mandag 29. februar 2016

Skotten kan nesten Skoeyte paa Ski

Det er mange av dem. Men de ofte vare bare like lenge som snoklokkene som kommer snart etter. En form for nesten manfolk, et mennesker men med noe forlengelser og en gang som er ikke helt gjenkjennelig. Noen puster ogsa rart og tungt, mens ofte det kommer et bannesprak fra munnen som er bade mumlet og skriket mellom dyp inntrekk av kald vinter luft.

Middel alder manfolk som ofte faar fra bla himmelen, gjerne 24 desember, et par skoyteski i gave fra kone. (beklager  mangel paa aah, ooeeha, ooah testatur). Kanskje hun mener at man skal trimme vekk litt ol depositum rundt midtliv, kanskje hun vil at man ser litt sporty ut, ellers kanskje hun har bare hort hennes man mumler om hvor lett skiskytere har det na med den jukse teknnikken,  Ellers de som har plutselig et godt nok rad selv til a spandere pa seg kullfibre i visse mengder skulte innen ski og skistovler.  Er det egentlig en tegning pa midlivskirse? En type utfordring som yoga eller golf kunne vaere som ny, spennende idrett etter at barna har forlot huset?  En metaforisk rod sportsbil paret med et utendors studio medlemskap ?

Ofte skoyteski fort blir til noe stov samlende utstyr pa garasjen eller lofte, ellers lagt ut pa finn.no tidligest neste sesong mens kone er paa hoest ferie. Sannheten er at proff' skiutovere ser ut som de bruker ufattelige sma krefter i skoyting tekknikk, det egentlig krever veldig mye av kropp og konsentrasjon.   Avstand i skirenn skulle man kanskje ligge merk til - 'freestyle' er vesentlig kortere for de fleste og for det som jeg kjenner til, ingen lengre skirenn tilater eller oppmuntrer folk til dobbel danse blant de andre. Prof'er gjor klassisk om til noe som er litt barsk, med snott og pust og noe bakkeglatte spark og den alltid uelegant fiskebein gang. Men skoyting er mer flytende, elegant og nesten medatativ a se pa. A utfore er en annen sak.

Jeg har ingen stor midtlivskrise til tross of a vaere midt i blinkin nar det gjelder aldersgruppen jeg tilhorer. Meg og de andre barn er fodt av etterkrigsbarn - the baby boomers- og na sklir fra punk, indie, grunge og mange flaue 80 talls pop inn mot 40-50 ar gamle. Hva sjedde med tiden? joda jeg brukte det bra og flyttet til Norge for a se familien min fodes of vokser opp i et vakkert natur med gode velferdsordning og korte arbeidstimer. Jeg gjorde masse foer i livet med friluftslive a gjore og med nattklubb, konsert, middager, ferie og noen jobb som jeg egentlig trivdes med i blant.

A ga pa ski kom jeg til Norge for a laere slikt at jeg kunne erobre noen av Skottlands rundere fjell som er ellers litt av en kjaedlig ga tur. Saa hadde vi ogsa et miljo for det nar jeg bodde i naerheten av Huntly og hadde forretnings reise til Aviemore, eller traff folk pa fjellski eller noksa sporty langrenn ski ved skistasjoner mens jeg stod brett der.  En gang i vinteren for mange ar siden na, kanskje 1995, var jeg oppe pa et skotske fjell paa sirka 650-700 m, etter aa ha truget og kjempet gjennom snolinjen som laa paa 500m, Snart ble snoen fint og lett og jeg nadde ryggen som forte til toppen var jeg overrasket a se et ensom par skispor. Snoen laa ganske jevnt og skisporene viste til en hyggelig fremgang for noen, mens jeg fort oppdaget at det var for det mest vrikelig vanskelig a ga med veldig ujevnt dypte skulte under overflaten. Der og da bestemte jeg meg for aa laere a ga pa ski. Til slutt ble snobrett igjen i loftet na, selv om jeg var noksa flink en viderekommende 'ritter'. Jeg bryr meg kun om langrenn og for det meste har det vaert oppkjort spor som gjelder min doeping, snubling, laerling og svenn faser av klassisk.

Det var en naturlig forlengelsen av idretten for meg - a kjope skoyteski det vil si. Jeg hadde tenke at det var litt sakte fremgange med videre laering til kanskje mestring av klassisk og at jeg kunne tilater meg selv en liten omvei for en sesong inntil dansing og padling. Jeg kjaedet meg litt med klassisk og var rett og slett maalloese. Ikke for meg vel et dyrt par skoyteski, men et par paa total kupppris fra Coop Obs. Madhus sine fineste amateur ski, Ultrasonic, 195cm til en magre 1290 kr ink, binding. Jeg hadde kjopte et par alt for fancy kombi stovler fra det samme butikken forrige sesongen med et oye pa litt vansk med noen utforkjoringer og det andre pa a ta opp et brukt par skliplanker.

Forrige sesong var seint a starte og jeg fikk en ny jobb midt i trengings oppkjorings fase, og jeg brukte dem knapt fire ganger. Sa snart var vanlig tining of frising begynte i seint januar, jeg tenkte om a bruke dem og plukka ut mine blaa planke i stedet for de nye som sa ofte foerte til blamerker pa rumpen. ja ja, sann var det paa klassisk nar jeg forst tok metforiske L-skilter pa over ved Kvamskogen og Eikedal pa vestland.

Snoen smelte bort nesten fullstendig i fjor, men saa kom masse nysno i lopet av et dogn i midt mars og sa var jeg i gang med jukseteknikken igjen! Jeg bestemte meg for korte okter som fokuserte pa stil ovenfor kardio. Jeg falt ganske mye men det var myk nok igjen! Sa kom en dag at snoen var pa veien til a vaere noe grumsete glassverk overalt under 700moh, og jeg laa merk til at skoytebanen i var lokale, kystnaer loyper, hadde litt tak, i mens de klassiske spor hadde blitt til noe jernbaneverket skulle ha vaert stolt over.  Jeg tok kun en runde, det ble en del staking paa klink is, og tur retur pa naermest en mil var uten a falle pa min britiske bremsekloss-bakdel.

Men jeg hadde ogsaa mye tid i fjor paa klassisk som jeg brukte som hovedtrenings maater for kondisjon. Da kom det en gjennombrudd som ogsa var a finne paa internetet. At nar man utfore klassisk diagonal gang riktig, er det egentlig nesten parrallel skoyting. Joda det er litt mer oksen graver i bakken med fra spark, men den fremforte skien skal skli elegante ned paa bakken, nesten parrallel til snoen og skal ikke dundres ned med et klapps. Vekten ble mye lettere a overfore fra en fraspark til det neste ved at jeg hadde fatt litt skoyting i beina.

