Shopping, Brodders and smelly fish

We can't quite believe we have been back for almost a week, it is funny how quickly the... how can I put it... "quirks" of living aboard become normality again, like the lack of decent bed, digging in lockers for clothes and just about everything other, donning jackets and hats for the walk across the icy car park to the clubhouse for an early morning shower. I'm painting them in a much worse light than need be, we honestly don't think twice about it after being back aboard for more than a few hours. 

Northern Lights in Bjarkoy

We were both really pleased to have got in a little excursion to nearby island Bjarkoy and spend a few nights there, we had never thought we would have the weather to get out and around at this time of year, being the only leisure boat around too makes it all the more special. We took note on our journey back of a few possible fishing grounds and hope to exploit that as much as possible too over the coming weeks, its cod season in Northern Norway and free food is always good! The disadvantage of fishing is the cooking, cooking fish in such a small area as the boat as we have learnt very well from previous experience gives the boat an interesting odour, I've never noticed "Febreeze: Fish Room Spray" before, but hey I might be on to a winner, don't pinch my idea Febreeze!! Nonetheless the smell really hangs about, so we in general try to bbq fish which might be more tricky at this time of year... We have been kindly allowed use of the clubroom for cooking, but don't plan to subject them to that either! 

If only you could see us now, we are sprightly skipping through the icy paths with all the agility of a nimble mountain goat! Well, not quiet, but we have managed to half our time on the "commute" to Harstad now we have Brodders (spikes on the bottom of our shoes), we are a little concerned on there durability but while they last they certainly are helping! 

Watching from the warmth of the wheelhouse today we saw some of the boat club guys set up some Christmas lights, looks great! Christmas has certainly reached the shops too with Christmas decorations on sale in ever window, something we have never seen before is Christmas lights designed to be hung from flagpoles... It would be fair to say that almost ever house and many businesses have a flagpole outside and proudly fly the Norwegian flag so its no wonder that these lights are popular, I doubt you could sell more than a handful in the UK though! 

Christmas decorations at sea, a coloured water spray

Shops here are preparing for Black Friday sales, I doubt we will be seeing the insane crowd sizes like in America though, presuming that to be the case we will likely make our way in to town tomorrow. I'm afraid we aren't really chasing any bargains; no room for a 65 inch tv but just buying a few cans of chopped tomatoes and a packet of chips for the weekend! 

Christmas lights at the Marina

A few hours well spent in Harstad Library

Shopping in Norway is quite different to what we are used with in the UK, and for this comparison sake I'm going to use the mainland UK (Papay Co-op is too special to compare!). The main supermarkets like Rema 1000, Coop, Kiwi etc which I guess are the equivalent of a Tesco, Coop or Asda don't sell the same kinds of things. Supermarkets here are grocery stores, there will be maybe one or two (literally) electronic items which tends to be maybe a food processor and a vaccum, if you want the kind of electronics you would usually buy in a British supermarket you have to go to an electronic store. They really are about groceries here, with the exception of lightbulbs and wool... I'm not sure why but they all seem to stock an amazingly large selection of wool. Plastic bags like in Scotland are bought for the equivalent of 10p and are actually very thick and last a lot of shops. Alcohol over 5% as mentioned before are only sold in the state run liquor stores, so last minute bottles of wine etc are out of the question. Shops are generally closed on Sundays with the exception of some of the much smaller grocery stores. Everything we have bought here has been very tasty, own brand produce is great quality and most things seem to avoid the high numbers of added E numbers etc you find in a lot of the food in the UK. Having been here now for so many months we have got used to these changes in shopping habits and actually found it strange being back in the UK shops.
Beyond shopping though we still have a lot to learn and appreciate, bring it on! ☺