Fjordlandia Viking bar & kaffistove, main str. 221B, Needlehole

Azriel, it's a wonderful store. You'd love it!  There is stuff hanging on the walls clear to the ceiling and inventory going back at least to the 1930's.  And you don't have to pay. They let us run a monthly tab.  

Petty, I probably shouldn't go into details here on all that can happen when gasoline meets Styrofoam.  It can be useful at times though.....or pretty bad....all depends....

I dont doubt it Dave, I love wondering in good old fashioned hardware shops, (when you can find them !) I like the smells in there & would rather snoop around & buy 3 nails than go looking in endless mainstream clothes shops as my daughter does !  

For years here there was a shop like that here- noone ever seemed to go in it (except me), it was part a junk shop and part an antiques shop and part a bric-a-brac shop and a good percent dust. I could get lost for days in there.
Sadly its now gone and the space is now a bookies.  

Thats all it ever is here ! Fooking Coffee bars, which no one can afford to go in cos the coffee is £3-£4 a cup !! slice of cakey is about the same & sarnies START at £3.50 !! & as you say....Bookies ! I used to really like Specialised shops. We had a PROPER record shop, sold vinyls, CDs, cassettes, memorabilia, song sheets, the lot. You could ask staff ANYTHING to do with music & end up chatting the day away, (even get a date ! LOL!) Now, its HMV, no-one knows shit, they are mostly dorky, look spazzed & merely grunt & point at an aisle, (ANY aisle just to be rid of you !) when you ask a really awkward question like...."got any CDs ?"....

Actually this is where the Americans might have had a good idea- pay them peanuts but encourage customers to tip heavy to make up their wages- they are sullen, grinning and ineffectual- no tip- crap wage.
Although I couldnt stand the "Have a nice day" aspect- I would punch someone after a day of hearing that!  

Yeah, I get sick of "have a nice day" !! & I also dont like it when, the second you put your foot in the door a happy smilling desperado LEAPS on you & says, (thru gritted toothy smile) " can I help you ?" Only if you wanna help me pick your teeth up off the ground ? If I want help, Il ask for help !  

Yeah actually maybe sullen is better- at east its honest and not false.

I've worked in a service job (in a bookstore) and I didn't have any problem being polite and friendly to customers.  Almost all of them were polite as well, though.  I even managed to keep a straight face when a morbidly obese man asked me where to find a book and then, not wanting to say the title aloud, passed me a piece of paper with "How to Orally Pleasure Your Woman" or something like that written on it.  Actually, the only time I had trouble keeping a straight face was when someone asked if we had Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter since this was before the movie and I'd never heard of it before.

I think the only time I got upset at a customer was when this one old woman who was trying to place a phone order started laughing at me because she thought the concept of having to give her credit card number to pay for a $2 order (how she thought she was going to pay for it I have no idea) and was laughing so hard that I wrote her credit card number down incorrectly even after asking her to repeat herself because she would not stop laughing uproariously.

Ive no problem with politeness, Im always polite myself, its the Over-the-top-ness that rattles my cage.   People are funny tho ! poor Mr chubby chunks ! can he not find his weenie ? & the old dear laughing her head off would have me in a fit of giggles ! God bless diversity !   be a dull world without it !

David H wrote:It's wild blackberry season here, and people are starting to be seen exploring the sides of the roads, wandering up into the forestlands, an sometimes onto people's farms, looking for wild berries.

I know Fjordlanders pick a lot of berries. I'm curious how it works there.  Are there some places that are open for public picking and others that are closed?  Do people have secret spots that they don't even share with their own family?  Are there community areas that people take care of to protect the berries?

I'm just wondering about similarities and differences.....It's the berry farmer in me.

 they are pretty much everywhere so  we just pick em... avoid the most common dog paths but other than that .. we're much more careful and even war-like when it comes to cloudberry spots. and we have this law that called erm.. like we can go wherever we want and camp wherever we want sort of thing, so just pick as many blackberries you want

Ringdrotten wrote: "Are there some places that are open for public picking and others that are closed?"

I've never heard of places that are closed for public picking, at least they don't exist where I come from. And I've not heard about any protected berry areas either, though I wouldn't be surprised if they exist.

As to secret spots, yes - people do have them :)When I was a kid I had several secret spots where I used to pick wild strawberries. I also used to pick a lot of blueberries, but we never needed secret spots for those, they grew everywhere. I wish there were more blackberries around here, I love those. Do you grow your own, David?

 wait. when you say blackberries you mean in fact.. blue berries? maybe i'm thinking og huckleberries.. damn.. this is confusing.

Bjørnebær

that. smiley. thing. needs. to. be. added. here. instantly.

Got to love you northeners (that would be Norc around here) when you write stuff like this in the paper:

"
Søndag blir det knallvær og rundt 20 grader
Men så kommer en uke med dritvær."

Has to be read with a North Norwegian dialect of course

Not sure how best to translate it, but here's an attempt for you anglophones

"On Sunday it will be sunny and about 20 degrees
But then the weather will be shit for a week"

 

 not funny.....

"But then the weather will be shit for a week"
That bits funny ? is for me cos thats all we get !  

not funny cus it's shit basically all the time.

Sorry !  

OOoo ! blimey ! IL take that as a telling off !  

I love you Norc ! your so funny !