Now this is sad...

I've read today that Sony is to close its Walkman factory in Japan and move production to cheaper eastern Asian countries. Since 1979 (before I was even born), Sony have been making their iconic music player in their homeland, progressing through tapes (The classic Walkman), CD players (Discman), Minidisc (MDman) and finally solidstate and hard-drive based digital players. While new models of tape player finally ceased to emerge in the mid 90s, Sony carried on successfully with it's CD and MD players.
In the West, they launched MD in the early 90s it completely flopped; due mostly to Sony's failure to release any albums and slowness to license the technology to other companies. The first MD player I saw was brought back from Malaysia by a school friend (I went to a rich-boy school) in 1997. By now, more companies were bringing out MD recorders, but as soon as the surge began it almost died out due to it being nearly impossible to find any pre-recorded MDs in the shops.
What did take off in the late 90s/early 00s was the use of MD as a recording device. The repeated this mistake in the late 90s with the launch of SACD - which to this day has yet to take off. Before CD-Rs became cheap, MD offered a way to digitally record and rerecord - all the quality of CD with the reusability of tape. Although the format was pretty dead by 2002, blank discs proceeded to sell by the 1000s. My housemate recently inherited his brothers collection - well over 100 recorded discs and 1 store bought album. Sony tried to fight the MP3 surge with first MDLP, then NetMD and finally HiMD (1Gb discs) but it was too late. Today MDs are apparently still very popular in Japan, but seem to have died the death in the west as evidenced by the ridiculously cheap prices recorders go for on eBay. HiMDs that sport MP3 playback struggle on, but it will be in vain.

Sony haven't faired too well in the MP3 market either - firstly they refused to support MP3 and instead pushed their proprietary ATRAC system, first seen on MDs. By the time they had realised people wanted MP3 playback, Apple's iPod had far too much of a lead. The Sony BMG scandal last year has also hurt Sony Electronics to the point where all music players will no longer be manufactured in Japan. If anything, there's a lesson in remembering your roots and giving people what they actually want - not what you decide they want.

For the record, my first tape player was a Philips and it was a proper piece of shit. In order to rewind you had to manually turn the tape over and fast forward it on that side. I finally got a decent Aiwa player (Aiwa were acquired by Sony a few years ago, relaunched and then discarded) before moving through a Discman (still going), Aiwa MD (stolen), Panasonic MD (battery died) and finally my iPod.

Formals - the end of an era

Ever since I've been at Trevs, formal meals have been a big part of the social life. Consistantly voted the best social event in college, they fall every other Thursday during term time and involve a served meal with formal wear and gowns and the traditional bottle of wine. The last major change to formals happened just before I arrived at college when they were reduced from 1 a week to 1 every 2 weeks. Following consistant damge and lots of vomit, the combined hand of the JCR exec and SSC has been forced and we have brought in a rule stating that a maximum of half a bottle of wine per person may be brought to formals from now on. In addition, anybody appearing drunk will not be admitted and the bar will not offer neat shots afterwards and are going to have a crack down on serving drunk people (which is actually illegal). I've known about this for a while as we had a full afternoon/evening's worth of SSC and SSC/exec meetings yesterday, but we were essentially bound by an NDA until the JCR meeting tonight.

So there it is - a tradition that's been here since I started has now ended and is unlikely to ever return as every other college in Durham has already adopted this scheme. Still - we got 6¹/₂ years of getting pretty smashed so I can't be too bitter. The only worry is that it may fall to the SSC to place wine on the tables which will mean dishing out over 100 bottles per formal...

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The only calendar I've owned that came with instructions

Not that they helped much cos they're in Japanese. My annual quest to find an inspiring calendar for the year is over once again. This time I've gone ahead and not only spent over £15 on it, I've had to import it from Japan. Most of you will know of my love for Miyazaki and all the Studio Ghibli output, so this year I decided to treat myself to the official Ghibli calendar. Unfortunately it's only available in Japan, but luckily, East Asian supplier, Yes-Asia, supplied them (and they're VAT friendly as-well). For the money it's pretty huge and folds in three ways. The novelty (for me at least) is that there are 2 separate flipping elements - the artwork and the months. This means that you aren't bound to suffer through a odd "bad" picture for a month as you can pick and choose what picture you combine with what month.

