As much as I usually detest it when Quisling is brought up in relation to Norwegian current affairs here on Freerepublic, I'll have to be a bit of a Quisling when it comes to the royals.
I pledge allegiance to the Princess of Sweden :-)
Posted on 02/23/2005 7:05:24 AM PST by franksolich
Windsurfers appeal to crown prince
Some avid windsurfers, sure they have a kindred spirit in Norway's crown prince, hope he can help them overturn a ban on the sport in some protected areas off the Norwegian coast. They claim Crown Prince Haakon himself has violated the ban.
"I've surfed with (Crown Prince Haakon) several times, and I know that he loves the waves," surfer Thomas Olsen told newspaper Østlandsposten.
"Norwegians are outdoorsy people, but (here) we're not allowed to use the outdoors," Olsen claimed. "I hope the crown prince will meet me to talk about this."
Another avid windsurfer, Markus Allen, says the surfers at Salten in Mølen, not far from Larvik, always know when Crown Prince Haakon is out surfing in the area, because of the polished Volvos in the nearby parking lot and the presence of royal lifeguards.
"The crown prince has surfed there a lot, also after the area became protected," Allen told Østlandsposten. "I've been in the water with him. He's both eager and good. Lots of celebrities surf there. Saltstein has some of the best waves in the country."
The problem, for the windsurfers, is that surfing has been illegal in the area since 1981, when a bird sanctuary at Mølen was set up.
At the time, surfing was a "non-issue," says Karl Hagelund, a county environmental official. As the sport's popularity increased, officials started cracking down, and Hagelund says the ban was made clear to surfers in 2002.
Hagelund claimed he wasn't aware that Crown Prince Haakon has been among those allegedly violating the ban. "That's new for me," he said. "Then he's done something we maintain is illegal. I don't think the crown prince was aware of the ban."
Neither do Allen or Olsen, even though Haakon reportedly signed another ban prohibiting windsurfing off Jæren on the west coast between October 1 and March 31.
"I don't think Crown Prince Haakon knew what he was signing," said Olsen, who will seek an audience to discuss the issue. A palace spokesman declined comment.
I am not too fond of royalty that does not take its job seriously--this Haakon surely is nothing like his great-grandfather and namesake, the valiant Haakon VII--but there are worse things in life than frivolous princes.
One has to remember that the president of the United States has real power and real responsibility.....and yet, for whatever reason ununderstood by me, William Clinton, who did not take his responsibilities seriously, and who treated America as one vast playground for overgrown chubby children, remains one of the most fondly-remembered presidents among a significant portion of our population.
Better a playboy prince than a playboy president.
There is other good stuff on the Aftenposten this morning, including continuing coverage of the milk scandal that has rocked the nation, tasteful photographs of sportswomen, and a story about Norwegian skiers (male) gone drunkenly amok.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/ (oh [censored] this thing won't link; to get to the newspaper, click on the red link above, at the beginning of the post)
Ping for the Norway ping list.
I'll bet these guys have really tiny private parts - before and after their swim.
Maybe they wear Hellish, er, Helly, Hansen sportswear, though, to keep warm.
As much as I usually detest it when Quisling is brought up in relation to Norwegian current affairs here on Freerepublic, I'll have to be a bit of a Quisling when it comes to the royals.
I pledge allegiance to the Princess of Sweden :-)
I'm sure they wear wet/dry suits, but they are still in 40-50 degree water. That makes you cold no matter how much you cover up.
Ahhhhh.......this is the way the typical average Norwegian woman looks. The way beautiful Norwegian women look, astonishes and gratifies the man.
Remember, this is just an "average looking" Norwegian woman here; again, imagine a beautiful one.
Windsurfing in Norway is news to me. But I don't understand why they would ban it, even if there is a bird sanctuary near-by. As far as I know, windsurfers don't pollute or damage the environment, they just ride on a fiberglass board, propelled by the waves and wind.
You suppose that is a Norwegian version of the Hawaiian lei on him?
Yeah, why is that, do you suppose, that it is banned?
Remember, I am 1500 miles away from any ocean, and so know nothing about the matter.
The only thing I can think of at the spur of the moment is that the surfing (and, related activities) scare and unsettle the birds.
delicate creatues and all :-)
Beats me. I'll try to find out.
Maybe it scares the bison grazing too close to the fjords, too.
The Norwegian Blue Parrot is always pining for the fjords. Beautiful plumage too.
Perhaps :-)
But, I actually found just now a surfing site in Norway where it said that the government argues that the birds are in danger of getting eating disorders. Bulimic ducks.
Also, the birds seem to suffer from a lack of sleep.
Cheers.
Actually, sir, we don't worry about Quisling any more--every country has one of those (we had Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, for example).
What we do worry about is that one of your fellow Norwegians is trying to re-write history, recently alleging on Free Republic that it was the Soviets, and not the British and Americans, who broke the back of the Germans during the second world war.
Now, it is unescapable, sir, that the Soviets were of considerable help during the second world war, and endured horrible casualties, both military and civilian, and of course we are all grateful that they did so.
But without all those Studebakers (we must have sent millions of Studebakers to the Soviets, based upon reminescences of ancient Soviets who told these stories to me, in deepest and darkest Ukraine and Russia), canned foods, and armanents sent the Soviets under "Lend-Lease," the Soviets would have been cooked goose.
Your fellow countryman also alleges that the Soviets liberated northern Norway; this is something that escaped my notice--perhaps they had a few hundred Red Army men way up north by the Arctic Circle, or something?
It was my impression that Norway was just about the last German "possession" left in May 1945--the allies had no men and materials to get up there to liberate them, and of course the Norwegians themselves had but scant resources (however, the valiant Norwegians did what they could, all they could), and that strictly speaking, no one "liberated" Norway--the Germans merely had to cave in up there.
Here is a picture of Mølen.
Reading further on the windsurfing site is says that the surfers are looking at a new location where they can surf called, I am not making this up, the pigsty.
Perhaps, their prospects are better there :-)
There were soviet troops in the northern most corner of Norway.
This is from a Norwegian government site:
"Toward the end of the war, hostility between Norwegians and the German occupying forces grew considerably stronger. A prime cause was the German withdrawal from all fronts. Retreating German units from the fronts in the north, the USSR and Finland, withdrew to Norwegian territory. In the autumn of 1944, the Red Army followed the Germans into Finnmark, where it liberated Kirkenes and the northeastern areas. As the occupying troops retreated, they ordered an evacuation of the entire Norwegian population in Finnmark and in Troms south to Lyngen. In Lyngen, three German army corps dug in. Then the entire region north of Lyngen was burned and destroyed. The destruction included 10,400 homes, bridges, power stations, factories, fishing vessels, telephone facilities and other types of infrastructure. The scorched earth area was much larger than all of Denmark.
After the Soviet Red Army crossed into North Norway, a Norwegian military mission and a small number of Norwegian soldiers from Great Britain and Sweden followed. The Russians withdrew from Norway in September 1945, a few months after the German capitulation. "
My family resisted the german evacuation orders, and took to living in caves, and was secretly evacuated to Scotland by American Liberty Ships from the Murmansk convoys for the duration of the war. That's why my father as ingrained in my an appreciation of all things Scottish (or Scotch)and American.
Cheers.
http://www.norsurf.com/norsurf/public/openIndex/view/page1.html?ARTICLE_ID=1097613802520
It's in Norwegian though.
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