My north African taxi driver had his wipers on full speed... it was absolutely bucketing down by this point and no way could I have walked.
After realising how far out of town the Haugesund Koronavaksinering Centre was I relented to my driver's repeated hints and once we arrived, said he could wait for me in the carpark and keep the meter running. He assurred me that it wouldn't cost much if he was parked up... I didn't believe him for an instant but what choice did I have... this place was in the middle of nowhere.
Everything was very well organised. After being allowed in (by mentioning my email contact's name), if you had an appointment you sat in one area and if you were a 'drop in' you sat in another area. I sat in the drop in area and after about 5 minutes realised that I'd forgotten to pick up a queue ticket... no-one had told me about that. I went back, got meself a queue ticket and sat back down again at the back of the drop in queue... but to be fair it was moving fast.
My number was maybe 20 places away, but it only took around 10 minutes to come up, and I went off to the specified Vaccine Room. The doctor there couldn't find my name anywhere and said I had to go back to reception and fill out a form. I'm not blaming anyone, and this isn't a moan, but I had a bladdy taxi on the meter here...
After filling out the form I had to again get a queue ticket and wait maybe another 15 minutes to get called. I was offered a choice of Moderna or Pfizer but eventually decided on Pfizer. I think it's more readily available in the UK (where I hope to get my second jab) and I'm not sure how comfortable the UK are about mixing vaccines and then declaring you fully vaccinated. The doctor finally made my mind up as she got bored of my deliberations and had a Pfizer shot ready loaded in a syringe. I took it in the left arm as per Topper's advice. I'll see how that works out.
Afterwards I was told to wait 20 minutes in another area before leaving... but bollocks to that. I could see my Eritrean taxi driver in the car park looking way too pleased with himself... I immediately sneaked out to cut short his joy. All said and done, I reckon the entire process had taken me around 45 minutes.
I got him to drop me in town so I could continue my reminiscing... and he only charged 416 NOK... about 35 quid, which for Norway was a very pleasant surprise. Sorry matey, I take it all back.
I walked down to the waterfront to 'Smedesundet', the sound between Haugesund and the island of Risøy. That bridge connects Risøy to the mainland and has played a big part in my life in the past.
But first I checked out the statue of Marylin Monroe, who looked bra-less to be honest. In case you're wondering, the sculptor had made no effort at any detail under her skirt.
Haugesund claim that Marylin Monroe's father was a local baker before emigrating to America. I can't imagine that America needed any help from Norway on the cuisine front, but there you go.
I walked along to the end of the boardwalk and took this pic.
The last but one white building across the sound on Risøy, the tallest building with the four gable ends, used to be the offices of Stolt Nielsen Seaway. Anyone associated with the offshore industry will probably have heard of this company in the 1980s and 90s... and will have been familiar with it's fleet of mustard-coloured offshore vessels. Stolt Nielsen were a major dive company back then, but also had a construction division and a survey arm... and were my first employer in the offshore industry. They had the same parent company as Stolt Tankers, which I think are still going today.
Over the years Stolt Nielsen Seaway changed names to Stolf Comex Seaway (with the acquisition of a French dive company), Stolt Offshore, Acergy and were then 'merged' with Subsea 7 to become... Subsea 7. I worked for all at one point or another... same shit, same company... different name.
Anyway, almost throughout the 90s I worked out of the Stolt Nielsen Haugesund office which became a second home. My hotel was in Haugesund, and very day I had to walk back and forth across that b@stard bridge, come rain of shine (usually rain), and sometimes twice if I could wangle a lunchtime pint. It is known as the 'windy bridge', and for good reason.
As it had stopped raining I decided to re-live those memories.
On the way back to the bridge I took a pic of this... a crumbling reminder of Haugesund's past glory. Sild means herring.
At the foot of the bridge is Lothes Bar. In the early 90s this was one of the few places you could drink spirits late at night... Haugesund used to be very conservative. Many times at the weekend I stumbled out of this place after a night of Hansa with Jegermeister chasers, bypassed my hotel room and hiked straight across the bridge to work. I couldn't do that these days.
Back up at street level to gain entry to the bridge my old hotel is visible. It used to be painted white and called the 'Rica Saga' but is still very recognisable to me and brings back a lot of memories... my second home in the 90s. Back then you used to get Braathens Safe loyalty points (before they were absorbed by SAS) when staying in Saga hotels, and Braathens Safe were part of the KLM alliance. I went Gold for KLM in one season of staying in that hotel... a good deal before that particular loophole was closed.
If you check out the first balcony above the entrance on the fourth floor... that is a small two-room suite that I stayed in continually during the 90s. I left bread for the seagulls on the balcony and entertained several guests behind those glass doors... including 'starfish woman', sadly.
Memories... anyway, it was time to walk over the bridge again, for the first time in maybe 20 years.