"A Life on the Ocean Waves"

Yesterday we went for a walk around Alesund. A town burnt to the ground in 1904, it being then mostly made of wood, rebuilt of less combustible brick and stone in the Art Nouveau style. It's a small town, extremely quiet when we called but the shop keepers had opened their doors so that MS Trollfjord's passengers, by now inured to parting with their money, could purchase enough trolls for all the family back home.

I joined the astronomy group, led by a nice Swede and we visited a few Art Nouveau building. From the habour I spied a futuristic building on top of a hill with zigzag steps going up. The building looked like something out of Thunderbirds and I was intrigued.

Boldly I struck out on my own to climb to the top of Tracy Island - except it was 420 steps high. I laboured up the sheer cliff face stopping numerous times on the way to check my pulse rate and ensure I didn't topple over. At times I felt like turning back but spurred on by others I reached the summit and immediately climbed down again.

We're now arriving at Trondheim. It is pissing down with rain. I haven't decided whether to get soaked walking 20 minutes into the town centre. So far we've not seen any clear sky but out Astronomer guide is upbeat and we look forward to seeing a clear sky or two and possibly stars and the Northern Lights.

The missus is keeping an eye on me by phone - she had a hard frost last night!  I'm meeting lots of interesting people - quite a lot of civil servants who worked in Whitehall and small business owners. Indication of the value of an inflation proofed DB pension and the benefits of hard work and a good accountant!


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