MEET THE LARSENS

There was a film released some time ago called MEET THE FOKERS where both sets of parents meet for the first time and all sorts of things go wrong leaving the prospective bride and groom wishing the meeting had never taken place.Let me explain.
Lyn and I went over to Norway to see Matt last Wednesday to meet his bride to be for the first time.Needless to say we were both nervous .Matt met us at the airport after an uneventful flight with Ryanair.We had expected to have to cram into his Ford Puma,but no he had just taken delivery of an Honda CR-V,very nice indeed,so the ride back to Stavanger was very pleasant.He dropped us off at his batchelor pad,as that was where we would be staying as he lives with Erin in Hommersaak some 30mins away.Our first meeting with Erin was planned for about 7pm as we were all going out for a curry in Stavanger,so we spent the next few hours getting ready and worrying about what she would think of us,and I know from Matt that she was also very very nervous.Anyway to cut a long story short we had a great evening.She is a great girl and both of them seem very happy together.The meal was very nice, the cost probably settling the third world debt.So the ice was broken and we hoped it would all be plain sailing from then on.Friday we were to have dinner at Erins parents house,so this was going to be the Foker experience.We first went to erins house and then walked down to her parents which was only a couple of minutes away.They were great hosts plying us with lots of booze and feeding us with crab and prawns.Lynn got herself in a real mess smashing the crab claws with the wooden hammers provided.The more messy things got the more laughter there was.Erin was concerned that her dad might show her up,but he was fine and managed very well considering his English is not brilliant and our Norwegian is non existent.I think they would have been happy if we had stayed all night. Saturday Erin and Matt took us to see Viking Stavanger play footie in front of a near capacity crowd of 15500.Viking won 3-0 and the home fans were in full voice.I had forgotten what a great atmosphere live footie is.Sunday was home to the Uk with Matt and Erin running us up to Haugesund for our flight home.
Oh I forgot we also went up the fijord again,only this time the weather was a lot clearer and the views spectacular.
So we are back in the Uk after an eventful few days.Matt and Erin will marry either next year or the year after.They plan to come over to see us early in the New Year,perhaps she will bring her two boys with her.

PRODUCE SHOW

Saturday was the big day,or it could have been.When we first started our allotment we had high hopes of entering lots of produce into lots of different categories and perhaps coming away with a shield or a couple of cups.But reality soon struck and we realised that a couple of manky cabbages and a lot of odd shaped spuds wouldn't win anything,so we had to try and persuade others to enter,namely our neighbour Vernon who is a Northwold man born and bred,and whose father won countless prizes at the show.Anyway to cut a long story short on his behalf we entered some of his tomatoes and a indoor hydrangea.I had to weigh and polish 5 tomatoes and obviously pick the best looking,we also thought some of his beans might be ok but not knowing the standard we had them for tea instead.Saturday morning saw us carrying all this stuff down to the hall,Lyn had decided to enter some dahlias also,and we had to pick up a flower arrangement from Kirsten (wife of Ole my golf pal) so we had a full car.We paid our entry fee for each category(40p in total) and sat back and waited until the evening .
At 5.30pm the doors opened and we rushed in after paying our enrty fee of 20p each (as you gather there is big money involved) Guess what Lyn won 2nd place for her dahlias (4op) and Vernon won 1st for his toms and 1st for his plant(£1.20) Kirsten won nothing.Going round one of our friends and I decided that for next year if we were to enter the sponge finger,gingerbread men,apple turnover,cornish pasty,and flapjack categories we would at least come 2nd and 3rd as there was only one entry in each catergory,so thats our aim.Next year if nothing else we will win the cooking shield and win a couple of quid also.
Joking apart it was great fun and very typically British,and we ended up down the road at Ole's having a couple of beers ,Great.
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