Had a busy and tiring but quite productive few days moving in to our new house last week. Leif and Astrid helped Ollie, Matt and myself with the move (thanks guys!), and so it only took us Monday to shift in. Getting everything unpacked took us the rest of the week and we’ve still only done downstairs. We bought our first washing machine, a fridge and a ton of stuff from Ikea, some of which still needs to be put together.
We are chuffed to bits with our house It has lower ceilings than our previous place (which was a flat in a building built in the 1880s), and this makes it feel a bit more warm and cosy. Our new furnature, all our plants, a fire roaring away in the fireplace and a brilliant view of nice sunsets from our living room also helps of course

The other big bit of news is that I have got a new job. It is with a small company called Rubberduck Media Lab and they develop software that streams TV and movies to mobile devices. I will be working in their R&D department doing Java development. Looks like a very cool place to work - nice people, exciting projects, plus it looks like I can install Linux on my laptop there Their offices are located right in the centre of town as well, on Karl Johans gata. Will be nice to be based in the main street, especially as we have just moved out of Oslo - the bus that goes from outside our new house will drop me off just round the corner from the offices. Will start there in Feburary next year.
Will be a shame to leave Viz though - will miss the people there.

Spent the weekend packing, cleaning and generally trying to organise things for the move. We have borrowed a steam cleaner thing off of Ollies folks, and Ollie spent hours steaming the kitchen and bathroom yesterday. The flat is gonna be ten times cleaner when we leave than it was when we moved in.

Ollie and Matt also ripped Ollies old desk apart, scattering splinters of wood into every corner of the flat while trying not to get unseen nails embedded in feet or hands in the process. I on the other hand busied myself with the far more dangerous job of packing my music stuff into boxes and tidying up all the leads.

Been going through a bad patch with the indigestion lately, and as I tend to get it at night, usually being woken up with it at 3am, it means I don’t get enough sleep and end up being tired and grumpy during the day. Why I can’t get it during the day when I’m awake enough to stand up, take tablets or whatever, I don’t know. Instead I end up dreaming about being stabbed in the chest, then have to spend half the night standing up and eating lots of calcium carbonate. Arse.

We’ve also been shopping for cars. We wanted a camper - a kayaking friend of ours spends most weekends driving up and down the country to go paddling, so he has a really nice van with a fridge and cooker, and bed in which to sleep. We thought that sounded brilliant, but of course they are also bloody expensive (3-4 times the price of a normal car - at least the ones we were looking at), and we worked out that if we bought a car, we could use the money we save to stay in nice cabins (the money we save would allow us to stay in cabins every weekend for almost 2 years!!!). Of course, we loose the flexibility of having a camper - not being restricted to where / when you go, not having to plan and book places in advance etc. - but we will get something that’s easier to drive and a bit more practical generally.

That took us on to an argument about what sort of car we should buy. Ollie wanted something safe, something that would handle well in the snow and ice. I wanted one of the old style Mini coopers with the soft roof and the stripes down the bonnet. It goes without saying that Ollie won that argument.

So we have taken the first week in November off so we can move in to our new house.

We have taken the second week in November off so we can go on holiday - Ollie booked us a week in Croatia

Its gonna be so nice after weeks of packing, cleaning and moving to just bugger off for a week of reading, going for walks and maybe some diving. Can’t wait

Taken from Slashdot:

“The Communications Data Bill (2008) will lead to the creation of a single, centralized database containing records of all e-mails sent, websites visited and mobile phones used by UK citizens. In a carnivore-on-steroids programme, as all vestiges of communication privacy are stripped away, The BBC reports that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says this is a ‘necessity’.”

Brilliant. 1984 here we come.

Hello All,

The pictures I have attached to this message were taken in Tesco Phuket (where I live….in Phuket, not Tesco’s) on the 6th October 2008 and show, for those who don’t open attachments willy nilly, 500g packets of Shark Fin freely available in the freezer cabinet. For anyone not from the UK, Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the UK.