Saa kom ogsaa mye bedre bevegelse ut av sporene og det hjalp at jeg hadde er formal, a laere 'step turning' for a komme endelig videre enn plog naar sporene svikter i utforkjoringer. Dessutten, jeg fant farten i staking in sporene paa skoyte ski helt vilt, og kunne tor a ta vekten paa stavene langt fram. Dette ogsa ble overforte til veldig god fremgang i klassisk.

Denne sesongen folge dessverre moenstret til i fjor- vi har hatt nok sno pa kysten og saa har det forsvunnet etter fire uker. Mer paa veien varsles na! Innenlands har det vaert fore over 300 moh vel, men jeg ofte gidder ikke bruke en timers kjoring hver vei for aa gaa paa ski. Men solen skinte og jeg og en ny kompis -best buddy astronomer type- kjorte opp til Aust-Agder/Telemark grense for noe goy, og det viste seg a vaere flotte skispor som var freste penere enn en rikmans plen. Da var det klassisk, i dag var det skoyte for meg, klassisk for ham, fordi forrige gang hadde jeg skoyte mye paa mine (naa kanskje beromte i noen krets) loppemarked-smorefrie-ski.

Hvis man lurer pa om man skulle vaere dumt om man bruke noen tusen lapp pa skoyteski, sa tenk om dette. Her paa Sorlandet er vi baade velsignet ofte med tidlig sne, og til og med kystnaer sne mens andre landsdeler venter enna. Men prisen for a vaere paa Norges sorlig sommer idyll er at om vinteren far vi plutselig atlanthavsvaeret som skiver bort den fine kalde luften fra vaar landsdel i noen dager, eller som i ar, flere uker med vasking vekk av sne under 300moh. Selv om i de veldige kalde vintrene i 2009/2012 var det noen milde stormdager. Saa ogsaa er det slikt at mange av de fineste skiloyper blir kjempepopulaere selv om de ligger enn liten stikk utenfor byene - Oyneheia for Grimstad-Arendal og Nespabovarden -Drivness omraadet for K'sand feks... Uten paafyll av nysno blir det etter hvert veldig isete i sporene. Fresing maskin knapt hjelpe a omdanne betongliknende trikkslinjer til noe som klister kan faa litt tak paa. Men ut av sporene med god fresing og mindre trykk og paagang er det ofte nok tak for skikkelig bra fremgang paa skoyteski. Det er overraskende, men sant. jada man maa vaere obs paa noen bratt svinger paa utforkjoringer men ellers er det mye finere a stille opp uten klister og hap om det ikke blir bakkeglatt og i sted ha tanker i stedet om fremme-glatt!

I dag var det veldig frustrerende. Jeg hadde vansk a varme opp, saa vansk med paddling, saa vansk med balanse paa ytre kanter, mye tull. Fore virket litt uforutsiktbar med irriterende variabelt glid og tak i bakken som var naa noksaa hardt. Saa for det mest var konsentrasjon fravaerende. Jeg utforte egentlig intervall-trening delux med smaa spurter eller tilfredstillende gang i ofte kun 30 sekunder. Jeg falte flere ganger og farten var saa hoyt paa siste lange utforkj;ringen at jeg rakk ikke noe teknikk i svingen og bestemte a bruke det som jeg nevnte om bremseklosser, med stor effekt det ma sies. Min kompis er pensjonist men klarte aa vaere langt foran meg til slutt.

Men allikevel laerte jeg mye. Jeg folte pisken. Frustrasjon i livet pleide aa fore til sinne i meg tidliger i livet. Naa kunne jeg peker til flere feil og forbedringsomraadet, og gledet meg til nysno og neste treningsokt. Jeg ligger merk til at jeg ikke  puster riktig, som kan vaere noe med mental spenn, eller noe ved at jeg bruke kroppen paa for kraftig en maate. Ja saa du hore at jeg bruke mine klassiske skistaver, hmm, jada det kan vaere et problemstilling fordi de er 10cm for korte en ideele for skoyting. Mye mer er det at skoyting trenger en ny form for superkonsentrasjon, nesten meditasjon, og at rythm maa brukes. Skiene maa ogsaa loper sin vei og man bor ikke tvinger man selv over til neste ski om man glir som en galing paa den forste.

Jeg maa laere a varme meg opp skikelig, losner av mer, og faa til pusting. Saa er det aa bruke Dag Ottos 'lysstolpeteknikken' - ikke vaer ambisjouse, husk hvor langt man kunne padle opp for pause for, og kom man 10-20 m videre denne omgangen. Oev pa rythm og unggaa a forhaste arbeidet. Ikke bremse opp bare fordi man onsker a gaa over til padling, hold hjulene i gang med dobbeldanse og foel naar det er sakte nok for padling. Finn noen fine slake og flate strekninger og bruk dem for sakte frem og tilbake, slikt man ungaar for mye utforkjoring, dobbel tak staking og padling. Prov aa laere naar man skal bare gli med skiene i det forskjellige komponenter (padl. 1 dans, 2 dans) . Fokus paa vekt overforing og riktig bruk av bein og laar. Og legg skistavene ved siden av sporene for mange sakte okter,

Jeg anbefaler at man ta opp med skoyteski over alder 40 dersom man er

1) en ivrig mosjonist som vil heve tempo og variere  kroppsbruk
2) et en teknikk nerd
3) Egentlig liker a ha vekt paa et bein
4) Liker darlig klister
4) er faen og meg taalmodig nok

Det er goy men det er frustrerende saerlig hvis man ikke er fodt paa ski. Jeg synes det kan som mer seriose treningstekknikk med lenger okter, samenliknes med "fiksie" racing-sykkel sport som har fast gir - man maa holde det i gang og ofte blir det en av de tre komponenter som vare lenge og kreve god rythym og fokus.




































mandag 22. februar 2016

Quick Wax

Illness has ruined what usually is mid season for me so I have time to reflect on a short, but quite sweet season on the white stuff this year...so far. A casual visit to our local library earlier day gave me both food for thought and grounds for some irritation.

Jørgen and Anders Ausland have written a nice, coffee table friendly book on buttering your skis, ahem, sorry a bit too literal i meant buttering the wax industry with your hard earned cash of course ! Everything from the expected flourine powders to something new on me 'diesel toppers". Give them their due, where simple V40 ontop of Toko green was good in their experience, there it was as a basic prep. Everything though involved using an iron and ideally having a waxing frame set up.

Ok they are pros and they are letti g you into the inner nerdland secrets of getting a world class wax. They also discuss a lot about ski types which is great for keen amateurs too, in explaining why some pairs juast dont work as well in certain conditions. This is a book aimed at the skier advancing to gain small margins, mainly by using lots of money, and a good bit of time. However it also gives asome good theory and some basics on gettng a good job and how understanding your skis and the on ground conditions will help.

I have nothing against irons , they dont need to cost much and your club may have its own loan kit or even a complete kittes out wax-hut with several to hand. Best used out of doors, especially with anything which is has flourocarbons. Not my cup of tea irons that is all.

