Bodo is 67.17 degrees north, has a population of 46,049 and is approximately 22.8% woodland. The nearby Mt Lurfjelltind is 1284m tall.
These facts are reassuringly, brilliantly Scandinavian.
For anyone who has bought an IKEA wardrobe and wondered how they got the measurements just right, and how they thought of the strange little bracket fixing which defies physics... well they have a lot of darkness up here and they seem to spend it drinking vodka and measuring things. Actually the amount of vodka explains why they are good at counting things, but not so good at getting the wardrobe measurements just right...
Its week 2 at the new job, and after a week in Kista, a suburb of Stockholm which is also known as Science City as it is just a collection of Ericsson offices and factories, i am now in Bodo up near the top of Norway. Last week was useful, collecting laptop and phone and getting to know my way around the Sabre systems. Its an amazing change going from a company on its knees financially, to one who boasts of the best part of a billion dollars sitting in the bank. Its an American company, so the intranet is full of photos of middle aged Texan women who have knitted a blanket for the local hospital. or workers' daughters who have baked cookies to sell... all very admirable, and despite my legendary cynicism it actully warms the heart a little. Some of the Corporate stuff is a little too near satire, but i feel energised, incentifised, and have mastered the black cat / white cat scenario now.
And they were honest to me. I was bade welcome to the Sabre Drink Yourself to Death competition, and the drinking culture is certainly prevelant. Although much credit to the team, have felt no pressure to take part, and no scorn for dropping out like a girl after 2 pints. (Curiously a pint is 568 ml and beer in Scandinavia comes in 0.6 litre glasses - strange measurement for metric lands and too close to the English pint to be a coincidence) Tonight was a boat trip to the world's most violent maelstrom - its sunk a few large trawlers - on motorised dinghies, followed by a fish barbecue and the obligatory schnapps and lager festival. I have done my share of drinking, and i have no desire to get back on a boat that isnt at least 40 feet wide. I havent eaten fish for over 20 years, so seemed like on to sit out. So that is what i am doing here, curious how the guys are getting on. Scandinavian Aviation is fuelled literally by diesel - they put it in the aircraft, and any left over gets drunk...
So, Bodo (pronounced Boo-dah like the little fat God) - is it as dull as i painted it? Well, yes it is, but, and this is a huge but... its a cute little place and we all really like it. The hotel is about as ordinary as you can get, but the bed is comfortable, breakfast is ok, wireless is free... so nothing there to complain about. The town is quaint and workmanlike - the harbour is full of fishing boats, sails taken down and metal banging into metal in the wind. The sun is up most of the day, and in 3 months it will disappear for a whole fortnight. The locals are friendly and all speak better English than any Scot, and overall it really is a lovely little place. It is stuck out on the coast a bit like one of Norway's several coastal cities. The main road runs up parallel to the coast, but about 25 miles inland, and there are a few little fingers to the larger fishing ports which act as the outside world to the hundreds of villages dotted around. The spine of mountains runs the other side of the road, and on the other side of that sunlight disappears for months, temperatures plummet, and skiers abound. The airline we are working with, Widerhoe, get subsidies from the government to fly to dozens of these little villages. When someone there makes a hospital appointment they throw in a plane ticket!
These facts are reassuringly, brilliantly Scandinavian.
For anyone who has bought an IKEA wardrobe and wondered how they got the measurements just right, and how they thought of the strange little bracket fixing which defies physics... well they have a lot of darkness up here and they seem to spend it drinking vodka and measuring things. Actually the amount of vodka explains why they are good at counting things, but not so good at getting the wardrobe measurements just right...
Its week 2 at the new job, and after a week in Kista, a suburb of Stockholm which is also known as Science City as it is just a collection of Ericsson offices and factories, i am now in Bodo up near the top of Norway. Last week was useful, collecting laptop and phone and getting to know my way around the Sabre systems. Its an amazing change going from a company on its knees financially, to one who boasts of the best part of a billion dollars sitting in the bank. Its an American company, so the intranet is full of photos of middle aged Texan women who have knitted a blanket for the local hospital. or workers' daughters who have baked cookies to sell... all very admirable, and despite my legendary cynicism it actully warms the heart a little. Some of the Corporate stuff is a little too near satire, but i feel energised, incentifised, and have mastered the black cat / white cat scenario now.
And they were honest to me. I was bade welcome to the Sabre Drink Yourself to Death competition, and the drinking culture is certainly prevelant. Although much credit to the team, have felt no pressure to take part, and no scorn for dropping out like a girl after 2 pints. (Curiously a pint is 568 ml and beer in Scandinavia comes in 0.6 litre glasses - strange measurement for metric lands and too close to the English pint to be a coincidence) Tonight was a boat trip to the world's most violent maelstrom - its sunk a few large trawlers - on motorised dinghies, followed by a fish barbecue and the obligatory schnapps and lager festival. I have done my share of drinking, and i have no desire to get back on a boat that isnt at least 40 feet wide. I havent eaten fish for over 20 years, so seemed like on to sit out. So that is what i am doing here, curious how the guys are getting on. Scandinavian Aviation is fuelled literally by diesel - they put it in the aircraft, and any left over gets drunk...
So, Bodo (pronounced Boo-dah like the little fat God) - is it as dull as i painted it? Well, yes it is, but, and this is a huge but... its a cute little place and we all really like it. The hotel is about as ordinary as you can get, but the bed is comfortable, breakfast is ok, wireless is free... so nothing there to complain about. The town is quaint and workmanlike - the harbour is full of fishing boats, sails taken down and metal banging into metal in the wind. The sun is up most of the day, and in 3 months it will disappear for a whole fortnight. The locals are friendly and all speak better English than any Scot, and overall it really is a lovely little place. It is stuck out on the coast a bit like one of Norway's several coastal cities. The main road runs up parallel to the coast, but about 25 miles inland, and there are a few little fingers to the larger fishing ports which act as the outside world to the hundreds of villages dotted around. The spine of mountains runs the other side of the road, and on the other side of that sunlight disappears for months, temperatures plummet, and skiers abound. The airline we are working with, Widerhoe, get subsidies from the government to fly to dozens of these little villages. When someone there makes a hospital appointment they throw in a plane ticket!
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