Rather confusingly, there are 16 images (and, erm, obviously 12 months) and features at least one image from all the big Ghible releases (Nausicaa, Laputa, My Neighbour Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Ocean Waves, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Mononoke Hime, My Neighbours the Yamadas, Spirited Away, The Cat Returns and Howl's Moving Castle). The only problem is that's it's a pretty heavy beast and no doubt will make several unscheduled wall-to-ground transitions throughout the year...

Chilly

And we though -12 in Oslo was cold. Earlier today, the temperature in Msocow fell to -43^oC with windchill. Even without the wind, the ambient temperature was -32^oC. Apparently, this weather front is heading to Britain. Let's hope it doesn't go that cold!

Oslo - An Addendum

Just some final words about our trip to Oslo. Two things that can't really be appreciated from the pictures are the actual size of the drop at Holmenkollen and the size of the Fram. I took some videos which you can find here for the skijump and here for the Fram. Also, what can't be appreciated is just how many 7-11s there were: seriously they were on EVERY corner - even corners opposite each other. Crazy.

It's always exciting to go somewhere completely new as you all have the chance to explore. When you go somewhere you or one of your companions has been before, some of that excitement and sense of discovery is inevitably lost.

Oslo Day 5 - Home via the Palace

Morning dawned on our last day in Oslo. The temperature had risen to a balmy -2^oC. Blondie was first up and went out shopping despite the hefty prices and came back with a shirt. By 11 we were packed and ready to go. We left the Hotel Norrøna and headed west to walk around the royal Palace. Unlike the UK were the monarchy are, for some reason, notable tourest attractions the Norweigian equivalents are much more down to earth. The palace is situated in the centre of it's own park at the end of the main street, Karl Johan's Gate. Unlike Buckingham Palace, you can walk right up to the Palace. It is still guarded by armed soldiers, but there is a much more relaxed atmosphere about the place. As we stood in front of the building watching a changing of guards, a door to the first floor balcony opened. Were we about to top off our visit with an appearence from a royal, perhaps even Harald V? Sadly not as it turned out to be a workman carrying a step ladder. Nevermind. We returned to the hotel, wandering past Oslo University, to have out final pølses before wandering back to through the station to the bus depot. It was now that we filled in our postcards and I ran back to the post office to get some stamps.
The system is very confusing because the post office doubles as a bank with different counters for each function. There was no evidence of any English instructions and all the counter staf simply ignored me as I approached. Then I twigged that there was a ticket system to determine wo was served hence the lack of attention. I pressed some random buttons on the front kiosk (again no English) and got my ticket.

The bus ride back to the airport was quicker due to a lack of extra stops. The daylight helped us see the Norweigian countryside and the snow - nearly all gone in central Oslo, was still here, as thick as ever. As the bus wound through the countryside we passed engineering works busy constructing a tunnel for the motorway that would end up being 5km long!
At the airport, there was a much larger presence of Ryanair passengers. Thankfully, most of them were going to London (well: Stanstead), so once again we were able to check in very quickly. We abandoned our attempts to sell our Oslo passes on (they were still valid for a further 2 days) as Torp Airport had absolutely no arrivals in the half hour we spent loitering in front of arrivals. After passing through passport control we had yet another final round of pølse and sat waiting for our flight. The duty free was surprisingly cheap given how expensive the bars had been, most spirits were only a few pounds over UK prices. Norway has a 25% VAT rate and the government taxes alcohol pretty hard to avoid the problems of excessive drinking - indeed, beers over 4.75% have to be sold in specially licenced shops. The flight back was hassle free (although the darkness and continuous low clouds made the window seat I aquired a touch pointless). The most interesting feature was that the plane was de-iced before takeoff to ensure that we didn't suffer ice on the leading edge of the wing.
Once again Ryanair demonstrated their cost-cutting determination by handing out the "complimentary" copies of their inflight magazine (November 2005 edition no less) before demanding them back as we approach the English coast. We arrived back in Newcastle on time. This time there was no hassle at customs - the "interview in progress" light was on indicating someone else was perhaps enduring a probing interview...Blondies car was still there (although why we parked at the far end of the massive car park I don't know) and we managed to avoid the tail end of rush hour to arrive back at Trevs - amazingly absolutely nothing had gone wrong: no flight delays, missed busses, hard to find hotels, money problems or even boredom.