For the feste or kick zone in english you dont really need an Iron, and as i suggest too, as an amateur you may want to consider Kizmun scraping insatead of stonwe ground with endless rounds of glider wax.

You need to do a good base job and that involves using sand paper, 120 grain is ok, to make a rougher surface for good absorption for the all important base layer. Witout the electric apparatus, fear not you can use a couple of different spray products or just rub and a hard wax on and cork it. I use swix green base wax spray, which dries on quickly and absorbs well, while still being good to cork in. It is also a good cold weather wax apparently, and in mild conditions it is fine to leave exposed on the front of the kick zone when a softwer kick wax is used on a shorter section.

The green base also is fine for universal and blue crystal hard clisters. Pro's and rank amateurs alike swear though by Swix base binder clister spray as the sole sister for the day clister. It too is a spray, but it seems to go on nice and thin and more evenly tjan the harder green spray wax. You can even do the reverse with this base, putting hard wax corked over but i smell messy. Pros do a super resistant base for distnace races whic is this spray with an ironed in hard wax, which takes fewer layers of clister or hard wax on top yet has a good longevity.

With sprays i recommend taping off the kickzone ends with ample tape so the guff doesnt gwt into the glide zone by accodent.

Thw green hard wax spray is easy to spread evenly, and to dry undoors but then pop the skis outside to cool to make for a good corking job. With no certain day conditiinss or crystal type then leave this be because you may want to use clister even down to -10c in old, compacted, icey tramlines. Also here we get incorrect weather forecassts in winter with an error up to -10'c. With falling snow in -18 any of the usual 'blue' waxes will be too soft and a green /arctic should be used.

With more predictavle conditions of a little milder on ground, then i use a blue flouro VR40 swixmontop of the blue, full legnth of the zone, two layers and that is then ready for the day wax, which is very likely to be more VR40. Flour VR products are in my experiwnce, much harder wearing than standard waxes and worth the price. I reckon that with soft mnountain resort snow for a season, that three layer base would last the whole season for me or many hundred klicks for a tourer or trainings mad compeititive skier. Watch out for the temperature range which is differwnt between V and VR btw !

The day wax can then go on top of this, and even a clister layer could be attempted, if you can warm the tube up !  In new or falling snow, you can use a harder wax, maybe to hit that lower temperature range with a ' special' like lillac V50 V45 for example, or more VR40 if it is colder. You probably want to wax back in about 5 cm from the end of the base wax, and be prepared to lenghten this to get better kick-traction.

For older, transformed hard and abrasive conditions you can use a softer wax thanbthe temperature indicator would say, but take it first 10cm in from the front mark on the kick zone. As mentioned for really old tracks with hard packed bases you can go over to clister, and i find blue a full 15-20 cm back which is just infront of the toe really, works well , and also a lkittle in from the heel as i am heavy and it tensds to teavwl backwards. Layer wise you could try one loing and a littlw layer of clister undee the sole of the shoe-binding.

Layers wise for hard wax, i cork in a pyramid with between three and six applications cooling between each with a VR flour product. The final layer is just 10-15cm mid sole. Quick ? Well relatively anyway, compared to ironing in flour-powder and using power tools........

Your skis dictate a lot about how long the kick zone will be for the day too. High camber skis will resist wear but may need a longer kick zone day layering or a sligjtly softer wax to get adesion. Vice versa for low camber skis which are most often more pliable too. You can always add more wax, while too much is there for the day, so shorter wax to thw heel fromsomewhere not that far infront of the toe is a good idea to trial out to see if you havea good feste-glide cmbination.

Conditions then dictate all, and that is contact temperature, air temp' forecast, snow or not, and finally state of ice crystal.

In the really typical thaw back, refreeze we get here in south Norway, then even a good, two layer on base binder clister job will only last maybe 15 to 20 k, and for me a 'good enough' may last even less, half of that since i am heavy. I just started using blue swix ice clistet, which gives great kick wittout picking up as much ice as universal, without going mobile back under the heel and with about 10-15 k for a single layer job out a tube from  50'c oven. I clistered just 5 cm forward from the front of the binding and to 3 cm i from the heel, to good effect as described.

The green base with two blue will last a while with soft waxes over it in less than silky condittions, and you can scrape off softer wax from on it to reaply say more VR40 if it gets colder.

I use a cheapo, shoe shine swix universal glider which is not any good under -8 'c. So i will be looking to Kizmun scrape my skis, or find  spray alternatives in cold and warm types.

Two final tips on temperatures and waxes.

Fistly, softer waxes generally need to be cooled well in order for them to cork on right, whereas 'green' start needs to be nearer room temperature for a good appl,ication. Clister wants to be put on your car air vent to warm on the way, cap scrwwed on hard mn

Secondly to all this, always let your skis cool in contatc with the snow preferably, for at leats 2 mins befoee you take off, other wise the good wax job may take off too !

lørdag 20. februar 2016

The Krone in Your Pocket.......

Norway has seen its' Krone devalued by between 20-30% against the major currencies as a result of the collapse in the price od oil.  Yet life here is not a round of terrible inflation and shortages.

The late seventies'  'great lie' the media called it. Jim Callaghan, the then PMOUK, announced to the public that the pound would be devalued, in order for exports to be more competitive, with the alleged lie being "of course this doesn't mean the pound in your pocket will be worth any less". Labour was derided at the time, and the post empire UK labelled 'the sick man of Europe'.

We had the concepts of being competitive on a high value pound and being told to accept the fate of not being able to be as productive in the UK as the far east. While many commodoties and compoonents fell relatively in price, the strong pound helped the finance industry lever itself up the international ladder while manufacturing ebbed away. We swallowed the new lie that capitalism would take better care of us, from cradle to grave in return only for honest, hard work.

However 'Callaghan's great labour lie ' is probably the best cure today for Greece, but unfortunately they dont have the option without even more pain. If Europe's oldest democracy had retained their own currency, the Drachma, then they could have been enjoying the biggest upswing in their economy since their poat war hey days of oil tanker fleets and the jet set tourist. In the european order of worker poor, owner rich with flat wages and real term errosion of discretionary income, the chance of a cheap-as-chips holiday would mean that there would be growth in tourist numbers which would eclipse the numbers of refugees landing on their shores.

The huge unsung hero of western economies in the face of far east manufacturing, has been service engineering - mending and make do, refurbishment and routine maintenance on all those machines now built in the east, but designed in the west and
In need of a shorter down time than shipping back to their factory sites permits. Greece still has a maritime industry which could have become competitive overnight.

Alas Greece joined the Euro and in that went like a horse and cart with the sickdom of the tertiary economy, the debt orgy and meta democracy. Staying with the Drachma could have been a more natural barrier to the loans-feast whixch the state and national banks took part in. Leverage risk would have been reflected in currency transactions, and even in a an ERM where a fall out would have alerted the CEB, the IMF and the global banks to the trouble Greece may have been in.

