow plough!

Prang #1

In a full blizzard we picked up a man who was walking to the motorway junction (10km) - he had been to Olawa for his sister and brothers funeral - killed in a road smash, his step dad would not lend him the money to get to where his new job was starting - so he was walking and hitching 200km... in a full blizzard

5 seconds later this rear wheel drive BMW lost it and span, recovered and  - one minute later it started to swerve as the driver leant over to grab a bag from the back seat, extract a phone and answer a call - at all at 60kph

prang #2

The factory

There is a ginger cat in my tree

ahhh... Ginger had noticed that the little birdies use the tree as a staging post...

The Marathon is over...

For the past six months my home away from home has been Hotel Jakub Sobieski in Olawa, Poland.  I had to work a Polish bank holiday and after a hard 14 hours in the factory I think I deserved a wee drinkie or two...

From left to right...

Vodka Bols, Advocaat (yuuuk!!!!), Chivas Regal 18 y/o (nothing special),
Żubrówka and Wodka Żołądkowa gorzka (very nice)
The ladies working the night shift (the hotel only employs female staff) found this most entertaining... after drink #5 "are you sure you are alright???"
 ==================

This completes my marathon attempt to drink the entire hotel bar (excluding beer and wine that is).  For my records only...

1 Metaxa

2 Camus VS

3 Chivas 12

4 Grants

5 Grants 12

6 Grants 18

7 Ballantine Finest

8 Ballantines 12

9 Ballantines 17

10 Jim Beam

11 Jack Daniels

12 Johnnie Walker Black Label

13 Hennessey

14 Seagrams Gin

15 Glenfiddich 12

16 Glenfiddich 15

17 Glenfiddich 18

18 Wyborova

19 Camus Josephine

20 Johnnie Walker Red Label

21 Baileys Original

22 Baileys Caramel

23 Bacardi Rum

24 Baileys Coffee

25 Jagermeister

26 Peppermint Bols

27 Vodka Palace

28 Campari

29 Blue Bols

30 Pacos Ron

31 Malibu

32 Sierra Tequila

33 Triple Sec

34 Dondiego Tequila

35 Paseoa

36 Smirnoff Red

37 Bols Vodka – Vanilla

38 Bols – Red Orange

39 Finlandia Vodka

40 Bols Vodka – Cinnamon

41 Bols Vodka – Lemon

42 Bols Vodka – Cranberry

43 Bols Vodka – Plain

44 Advocaat

45 Zubrowka

46 Żołądkowa gorzka

47 Absolut Vodka

48 Martell

49 Chivas 18

50 Jameson

 -end-

And so to the New Forest

It's Joce's birthday and I have been to Selfridges...

(Joce went to see Strictly - advice is - arrive very early as it is first come, first served and there are more tickets issued than seats)