On reflection, we all had a fantastic time. Oslo, although a small city, always felt open and friendly. Norweigians apparently have the highest quality of life and I ca see why. The honor system on the public transport is adhered to, the city is clean and free of pollution and the scenery is stunning. We set out with only 3 definite things to see: Holmenkollen, The Viking Ship Museum and the Vigeland Park, but found many other places, the best of which for me were the Peace Museum and the Mini Bottle Garery. The most appealing thing is that a return trip in the summer may needed - the city completely changes. Holmenkollen is awash with bright greens and vivid colours from the indiginous flowers and the ski-jump landing area becomes a 25m deep lake, Akker Brygge fills with people, sitting outside thr many bars and ferries regularly run across the bay and fjord. The temperature rises allowing the parks to be filled with sun-seakers and the sun can remain out until the early ours compared to the 4pm darkness we experienced. Almost like a completely different city. Oslo is definitely the type of place I would love to live: a big centre and filled with amenities as only a capital can be, but without the hustle-bustle and lonliness of somewhere like London. The thing we will miss most though? The underfloor heating in the bathroom - house 3 lacks any kind of heating in the bathroom...

Oslo Day 4 - Giant Statues and Miniature Bottles

Once again, we were slow to rise (leaving the bathroom with it's warm shower and underfloor heating made for some long showers). After the now familiar breakfast of an eclectic sub roll containing salami and cheese at one end turning to lettuce at the other via tomato and cucumber in the middle we set out on our last full day in Oslo. We later found out that the temperature was -12^o but it didn't feel that cold.
We headed to the west edge of the centre of town by tram to Frogner Park. The park contains a series of sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. From the ornate Vigeland-designed gates to the multiple sculptures that scatter the park it was very impressive, if a little bewildering. The 212 sculptures start on the sides of a bridge over the park's pond and are then followed by several large displays. The theme of the work is the relationships of man, all featuring men, women and children in different states. The bridge holds the famous Sinnataggen - a small angry child. Why it is famous I have no idea.
Following the bridge is the fountain. Sadly not working it left a giant dish held aloft by 4 giant men whilst at the bottom a surrounding series of carvings based around trees shows the path of man from cradle (a series of babies in a tree) to grave (a skeleton in the tree) in an unbroken cycle. There is suppose to be a mosaic on the floor, but due to the thick snow that still remained (even though we had had no fresh snow since we arrived) we couldn't see this. We passed several people out walking on skis and indeed several parts of the lake had frozen solid. My feet had got decidedly cold and holding my camera for more than a few minutes became very uncomfortable as my fingers lost all feeling - perhaps it was -12^o...
The bad thing about the snow was that steps hadn't been gritted, so ascending tot the next layout, the monolith, was made more tricky than it should have been. The monolith itself is the centre-piece of the park and took 3 stone carvers 14 years to complete and is carved from a single block of stone. At over 14m high it certainly impressive, but you can imagine the pressure on the carvers if after 13 years of work they had accidentally chipped off an eye or arm...
The area is surrounded by further scupltures which are frequently climbed on by children and tourists alike. The final major piece is the wheel of life, a circular piece summing up the overall theme - the cycle of life and the various emotions man encounters on the way and features man, woman and child holding each other so as to form a circle.

Vigeland himself struck a deal with the council. In return for building him a house and studio adjacent to the park and turning it into museum after his death, Vigeland would hand over all his works to the city upon his death. Several sculptures appear around Oslo. True to their word, Vigeland's studio is now a museum featuring further works and offering an insight into how he worked,completely unaided.
All his sculptures were created in clay and plaster before being turned over to stone carvers and bronze workers to produce the finished items. The museum features the original three part plaster version of the monolith and many other sculptures found in the park.