Norway has retained its own currency and has the calamity of low oil prices to cope with now. The worst doom sayers predict that as much as a quarter of the workforce will be made unemployed, with a higher level of youth unemployment, wider scale under-employment and for the first time in two generations,  worker emmigration. However on the one side the 'oil fund' is being engaged to provide balance in the state budget and some may be used on much needed infrastucture projects. At the same time though, the government dont have the resources to float the currency at pre-2015 levels when the oil flowed over 100 USD per barrel, in order to sustain consumer spending power and cheap commodity import.

Neither do they want to. Other industries like fishing-aquaculture, IT and aluminium are suddenly 20% or more price competitive conpared to 2014 and can recruit the best engineers now. Commodity prices have fallen as general demand has waned, yet some markets are strong such as aluminium alloy wheels for higher value cars,  and now the phoenix of solar panel production can be competitive on a world stage.

The norsk krone has devalued between 20 and 30% against the major currencies within a year, and shows no signs of climbing. However retail price inflation is negligible. Much to the contrary of the Farming Industry PR about a future global food shortage, grain has never been cheaper relative to currency in modern times. Freed from the US dumping of subsidised grain on the African 'Aid' market, farmers in the third world can gain a market price on their grains. Norway is a net importer of calories , but has a large, semi protected market for meats and dairy and consumes more fish per capita than most any other EU-EEA country which is predominantly landed in the domestic ports.

Also the potential price increase on things like foriegn holidays is off balanced by falling demand and importer-retailers taking a similar margin hit in order to maintain top line in Krone and hold onto market share. So in fact within the new-world-interest-rate-order, the krone in your pocket really isn't worth that much less until you go abroad.

søndag 7. februar 2016

Listhaug's Own Falklands War - Populism on a Plate

There are some tantalising parrallels to be drawn between the current politics around the assylum seeker and economic migrants crisis in Norway, and those now far off days of the Falklands' war.

Thatcher is widely praised for transforming the British economy, which you can absolute argue is like saying George Washington fought the war for independence single handed. In fact the very opposite of a transformation and positive upswing in the economy played out in the first four years of Tory rule after 1979. The economy was in recession, and it became deeper as companies closed shop in the UK. Private industry had been running out of innovation and the will to manage for years, and in part that was due to the power of the unions in post war Britain. With a tighter fiscal policy band a western world recession in general, manufacturing industry in the UK gave up en masse in this period.

The New Right Party That Nearly Failed 

ITN news at ten used to run a job counter, which would show the gains and losses. Mainly it was in the red of course as companies just gave up the ghost. Massive brand names were either evapourated into a pile of bricks, or moved to the far east. There were riots in what became labelled with the misnomer, "Inner cities" which were caused by social unrest and a harder line policing against soft drugs. The Thatcherites had an admirable long term goal - to balance the books of the nation and become an international creditor.

Labour Hijacked by a Campaign Group- The CND Wilderness Years

The post war UK had become a two party system, with what today would be seen as essential socialist policies dyed in the mold from the Labour landslide of 1948. The following Tory governments, a bit like todays Høyre in Norway, had to follow the consensus which had shifted left post war, and keep public spending and tax high during the early, scary days of the cold war. By the mid 1970s though, the Labour movement had been dragged off into a kind of metademocratic movement, as did all susbequent governance has been in the UK. It was dogged by union corruption and power mongering, and would become hijacked by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament with the fall of the Callaghan government to Thatcher in the 1979 election.

So on the one side there was abhorrence to the excesses of union power,  like "the dead going unburried" during the winter of discontent in 1978 and on the other hand the Labour party got a duffle coat wearing academic staunch CND man. This was still at the time of the cold war, some would say that it was a very dangerous time because soviet submarine and missile technology surpassed that of the UK, France and even the USA. A large number of WWII veterans in those years were still in work and most families had someone who had fought or been part of the war effort, while having lived through the soviet threat and the capitulation of Hungary and Czechslovakia.

Enter 'Los Malvinas'....

The world wide economy was going badly too for many dictatorships, such as the Juanta in Argentina. Two very different economies on opposite sides of the globe would soon influence each other through conflict. Thatcher would get a God Send in having the biggest nationalist political broadcast in the history of any western Democracy at a time when the UK economy was languishing.  Soon we would all care deeply about a few scraggy bits of empire, some sheep farmers and a detachment of part time Royal Marine reservists way down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Back then the UK had an ageing fleeting of warships and a depleted royal naval reserve, so Thatcher was very lucky that so merchant many ships were still registerred either in the UK or countries like Bermuda where the Crown had rights to requisition them. The fleet sailed out to fight in a Falklands winter and do the dirty job of ousting the mainly poorly trained conscript army from the god forsaken islands of no economic significance to the UK.

Backed by US surveillance satelites and missile systems, the UK could wage an effective naval strategy against the Argentines, from submarines and air craft carriers,  which today is still refferred to as a conflict and not a war, which is just a big PR fib. It was a remarkable achievement in some respects, more of logistics than anything else. In the closing hours of the "conflict" there were three regiments lined up to repartiate Port Stanley and end the occupation. The Para's took the glory and raised the red white and blue flag.

Parallels to the Falklands Scenario Today in Norway

In Norway now we have of course an oil economy which is over the precipice and no one knows where it will land and how hard that landing will be. Amazingly the economy grew more last year than the UK economy in percent terms of course. However the good times are over and austerity (aka someone rich caused the crisis, the poor have to pay for it) is on the cards.

Into this comes the biggest assylum-migrant crisis since world war II on Europes doorstep, and an international refugee policy which leaves the average EU/EØS citizen wondering what EU or national security actually means. Like Thatcher, we have a woman as the fuigurehead for the 'fight' against being drowned in assylum seekers and all the scare mongering that goes with that about terror and in particular, women's safety. After years of the "night ravens" being the only thing stopping wide spread sexual assualts and harrassment of girls out in Oslo, mainly perpetrated by ethnic Norwegians, the government finally cares about women's saftet. The new year attacks in Cologne fuel the flames, and the "Progress Party" (FrP) have a platform to now drive against the United Nations Charter on Refugees and the EU.

This is very much as big a deal as the Falklands war because Norwegians by in large are pretty xenophobic when it comes to people actually daring to settle in their country. Even as a white westerner, often mistaken for a "noggie" in the UK in years gone by, I find myself very discriminated against in the work place and the job market. There are a few "hissige" ( kind of means aggressive and poisonous at the same time) nationalists in every work place I think I have been in who don't like immigrants getting into the good stuff of decent wages and permanent jobs in favour of a Norwegian.

