A Sean Carrington Adventure.
The Cabin.
I had been awarded a six week contract assignment in Bergan to assist a small company, who were in the process of being sold to a larger Oil & Gas service company. They required their order book contracts be reviewed and made ready for a due diligence inspection by the purchaser.
The contract was typical a nice fixed fee plus expenses; I had arranged a serviced apartment for the period in the Centre of town, near the World Heritage Site on the waterfront. I flew from Edinburgh to Bergan on a Thursday; which allowed me a day to meet people before I started my due diligence review on the Monday.
I took an expensive taxi, with my luggage, from the airport to where my apartment was. The letting agent was waiting there for me when I arrived; was given the usual walk through of the apartment features by the agent; then he returned to his office.
Bergan has over 240 days rainfall each year; today was one of them. I went for a walk between rain showers, viewed the Norse World Heritage Site; which was very impressive. As I had an early start today I thought I would get something to eat before returning to my apartment. Another rain shower had started so I went into the nearest restaurant; Egon's, a restaurant chain that I knew and had used before in Oslo and Stavanger.
I went in ordered a beer, lifted the English menu out the wall rack complete with Union flag; and ordered. I was told that there would be a half hour delay; some problem in the kitchen. I found a vacant table near a window; the rain by this time was really heavy and was hammering on the windows trying to break in.
A customer sitting opposite me said do you get rain like that in England, I said no but we do in Scotland. He laughed at that and asked how I liked Bergan; I said that I only arrived here four hours ago and it has been raining since I arrived. He said that's Bergan for you, he asked was I here on business; I confirmed that I was.
There was a commotion at the door a party of eight very wet tourists arrived. They looked around found a table behind me for four of them. There were only three seats left either at my table or my talkative friends table; he invited me to join him and allow our wet friends two tables together. Not sure what nationality they were, turned out they were Austrian. They thanked us for our assistance and insisted that they be allowed to buy us a beer. Given Norwegian prices we accepted.
We chatted about who we were and what we were doing; his name was Eric originally from Oslo but had moved to Bergan for a new job nine months ago.
He had bought a quarter share in a house in Bergan that had been separated into four apartments; he owned one of these apartments; it also had a shared ten person sauna cabin in the back with an inbuilt barbecue. I commented that I liked a sauna on cold wet days, as today was. He said I should come over at the weekend; I said yes that would be nice; not expecting it to happen.
Our meal arrived after an hours delay; the staff were very apologetic about the delay and brought us complimentary beers as way of an apology. We ate our meal drank all our beers and ordered another beer. By this time we were very relaxed with each other and were openly chatting away about all and nothing.
Eric's English was excellent; my Norwegian was not very good. But we had an excellent afternoon getting to know each other and the heavy rain was still on. Our Austrian friends had now left to battle their way back to their hotel.
Eric leaned over to me and asked me quietly but quite bluntly and politely; was I gay too? Must admit I did not see that one coming and hesitated; Eric said sorry I did not mean to embarrass you. I said no you didn't I just did not expect the question; how did you know. He said I don't know I just thought you were, as we seemed to have something in common and I felt I should ask you; and let you know about me. We do this in Norway; this way nobody gets offended or embarrassed. I said I am not offended.
Eric said; rain is off, let's go to an Irish bar I know where you get two beers for price of one. This is quite common in Norway, given the high cost of beer there; is very welcome. We settled our bills and left. We headed into town, passed my apartment block, the bar was round the next corner; easily recognised by the shamrocks by the green bar name.
We went in the bar it was not very busy, ordered our beers and selected a table near the large open wood fire. We continued our chatting, enjoying the heat from the fire. It was about eight or nine that night and too many beers later that we decided time to go home. I headed back to my new apartment, got unpacked and organised for my start tomorrow; fortunately the office was only a few blocks away.
Other than exchanging phone numbers Eric did not peruse any play regarding our shared preferences; neither did I. Next day, late afternoon, Eric phoned me and asked would I like to go for a meal with him to the Irish bar tonight; I said yes.
We met at seven, had an excellent traditional Norwegian meal, starting with their fish soup, which is a meal in its own right. We continued with our discussions from last night about all and nothing. Eric explained about the sauna his apartments had, it was a 9 meter diameter sauna cabin with a center barbecue and table. He often had meals there and invited me over tomorrow; he would pick me up about twelve and take me there.