We returned to the centre of town and set off in search of the most random museum we had heard of - the Mini Bottle Gallery - a museum dedicated to miniature bottles.
Unsurprisingly, this is the only museum of its kind in the world. As it was privately owned, our Oslo passes didn't work and we had to pay (much to Matt's chagrin). Once in, we were treated to one of the most wonderfully eccentric museums I've ever seen. As a child, the current director of Ringnes Brewery (one of Norways biggest) was brought a miniature bottle of gin(!) by his father as a present from a travel abroad. He soon started collecting these small bottles (defined as any vessel that holds drinkable liquid 50ml or less so perfume and sauce bottles were out).
The museum boasts a collection of over 50,000 such bottles in all shapes if not sizes. From the obvious simple miniature spirits bottles to custom made, hand painted decorative items and even hotel specific bottles. Many of the more ornamental bottles are from Japan and Germany. We are greeted by a video showing Christian Ringnes introducing the museum. We see him attending miniature bottle meets in the US and the history of the gallery. After this it's a trip through some of the wackiest displays you'll ever have seen. Themed rooms include sports, famous people, fruit, animals and birds, the globe, the sin room (including for some reason a phallus hanging from a chain), music, the occult and even boasts the worlds most tightly knit miniature carpet with 11 million knots per square metre although quite how that is worked out I don't know.
We get a tour of different types of liquor and how they are made (including of course, just about every miniature associated with them), and the initially funny What is up a Scotsman's kilt (hint - it involves 3 bottles) that is triggered by walking through a beam on the floor. I didn't spot several miniatures that I have (not that I was looking) including a green absinthe and Skyy vodka. The museum doubles as a conference centre and the dining area features a chandelier made from mini Absolut bottles. Even the toilets were not without their quirks as the urinal was a gaping gargoyle's mouth flanked by personal "enlarging" mirrors (on both sides to cater for both left and right handers!) which was actually incredibly off-putting. It certainly is an incredibly unique place (the museum that is, not the toilet) and has a good sense of humour running through the whole thing.

We finally headed home. After the latenight antics of the locals last night (bars open until 4am), the city was deserted and most of the shops were closed, including our newsstand. I tracked down another for my pølse fix, but Blondie decided to embrace western capitalism and went to Burger King and paid the price as a large meal cost over £8! Since it was our last night, we decided to throw caution to the wind and head down to the modern tourist friendly, wallet unfriendly harbour area of Akker Brygge. Much to our surprise a lot of the restaurants were closed or not that expensive - we had heard stories of main courses costing £30 a go, but infact ours were about £15. The real kicker was the beer at NOK58 for 0.4l (about £5).
My selection was the odd combination of tagliatelle with deer (complete with gravy like coating) and winterberries. Despite looking like roadkill, it actually tasted excellent. Afterwards, we decided to embrace the cold and sit outsiderestaurantarant (albeit with furs, fleecy blankets and a heater) and watch the world go by. Of course, because it was a Sunday in the middle of winter only about 2 people went by, but it was still good.

We retired home to contemplate packing and our last day in this wonderful city. Remember, more photos are on my MSN space.

Oslo Day 3 - Ships for Peace

Our discipline slipped a bit today and we didn't make it out of the hotel till 11am. Today we planned to go to the Viking Ship Museum across the harbor. During the summer months there is a bus-like ferry that shuttles between the main quaiside area and the peninsula, but what with it being winter, we had to rely on a bus. The great thing about the public transport in Oslo was that the name of the next station was displayed on screens so you didn't have to read maps or try to decipher the bonkers pronunciations that came over the PA. A 15 minute ride later and we got off the bus with a load of other tourists at the museum. Strangely enough, no one else seemed to have the Oslo passes and several other Brits asked us about them in the queue.

The museum contains the remains of three ships that had been uncovered in the Oslofjord. They had been used as burial ships so along with a corpses, everything they could possibly need for the afterlife was buried under the earth and so was preserved. Two of the ships are very well preserved, but the third one is pretty much just the keel and a few planks. The first boat on display is was just a "pleasure cruiser", but the second one was a more substantial vessel. Along with the boats, the contents of the tombs were displayed including a wagon and lots of smaller artifacts. The Vikings sailed along the shores by day and came ashore at night to feed and sleep - the design of the boats meant they could be beached very easily, allowing them to quickly overrun a town's defenses before the inhabitants could realise what was going on.