The Glow of Winning a Conflict in The Publics Eyes

Listhaug has at least eclipsed Siv Jensen, the parliamentary party leader and current finance minister (chancellor) and has attracted opinion poles in favour of her being the next prime minister. However she is stumbling around with international law, and of course Russia like any lever they can get over Norway so they are not quite playing ball. She is riding on a wave though of strong public opinion, and many otherwise liberal women who would never have voted for FrP ( and in doing so vote for the poorer working conditions their philosophy entails) have come over to back them with a massive upswing to the cost of the Labour Party here (Ap). Last years catastrophic failure in most of the key city elections is now washed away on the back of the wave with the self same 'Falklands Glow' effect.

What Really Happened in The Times of Thatcher ?

Thatcher won this 83 and 87 election and the liberalistaion of the City of London Stock Exchange meant that investors flocked to the Capital and the UK economy became bouyant also on the total relaxation of consumer credit. Boom and bust it went, but most people enjoyed higher earnings and less tax. They could carry on Union bashing, beating the Miners in 1984 and all but castrating the 1970s style union leadership. Unions became absent from many work places, and wages for lower end workers stopped keeping up with the real cost of living. Wealth grew at the same time as poverty.

The poor became the new scapegoat- the lazy folk on benefits. Unions were tarred with the brush from the winter of discontent well into the mid 1990s. Privatisation lead to above inflation rises in telephony (initially), fuel and electricity and the all important commuter rail network. Benefits are now really limnited to complete subsistance claimants, with ordinary hard working tax payers being forced to sell their capital assets if they become sick. Health is now back on the cards. The franchise between state and tax payer is broken by ideology driven by only 39% of the vote. The state now, as in the USA, collects a lot of tax to pay for the Wealth Creation in the City of London finance and commodities markets.

Nationalism - The Worn Old Weapon of the Right Wing

Nationalism is nearly always wrapped up together with politics which are punitive to manual workers and disabled people on welfare. This is because of course, national-socialism became something to react against, and socialists continued to sing the International with hands linked in the EU parliament. Post Hitler , the Left just doesn't have the taste for using and misusing nationalism and petty xenophobia, where the right can swing in and take a big new chunk of the voting masses during a crisis such as a war or mass migration.

Siv Jensen despite losing the limelight to Listhaug, could hardly hide her pleasure and gloated this week at the Oslo FrP meeting about how Norway could have the toughest assylum policy anywhere in Europe. The next very popular policy is for closed assylum centres, that is detention centres where applications are considered behind gates and fences. And what is wrong with that? It takes only a very small minority of organised criminals, terrorists or gang rapists to grab the headlines. People don't know who they are getting here. Our first traunch of well educated Syrian young men are supplemented by a shabby bunch of late teenagers who stare at us and some eye up women in an uncomfortable way.  So far no problem, and the police call outs in our neighbourhood have been to the two usual wife beating drunk Norwegians and rowdy teenagers.

Media Focus, No Brainer

There is a veritable media frenzy, with Sylvi Listhaug more common a face than the Prime Minsiter and Chancellor here put together. The media love controversy, and the left just dont have anything very controversial. They have intellectually sound counter arguements which just do not get journalists salivating, be they conservatives, liberal or neutral. The FrP can lead the media Circus for the time being.

The FrP politics are also leadinng the way which other politicians have to go anyway.  Close the border and move it out to the extremes of Europe, and follow the letter of the law on assylum applications being in the first land they reach. The Left here and not far away from this, but have a more subtle respect for international law and human rights. SO far they have not tried to for example, challenge the UN on prioritising families with small children from Syria as the British have, nor suggesting taking refugees with their cases approved in the camps of Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey.

There has to be a new politic in Europe not only on Border control, but on rapid repatriation and on in the first place which countries actually are safe or have safe zones where form assylum seekers are presumed economic migrants and refused if they do not meet special, political assylum criteria which are kept secret so people don't just MMS their succsesful grounds for application back. In particular we have the two 'problem lands' for exporting of 'anchor teenagers' - namely Afganistan and Somalia.
Both these countries have enough safe area to take internal refugees and the lack of access to assylum means their number will be decimated no doubt anyway, so that international aid can reach those most displaced and in need.

The Left Awaken to their Own Liberal Folly on Assylum Procedures and Weak EU Peripheral Borders

The Left here and across Europe woke up post Paris attacks and realised that the open policy was a road to the rise populist fascism, as dangerous as the late 1920s and early 30s in Germany and Spain. Closed assylum centres are actually necessary not to stem the tide of refugees, although they may stem some economic migration, but rather to appease the public and stem the tide of the new, far right amongst ordinary working people.  At the same time, the Left should grasp the issues of ageing populations in Northern Europe and legislate for higher wages and access to life long re-skilling such that workers from all over Europe can retain wealth rather than it just being exported to China and to the Elite super rich as is the net result of the many years of centre right 'social democrat' policy in the EU on privatisation, errosion of remaining labour laws and cut backs in education and public services.

We saw the glee Angela Merkel had when she realised that their economy could finally have a quick fix to German women not bothering to breed in their 20s any more. Incredibly the German population has decreased by 2 million since reunification statistics were first collected. Armies of cleaners and security gaurds on low wages, while on the other hand, avoiding the need to pay Germans out of work or with old skills to retrain. Just ship 'em in from Syria. Post Paris attacks and her tone changed completely. Are we importing terrorists ? Post Cologne it hardened more- are we importing rapists ?

What about the Refugees, Why is there A Crisis?

The fact is we are importing 99% ordinary working people from Syria, who have lost their means of livelihood, their possessions and most likely their houses or entire farms to IS Assad and now Putin. They come from a country where women are not slaves and few marriages are arranged. Women can educate themselves if they or their families can pay. Women take often though a traditional role as house wife after giving birth. Not unlike the US Republican Christian Conservative view of women's roles, those who are not political leaders.

It isn't just Listhaug and her exaggerated blue-eyed water separation from the Labour Party here who are riding the wave of anti immigration sentiment. Trump too. Adolf Trump? Well he also called out Mexicans so there goes a huge vote from the self made immigrant population who mirror what his Germanic family were up to a few generations ago when they moved to the USA.


Luck and The Economy Will Maybe Not Last in the Anti Immigrant Glow

Ride the immigration back lash the FrP will, and live in the glow too just as Thatcher could after the Falklands War. Like big bang in the City, there could be some other economic miracle to pull Norway back out of the malaise of rising unemployment and falling tax revenues. Oil prices could suddenly change. Natural catastrophes or wars arise.

 The move to a low-tax, low government service and low wage for the less skilled worker here will be far more painful though than the course of Thatcherism, because people here have it so very good now that they don't want to aspire to some form of  'if only taxes were lower' dream. Tax cuts in return for lower wage rises, and fewer permanent contracts may have 'worked' politically in the UK but also it has lead to a significant proportion of the UK workforce being on in-work benefits and tax-credits, which are all indirect subsidies to unscrupulous, profiteering employers mainly in retail, agriculture-food and consumer service industries which have become so dominant in the regions of the UK outside the South Eastern financial capital.

