Introduction
As mentioned in the other ‘jumble of photos’, this is a jumble of photos without thematic cohesion, or chronological order. Nevertheless, the photos are taken around the 1970s to the 1990s.
I can present some kind of thematic order here, as the pictures are shown in the PowerPoint:
- Nina’s niece, Keena, junior football tournament in Denmark.
- Playing bridge at my brother Gavin’s house, 1 Copse Edge, Burpham, Surrey, England. The players: my mother (Rhoda), Gavin, Sue and Sean.
- My mother’s back-garden at 6 Fitzjohn Close, Merrow Park, Surrey, England. My brother Stuart and his son Torquil.
- Nina – on the way to England, and in England.
- Visiting Alistair and Jennifer, at Jennifer’s house in Canterbury.
- Nina and mum in London.
- Me and Nina in South-West England.
- Black and white photos – mainly me and Merete, such as at Munchsgt 5.
- Merete in Las Palmas.
- Merete in Dunston, Sunderland.
- Drawing a portrait of Safira.
- Safira in Stockholm.
- Working in Hallenhagen Kindergarten, Oslo.
- Bente
Junior football tournament.
We have discussed this in previous ‘photo jumble’ (‘Photo Jumble 2”). This is about Nina’s niece, Keena, that participated in a football tournament in Denmark. But I have more photos here.
One of the photos shows Charles, the father of Keena, standing outside the camping cottage.
Another photo shows Odd Jansen’s glorious 2.8 golden Ford Granada (which I think I fucked up accelerating up a steep incline at 80 mph). I’m an ‘expert’ at ‘fucking-up’ cars! You can also see Nina’s blue Daihatsu Charade at the side of the picture.
Ford Granada vs Daihatsu Charade
Absurdly, with both cars fully loaded with parents and kids, a race began. Mette was driving the 120 bhp Ford, while I was driving the small Japanese Daihatsu of perhaps half the power.
Irresponsibly, we had an 80 mph race along the broad roads through Sweden. The Daihatsu was winning – but perhaps due to my driving skills more than the sporting ability of the car (although it wasn’t ‘slow’ when you had built up speed).
But I became apprehensive – due to Mette’s lack of driving skills – so I slowed down – I didn’t want to kill us all.
Playing bridge at 1 Copse Edge, Burpham
Another photo shows my mother, my brother Gavin, Sean, and Sue, playing bridge, at Gavin’s house, at 1 Copse Edge.
My mother was an expert card player. She played Canasta with her friends in Culcheth, Lancashire. She taught us many card games, such as ‘rummy’ and ‘whist’. In fact, I learnt a lot from her and became an ‘expert’ bridge player at college. But I never managed to refine my skills – so remained in reality an average player. On the other hand, I became an expert poker player in my teens, and won large amounts of money, so I was able to buy a Jaguar sports saloon (MK. VII) from Jim Lowry, the Jaguar specialist, but this is another story J.
Stuart, Torquil and Gavin in my mother’s garden at 6 Fitzjohn Close
To be quite honest – I can’t remember this photo – that is the photo of my brother Stuart and his youngest son Torquil, and my brother Gavin in my mother’s back garden. The back garden was quite a small one, but, as far as I can remember, included a greenhouse and an apple tree, and a couple of chairs. So it was quite a nice place to relax and have a fag and a chat. Stuart died of a stroke at the age of 51. In other words, this photo must have been taken before 1995 – which I think was the year he died. He collapsed in my mother’s kitchen early one morning, and never came out of a coma of several days in hospital. We had all hoped for a good outcome, but the doctors said that even if he recovered then his prospects were not good.
Return of the prodigal sons
My mother liked company – after all, she lived alone for many years. But she could get ‘frosty’ too if your stay at her house ‘tried her patience’. Both Stuart and Alistair stayed with my mother for periods when she was living at 6 Fitzjohn Close, Merrow Park, Guildford, Surrey, England. By this time they were grown men. I moved to Norway in the early 1970s, so I wasn’t really involved in all the family intrigues surrounding my mother. My mother would never refuse her sons hospitality as far as I know. But the stays of Stuart and Alistair were perhaps not always fully welcomed by my mother or her other sons. But as mentioned, I was not involved in these ‘intrigues’, so I will say no more here.
Trip to England with Nina
I think Nina and I travelled to England via the mountains and Bergen. It seems we stopped off at a mountain lodge on the way to Bergen – various photos show me and Nina on the train, and at a hotel in the mountains.
Me in the mountains
One of the photos shows me standing on a ‘treacherous’ pointy rock amongst the snow-bedecked mountains wearing only a t-shirt. Of course, in the summer, in the mountains, temperatures can reach +20 celsius – but it takes time for the snow to melt.
Arriving in England
Nina seems to be wearing the same clothes on the train in Norway, and in the photos in England, suggesting that this was something that occurred at the ‘same time’.