Leaving the museum we walked for 15 minutes down the road to a further two maritime museums. First up was the Fram Museum. The Fram is the strongest wooden ship ever built. Its design means that when surrounded by ice, it is pushed up rather than being crushed like conventional boats at the time. It carried Fridtjof Nansen on a planned five year expedition to the Arctic. It was known that there were currents flowing under the ice sheets, so the expedition set out to use these to drift further north than anyone had been before.
After 3 years adrift in the ice flows, Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen struck out on foot reaching 88^o14' - the furthest north anyone had ever been. Their return journey brought them close encounters with polar bears until they met up with a British expedition. Later, the Fram was used by Roald Amundsen to carry his team to Antarctica for their successful South Pole expedition. The Fram remains the boat that has sailed the furthest north and south. To say it is big is an understatement. The museum had to be built around the ship. From keel to deck is 4 storeys and the masts many more. The museum allows us to enter this grand ship and lock around below deck - I certainly can't imagine spending several months on board, never mind several years lodged in Arctic Ice.

Next door to the Fram Museum is the Kon-Tiki Museum, finishing off our tour of boat-related sights. The Kon-Tiki is a raft made by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl to prove that South Americans could have settled the pacific islands in Pre-Columbian times. His team traveled to Peru and constructed a raft out of balsawood and other natural materials and in 1947 successfully sailed from South America to several Pacific islands such as Easter Island. Although they took military rations with them, they lived off the sea. A documentary detailing the voyage won Heyerdahl the 1951 Oscar and this is on display.
Given that replica Oscars are not allowed to be made, it was pretty special to be a few inches away from a genuine Oscar statue. In 1970, Heyerdahl set off on the Ra II to show that ancient Africans could have made the crossing to America. Ra II was constructed from papyrus and again successfully completed the crossing from Morocco to central America.
A final vessel, the Tigris was built in the late 70s to show that Indians and Mesopotamians could have traded. However in protest at being denied passage by friendly countries the boat was burnt in protest. The museum contains the Ra II and a replica of the Kon-Tiki. We were pretty bemused to see a large moai sitting outside a Norwegian museum, but thankfully all was explained inside.

After this we bussed back into the centre to find the newly opened Nobel Peace Museum. Although the majority of Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, the Peace Prize is awarded annually in Oslo. The peace museum was opened last summer and contains very high tech displays. Upon entering we were greeted with a wall with many holes, each of which emitted voices in different languages giving messages of hope. After a while we decided we weren't going to find the English one and so moved on into the main museum. First up was the Triptych of Hope in which quotes from people such as Hitler, the Dali Lama right up to Homer Simpson. The aim is to depict conflicts in which the Peace Prize recipients have been involved. Moving upstairs we find the current exhibition, entitled Make power - not war.
This is a display by the 2005 winner, the international Atomic Energy Agency, highlighting the history of nuclear development and the agencies attempts to stop the proliferation of weapons through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and promote the use of nuclear power as an alternative to using fossil fuels. After this came the Nobel Field: a darkened room full of fibre optic reeds and small screens. Every recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize has their own screen. As you approach, motion sensors detect you and displays more details about the recipients work. At least that was the idea; some of the panels needed a little more coercing. Rather annoying after spending a long time trying to get the backgrounds of the recipients (which also weren't in chronological order) the next room featured large video screens where by moving a slider, you could select any recipient and find out more about them... Although the number of exhibits is relatively small, the quality of them made this a fantastic place to see. The exhibits are changed every few months as well so the museum is constantly changing.