Wondering what the big deal is? OK, first thing to do is open the following link and watch to the end so that you can see how shark fin is obtained (and be talked through things by award winning director Ang Lee)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxoRPv4ugE&feature=related

As you can see, this is not exactly the most humane of processes, and I had to root around a bit to find a relatively tame video!! But before you fin them, you have to catch them, right? The vast majority of sharks are caught by long lining. Now, I’m sure that most of you buy tinned tuna that is ‘dolphin friendly’, i.e. not caught on long lines, as there was a massive public outcry that the by-catch on these lines (that are generally in excess of 20km in length) such as turtles, dolphins, sea birds and so on was a disgrace. Companies listened, as profits were taking a big hit, and lo and behold tuna is now generally obtained from non-long lining sources. But the long lining continues in order to catch sharks, and so the ‘useless by-catch’ is still being caught. Oh, and by the way, the lines have to be baited (and 20km+ requires a lot of bait)….but what to use? One of the most common baits is illegally caught dolphin. Getting angry yet?

OK, back to the sharks. Once the sharks are on the long line, one of two things happens. Either they struggle, get caught up in the line and suffocate as they can’t move around to move water through their gills, or they get dragged aboard the boat alive, have their fins removed, and are thrown back in the water alive where they sink to the bottom and die. Slowly. At this point you may be wondering a couple of things.

Firstly…why do they throw away the shark? Well, shark meat doesn’t store well and is worth comparatively nothing compared to the fins. Also, it takes up lots of space on a fishing boat that could be taken up with lots more valuable shark fin.

Secondly…why the fins? Shark fin soup is a popular (and expensive) Chinese delicacy. It is sold in huge numbers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Seoul, and Tokyo among many others. In fact, have a look in your local yellow pages and you’ll probably find restaurants selling it not too far away from your home, wherever you live. It is often seen as a status symbol but is also popular in Chinese medicine as sharks are seen as strong creatures. Eat the strong creature and become strong yourself. Quite. Interestingly, shark fin is boiled and bleached before use to remove it’s natural (apparently unpleasant) taste and so shark fin soup will generally taste of the broth it is cooked in, usually pork or chicken.

Thirdly…is this legal? Well, yes and no. Any country with a coastline is responsible for laws and regulations pertaining to fishing in their waters, and only 17 of these countries have currently outlawed shark finning. Some countries have implemented legislation against it, but they have not outlawed it completely.

But back to Tesco for a moment. It’s worth noting here that regardless of the legality of the practice, shark finning is contrary to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Here’s a quote from Tesco’s website for you. “We are playing our part in seeking to maintain a viable and long-term future for wild fish and shellfish populations. We seek to buy all our seafood from responsibly managed fisheries. We use the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries as our sourcing reference.” Interesting. Maybe they fell asleep before they got to the bit about sharks.

I could go on and on about this subject all day, and probably through the night and into tomorrow, but I realise that some of you may not be particularly interested so I’ll quit while I’m ahead. But that said, please check out the following links and make your own decisions….

www.stopsharkfinning.net
www.sharkwater.com/education.htm (and watch the movie, it’s heart-breaking and inspiring in equal measure)
www.bite-back.com/sharks.htm

These were just chosen at random from a myriad of large anti-shark finning organisations.

Want to do something about it? Contact Tesco, their e-mail address is customer.service@tesco.co.uk. I’ve already mailed them about the issue and am awaiting a response. They also have a ‘Corporate Responsibility Team’, although these guys may live in the middle ages as they have neither e-mail or a phone number. If you want to write an old fashioned letter (or maybe send a carrier pigeon), their address is…

Corporate Responsibility Team
Tesco PLC
New Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire
England EN8 9SL

If you’re now half and half as to whether to do anything, I’ve attached a text file to this e-mail. It’s a copy of the mail I sent to Tesco (with minor changes, after all I’m sure they won’t believe everyone on this list was in Tesco Phuket on yesterday), and all you have to do is cut and paste it into a new mail and send it to the e-mail address above. Don’t forget to put your name at the bottom. This will take only two minutes of your time.

And I have two final things to say. For anyone who has read this and is thinking that sharks are evil tooth filled killing machines, here’s a little fact…

Sharks kill on average 5 people every year, which is less than are killed by either soft drinks dispensers or chairs (seriously). It is also significantly less than the 130 people killed by Americas biggest ‘man-killer’ every year. The deer.

Is it worth the 11000 sharks killed hourly around the globe? Please help to stop this abhorrent trade and forward this mail to anyone you think may care.

Many thanks,

Mik.

I have copied in the email he sent below for people to use:

Dear Sir,

It has come to my attention that Tesco in Thailand is selling Shark Fin in the freezer department. As you may or may not be aware, the process of shark finning in the vast majority of cases involves the shark being caught on a long line (a terrible practice in itself) and dragged aboard the fishing boat where it has its fins cut off while alive before being thrown back in the water. If you are in any doubt about the process please go to the link below where Wild Aid and Ang Lee will explain the process…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxoRPv4ugE&feature=related

I understand that Tesco UK may not be entirely responsible for Tesco in Thailand, but the store is very much under your banner and so representative of you in Asia, where as you will appreciate, there are many non-Asian holiday makers and expatriates who (as you will be aware) are more and more aware of environmental and conservation issues.

