Cooper Adventures in Scandinavia Part 3

We decide to drive to Furuvik for the next show and then drive back to Stockholm afterwards-it's  only a couple of hours and the venue seems to be in the middle of nowhere. So we get up, have a leisurely breakfast and set off at, um, some sensible time, probably about 10, arriving at about  lunchtime. On the way, we decide we need something to chuck on stage again, the roses having been such a success, and somehow Steve manages to find a toyshop en route, and purchases a baby doll, complete with one of those speaking box things inside, so she could go 'goo' and gah'. Ripped that out, leaving a perfect Alice-sword-sized hole in the middle. Bit of marker pen round the eyes and Little Betty is good to go!

We arrive at the theme park - this one was more of a zoo really, much smaller. than Grona Lund. Met some of Dolly's friends - we are wearing our t shirts especially. I don't think they are impressed.

Another hot afternoon on the barrier, but we make some new friends, and so manage to sneak off to the bar for most of the afternoon with JY, Louise and Andy. Some drunk guy comes up to us at one point and says, 'I know a joke'. We all stop talking and look at each other. And then he says,  ' There were 2 fish swimming along together.' (insert swimming hand motions) (Just keep swimming, just keep swimming).
ANYWAY, these 2 fish were swimming along and suddenly they came to a brick wall. So one fish turns to the other and says 'Damn'.

Dam, geddit?  And we all fall about laughing!! Then he gets up and wanders off!! Bizarre.

Eventually we get back to the barrier, with a couple of hours to go, and  Steve goes off to change in the back of Andy's lighting tent. One of the great things about these 3 shows, is that there is no support, so no cringeworthy band wasting your time before Alice comes on. There is a slightly tricky moment when the curtain is put up and it's too windy - lots of hands on the other side trying to hold it in place!

And then, it's Alice time. Alice spots us and throws us a whip, but we both fumble and it disappears while we are scrabbling about on the floor. Betty goes on stage during BDB, Alice spears her and she ends up on the floor in front of the barrier. And, in spite of our repeated attempts to get the security to give her back, she eventually disappears in the hands of one of the crew....:(

                       

 

                                

After the show, Steve is mobbed yet again for pics - including a kid who really thinks he is Alice!! He tells the kid he isn't and kid goes off crying.........Steve (because he is lovely) is gutted and wishes he'd just signed the kids teddy bear..........awwww.

We can see Little Betty behind the door to the backstage area, but they won't let us in to get her......

We hang around for a bit, and then we manage to get into the circus arena, which is a kind of extension to the backstage area, but from the other end than the door by the stage, and Ryan, Nita, Kyler and Tommy come out to see us.  Some great pics are taken, mainly by Kyler, and Tommy tells us all about the new music he is creating, playing us some soundbites from  his phone. He also tells us about living in Switzerland, what it's like and how he couldn't do it if he wasn't off touring a lot! It's a bit quiet, apparently :)
'She (Sandra) says, have you locked the door?, What's the point, there's nobody here to break in!!!' ( insert colourful Tommy language!) And he shows us lovely pics of Mr. Finn - cannot believe he is 2 years old already!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

    
Steve disappears, and I wander about a bit, and eventually find him at the crew bus - where Diane puts a wad of cotton wool in my hand and sets light to it!! It explodes up into the air - amazing!! This is what Glen does at the end of his drum solo with his drumsticks. And then I spot Betty, hanging up by a foot from a handy pole nearby. We rescue her, and Andy says to look after her, as they will be looking out for her.

The only moose we see in Sweden

We eventually leave the park and trek back to our car. Imagine our surprise when we we can't unlock it - the remote simply does not work however many times we try it. We try to ring JY, who came out with us, but nothing happens...is his phone broken or what? After several more attempts to contact him, when absolutely fuck all happens, we eventually try the second key, (DUH) which works!! And then we work out that we have JY's only key. And it's raining, he must be seriously panicking..........

Eventually, after driving around all the car parks, we find him and Louise, slightly damp and shivering. And ,yes, his phone is broken. We all sigh in collective relief, and Steve and I grovel sufficiently (I hope). Still have no idea how his key ended up in my bag. Never mind JY, it's funny now, right?

So off we go, back to Stockholm in the rain. I thought we were going pretty fast, but about half way home, a maniac in a car overtakes us driving at about 200km. It was so fast, the noise made us jump out of our skin  - we couldn't even see what kind of car it was. We fully expect to find him up ahead, either wrapped around the barrier or at least stopped by the police. Although I don't know whether they could've caught him........but he clearly escaped to speed another day.

Starving hungry by this time, we decide we need a Burger King. There seems to hundreds of them all over Sweden and Norway, but can we see an open one? No, of course not. But we do find a garage/shop/cafe thing, and it has much better food than BK, tbh. So we get ouselves a midnight feast!

Up earlyish the next day we set off for Norway airport and home, having a quick brekkie stop at some junk food dive on the way. Nomnomnom.
We drive and drive and drive, avoiding the toll roads, until we discover that that means we get directed off the freeway and down some tiddly little back roads, just to avoid paying a toll of about 34p. 

There are lots of signs to beware of moose along the way,  but although we keep our eyes peeled, they are rarer than BK's when you're hungry. We search instead for a Best Western and find one just into Norway, where we decide to stop for the night. They have a buffet laid on for that night, so we eat ourselves silly (oh, the salmon!) and retire for a reasonably early night. I am already getting tour withdrawal :(. Little Betty gets restless during the night and ends up mysteriously moving around the room........

Breakfast is another buffet, so we cram in some more food and set off for the airport, Where, on the sound advice of  Mr. J Lansley, I hobble thru customs clutching my cane. (it wouldn't fit in the suitcase.)
 They make me put it through the scanner, so I make a big show of limping without it, and manage to get it past them without it being called an offensive weapon or something. I get so into my role as invalid that Steve has to remind me that we are now in the duty free shop and I don't need to limp anymore. We should've done this with his cane on the way back from USA last year!

We get home to Blighty and the car without any more drama, and soon it's back home to a life of drudgery and drearyness. Til the next tour!