tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post2477626224367066666..comments2024-02-06T16:17:25.826+00:00Comments on THE GRĂNMARK BLOG: Norway - the romantic appeal of places where people really shouldn't live Scott Gronmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-84144213276686019352018-03-31T01:24:00.901+01:002018-03-31T01:24:00.901+01:00After one year there Mr.Gronmark you might have be...After one year there Mr.Gronmark you might have become a 'gweilo' equivalent of Sir Li Ka-shing. HK does funny things to people. <br />Some of those condescending creeps SDG mentions came from the ranks of the small army of FILTH - Failed In London Try Hong Kong who continually berated the more established ex pats for their privilege whilst leeching of their generous expense accounts for all they were worth.<br />southern mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-33734167373332876352018-03-30T20:02:45.435+01:002018-03-30T20:02:45.435+01:00I have to admit to really liking Hong Kong. I spen...I have to admit to really liking Hong Kong. I spent about 10 days there after a three-week stay doing radio programmes in Beijing, and HK was a dream of efficiency and colour and plenty after all that communist greyness and incompetence and being stared at like a freak all the time (this was 1986). I was staying with friends in HK and was accompanied by my girlfriend, which helped of course. Not all of the expat community were horrible and insensitive - but one Sunday afternoon spent lounging by a private swimming pool with a bunch of suburban finance industry types, all getting pinker and sweatier as they whined about their "servants" and wanked on about "luxury" shopping opportunities and desperately tried to convince themselves that they were SO much happier in HK than they would have been back home (when they quite evidently weren't) was distinctly lowering. Not for nothing had the locals christened Jardine House "The House of a Thousand Arseholes". Still, the rest of the visit was great - not sure what I'd have thought after a year there. Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-72097623417856815002018-03-30T19:32:04.834+01:002018-03-30T19:32:04.834+01:00I'm an absolute sucker for Monet, so I might b...I'm an absolute sucker for Monet, so I might be blind to his faults - but I think he actually produced a number of very accomplished snow paintings before setting foot in the frozen North, including The Magpie and A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur (both painted in the second half of the1860s). Still, if he felt the need to hone his snow-painting technique, Norway's as good a place as any. Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-25080998068799102422018-03-30T02:13:43.200+01:002018-03-30T02:13:43.200+01:00SDG. I would love to here your views on HK and SG...SDG. I would love to here your views on HK and SGP one day.<br />Interestingly Paul Theroux changed his tune regarding the latter. southern mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-81788200073827993932018-03-29T18:04:34.855+01:002018-03-29T18:04:34.855+01:00Some of your posts provide nostalgic experiences f...Some of your posts provide nostalgic experiences for some of your more decrepit readers. Hugely appreciated, but there are certain dangers in releasing atavistic feelings.Viz Vikingry.<br /><br />Southern Man. I am very sorry to disagree with you, but I have lived in both HK and Singapore for about a year each apart from numerous prior visits. The respective climates are quite ghastly and both towns are stuffed with second rate Australians [ yes, they can be second rate] and condescending English creeps with red hair-dos who never pay for anything. It's all Joseph Conrad.] I haven't even started on the Chinese.<br /><br />SDGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-79135024315864001592018-03-29T13:39:43.465+01:002018-03-29T13:39:43.465+01:00Wonderful photos by the way.Wonderful photos by the way.southern mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-87831462813920509452018-03-29T01:15:29.665+01:002018-03-29T01:15:29.665+01:00Two other places where people really shouldn't...Two other places where people really shouldn't live are Hong Kong, and Singapore. One once a barren rock and the other a malarial swamp. <br />Those nasty Brit's had something to do with it. southern mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-43526806685472876962018-03-28T22:23:52.347+01:002018-03-28T22:23:52.347+01:0012 March 2018 found me and the wife in the Art Ins...12 March 2018 found me and the wife in the Art Institute of Chicago.<br /><br />Lot of Monet.<br /><br />Monet in Norway, where he had takem himself partly in search of rugged sites "<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/resources/resource/220" rel="nofollow">sites beyond the realm of his house and garden at Giverny</a>".<br /><br />Like Sandvika.<br /><br />He knocked up <a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/86998" rel="nofollow">29 paintings</a> in his two-month Norwegian trip, gradually overcoming the unfamiliar problems of painting snow.David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.com