Mum and Russell's Birthday

To celebrate Mum and Russell's birthdays earlier this week, we all went out for lunch..

Not sure if Mum's starter was what she was expecting...

Grace and Dad seemed to be in a different world....

Millie was pleased to see us when we got back.

Some bits from our lunch...

Siv's Girlie Day Out

Siv went out with the girlies today, as it was 17th May, she wore the traditional Norwegian '17 Mai sløyfe'.

Starbucks at lunchtime with Luke and Loz

Here we are in Starbucks at St Katherines Dock, enjoying our 'affordable luxury'.

Hytte trip part 2 - Rami's hytte on Aldra

On Saturday, we took a trip out to Aldra to see Siw and Olav's friend Rami and his family. The weather going out was OK, but coming back was a bit extreme! Below are a few photos of the trip to Aldra. All of our photos from our, all the photos from our trip to Mo can be found here:

MO PHOTOS 2008

Here's some video highlights of our time in Aldra:

Hytte trip part 1 - Selnes

We set off to Selnes on Thursday night, and had a few relaxing days there. Even though the weather wasn't too kind, we managed to fit quite a few things in, visiting Konsvikosen ("Kosikosen"), as well as fitting in a fishing trip. Below are a few photo highlights, all the photos from our trip to Mo can be found here:

MO PHOTOS 2008

Here's some video highlights of the time in Selnes...

Concert at Mo Church

Tonight, it was back to Mo Church, for a concert by PK's music group.

When we all got back, Snuski was waiting to greet us!

Liten hytte tur

We took a small trip to Dalselv to pick up a few bits for the hytte trip tomorrow.

PK's confirmation

After an early breakfast, we checked out of our hotel, the Meyergården hotel, and went to PK's confirmation. After the confirmation, we headed off for a dinner with lots of friends and family, where cousin Siw gave a good speech introducing all of the guests to each other.

All the photos are here:

PK'S CONFIRMATION

Arrived in Mo i Rana

We arrived in Mo on Friday night, and had quite a late finish with all of the family at Siw and Olav's house...though the long drive from Oslo had obviously taken its toll on Leif! All photos HERE

Weekend in Westcliff - Sunday

On the Sunday, we all went to The Shagor restaurant in Hamlet Court Road, where PJ had rented a room for a party for his sister Marion and her Daughter Hannah, for Hannah's 3rd Birthday. None of us had seen Marion in about 22 years, so quite a bit of catching up to do!

Weekend in Westcliff - Saturday

We went down to see Fi, Grae and Harvey in Westcliff. The weather for once was warm and Sunny, so we started a barbecue, but as the sun went down it got a bit chilly, so we retired inside for dinner and to play on Harvey's car track.

Later in the evening, as it was still dry, Grae, Phil and myself went outside to start the 'Great fire of Westcliff' to get rid of the piles of garden rubbish Grae had. Though after a while certain items such a deckchairs did seem to find their way on as well....Hey, it was getting cold around midnight!

Dan the Man!

Managed to catch up briefly with Dan Walsh in London. After sorting out his T-Mobile 3G USB stick, we had a couple of pints in The Lamb in Leadenhall Market. Great to see him again! I left a rather cryptic message on Rick's answerphone...hopefully this will explain things!

Various Cartoons

I've also now finally got round to scanning in some bits and bobs I've drawn over the years, including the 'Nottsgals' strip done for Trude, Gill and Lynn. Both versions are here, the original, and the cleaned up 'Family Remix'. The whole album is available here:

Miscellaneous Cartoons

Music Illustrations

Over the years, I've done some illustrations for various local bands, and of course things for the Soul City Grooverz and Manet Brothers. Finally I've got round to scanning them in and posting them here:

MUSIC ILLUSTRATIONS

Ah, Filber....

Here's a blast from the past...Filber! A rather shameless rip off of Gary Panter's 'Jimbo' strip, started one Christmas eve while sitting waiting to go home from the TSB! A lot were drawn on the fly or even on the road, hence the slightly rough feeling to some of them.

It allowed me to do a quasi-continuing strip, but experiment with different drawing styles. Lots of different influences here….Apart from Panter: Frank Miller, Biff, Ian Wright, Andy Dog, Moebius, The The, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The KLF, The Jam, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Clash…The list goes on.

The offset of images against ridiculously over the top or over romanticised prose is a direct steal from Jimbo (though nowhere near as good), but I remember that Fred Previous (where are you now?) loved it.

Of course looking back it’s a load of self-indulgent twaddle, but this was a time when I was most productive artwise, and I'm surprised how much of this stuff I produced!

Anyway, at number 50, it was time to call it a day! The full album is here:

FILBER ALBUM

More up and down weather!

Last Wednesday it was a sunny 18c (64f), and this morning we've woken up to a heavy fall of snow!

Here's little Magica!

Here's a picture of Leif and Solveig's new dog Magica. She's an Old English Mastiff, and very cute at the moment! The reason for the name is that she died during birth, but was able to be resuscitated, so when she came back it was magic!

Red Arrows fly past

A group of us went up onto the roof of DnB NOR to see the fly past by the red arrows to mark the 90th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. It was a bit breezy up there, but we got a good view. It was obviously popular, as all of the bridges were packed, as were most nearby office blocks.