Seeing as it was now quite late, we returned to the hotel picking up some lunch (another pølse from the newsstand across from the hotel) and chilled out before heading out for dinner. This time we decided to try to find some genuine Norwegiann dishes. We'd been warned that traditional food was pretty grim, but despite this and thanks to our Wikitravel guide we found a beer hall a few minutes walk from the hotel that served up genuine local food. Mine consisted of salted pork and beef - surprisingly good and very cheap (for Oslo) coming in at under £10 each. We headed back to the hotel and attacked the duty free vodka we had brought with us and made a further few late night trips to the new stand for further pølse and Matt discovered the joys of the cakes from the hotel shop. We had noticed that the bars don't close until late - 4am in some cases and it certainly seemed that the city went out and had it on Saturdays.

Oslo Day 2 - The Nicest Capital?

The earliest start we managed - getting up at 9am and out by 10am. Once again, the underfloor heating in the bathroom paid dividends. Our first stop was the front desk to pick up the most import thing to us for our stay: our Oslo passes. These cards grant us free transport on all the cities busses, trams, T-banes (undergrounds) and even ferries during the summer. We get free entry to all the public museums (normally about £6-ish) and 10% off at certain restaurants. We set off back to the station and down into the T-Bane - a cleaner, tramp free version of the underground. Our trip really demonstrated how small the city is; like London, the T-Bane comes above ground in the suburbs which happened a mere 10 minutes into our journey. The T-Bane slowly wound its way into the hills on the northwest side of the city and some time later we arrived at the unassuming Holmenkollen station.

Oslo is on the coast, but we were now at over 250m above sea level. A steep pathway lead us towards one of the main sights of Oslo, the Holmenkollen ski jump and ski museum. The top of the jump towered above us as we approached the 1952 Olympic venue. We paused to look down into the runoff area and were amazed at how steep it is: you essentially fall a very long way when you jump (the current jump height is over 130m). Even more amazing is the fact that in the summer the stadium area fills with water to form a 25m deep lake! We continued to the museum which offered a broad range of displays on the history of skiing, Norweigen expeditions including that of the Fram which we would find out more about the following day, to the Olympics and how the skis vary for different events.
Finally, the tour leads to an elevator and then a series of steep staircases (with very cold handrails) that lead up to the jumping platform. From here we got some amazing views of Oslo and the Oslofjord as well as seeing the pant-wetting sight that skijumpers see before they push off. It makes you wonder how people ever start out ski jumping. More worryingly, due to the lack of support under the booth itself, the whole place shook as people climbed the stairs.

After heading back down (our height above sea level in the tower was about 600m) and heading back into the centre of town we experienced our first pølse. All the newstands, 7-11s and Kwik-E-Mart style places have grills with weiners on them. The pølse is traditionally served with lompe: a potato cake. At around NOK10 (about 90p) they offered surprising value considering the price of most food - they're cheap enough to get 2 or 3 of them. Of course, buying sausages from a newstand isn't without its risks but we survived.

This time we headed to the northeast of the city to visit the Munch Museum.
Unfortunately, Edvard Munch's most famous work, The Scream was stolen for the second time in 2004 and has yet to be recovered. Needless to say it's sitting on the wall of some millionaire's house somewhere. Security was tight and we had to leave out coats and bags in lockers and then proceed through a metal detector and put our pocket contents through an x-ray machine...The display itself was pretty good and offered a wide range of styles and artists.

It was nearly 4pm and was pretty dark outside, so we headed back to the hotel, picking up some supplies from a supermarket on the way, to relax for a few hours before heading out in search of food. We came prepared and had printed out the Wikitravel guide to Oslo which mapped the location of plenty of cheaper resaurants. This evening we chose a Vietnamese place. The restaurant was small and homely. The food was excellent (although the crab was very fiddly) and the chilli sauces caused some lip numbing. Thankfully the total cost came to less than £20 per person including drinks. It was fairly late so we headed home (there was no way we could afford to drink out).
The main thing that struck us on our first full day in Oslo was how clean everything was - there was almost no litter, the T-Banes lacked the graffiti common to the tube. There were sculptures scattered throughout the streets that remained intact. The evening to saw no drunk locals staggering around or indeed any sign of trouble. Oslo, despite being one of Europe's largest capitals, has a population of under 500,000 allowing the city a fantastically relaxed atmosphere. During the whole trip we were never asked to show our passes on any public transport which seems to operate under a trust system. You wouldn't see that in London...