The Front Line Against Left Wing Democracy Is Norway

The FrP are a small party when Immigration is taken out of the picture in particular, and they have a skewed view of economics towards using the oil fund to compensate for the unhealty dependency on relative high barrell prices in the good years. At the same time they recieve funding from both the USA and Israel, to fight on the one hand the thorn in the side that a centre left (compared to the UK, quite socialist) country being successful, while on the other a liberal movement sympathetic to the plight of the palestian people and their exposure to ethnic cleansing and concentration zones like Gaza.

So there is a much bigger political picture than just oil money and who can give the worker most take home money and tax deductables. Norway is a never ending source of joyful comparison for Alec Salmond for example, and continues to top the world for qaulity of life, and standard of living- take your pic, Norway usually beats Canada or Switzerland, and Sweden has slumped back since its flirtation with Neo Liberalism. The high tax economy unfortunately for the Neo Liberalists, simply works better here in Norway for the majority of the people.

Media Myopia and Circus Acts

In the whole of this here in Norway it is really a big storm in the Media just as the Falkland Wars completely and utterly dominated all forms of print and broadcast media in 82-83. A Left which are concerned about international law and human rights, and are not that far off the conservative prime minister's opinions at least, just don't make for interesting sound bites, headlines, retweets and Likes/comments. Social media comments are more extreme because that small minority on right and left are far more vocal there than the masses, and in fact the polarisation just turns people off.

The main net effect of all the FrP being able to grab the headlines and have a spike in their populatity by being the ONLY voice the media will use time presenting. They continue to play their double communications- wanting to go further, but constrained by the last heavy legislation of the UN and the last labour Stoltenberg 8 years. Wanting to be strong on immigration, but wanting also to deliver their small business members a new service workforce of cheaper labour.

The Economy, Stoopid

At the end of the day "the economy, stupid" will tell before the next general election, which will suddenly seem like a long haul for the blue-eyed-blue government when this crisis is solved. The view on the economy here is very much more the here and now than the American Dream. It is what is our household inflation, how much do we need to cover the mortgage, can the wife go back to full time work, do I have permanent contract to get a new mortgage... and so on.

This is a light mental exercise for Norwegians in relation ot labour laws and that 'evil' of society here, fair wages on national tariffs. An unworkable policy in the USA and to erroded in its homeland Sweden, it ensures wealth retention and distribution here while management also have to concentrate on productivity and training rather than avoiding pay rises. Even many FrP and Høyre voters are in trade unions and are vocal when it comes to wage negotiations.

The Little Problem with Democratic Socialism Actaully Working...

 FrP want to move to basically a flawed and largely failed UK-USA neo liberal model of low tax, low wage, low benefits 'economy' with a two tiered society as the result. This is because their followers are the greedy prodgeny of past generations made fat on strong labour laws and a killer good set of policies and taxes to both generate massive wealth, but also retain and distribute that from the N. Sea throughout society here. Along with the Neo Lib cut-and-paste, the FrP have some odd socialist policies, such as massive motorway building and a better deal for the poorest pensioners....both of which are on the back burner mysteriously enough.

 The problem for the New Right here is that Norway was never in the large scale post industrial decline to which politicians could invent solutions for based on anti-employee ideology in the UK and USA. Niother has it had the need for large public borrowing  to fund social welfare programmes and infrastructural renewal. Public services are by in large very effective here, and the New Right have to scramble around to find the odd sloth or stupid set of regulations.

When it suits them here. Now they are liberalising, derugalising and decentralising welfare services (NAV) while they are doing the opposite in education. In trying to achieve better PISA figures they turn a blind eye, as do the UK conservatives, to the leaders in the world the Finns, who have a practical and human centred system for both teachers and pupils which both addresses basic standards and caters for the individuals needs at the point of delivery. Free teachers though to the New Right are little socialist preachers, who need tieing down in heavy beaurocracy aka league tables and continual published assessments. The FInns rather piss all over their ideology with a practical approach which focuses on the skills of the teacher adn their ability to balance class with marking and preparation in the working day.


The Longest Party Political Broadcast in History

Back to the Falklands War though. Thatcher received the biggest, longest party political broadcast in history and the country were on the right side of a war again, not in a grey area as in Ulster or later in the Gulf. In stark contrast to Vietnam which dragged on and had only losers, the Falklands was short, sweet and the british forces could show their professionalism in the face of a fascist conscript army.

She won the election taken in the full tactical glow of the victory later in 1983, with the biggest majority since the Labour Landslide of 1945 (which was 2 seats bigger at 146 incidentally). She was able to ride the wave of consumer credit and deregulation of the stock exchange (coupled to major new computer technology it must be added on a non ideological point) and the resulting blossoming of the service economy in the Southern part of the UK, while the Regions with their subsidised coal mines were tackled in the conflict of 1984-5 - the Miner's Strike, where once again she could appear as the moral victor in the medias new blue lime light. Manufacturing had a chance to introduce massive investment in productivity, what was left of it. I have in fact no freinds in the UK now who work in manufacturing, they all bar one work in service or light industries. Most people sell each other insurance, cafe lattes and BMW servicing in the uk now it seems. That's fine as long as its not Keynsian circles which are underpinning a cappacino service economy.

No Left Wing Enemy Within

There are no real common 'enemies within' here in Norway, even though there are many on Social Media who will vehemently accuse Labour of the utter irresponsibility which lead to such a high standard of living for the average man, high benefits but also negligible unemployment in the good years for oil.

 The unions are reasonable and cooperate with the NHO, the Noggie version of the CBI, on many issues including moderation in pay rises. Public health has waiting lists, but a strong level of service by in large free at delivery. Most of all people at the lower end of the labour market earn enough to buy a house and a car and have a good life, which is something even quite a few right wing freinds of mine mean is so much better than other countries. Privatisations of public services have been often unsuccsessful, as with the Norwegian version of Railtrack and elderly care in Oslo- Akershus.

The State as a Silent Share Holder: The Oil Fund

The state are a major share holder of course, and a pateient one, in the possibly unique norwegian model of the national pension fund , domestic and international in components, aka the Oil Fund, but it operates just as that, a hands off pension management fund which politicians cannot play command economy with. As long as Statoil are highly profitable to be in longterm, so it makes sense to invest in the home grown megafirm. The airport express train is private, but once again owned by the fund, somethign the ideological FrP want to shift....the most likely buyer so far being the Chinese state bank. The fund though can be raided to balance the state budget, and many in the country syupport the FrP because the original wording of the domestic fund was to invest also in infrastructure, something which never happened.

