Six members of Swansea Round Table recently visited old friends in Norway. Tablers Nikolai and Arne (ex-Swansea Tablers) invited a delegation to attend the annual handover of the Askim No.58 Round Table, Norway.
Team SRT set off from Swansea on the Thursday night and after a minor delay on the M4 arrived at their hotel late into the night. 4 hours later the team were back up and onto Stansted Airport to catch the short flight to Oslo – Rykke Airport. Landing down at a strip the size of Fairwood Airport is always a little unsettling, but these fears soon drifted away when we saw the setup was nothing like how the Welsh handle things.
Next on the agenda was the need to stock up on our quota of duty free alcohol. For those that have never been to Norway, plonk is a tad expensive. After 30 minutes of deciding what to get we left duty free no better off as Minty had purchased the most expensive Chablis on offer. Out into arrivals and there to meet us were our old mates Nikolai and Arne. How about that for service!
A short drive away was the summer house belonging to Nikolai’s family. After shaking out our bedding and deciding who should take on the snorers we were introduced to the drinking ski. This was the Mk2 version as Swansea had managed to lose the first whilst at a beer festival in Llandrindod Wells (but that is a different story…). It was after a couple of Akvavit shots that someone spotted that the toilet consisted of either the trees or a compost toilet. This was conveniently located next to the cabin that I was not staying in. Good call there. After some hot dogs on the decking we then headed for the local harbour of Moss where we met Nikolai’s grandfather to do some fishing. Three decent sized cod and a load of mackerel were landed and everyone was happy. Apart from one member (no names) who we agreed could not catch a cold let alone fish. The party then separated with Chairman Ian and Tabler Jon accompanying Nikolai around the peninsula to drop a net for over night fishing. On route they were greeted by a friendly porpoise.
Back at the summer house and many G&T’s later the BBQ was fired up to cook fresh fish and tender loins of pork and beef. I think the party ended at about 3-4 am but various accounts of the evening noted that:
“You will take happy memories like this to the grave”
“Friday has to be one of the best days of my life”.
Saturday’s weather was just as bright as the previous. Elements of team SRT gingerly took G&T on the decking at approximately 11am. Meanwhile those feeling fit and full of energy went out to collect the fishing net. A bucket full of Flounders were retrieved and the net cleaned and hung out to dry by those who were now ‘back in the game’ thanks to Mr Gordon and Sapphire. After a late breakfast the compost toilet was approached with caution (we never did figure out why there were two separate seats in there).
Norway & Wales unite in fellowship.
The whole party then moved down the coast to the scene of our next party. After a few wrong turns we found the next summer house and there to greet us were the Askim Round Table team. Introductions were quickly followed by rules with Judge Hefin imposing us with grenade master. For the uninitiated the rally cry is ‘grenade’ upon which everyone must hit the deck. Last man standing downs the beer. The Norwegians countered this by appointing a dance master, new rules being last to follow….. you guessed it downs the beer.
Askim Round Table held their 2014 AGM and Team SRT were privileged to witness the induction of a new member. This was followed by a shared meal with both Tables intermingling and getting to know one another. The party went on into the night with the only interruption being a quick dip in the sea and a sing song in a small chalet (don’t ask it was weird but hilarious, especially as grenade was called). True to form the sun never quite set in Norway and the friendship will always be held in Swansea.