Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

This rather impressive house number appeared on one of my routes to work a matter of days ago. Apparently the home owner decided to do something different with her cherry tree stump and called in a local chainsaw carving firm to work their magic. Plus there's absolutely no way you could miss their place now either. It's pretty massive. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I am due to be another year older and I suspect once again not another year wiser! Arilx

As threatened....we are back in Norway today. This is the massive open air Folk Museum which sits on the outskirts of Oslo [the exclusive part where the monied folks dwell!]. Not too much talking...just a sample of pictures. Enjoyed it immensely.  Despite the size of the site many of the buildings are not open to view inside so it doesn't take as long to get round as we initially thought. Phew! This is a typical Scandinavian stave church. They're made entirely from wood and most remaining examples are in Norway. This one dates from 1200 with some renovations. It was very dark inside and a devil to get photos of. There were a whole row of these fairly crude heads carved from long posts with the detail burnt on right up high. The paintings near the altar were magnificent. Examples of the farm buildings and store rooms which saw me beginning to lose the will to live eventually...there were so many of a very similar ilk! Shots of traditional paint

I've still got some Norwegian photos to share, but am currently twonking about and not getting on with editing them so please bear with me as I skip forwards and backwards in time over the next few days! Meanwhile we had a lovely sunny day for our silver wedding anniversary and as ever Mr GBT willingly went along with another of my hare brained ideas. I think he quite liked this one though....800 years of history depicted in teasel head figures inside Chidham Church. I know not why, but it's genius. A few to amuse. They very much appealed to my sense of humour. Arilx

.... I went from being Miss to Mrs. That's what the Oslo trip was in aid of. Am not entirely sure where the time has gone😍 Arilx

I am literally divulging details of my dirty washing on the blog, but I shall be restrained and only talk of matters pertaining to my recent purchase of the Ecozone ecoball. Indeed I have gone wild and I dug my short arms into my long pockets and invested £18 into one of these. The initial outlay seems quite steep, but several people had recommended it and the feedback was that they last up for absolutely ages [they don't keep your whites absolutely pristine, but that's not that important to me] and in the long run it's going to save me more. Mr GBT was highly sceptical when it came [I kept its arrival as a surprise for precisely that reason], but in the three weeks we've been using it he's admitted that he hasn't noticed any changes. The changeover has been very straightforward and my washing smells clean. I have bought a small box of washing powder to keep in case of emergencies. If sometimes you feel like your actions are such a drop in the ocean and

For many Friday night is takeaway night. It marks the end of the working week and the beginning of the weekend. It's an occasional treat here at GBT, but I think this A board I saw recently would tempt me in if I was wondering which to choose on its wit alone! It will come as no surprise to find that I saw it in Norway. Hope you all have a great weekend. Arilx

A little break from the Oslo posts as am a bit short on time and we're away working again at the end of the week. A small tale from GBT instead. TYM is not a great fan of packing and one thing which gets him chuntering is having to pack all sorts of different stuff for uni. Limited space in the car meant he had to make choices and some items had to be removed. A couple of days prior to us making the trip I came in from work to hear him muttering crossly to himself in his room and saying how much he hated it. Generally I try not to be an interfering Mother, but following on from a couple of slightly difficult days for him I just called out to check he was all right. Beaming [he's a smiley chap] he opened his door and confirmed everything was fine. So the cause of all this angst? The much loathed festive jumper he bought last year for various related uni events and whether he should take it back with him. My advice was that he could leave it behind, but I suspect he&#

Go on indulge me....you knew I was going to be keeping my eyes peeled for all the bonkers stuff in Oslo didn't you! Just a small selection of what I spotted..... It's not everyday you come across a depiction of a woman's inner workings displayed on a wall as a piece of art work is it now?!! Perhaps you might prefer a troll....I saw lots of variations of these and am frankly about as keen on them as the garden gnome. Simply not my taste that's all, but quite amusing. I saw the sign first and when I went to investigate further I discovered that this used to be a carpark. In an attempt to highlight climate change and encourage walking you can now play your own music by plugging your phone into the converted parking meter. People dance in the space. Speaking of parking....there were a whole series of painted spaces. I like the idea of adding a splash of fun to something utterly functional and mundane. Some bite their nails....this strange beast is

I think this one photo alone shows what I've been up to. Last year a friend shared some photos on FB of her holiday and in that moment I realised just how much I wanted to see the Viking ships in Norway for myself. It's a bit like when we went to Orkney....we save and save so we can occasionally splurge on a really special occasion. We've got a celebration coming up later this month and this was our way of marking it. The Tune Ship displayed as it came out of the ground. Due to the poor archaeological techniques employed at the time it suffered a great deal of damage and the grave goods disappeared. This is Gokstad ship. Inside it was found a male skeleton. The body of the deceased was placed inside one of these triangular burial chambers along with all the goods they would need for the after life. The structure was built in the centre of the vessel before the entire thing was interred beneath a burial mound. Unfortunately we'll never know what the ori

Hello! You know what it's like when you've seen loads in a very short space of time and it seems like you've been away forever? I'm going through that right now! My brain needs a little time to process and sort the experiences I've had before I can sift out the bits I want to blog about, so please bear with me. It's been amazing though. Whilst I trundle through photos and get myself back into the groove, let me leave you with this lot who were suspended down the bridge cables when we crossed the river. Arilx