In the back garden in Kent
I think this must be in the back garden of Jennifer’s house in Canterbury (Alistair’s wife). Nina can be seen wearing a red skirt. My brother Gavin is wearing a baseball cap. Alistair’s wife, Jennifer, is the one with long hair. Alistair’s relationships with the opposite sex were anything but smooth. But this photo was taken at a time when his relationship with his wife was functioning. However, later the relationship soured, resulting in lots of problems, which I can’t enter into here.
Conundrum
I was unsure of the exact dates here, so I sent my brother Gavin an email – he seems to have a better memory than me. This is what he wrote (17 July 2024):
Jennifer house in Canterbury. Nina is there so you must know the date. I drove there in mumsies metro I’d guess 1991/2 maybe
Nina had me explain to you on the return journey what love is for some reason. Not something you forget in a hurry.
My Comment:
The dates he mentions seem to coincide with my calculations – although the Metro trip and the love lecture are wiped from my memory.
All I can remember is that I travelled to the Canterbury house on more than one occasion – on one occasion – Alistair had done his usual ‘disappearing act’, despite careful planning – it seems he had ‘gone to the races’. On one occasion, I seem to remember Nina holding Jennifer’s baby – perhaps the first born – Alistair.
Trip to London with Nina and my mother
The photos here showing my mother and Nina with me in London were probably taken during the same time as the photos above (although I’m not 100% sure).
Cleopatra’s Needle, London
One of the photos shows me standing in front of a sphinx together with my mother. Cleopatra’s Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes.
Trip to South-West England
As mentioned above, I have most of the documentation of the location and dates of the photos included here; but this is buried deep in my archive J So this is something where I can provide more detail later. But the photos showed that we stayed at one of the better hotels with a glorious view of the ocean! Not least, the room had quite an impressive balcony!
Mysterious photos (September 1981)
In the following, there are many ‘mysterious’ photos! Forty years ago, if you ordered photos from the photo shop, they could also provide a ‘mini-presentation’ of all the photos- this was quite handy, as it provided an overview. However, in retrospect, it is not always easy to decipher the content of these photos, regarding, location, date and people.
My friend Eddie worked in a photo shop – and he was an enthusiastic amateur photographer – so perhaps I became interested in photography because of him – at least I have very few photos of my life between 1969 and the late seventies. I think my first Norwegian girlfriend, Bente Lundtveit, may have some photos of our time together – but I haven’t talked to her for several decades! She seems to be on Facebook – so perhaps I will log on one day J
Series of shots, mostly with Merete
Most of the black and white shots show my girlfriend, Merete.
Munch’s gate 5
Around the time these photos were taken (1981), Merete and I were living at Munch’s Gate 5 in the centre of Oslo. The building with several floors of rooms belonged to Olav Thon. The building was later converted to a hotel. Merete didn’t like Olav because he was a ‘capitalist’. Ironically, some 40 years later, my son Alan worked at a Coop shop as a cashier in a north suburb of Oslo, and often had a chat with the then almost 100 year old Olav who shopped there. In retrospect, Norway must be the last country in the world where a billionaire can go to the shop to buy some Findus fish fingers without the risk of being kidnapped!
But to get back to the point. Merete and I stayed in a 10m2 room and slept together in a very narrow sleeping sofa – we must have been in love ha ha J
Naked Merete
I have included a naked picture of Merete at Munch’s gt. 5. The photo doesn’t show her face – I hope she is not ‘insulted’ by the posting of this photo. But she has nothing to be ashamed of, as she is very attractive. Moreover, I have manipulated the photo so it is more like an ‘art sketch’.
Hans Klægstad and ‘Halvorsen’
The following also shows shots of some of my ‘communist’ friends from Sogn Student Village – such as Hans Klægstad (‘Kleggers’). As well as ‘Halvorsen’. These photos were taken at Thorvald Meyersgt 17, Grunerløkka. Halvorsen, Jørgensen and Klægstad all lived at this address. The apartment building was owned by the ‘communist-capitalist’ Hystad – who had rented out apartments to his young communist friends.
The photos taken inside Hans Klægstad’s apartment are of interest. Although Hans was quite young, he had travelled in both the near and far east, including Palestine, and spoke some Arabic. He supported the Palestine cause as is perhaps shown by the wall decorations.
However, he died before the Palestine problem was resolved. The three religions based on ‘love’, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have fuelled hate and genocide for at least 1500 years – so it is quite probable they will continue to fuel hate and murder for the next 1500 years! As of 2024, the conflict in the Near East might explode into a worldwide conflict between two global blocks. In other words, religions and ideologies are used as tools to legitimise aggression between nations. It is not necessarily the religions or ideologies that are at fault, but rather the ambitions of nations to gain global dominance. In other words, national leaders misuse religion in order to further their own personal and national interests. Of course, this was not what drove the prophets to formulate their ideas – rather the opposite.