The international fund totally eclipsed the national fund by the 1980s and it is linked also to EU and other stock market regulations relating to such large state investments. Labour and the Conservatives here are both very glad to see the fund rising in value. However ironically enough, it was Labour who took the bull by the horns and followed the EU model to private pensions as a considerable portion of retirement plans for those under 50 now. Ourside Norway this is seen as a social democratic and conservative policy, here it is a reason to not vote labour and vote for the anti immigrant FrP.

Thatcherism Is a Mere Nibbler in Norway

The Neo Liberal  ideology is there of course, but it follows a well trodden path to lower wages, higher costs for consumers for the benefit of the upper third of society and the perceived 'we're strivers who deserve more' for part of the middle layer. Only that middle layer is really just voting anti immigrant in the poles right now. It will be at least 18 months maybe from the end, or resolution for the refugee crisis. It isn't going to be a party political broadcast for long, and Thatcher knew 4 years was enough (there are fixed periods in Norway and of course the UK now)  , the chips could be cashed in asap the dust settled from the War with the last SHips home and the last flag waved on the dock at Portsmouth.

The FrP can expect to bask in the sun for a time, until people start demanding action on what they actually promiesed- roads, and until people get bored and burn up their redundacny packages and 2 year spell of unemployment benefits. Neo Liberal policies are popular amongst only a minoirty of small business owners and higher waged earners. Immigration only stretches so far over the wound of poorer working conditions and lower pay ahead if their policies such as private monopolisation of rail routes goes ahead.

Also the media will hopefully tire of all this refugee frenzy, and get a sense for the dammage misrepresentative headline stories ( "pledges to fight for IS", "molests drunk Olso 17 year old" ....you know it is all coming) cause for society in its paranoia over what is very little more than some unusually sun tanned faces walking down the street, playing football and getting jobs in warehouses.




lørdag 6. februar 2016

Ski- Sesongen 2016 er avlyst ....Bring on 2017!!!

All over the southern half of Norway from Trondheim south over, we have had that nasty mild atlantic weather which plagues the UK and France usually more often than we in Terra Norvegus. Usually we can tolerate a mild intrusion along the coast and Oslo area,  and the lucky few can retreat to their cabins over 700  meters up in the hills and plateaus. But this year the temperature profile in the atmosphere has been that of a more southern clime, with an army of  warm - and occluded fronts running in over the bits of Norge people actually live in! The high level mild air means that there has been rain in all the hills under 900 m.

Once again though I discovered we actually had some "zombie snow" after a week of fluctuating temperatures. And this just above sea level. Couple to the ski club's snow milling machine attachment, it meant that I discovered very nice conditions much to my surprise yesterday morning. I had been sick for almost three weeks, with two forays the previous week on icey tracks not really helping at all.

We had then "fully transformed" or "mechanical" snow, or rather a kind of crystaline slush puppy in our local ski run. Ideal for one type of ski, the waxless!  Not only did my ancient, church jumble sale waxless "Winner- Trak" skis give me rather excellent traction, they also allowed me to practice skating and even padling up hill!

From what was an unpromising 'suck it and see' , fully prepared to turn heel and go home quite unskied for the whole week, the mornings session became a really great series of intervals and technique trials.

This year the conditions were first soft and poor glide in the minus lots (-20 at night some places, centigrade) where I learned that my Madshus Ultrasonic skate skis deserve more than Swix's answer to Mr Sheen on them. There was a big thaw back after that hurricane which did an atlantic tour, and then of course freezing again, So the tracks became an all to familiar concrete consistency which eat Klister for breakfast, even my newly purchased blue ice Swix. Insult to injury access to the local higher area about 50 minutes away, was impossible for my car in the last 500 m before the car park. A one in five hill with skating rink ice and only some tractor chain marks to kind of look for grip. We slid backwards, persuaded a piroette out of the car and went to the lower run with its harder spor half an hour nearer home...tails between legs.

This year though I have been most inspired to take what I can out of life, and aim both higher sometimes and pragmatically. I am very likely to need to move or weekly-commute to get a decent job, or eat some humble pie on wages and job type locally. With skiing though, the important stuff, there is plenty snow in dem dar hills. So my 'fjellski' will be for the first time, taken out the attic and a pair of second hand boots with old style rattrap tre hole, egg flipping binding fitting acquired.

Mountain skiing and telemarking is why I took up XC. I was in the Scottish hills often in winter, and took to some 700 m hills between Luss and Faslane where many SAS and Marines train personally off duty. It's easy to access and often covered in snow above 500m. One year there was a good meter in the drifts on the ridges and I was trudging through all this when I came upon some skitrack of course. How jealous I felt that not only did the owner get a much more comfortable walk, but also he or she seemed to have had some decent glide on the flat and some down hill of course, with what could have been telemark turns left in the snow, there were also some ploughing marks.

That is what lead me to sports skiing style, although I am not very sporty and never will compete. Now I feel it has come full circle and am ready to give up the prepared tracks at weekends and holidays to go on fellskis instead. It maybe wont be this season though, but I can live with that. I have a big family funeral to travel to next week, so that will suck up all my winter holiday budget this year.

I feel quite recharged from my ski tour on friday, all 10 km of it. Also I felt that steel edges would make me feel much more confident with downhilling in future.

Life bodes well, It has many challenges. It has long term frustrations for me. I look forward to the new challenges in learning fellskiing. Yes there will be frustrations, but I will avoid the pitfalls - get proper instruction. Build up progressively in difficulty and distance. Most of all go in the right conditions or make adjustments to routes if snow is deeper or harder than expected.  2016 maybe RIP, even the 700m hills are icey now. 2017 ? Bring it on!




Uvær i Norge

Jada det blåser stygt i Norge ute og rundt i landet.  En dårlig vind for meg og familien med min onkels bortkomst- han var vel 93 når han sov fredelig igjen på tirsdag i uken. En dårlig vind av både fremmedfrykt og unge mannfolk fra midøsten som strømmer nå, vekk fra krigen eller noen er bare migranter. Og mildt vær og regnstorm som ødelegge alt av ski-aktiviteter under tusen meter over havet.

Litt av en helvetes uke for mange med liberal livssyn. FrP går kraftig frem i menings målene og Siv Jensen stor kose seg med fremmedfrykten som stormer, særlig blant mange ellers liberalske damer som ser på unge mannfolk fra midtøsten som voldtektsmenn. Jeg har alltid egentlig vært for lukket asylmottak for enslige menn uten å føle at noen av mine venner eller Syriske naboer skulle være fornærmet. Det skulle hindre at en brøkdel av dem som ikke har rett til asyl blir avvist på ordentlig måte uten at de har anledningen å bare forsvinne ...å gå i oppløsning og blir da utsatt for kriminalitet og organisterte gjenger som misbruker dem eller gir dem nye karriere muligheter- å si det sånn.

 Men ikke for familier - de skulle få nok respekt av EU - EØS land å bli mottatt ute i sammfunnet. Integrering begynner da tidlig og går raskere fordi de kommer seg inn i 'foreldrekrets' - barnehage, skolesystemer, idrett og andre arrangementer.

