Syltemartna'n - Tresfjord.

Confusing title for a post? Yup.
Sylte is the kinda central area of the village of Tresfjord, and Syltemartna'n is an annual market that has been held there for well over 100 years.
In olden times it was very much a farmers market where animals were traded, but these days it has become a bit more like what would be  referred to in Britain as a  'car boot sale', or maybe even a 'flea market'.
Dozens of stalls, indoors and outdoors, selling general tat, antiques, and bric-a-brac.
These markets are absolute gems for collectors. Everything from Elvis LPs to 8 gauge shotguns, odd china tea cups to works of art, and all in all a brilliant day out, so that was our destination today.
For once the skies were clear and the mountains looked nice.

Some of the stalls.

I resisted temptation heavily, and got away with buying a set of 10 jigsaw puzzles, and a belt with a Honda buckle on it, although I was tempted by very many other things, including a guitar and an accordion, not that I can play either.

One of the side shows at this event has become a gathering of vintage cars, which was one of the main reasons I agreed to go. So here's some classic motoring memorabilia.
A Challenger.

A 1952 Rover, exactly the same model which was driven by Siegfried Farnon (Robert Hardy), in 'All Creatures Great and Small. (We're nearing the end of watching the complete box set of that excellent TV series).

There are still quite a few of these old Volvos on the road around here.

Jaguar XJ.

Can't remember what this one was, maybe somebody can prompt me.

Big Yankee gas guzzler.

E Type

Beautiful Model T Ford.

Consul.

Which had this unusual caravan behind it.

Many more which I know nothing about.

Note the wooden spoke wheels on this Buick.

This one really amazed me. Why would anybody want to preserve a Renault 4?

I'm nearly old enough to remember when a truck like this was considered to be big.

The next one is an Opel, but I owned the exact same model under the Vauxhall brand (if memory serves it was called a Viva, although Vauxhall put that name on several models). The one I owned when I lived in Aberdeen became a pile of scrap so I left it sitting with a 'For Sale' sign on it. I quickly had several offers, and took the best one. It was only after a very Indian looking gentleman had paid me more than I thought it was worth, that I realised the reason why he wanted it. The registration included the letters COW.

Again, no idea what this one was.

But this one is a Volvo 1800. An absolute beauty, and I also saw an estate version last year.

And for the last vehicle, I loved this little Norwegian built Panter motorbike. 1969 model, and very much in the style of the late great BSA Bantam.

So, all in all, a nice afternoon out.
But there was a fence needing painting, so what else could I do???
I stayed indoors and prepared dinner. Although I did sneak out to check that 'she who thinks she can paint better than me' was getting on with the fence. ;)
I suppose this counts as the 'bum shot' of this post.

Onywye, yun's aa fir enoo.

Thank God it's Friday

It's been a tough week on my old aching bones, but thankfully I'm not working tomorrow, apart from any minor tasks that my wife throws in my direction. Which most likely means that I'll wish I was at work. ;)
Abby commented on my last blog post that she'd like to see more welding pics. Well, it's one of the hardest things to shoot with these modern digital cameras. In the old days of SLR cameras, loaded with real film, I knew what to do. But the little snap camera which I carry with me everywhere came with instructions in about every language apart from English, not that I ever read the instructions,,, I'm a man. ;)

So I just snap away, try to get the angle right, and annoy the hell out of my fellow workers by pointing a camera at them all of the time.
The first three pictures are all of one of my favourite welders. She's a lovely girl, does a great job, and proves 100% that tough jobs can be done by the female of the species.

I have to admit I couldn't stand the boredom of, or the concentration required for, welding. I'm just happy to bung it together, then hand it over to the welders.

Here's the nearest to a decent 'arty farty' shot that I could manage today. Mig welder, 8th second, and it nearly worked.

And now for a complete change of subject.
What in the name of Top Gear is this????
I was too slow to get a frontal shot, not that it looked much better than the rear. Which leads me to believe that it was a beetle in disguise.
Caterpillars change into Moths or Butterflys, so maybe this car is just about to change into something beautiful such as a Triumph Dolomite.. :) :) LOL

Anyway, turned around from that and got hit by one of my worst failures in life. A rainbow.
Sadly I just see blue and yellow, but the wife told me it was beautiful, so I'll believe her. :(

Then, for the last snap of the day, I turned the camera west, and wondered if that damned Icelandic volcano (the one which nobody can pronounce the name of) had erupted again.

Onywye,
yun's enyoch sharn fir ee nicht.
A'm geeng.
;)

The last few days....

Not really had time for my computer lately, due to pressure of work. Every day just seems to be work, eat, shave, shower, and sleep. With very little time for anything else.
But, when I downloaded my camera tonight I found a few useful images.
The first one is one of our welders doing a bit of grinding. 20th second exposure makes the sparks look really good.