Why was Ian born so ugly!
As perhaps mentioned elsewhere here – some of these photos were included in my ‘diaries’. Merete also like to ‘contribute’ to my diary, although this was not something I asked her to do. She would often add a cynical comment here and there. She also tried her hand at sketching – using my professional felt-tip pens.
Merete and I had a kind of love-hate relationship. We loved arguing! But perhaps she won in the end! Her cynicism became too much for me. Of course, I was the one that instigated the cynicism – so I can hardly blame her. But she was brought up in her early twenties on a feminist diet of ‘anti-men’ narratives, such as the film and novel, “The Burning Bed” (1980).
Taking pictures with a Brownie camera
It seems some of the best photos I took were using a Brownie camera with black and white film.
Me and Merete in the Canary Islands
During the time I was together with Merete, I kept a number of ‘diaries’ – these included photos and quotes from the books I happened to be reading at the time.
Drawing portraits of girlfriends
Around this time – 1970s and 1980s – I was still trying to follow my ‘career’ as an artist. I executed many self-portraits during this period.
Like Picasso, who drew portraits of his wives and mistresses, I also painted many portraits of my girlfriends. Unlike Picasso, I did not distort my female friends, but tended to romanticize them. Most of the portraits have been lost – although I have a photo record of most of them. I will show some of these in the following slides. My sketches were often based on photos.
I drew portraits of Merete, Liv, Kristin, Safira, and Jesse Strachan (Scottish girlfriend from 1970). As mentioned, many of these portraits are now lost. However, I still have the portraits of Merete, and Kristin, and photographs of me drawing the portrait of Safira. I have a vague memory of Jesse’s face – so it would be difficult for me to recreate her portrait.
I will include here the black and white miniatures of me drawing the beautiful and enigmatic Safira.
‘Naked’ girls and drugged monkeys
In the 1970s, ‘liberated’ women bared their breasts on beaches. The idea here was that why should we women cover up, when men don’t have to? I’m not sure if women are sexually attracted to men’s ‘six packs’, or if this is just something that men imagine.
On the same slide with Merete’s naked breasts is a picture of me and Merete with a monkey. This was common in the Canary Islands – vendors taking photos of tourists with various animals for money. Perhaps these animals were drugged. Similarly, Bangkok beggars holding babies have often drugged the child that is perhaps not even their own. However, I suppose there is a kind of hierarchy of begging and various evils. As shown in the film “Slum Dog Millionaire”, children in India are wilfully blinded by criminal gangs, and then used as blind beggars to provide money for the gangs.
Driving to Stockholm with Safira
Safira
I fell in love with Safira! Although our relationship never blossomed. I met her when she was about 18 years old, and when she was attending school in the west of Oslo – I think it was Fagerborg videregående (upper secondary school). Her friends were quite impressed, when I turned up in my red and gold Triumph TR5 at the school gates to pick her up.
At the time, she was living with her sister and mother at Ullern, in a classy apartment in the west of Oslo with a balcony.
I was in my late twenties, and working as a bus driver for the Oslo Bus Company (Oslo Sporveier). I think I met her at a pub called ‘Chateau Neuf’ (around the late 1970s). We left the pub in my TR5, and went to my student room at Sogn Student Village, where she stayed the ‘romantic’ night.
Her mother was Norwegian, and her father Jewish. She inherited beautiful ‘Near-East’ looks from her father that quite entranced me! In other words, her big brown eyes and schoolgirl ways bewitched me!
Safira was an artist and musician. I have a very poor quality video clip of her singing King Crimson’s “I talk to the rain”, which I have posted on another PowerPoint “Jumble of photos no. 2”.
Trip to Stockholm
Safira told me she wanted to visit her father in Stockholm; her Jewish father was running a restaurant. We stayed at his apartment in a high rise block on the outskirts of Stockholm.
I can’t remember him being too pleased at seeing his daughter; but I think he had a health condition, which perhaps dampened his spirits.
We had fun driving to Stockholm in my 6-cylinder, Triumph TR5, with its 150 hp, fuel injected engine. The car didn’t weigh much, and the engine had enormous torque, so it would waft past lesser vehicles on steep inclines in top gear!
Safira liked ‘cool’ music, so I think one of the cassettes I was playing in the car stereo player was a George Benson one:
“Nature Boy”
There was a boy,
Very strange, enchanted boy;
They say he wander’d very far,
Very far over land and sea,
A little shy and sad of eye,
But very wise was he.
And then one day,
A magic day he passed my way,
And while we spoke of many things,
Fools and kings,
This he said to me:
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return, to be loved in return.
Rowney A5 Diary about the trip
To be quite honest I don’t remember an awful lot about the trip, apart from the fact that we met some of her friends and went to clubs and restaurants. My “Diary” shows some drawings made by me, Safira and her friends.
‘Unhappy’ ending to the trip to Stockholm