Remember, there are more photos on my MSN Space.

Oslo Day 1 - The Eagle has Landed

We've arrived back safe and sound from Oslo. I'll put up day by day entries. Despite everything that could go wrong (dodgy budget airlines, the airport being 120km from Oslo, having no idea where the hotel was) we suffered no problems at all and had a fantastic time. Most of the better photos are online at my MSN space.

All present and correct, we drove to Newcastle and walked to the terminal. Thankfully, the random number I'd scrawled down on a piece of paper was accepted at the check in and the 3 of us (myself and the 2 Matts I live with) had our boarding passes. After duty-free shopping and food we were eventually called through to the departure gate. We got there to find one important thing missing: the plane. Ryanair it emerges runs a very quick turn around. The plane landed 5 minutes before our scheduled departure. We boarded very quickly and after 10 mins of fuel and baggage loading we were off.

Thankfully rumours of constant PA announcements trying to sell us stuff proved false and we enjoyed a hassle-free trip to Torp Airport. After landing we were the last to leave baggage reclaim. Of course this meant we were taken to one side for a customs check. We exchanged anxious glances, fearing the sound of a latex glove snapping...It never came and after Matt explaining why he had so much food in his bag (his were the only ones checked) we continued outside to the Torp-Express bus. The main thing I noticed (apart from the fields of thick, virgin snow - my first sight of snow in absolutely aaaaaages), was that nobody seemed to close their curtains so we could see into all the houses we drove past. Even though it was dark, the views were great, especially when we had our first glimpse of a town, Drammen, situated on the side of a hill. The drive to Oslo took 100 minutes and after arriving we were left, a little bewildered, in Oslo Bus Station at around midnight. We wandered through to the station were we got direction to the hotel. It was at this point we realised how glad we were that most of the population is fluent in English. The subzero degree temperature was initially a bit of a shock but we soon got used to it. A short 10 minute walk to the hotel was followed by us climbing up to our 4th floor room. This was the cheapest hotel we could find, but it was really quite nice - especially the underfloor heating in the bathroom which we will miss back in house 3.

At about half past midnight we decided to head out. It didn't feel that cold and we managed without scarves and hats. We wandered down to the next road which turned out to be the main street in the city. We eventually found a bar to go into. We were stopped on the door by the bouncer, but unlike England it was merely to shake our hands and find out our names and not telling us we had the wrong "kind" of shoes. The only bad aspect of the trip was about to hit us - our 0.33l of beer (2/3 of a pint) cost us NOK42 - about £3.75). VAT in Norway runs at 25% and the government imposes extra taxes on alcohol to curb alcoholism. We sat around until at 1.50am two guys got up and started an acoustics set on the stage. Like much of Europe the bars are open very late, but there was absolutely no sign of trouble or even people staggering around. Oslo 1 UK 0. Eventually Blondie's "gaydar" started picking up strange vibes from the many pairs of blokes in the pub so we retired to the hotel. We had a lot of climbing to do the next day...

The Actual Top 5 Films of 2005

Batman Begins

It's been 8 years since Batman & Robin (which I haven't seen). The franchise was pretty much dead in the water, but then rumors began circulating. Then it was announced that Chris Nolan was to direct. Coming off the back of the superb Memento and the Insomnia remake, he was a director on a roll. Here he has produced a gritty realistic Gotham. Rather than just give us a ready-made Batman as Tim Burton did, Nolan gives us a background to Bruce Wayne. Before we can get into Batman, Nolan feeds us what drives Bruce - we have to wait an hour Before see Batman. As with the best films, the build up works perfectly: never do we feel impatient to see the batsuit, we are totally caught up in Wayne's inner turmoil as he struggles to deal with his guilt. The story goes back and scrubs out the previous films history. As with the comics, it isn't Jack Napier/The Joker that kills Bruce's parents. The main villains; the Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul aren't amongst the most well-known, but it means that they don't overshadow the film.