On your website you state that “We are playing our part in seeking to maintain a viable and long-term future for wild fish and shellfish populations. We seek to buy all our seafood from responsibly managed fisheries. We use the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries as our sourcing reference.”

In response to that quote, shark populations world wide have NO future if finning continues at the current rate, and more importantly shark finning is contrary to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Maybe you should read their documentation more thoroughly in the future.
I would like some kind of satisfactory response to this e-mail and would hope that this will lead to the swift removal of shark fin products from the shelves of Tesco Lotus in Thailand. As I know that my solo e-mail is likely to have very little impact I will be passing this on to as many people as I can as well as to all major wild life conservation and anti-shark finning organisations as I can think of in order to exert the pressure required to help in this matter.

Awaiting your response,

Ollie and I had a bloody lovely weekend up in the mountains - Ollie booked a wee cabin in the Gaustatoppen area, so we’ve spent the last few days wandering up and down lots of hills.

Will post some photos this week sometime.

Off to eat nice Italian birthday cake now (thanks Jose!)

My brain remembered everything from the course we did a month or so back - right up to the point when we got into the current. Got swept sideways over the rapids at one stage, and to my amazement managed to stay upright, although this was the only time during the evening I managed to do so. My rubbishness I think was was a combination of me being physically knackered, as well as (understandably) crap technique - miracles shouldn’t be expected when this is only the third time we’ve been kayaking (ignoring for a moment our little adventure in New Zealand, and of course the two years we spent learning to kayak in school [it was almost 20 years ago - it doesn't count! And anyway, you really can't compare Symonds Yat with the kind of rivers they have here] ).

The one suprise for the evening was that I was toasty warm the whole time we were on the river. So much so that I have lost my fear of cold water and now want to get myself a dry suit and start diving regularly as well. And despite the kayaking to swimming ratio still being a bit one sided (for me at least - Ollie was much more in control), we enjoyed it so much that we have booked ourselves on a trip to a river a few hours drive away for the weekend

Nice wee red place in Ingieråsen in Oppegård, 10 minutes south of Oslo by train. We wanted to move somewhere a bit quieter, out of the city, and Ingieråsen seemed to offer the right balance of nature and city access. The house is a 5 minute walk from a big lake, lots of woods and a downhill ski slope, and 5 minutes by car to the sea. Kolbotn, which has some shops and a train station, is a 15 minute walk.

The house itself is fairly small - 106 square meters - but nice enough inside. Three bedrooms, usual number of kitchens, no garden, but a couple of balconies, and a shed for our bikes, skiis and kayaks

Moving in around the beginning of November.

]]> http://stephengardener.com/life/house/feed/ http://stephengardener.com/life/sweden/ http://stephengardener.com/life/sweden/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:05:24 +0000 stega http://stephengardener.com/?p=150 Just got back from Sweden - my third visit in the past month. Was there for 4 days this time. Bloody knackered now.

Working for a customer in Malmø, which is a wee town in the south, just over the water from Copenhagen. Its a strange town - the center is quite nice, with an interesting mix of architecture and lots of decent pubs and restaurants.

You dont have to go far from the center though to find yourself in the middle of 60s apartment block hell, and unfortunately it is here where our customers offices are situated. It is perhaps one of the most depressing places I’ve been (and this coming from someone who was brought up in Newport, South Wales).

Lunch at the cafe opposite the offices is also one of the worst places I’ve ever eaten at. It takes a special skill to make food taste that bad, although I suppose it does fit in with its surroundings. And this is in contrast to the bloody lovely food we’ve been eating in the town center in the evenings. 

Am back in Oslo now, which means that lunch times have improved drastically and the evenings have gone downhill slightly.

Still got tons of work to do. Been getting a bit stressed with (and tired of) work recently. Need some time off probably. Six months in South East Asia should do the trick. A hammock, a beach and a load of good books. Not too much to ask for, is it?

Will probably be heading on up to the Brecon Jazz festival on the Saturday (just for the day), but otherwise have no plans.

If anyone is gonna be in south Wales that weekend (or fancies coming over for a visit) let us know - would be good to catch up!