Autumn is here and the first real autumn storm with hurricane force wind along the Norwegian coast is here.
This is causing delays, cancellations of calls and even some emergencies.
Here is some examples;
The cruise ship Sapphire Princess is making a scheduled call in Ålesund on her way from Southampton to Tromsøo today. Because of the forecasted gale her arrival was put forward from 0700 hrs. this morning to actually arriving 1830 hrs. yesterday to make sure she could safely berth before the weather picked up . (Luckily they have the power to do so)
PS> The floating dock being pushed against the wharf is waiting installation at Fiskerstrand Shipyard.
The second cruise ship that was supposed to be in Ålesund today, the Astoria, on her way from Alta to Stavanger, cancelled the call as she would have had problems berthing in the present conditions.
Here she is in a Norwegian fjord in better conditions:
They have now restored some power and no longer in need of assistance, but the Emergency response tug Boa Heimdal is standing by with her, awaiting a break in the weather to escort her into Ålesund for repairs:
PS> I don’t think the Russians on the Tor will complain though.
UPDATE:
A not so clear video shot from a SAR helicopter that was sent to evacuate the 33 crew from the TOR. (Evacuation cancelled by the Master when they got some power restored):
Maybe waiting out the storm that is now blowing along her route to Tromsø.
PS> She is probably too large to navigate the protected inshore route.
UPDATE:
Sapphire Princess finally left for Tromsø just after midnight as the storm has move over land and dissipated.
AIDASOL made her scheduled call at Ålesund today. Arriving early this morning without any delays. She left heading south to Eidfjord on schedule at 1300 hrs.
PS>That is the last visit from her this season. She has been a regular every 10 days since April.
Now there is a gap of nearly a month without a scheduled Cruise ship call at Ålesund. (Although there may be some calling out of schedule)
The final one is Queen Victoria, 19. Nov.
Another emergency situation is developing just north of here, not far from where Viking Sky got in trouble earlier this year.
The tanker Christina has got engine stop and drifting towards rocks:
According to SAR the Master issued Mayday at 1540 hrs. today.He is trying to get anchors to hold and two Fishfarm support vessels are on the scene trying to connect towlines. Tug Vivax is on her way from Nyhamna and will be there shortly.
PS> 1555 hrs.: Vivax just .arrived and Frøy Harvest has established tow.
They should be able to resolve this quickly:
A SAR Helicopter is now also on location “just in case”.
Latest from SAR at 1620 hrs.:
NOTE:The whole thing took less than an hour to resolve!!!
LATEST: Christina arrived back in Elnesvågen at 2030 hrs., which is were she started the voyage from. Her cargo is “harmless” chemical bound for Aberdeen.
This is a dilemma for many migrant families and maybe especially Muslims.
The Norwegian way of bringing up children today is very different from that of many other places.Any kind of physical punishment is prohibited by law and generally not done.
Even harsh words are frond upon. Encouragement is said to be much more effective than punishment.
I think the whole thing has gone too far and looking at the total lack of manners many kids and juveniles show is disturbing in my opinion. I sometime get stern looks from parents when I tell them to take control of their misbehaving kids in public places, or tell juveniles to get their feet off the seats on buses etc. Maybe I’m not enough Norwegian to appreciated the freedom of children to express feelings or demand their rights loudly and consistently.(And display their bad manners while doing so)
I’m all for teaching them independence and self-reliance, but I don’t think this is the right way to do it.
As for forcing children to fast during Ramadan, that can be difficult to justify, specially when Ramadan fall in the summer months. I don’t know where in Norway this family live, but even in May the days are very long, (even 24 hrs. in the North of Norway) which is a problem even for grownups. Muslims living in the North solve this by fasting according to the sunrise and sunset in Mecca, which has been approved by the main Muslim organisation in Norway: Islamic Council Norway. (This applies in the winter as well, when there are no days)
There is a new kind of tourism down here. Muslims coming to New Zealand for Ramadan because the winter days are short. There is a growing problem with multicultural western societies when other cultures want to import their own culture where it is not one we accept.
Arranged marriages and dowries, honour killings, multiple wives are all things that have occurred. There was one recent case where a man had a common law wife and a religious wife and was claiming a benefit for both.
An article in Reuters today about an Joint US and Norwegian exercise in Northern Norway and about the situation in Kirkenes, the nearest Norwegian town to the Russian border:
Nothing said about the recent 75th Anniversary of Finnmark by Soviet forces in WWII:
Hip hip Hurra!! It is Norwegian National Day today!!!
But is is a different 17.May from normal, as you can see from the pictures in this article from vg.no:
In many places the traditional “barnetog” in the streets are replace by a parade of boats in the harbour and fjords.
In Oslofjord the parade was lead by the Christian Radich:
I just got a notification in my email about this and did a password reset to get here. I would like to state for the record that I did not post that. Someone must have hacked my account back in 2017 or something but I have been ashore since 2014 and not posting on any of these sites.