Sin City

Another comic book adaptation. This time taking 4 of Frank Miller's Sin City tales and moving them nearly frame for frame onto the big screen. Initially wary of Hollywood, Miller was convinced to accept Robert Rodriguez offer after the director produced what is now the opening scene from the film with Josh Hartnet. Shot entirely in front of a green screen, all the environments, including the rain, was added afterwards. This allowed the film to follow the comic by literally copying scenes from the graphic novels. The film itself is not for the faint-hearted. After the recent "watered-down" films such as Terminator 3 and Aliens Vs Predator its a relief that Sin City is a mind-numbing meld of violence, swearing and blatant sexism. It works, because despite everything, you just can't look away - you eyes are drawn to the sight of Bruce Willis beating Nick Stahl's head until its nothing but yellow pulp, Marv de-limbing creepy former hobbit Elijah Wood, or assassin Miho decapitating corrupt police officers and Irish mercenaries left right and center. The thing is just soooooo stylish! Despite all the violence and apparent misogynism, all the leads are trying to do the right thing in their own minds - Marv trying to avenge the girl of his dreams, Dwight trying to protect the girls of Old Town and Hartigan striving to keep his promise to protect Nancy. The good news is e sequel will be with us soon.

Sideways

Now here's a weird film. A gentle comedy about mid-life crisis and wine-tasting. The trouble with billing a film as a comedy these days is that everyone expects the next American Pie with laughs every second. The comedy is almost a by-product of the complete mismatch of characters that Miles and Jack. Linked by the fact that they were room-mates at college, there is no way they should ever have been friends. Yet here they are celebrating Jack's last week of freedom before he gets married. Miles has a relaxing bonding week in mind, but Jack has something else in mind. Miles' past catches up with him - his book is rejected, he discovers his ex-wife has remarried, he has to keep Jack out of as much trouble as he can - involving aggressive golfers, lamas, waitresses and even an enraged naked man. Miles has his chance at happiness it relies on keeping Jack's secret. At the end of the film, we are left on the verge of his redemption. Director Alexander Payne has suggested that he doesn't find it, but the big step for Miles is that he takes the chance and tries. Oh - and don't order Merlot.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The latest film from quirkmaster himself, Wes Anderson. Again, he stays with Bill Murray who is enjoying a renaissance. The film remains dead-pan at all times but brings out all sorts of laughs; from the bizarre merchandising (the Zissou Adidas trainers occasionally pop up on eBay but are fakes) to the almost slapstick sight gags such as Hennessy's boat incident and complete contempt shown towards the interns. The film turns to the surreal with the Spanish versions of Bowie songs, the bizarre creatures and the shootouts with the pirates. As with his earlier films, Anderson can move us to tears as well. The appearance of the shark to a Sigur Ros track and the burial at the sea and the final triumphant march, all strike a chord. A lot of people don't get Anderson and his quirky films and indeed they may need a second watch, but don't let that put you off.

Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit

his one only just made the list as I only saw it last week. Initially I was doubtful this would be good - surely, Nick Park couldn't extend the winning Wallace and Gromit formula to an entire film; surely Hollywood would interfere and remove the unique "Britishness" of it. Thankfully it turned out wonderfully. The Americans may have their own version but ours is so proud of its English heritage that it can't help but make you smile. As for the film, Aardman have manage to create a film that charms and entertains so much. The running time means that there is plenty of time for the characters to develop and yet the film never feels overlong and all the jokes hit home perfectly, from the classic Wallace and Gromit fodder such as the wacky machines that inevitably go wrong to moments like Gromit and Philip struggling to find change so they can continue their chase to the cheese humor, this film has been so lovingly made. This is everything Chicken Run should have been. The only down-side is the long wait we'll have to endure until the next film.

So there you have it - what I thought were the best films that I saw last year. There are good films coming up. I've got Grave of the Fireflies to watch which I'm apprehensive about watching - simply reading the user reviews on imdb chokes me up so I dread to think what the film itself will do. This powerful antiwar film is screened every year in Japan on the anniversary of the dropping of Little Boy on Hiroshima. Unfortunately, since it's animated, many people will pass this off as a childrens film, which it certainly isn't. Next up is Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, the trailer for which looks amazing...

Oh - and Happy New Year