After an uneventful flight where Rachael nabbed a whole row to herself, Rob pretended to read the newspapers and Paul slept. Upon arriving in Norway the masters were informed that Norway was covered in 2 METRES! of snow and it hadn’t been this bad since 1960, Rob began to recall his memories of 1960 where his name was Rock moonshine Flower and he had a big hairdo, actually just when he had hair.  The masters headed for the hotel, which was a very convenient 10 minutes away from the airport. After a few beers, the usual routine of unpacking for Rachael and the – tip the suitcase upside down on the floor technique for Paul and Rob, The masters called an early night.

Paul and Rob surfed the local T.V stations for football and music and ended up watching a soppy film, which neither of them will admit to crying over. It was the dust in their eyes.

Everyone woke up in the morning, which is a good thing, and headed downstairs for breakfast and to check out the ballroom. Cato Larsen and his extremely well drilled team of volunteers were at hand already setting up the floor and the stage. After a typical day of setting up everything and running through demos, it was time to open the doors to a very eager Norwegian group of line dancers. Cato began Djing with a play list that had been posted around the room so everyone could see what was up and coming and Paul and Rob could see when to head to the bar for a beer tasting session and Rachael could powder her nose. The masters were foiled by this plan though as Cato began playing requests in between the play list dances which threw a spanner in their plan on more than one occasion. Actually many a time Rob and Paul were caught with a beer in their hands, when a master’s dance came on and Rachael was pretending to drink something pretending to be water. Rachael and Rob proceeded to teach workshops of the newest Masters dances and the audience greatly approved requesting both dances many more times that night. Soon enough it was demo time and the Masters performed their Matrix routine, just ask Rob about resorting to the rabbits! Paul performed his routine with the spirit of the tree running through him and Rachael was a bit fantastic and Rob was a dude. The audience laughed, cried and applauded and that was just at Rachael’s stretching routine.

Everyone partied till 1am with the exception of wimp boy Paul who sneaked off 30 minutes early to retire to bed, lightweight.

Saturday morning was soon upon everyone and Paul actually made it up for breakfast, which is the first time at a line dance event since the last time. Rachael actually just made it up in time, and Rob had his healthy breakfast of coffee and Gaviscon, (which according to my sources, are Robs new major investment in the stock market). The day started with muchas dancing and workshops, with Paul teaching Hoe Yau Ying, or was that what they ordered for takeaway last night? Rob taught ticket to heaven, Rachael taught End of the Road, and Paul taught careless whisper, all of which went down extremely well with the dancers whose numbers seemed to have grown quite a lot since the Friday night. There was a break for dinner and to get dressed up in suits and dresses, which the Masters happened to have not read about. Rachael managed to look pretty good, Rob wore his demo outfit and Paul wore his judging outfit. You can’t say they aren’t resourceful. Demo time was once again upon them rather abruptly as Paul nearly dropped his bottle of spitfire, (I said nearly!), to run upstairs and get his demo outfit. They then performed their seven sins routine, which was extremely well received, especially as Rachael added a new section to her solo, which was fantastic, Rob and Paul add new sections every week, though not always intentionally. It was then unofficially beer sampling time with Britain’s spitfire up against Norway’s hansa, the winner was the Norwegian beer hansa down. Nothing to do with the taste though but it was about 2 quid cheaper.

After not too many beers and many more social dances it was Robs turn to head to zed land early as the hansa took its toll. Rachael and Paul stayed till the last song and then fatigue took over from holding those 10-pound spitfires all night and bed called.

Sunday morning arrived way too early, as both Rob and Paul were red eyed and weary. (They claim they hadn’t watched a second sloppy movie though) The competition was soon underway with Rob emceeing and judging and generally pronouncing everyone’s name wrong. The Norwegian masters competition was fantastic and very well supported as competitors and their families flocked from all over Europe, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland and Finland. The support and cheering was brilliant throughout the day as competitors put in some great performances. Rob taught a workshop in between heats and after some social dancing, the awards were ready to go. Although not after Paul tripped up big style and fell off the stage and onto the floor behind the speakers, but with Paul’s luck no one saw, so therefore we feel justified telling the hundreds of people who read this, all about it. The awards went incredibly smooth with Rachael doing a very professional job of pronouncing names, only needing to be corrected once or twice. Everyone got a fantastic reception and the queue to take photographs was nearly as long as the one at the bar the night before, apparently. After the thanks had been said, everyone left for home and other destinations, Cato’s team of fantastic volunteers stripped down the room as the masters packed their own stuff. After saying their goodbyes, it was time to leave and set off to other destinations, Rachael heading home, Paul heading home for the first time in a couple of weeks and Rob intending to head home but knowing his directional sense he could be going via Bristol.

I kid you not, this is a fantastic event, full of party animals, dance fanatics and snow.