Whew.
I feared SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) would pretend they LOST my bike box at Heathrow airport — and offer me less compensation than the value of the rig.
Travel insurance? 🤔
Though SAS didn’t once contact me over the 27 days it sat in Heathrow, some human managed to reroute it back to Vancouver Island as I requested.
My cycling trip through Norway was ruined — yet I’m feeling relieved that it wasn’t worse ruined.
I’ll now apply for compensation for both my lost bags.
Our hero, D.C. Smith, had a mysterious past.
In the 5th book of the excellent series we learn of his role as a mole for British Intelligence during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Again, it’s Smith’s humour that makes this book so entertaining.
30 years later he returns on a personal holiday after being asked to find where the bones of an IRA friend had been buried.
The family wants closure.
Unfortunately, the IRA twice tried to kill Smith once it was revealed he was a snitch. And decades later there are some who want to finish the job.
Peter Grainger self-published for Amazon Kindle to start. And even today goes unrecognized as one of the top murder mystery authors alive.
Highly recommended.
The March 2022 book about Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is in the context of global pandemic.
It’s very good.
A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving, Joe is called out for a moose poaching incident that turns out to be something much more sinister: a local fishing guide has been brutally tortured and murdered.
At the same time, Marybeth opens an unmarked package at the library where she works and finds a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi official. Who left it there? And why? …
Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for the man who stole his falcons and attacked his wife.
CJBox.net
Finishing a cycling trip to the top of Norway is tough.
This is Europe’s most northerly paved road.
I didn’t do it. BUT Matthew did. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
About 200k tourists travel to Nordkapp (North Cape) each year.
The municipality is named after Nordkapp (North Cape), a 307-metre-high (1,007 ft) cliff that is commonly referred to as the northernmost point of Europe.
However, the true northernmost point of the European mainland is Cape Nordkinn (Kinnarodden), at 71° 08′ 02″ N, located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the village of Mehamn on the Nordkinn Peninsula.
If Europe’s northernmost point is allowed to be on an island, then it still is not the North Cape. It would be Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land in Russia, which is located much further north at 81° 48′ 24″ N.
If Franz Josef Land is not considered to be in Europe, then Europe’s northernmost point is the northern point of the island of Rossøya, an islet in Svalbard, north of Spitsbergen at 80° 49′ 44.41″ N.
Any author named Prose MUST be good. 😀
And her character “Molly Maid” is both likeable and amusing. Somewhere on the autism spectrum.
“I am your maid. I know so much about you. But when it comes down to it: what is it that you know about me?”
Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misinterprets the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has had to navigate life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
But Molly’s orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect.
She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?
NitaProse.com
Nita Prose is vice president and editorial director at Simon & Schuster Canada.
Part of “adventure” is an uncertain outcome.
And my first 3 weeks in Norway were certainly unexpected. I arrived far north of the Arctic Circle with no bicycle. No luggage. Both were stuck at Heathrow airport where I checked in with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines).
I could give up. Or make do with my carry-on.
WHY not simply go to an all-inclusive beach resort and start drinking at noon?
Here’s a good answer from Jedidiah Jenkins who cycled Oregon to the southern tip of South America.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’ve taken some of the most scenic ferries in the world:
But my evening trip from Bodø ➙ Svolvær on the fast ferry revealed the most stunning landscape I’ve ever seen.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Myself and about a dozen of the other passengers couldn’t stop taking photos and video.
I lucked out taking this ferry into golden hour. Some weeks of the year there is 24 hours / day light. Other weeks are 24 hours / day darkness.
I happened to hit just the right sailing time on exactly the right day of the year. 😀
After the success of Kane and Abel and The Prodigal Daughter, Archer published a revised edition of Shall We Tell the President? (1986), replacing Kennedy (in real life a senator and a presidential candidate but never president) with the fictional character Florentyna Kane (who became president in The Prodigal Daughter) in order to link it with the other two novels. …
I enjoyed the two pseudo sequels — but this book is quite different. Stand alone — but set in the timeline of Prodigal Daughter.
President Kane is about to be assassinated for her support of a gun regulation bill.
Note that the U.S. government has still not done much to reduce gun violence in the decades since.
Louis C.K is an asshole. If you’ve cancelled him, I don’t blame you.
I never followed the guy in the first place.
BUT nobody has explained White Privilege more succinctly:
“… I’m not saying that white people are better. I’m saying that being white is clearly better. Who could even argue? If it was an option, I would re-up every year. …” 😀
I am enjoying a series of books by Grainger featuring Norfolk Detective Sergeant DC Smith. SO decided to try the 1st book of another of his series — set in Cornwall.
BUT as much as it is very well written, I prefer the DC Smith character.
Detective Sergeant Chris Waters gets his first assignment as crime scene manager — the murder of a young woman.
The plot is rather dull as murder mysteries go. Most of this book details the people investigating the crime. Their relationships. Their motivations. The slow bureaucracy.
Rick McCharles 