I was very sad to hear on the radio this morning that DFDS are withdrawing their ferry from Newcastle to Norway - a short item and I have no detail,s but it brough back memories of a 24 hour crossing one winter a few years ago, on the "Venus" run - in those days - by Color line. Rising fuel costs are blamed - the service is no longer economic - and that's going to be a huge disappointment to all the Norwegians who have been coming across to see Newcastle United and to shop in the Metro Centre.

Picture a large, windswept keyside with a great loading area and a handful of cars and some "heavies" loading - quite quiet and even 15 years ago, before I ran my own business, I wondered at the financial model. And yet I was missing something; I knew that our berth was "the only one we have left" and was situated under the car deck. Then I saw what was missing. The first of a convoy of double decker busses appeared, and rolled down to stop by the boat, where the hordes of Norwegians on them rolled out and on board. "Booze Cruise"

Crossing - rough. So rough that passengers for Haugsund were advised the boat couldn't get in, and they should get off at Stavanger. But I'm used to rough crossings - am I allowed to say I enjoyed it. And I have a further big memory - of an 8 hour drive on through a blizzard to Oslo, an arrival there after midnight at a locked hotel, and (as you will have guessed!) a Perl course the next day.

If you need a course in Norway ... we'll still have other means of getting over to you. I would love to come. Please. ;-) ...
(written 2008-05-29 20:32:01)

 Z201 - Holidays and Business Trips
  [2469] Beyond the Pale - (2009-10-22)
  [2313] Seeing Guadalajara - a first glimpse downtown - (2009-08-01)
  [2306] Melksham to Mexico for the week - (2009-07-27)
  [2269] Sipping at York - (2009-07-05)
  [2265] A chance to do the tourist thing - (2009-07-01)
  [2208] A beautiful coastline - (2009-05-30)
  [2200] England, Scotland, Northern Ireland - (2009-05-26)
  [2198] On the road, at a Service area thats a cut above the others - (2009-05-25)
  [2101] A B C D of GA and TN - (2009-03-23)
  [2100] Visiting Family - (2009-03-23)
  [2098] A room without a view - (2009-03-22)
  [2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
  [2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
  [1868] Liverpool - a friendly city - (2008-11-03)
  [1746] London for the visitor, for free - (2008-08-09)
  [1740] Vertical London - (2008-08-06)
  [1457] A day in Ljubljana - (2007-12-04)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1299] In the USA for a few days - (2007-08-11)
  [1293] Weymouth - Sunny Summer Sunday afternoon - (2007-08-07)
  [1291] Day trip to Weymouth - (2007-08-05)
  [1231] Sur le Continent - (2007-06-13)
  [1150] Helsinki - what comes naturally - (2007-04-15)
  [1143] A course in Helsinki - (2007-04-11)
  [1120] 1200 miles in 3 days - (2007-03-28)
  [1025] Tomorrow's keywords - London, Training, Course, PHP, Ruby. - (2007-01-08)
  [1004] Old dog, old tricks - (2006-12-22)
  [878] Easy criteria to meet - (2006-09-25)
  [684] Staying in the country - (2006-04-13)
  [620] Familiar names, close to home - (2006-02-23)
  [548] San Francisco - (2005-12-30)
  [518] Passport office - a much improved system - (2005-12-05)
  [420] Towards Tebay - (2005-08-20)
  [374] Instant availability - (2005-07-11)
  [373] Vik, Iceland to Melksham, England - (2005-07-10)
  [370] From Iceland - (2005-07-06)
  [368] Vacation Week - (2005-07-04)
  [81] Cafe keyboards - (2004-10-10)
  [65] Ireland - (2004-09-27)

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Equality, sameness and identity - Python
Korn shell - some nuggets
String, Integer, Array, Associative Array - ksh variables
Some useful variables and settings in the Korn Shell
Farewell, Newcastle to Stavanger, Haugsund and Bergen
Be careful of misreading server statistics
A date for your diary - 16th July 2008
The old sayings are the best (FSB)
How do Google Ads work?
Old Sarum airfield brings back fond memories