Vi bor på et ganske fattig strøk i byen, men fin er det også og i nærheten av skolene og flere BHG'er. Det har vært for fristende for noen huseiere å leie hus ut til dem som har fått assyl, og så kom mange flere asylsøkere.  Men de var veldige hyggelig og nokså dannet egentlig. Aldri noe problemer med dem, tvert i mot. Sammenliknet med noen nordmenn i nabolaget som drikker seg i hel før kl 10 om morgen eller gidder ikke jobbe (sosial angst og dårlige rygger er de mest aktuelle for dem som er arbeids-umulige)er disse Syrene å foretrekke som naboer.

Jeg var skeptisk men nå har jeg fått lært mye om Syria og hvordan samfunnet er der. Jeg anbefaler til verdens mest skeptiske å ta seg en prat med noen av de som kan engelsk i alle fall, og bli litt kjent med dem. De som har fått asyl her, barna-familier, var ikke veldig fornøyde selv at de skulle komme mange enslige menn som ikke ennå har fått asyl. Det var motstand fra Ap her i byen, som mente at slike nye flyktninger ikke bare belaste kommunale ressurser, men er en sosial trussel mot dem som har fått asyl. Med det de mener at det var være uhyggelig øyeblikket som kunne oppstå når avslaget kommer, eller når de blir kanskje flyttet til et mindre tiltrekkende by. Naboene fra Syria med barna og oppholdstillatelse status som flyktninger var skeptiske og viste om muligheter for konflikt. Arabiske brødre og slike nesten forpliktelser mellom landsmenn som man blir flau å unngå.

To av de enslige jeg ble kjent med som kunne ganske mye engelsk, forsvant på nyttårsaften. Jeg fikk høre i uken at de har reist til Tyskland fordi de tror at de skal komme raskere i jobb der enn Norge. Så er det en stor Tyrkisk andel av samfunnet som kan funke kanskje som en bro eller havn for dem for å komme i økonomisk aktivitet. Faktisk absolutt alle voksen Syrer jeg har hatt samtaler med snakker mest om å komme seg i jobb. Å bevise Norsk myndigheter at de har kvalifikasjoner som kan være gyldig i Norge. Familier har det veldig godt her. De har råd til utleie av et rekkehus og å kjøpe seg en bil. De får ikke mye penger, det er omtrent det samme som dagpenger men utleie går direkte til tomteiere tydeligvis. De vil jobbe ikke snylte! De vil yte!

Det som er veldig ille gjennom hele Europa og særlig i ellers liberale land som i Skandinavia, er at asylstrømmen heler bensin på fremmedfrykts bålet og ekstremister, FrP medlemer i blant, føler at nå de har en sjanse å rive opp FN avtale om krigsflyktninger. Det som ikke funker er selvsagt at folk er plutselig i landene våres uten at de er en kjent type, uten at vi vite om de er gode eller onde. Alle typer kommer selvsagt. Leger, arkitekter, adovkater og så selvsagt skulker og organiserte gjenger. Det er problemstillingen med en åpen asyl politikk. Det er ammuninisjon for høyere ekstremister og drivstoff for en regjering som har mange bak dem som tror at folk som eier mer fortjener mer.

Så kom slumpen i oljepriser og vi har et storm som blåser. Så smelter snoen selv om i høyde over 700 m.o.h.

På fredag var jeg leg av mange ting. Jeg var litt ' post viral' etter kanskje en svak influenza jeg hadde for to uker siden. Lei av alt dette fremmedfrykt og at Ap, Sp og andre ikke kunne vise seg tøffere i asylpolitikk. Katt i posen. Lik i lastet. Det komme med de Blåøyde som nå lukter sjansen å ta en Thatcher revolusjon her i Norge, slikt den øvre tredjedel av samfunnet blir enda rikere til bekostningen av de laveste. VI i midten får bestikk i formen av skattelettelse og andre utgifter flytter fra staten til privat og vi får velge mer- i en oppfatning som blir solgt til folk i alle fall. Virkeligheten blir til dårligere arbeidsvilkår og flere folk i midlertidig arbeidsforhold på sikt, og kanskje stadig mer bruk av deltids ansatte. Jernbanen blir utsatt til 'konkurranse' dvs egentlig bare en drift på monopol basis. Men som vi så i UK og Sverige, service blir dårligere, avganger færre og priser stiger til himmelens med et offentlig tilbud ut av veien etter et par år.

Snøen var ikke lovende i uken. For en uke siden var det så hardt i sporene at en rimelig bra klisterjobb varte bare 6 km. Jeg følte meg ikke helt 100% og var lei av hat i media og at folk her er ikke bare midøst skeptisk, men utsetter meg som hvit EØS arbeidere til diskriminering og forskjellsbehandling. En gjestarbeider som forblir er en som tar jobben til en Nordmann. Men jeg har mange venner og noen gode arbeidsforhold bak meg, og jeg kan ta en skitur i blant som løfte hjerte og hele livssynet. Så tok jeg en pragmatisk beslutning.

 Kjør til skiløype og ta bære skiene dersom noe var isete eller bar mark. Tok med meg mine loppemarkeds ski, tretopp med plastsåle og smørfri mønstre en atlanthavs laks skulle ønske seg. Skisporet.no viste til at sporene var ikke oppkjørt på mer enn 24 timer. Ja vel. Då ble jeg den eneste bilen ved parkeringsplass ved siden av skogen.

Skiløypen var frest! Joda det var grovkornet, zombie-snø men med mine gamle smørfrie var det mer enn nok feste å få! Joda det var noe strekninger vår solen og regnværet hadde ødelagt løype, men det var bare lite grann labbing på kanskje 30 m ut av 4 km hver vei. Til min store glede var det mulig å skøyte - kombiski ble de. Jeg hadde en god intervalls trening mellom diagonal gang, dobbeltak-staking, og da padling og skøyting. Litt ufrivillig intervaller pga jeg har vært mer syk i kroppen en kanskje jeg følte i hodet. En bra treningsøkt! Men egentlig strålende fordi mine forventninger var så lave.

Jeg forventer nå at jeg skal komme til rett i arbeidslivet. Jeg forventer at det blir noen pragmatisk tiltak med hensyn til asylstrømmen men at folk blir behandle med respekt og omsorg. Jeg forventer at kjeltringer og dem med dårlige innstilling mot ungekvinner blir skjelt ut og sendt ut av landet- at asylsøkere utfør en funksjon slikt og politiet følge opp saken. At natteravner ser etter jentene som har drukket litt for mye og tar vare på dem. Jeg forventer at mennesker for det meste er gode og de verste ofte sitter med de største formue og hat som brenner inni dem uten at de har gode grunner til de minste dråpe syre i kroppen mot andre.