Next I found was this beauty of a boat which was lying in the marina here yesterday. No idea where she comes from, web search for the name found nothing, but she's nice.

Then, of course, there's the 'bum shot',,, I'll get killed for this. While I was making dinner the other night, I looked out the door, to see Peerie Trowie tackling the rose bush again. She's getting more adventurous all the time,,,, and I'll say nothing about her... Well, Ok, I'll just say nothing... ;)

But now for a couple of sensible pictures.
This morning the sun rose beautifully on 'Our Mountains', which have completely lost their snow this year. This was the shot from our door, just after 6am.

And a view over the voe, from near the church, after I had run Peerie Trowie to the ferry at 6.30am.

Everything has suddenly started to take on an Autumn appearance.

Onywye,
Yun's aa fir enoo.
Must go and hide before the main 'critical commentator on my blog' sees one of those pictures. LOL

Another Musical Gem

Because Aly Bain featured in my last post, as a supporting artist to Eddi Reader, I got to thinking about the tune he plays which I consider to be my favourite fiddle tune, and Aly's signature tune. Margaret's Waltz.
So I dug up this gem from YouTube, which also features one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived. Peerie Willie Johnson:

A musical gem...

It's not often I find a YouTube video which ticks all the boxes, but this one does.
1) My favourite song in the world is 'Back To Earth', written by Willie Nelson.
2) Aly Bain is the only fiddle player I like.
3) Eddi Reader is pure magic.
etc..
etc..

The fact that it's a kinda rehearsal video, makes it even better.
It's a video which can't be embeded on a blog, so you'll have to click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgyrki_w4lI

However, after a bit more digging I found this video of Eddi singing it live:



Both videos are well worth a watch.
Enjoy.
Yun's aa fir enoo

Summer in West Norway is confusing.

This is my 4th summer here, and I'd almost given up hope of any real summer happening this year.
I've never put away my winter jacket, or winter boots, this year. Every second day was a downpour of rain, and the sun was just a memory from the previous 3 gorgeous summers.
I'd been warned that sometimes summer gives West Norway a miss, and I was starting to believe it. But this week has been pure magic. Temperatures have been in the high 20s, and our thermometer actually hit 30.6C this afternoon. Only problem is that this has happened on the first week back to work after the cold and rainy holidays.
So, working in heavy overalls, with welders and cutting torches. Sweat dripping from every inch of my body. I'm maybe not the happiest person at the moment. But I'm living in the certain knowledge that within a few short months I'll be complaining about temperatures that are colder than anything I ever knew when I lived in Shetland.

Oh Lord, isn't it heavenly, the ability you gave Shetlanders to bitch and complain about the weather.. Shetlanders are good at being weather pessimists. LOL

Ramblings, and Roses

Not had time to post anything lately, since the holidays are over, and somehow I got conned into working overtime. But here's a few bits and pieces from the last few days.
On Saturday we took a trip over to Molde on the Hurtigbåt (Fast Boat/Water Taxi) Simply because it was a fine day, and we fancied a pint of beer in the pub on the pier, the Dockside.
The Hurtigbåt takes about 20 minutes for the 11km crossing, at roughly 23 knots. Sometimes the boat goes through the sound between the small islands and, when the crew aren't scared, they go through at normal speed, which is quite impressive considering how little space there is in the channel. Here's a picture, passing the first marker.

And a picture towards the east end of Hjertøya, the island which is home to the fisheries museum, which I posted about earlier.

There was a nice old cruise ship in Molde, the Marco Polo.

And, on the subject of boats, this little beauty was lying in the harbour.

As I said, the basic plan was to have a couple of beers in the Dockside pub, but, that went rather wrong. The signs on the beer taps still say Ringnes, the glasses say Ringnes, but the horrible sods have started to serve Dahls Pils... Dahls is brewed in Trondheim, and it tastes just like the Trondheim water,, Piss.. YUK.
So we had a wander around the street.
Molde is the original one street town, a bit like Lerwick, but for some strange reason Wikipedia insist that Molde is a city. Many attempts have been made to correct the error on Wikipedia, but they know better. Maybe Lerwick should be upgraded to a city.. LOL
Here's the street in Molde on a busy Saturday.

And my favourite building. Green, ain't it.

Then we found a pub which sold Stella Artois, and that saved the day. :) :)

Anyway, not much else to say apart from back at work, temperatures in the high 20s during the day, and as I write this at 1030pm, it's still 22 degrees. Damn near tropical.
This of course suits our roses nicely, so here's a few shots of them from the last few days. We're kinda proud of them.

Yun's aa fir enoo.