I'm at Heathrow Airport with an hour to kill before my flight to Singapore and then home. I spent my two days in London almost entirely at four military museums, and saw the following Sharpe-related things:

National Army Museum* A life-sized model of a Rifleman of the 95th, wearing a replica uniform. One of the boots was falling apart and tied ( Read more... )

So many people told me Oslo wasn't very interesting that I had a suspicion I'd really enjoy it (if only to be contrary, and also because I was determined to like a place that has such a neat name). I arrived late at night and woke the next morning to a beautiful sunny 18 degree day, a nice harbour full of interesting old sailing boats and cruise ( Read more... )

Food is extremely expensive here and after scoping out the options, I decided to eat at an Irish pub in Bergen the other night because it was one of the few places I could get a hot evening meal for under A$50 (that's just for one dish, not drinks, a meal and dessert!). I ordered and sat at a small table near the front, and wondered why when they ( Read more... )

The work part of my trip ended last night with dinner at the house of the mining and finance managers of the Swedish mine (a couple). It was possibly the best meal I've ever had at a private home, but I managed to inadvertently shock everybody when I expressed the opinion that using a horse as a sexual partner is probably no less agreeable to the ( Read more... )

I'm having a most excellent time so far. I had a two-hour tour of the company's underground mine today and was beaming like a little kid at Disneyland the whole time. I'd've loved to have been let loose on my own to explore in the dark with just a flashlight and pretend I was in the Mines of Moria, but that wouldn't fit very well with safety ( Read more... )

I almost recognised the above Monty Python reference when special_trille used it in a comment to my last post, but didn't realise that it also means being alive, but lethargic. Which may have been the point she was trying to make ( Read more... )

I leave for Finland in less than a week and it was only last night that I sat down at the computer to make some bookings for what I'll do on my week off, after the work part of the trip is finished.

First stop was for somewhere to stay in Stockholm. I spent an hour browsing youth hostels on the excellent hostelworld.com and found what sounded ( Read more... )