Caring community

Yesterday was hectic. We moved out of our appartment into our camper. Many trips up and down the lift, but at midnight we were settled...As I was driving through the town, "a bit gingerly because of the size of our van.".A young woman fell heavily on a crossing. She was immediatley attended by other pedestrians and I stopped, asked if she was ok?..

She looked up and gave me a little thumbs up with her tounge sticking out of the corner of her mouth, a bit sheepish. I was relieved and happy to carry on...

A few months ago my daughter fell exiting a tube train in London. She was a bit bumped and grazed but she was really upset that no one had stopped to offer a hand or a caring word...

People are kind here. When Father Christmas knocks the door on Christmas eve, he enquires. "Are there any kind children in this house?.."

Don't you think our bikes look good together...

Moving experience

It is still toasty warm in Goteburg. At work builders are tearing the roof off for an extension and it is noisy and not as pleasant...
Tonight is our last night in the appartment.Tomorrow we are camping and at the weekend we are back in England, moving into a rental house for a while...This appartment has been nice, the rooms are huge and it is central...We are sad to leave yet excited to return to family and friends...
Last night we met a man by the river, he was a little drunk...He told us exactly how big his flat was in Eriksburg, how much his mortgage costs. Then with shrug and a smirk told me it was nothing to him... We silently watched him board the ferry...
The leaded windows in our block date from Ninteen hundered and six..

Knapdale Beavers

One of the most beautiful regions in Britain is about to be repopulated with a lodge of Norweigan Beaver...Beaver make pools and slow down all the water courses with their dams...

I am going to start looking out for some Musk ox soon...

American achievment

When I looked at these latest Mars images. I felt a tingle of thrill, as I did when Viking landed in the seventies...To think that my species can land so accuratley on a distant rock is amazing...I am proud of the scientists and Technicians from JPL, as proud as I would be if they were Brits...

I love the sense of common endeavor , from the poorest tax payer...to the most genius rocket tragectory analyst...

Good luck to them all...

Sunday mooch

We were up early this morning. After breakfast I took my bike out for a spin along the harbour...Such a sunny day, and the river is getting busy with pleasure craft...Tied up to the middle pier is a tall masted commercial yacht.It is made of wood and it is in perfect order.

The sense of hand crafted functionality for purpose, adds an extra dimension to the asthetic beauty of such vessels...

New Old Labour

This is David Milliband, he is a comprehensive educated Jewish atheist...

Thrushes everywhere

On a very warm Saturday morning I cycled into work...Up through the park, which was donated to the City by an old Scots shipbuilder, James Keiller in ninteen hundered and six...In the park is a cliff where in times of famine, the elderly were thrown from...No pension crisis in those days...
So anyway,, the park was super quiet and there were Thrushes everywhere...I even saw a Blackbird , looking a bit intimidated by them...
So that was lovely, but I did hear that a gay man was murdered there a couple of years ago there... On the way back home there were people throughout the park, all sunning themselves or playing a strange block throwing game...

Chatting at work today about the old Tories getting back in charge again...I really do hope not, but if they do then at least there will be plenty to whinge about...Only for a bit untill that nice young man David Milliband gets in...

lovely bridges

So I am still cycling to work. I bought a new front wheel, after buckling my old one...The route to work is a very nice one...Along the harbour, up and over the tram bridge then left towards Rambergsvalen park...Into low gear, sucking in air up the twisty hill. The birds singing like a choir, among the Cathederal pillar like trees...

Then just a cruise through an affordable housing estate for low incomers. Is very neat and well landscaped and maintained...

The" Bjork trees", Birch trees are in pollen at the moment and it is causing some discomfort...If it rains then the streets run yellow with the dust..

When I come back accross the Bridge in the evening the river looks nice and green. It smells sweet and clean.

Remember Summer 1983 !

So the Rozzers are thinking of going on strike...Ninety percent have voted in favour...!!

If they get too out of hand will the Government have to send the army in to rough them up a bit..Will the Government have to employ some miners from Poland or somewhere to come and help the army..

I am sure that they wouldn't mind a bit of overtime..It always comes in handy does it not.

What with full sick pay, of which fourteen percent of coppers are generally making the most of..And an index linked pension, payed for by you and I. Even when we are retired we will be paying their pensions...I am not at all happy...Are you?? Leave a comment.

Loving Cornwall

In a few weeks, we are travelling down to Cornwall...I have rented a people carrier, as my parents are coming along with us..The cottage is in a little village, snug in a valley with a shingle cove beach.
After days spent swimming and snorkeling, jumping off rocks and fishing, we will have an evening meal, then a wander to the old Inn...have a couple of ales then stroll back to the cottage looking at the stars thick in the sky...
There is a wood burner in the living room, so we will have a bit of a chat, debate and perhaps a bit of a singalong gathered around it...In Cornwall the dry stone walls are all fluffy with Lichen and the landscape is stiff with magic...
When I was a boy, my Dad told me that on midsummer the rabbits peeled off their skins and danced around as pixies in the moonlight...

falling off my bike / blokeshopping

So, it was my turn to get the shopping today and I went to Hemskop...I wasn't really concentrating and I ended up buying...Well, food...But not with any real theme...Mackerel, and Thai soup...Some vine grown tomatoes...Yoghurt...Prawns...I did get loo roll, bread, and milk...
As a result, teatime, I had to cycle to the salad bar near Kungsportsplatsen. The young server was efficient, yet frosty, and she set me ill at ease. I hung the bag over my handlebar and gave a shove. As I cocked my leg over, the peddle snagged on a safety barrier and I fell gracelessly over...Up like a shot, I was desperate to be away...Quick look around , hoping no one was looking...The surly salad girls, obviously, in tears by now. I checked my bike...Bloody chain fell off...Then, I noticed the busy, glass fronted, Thai restaurant, but I chose to believe that nobody saw my incident.

I am Iron man

Me and my boy just watched Iron man..It was an incredible film..Obviously fantastical, but the technological aspects were feasible..He has plasma boots and gloves..We came out of the cinema buzzing...We are going to listen to a bit of Zep on the You tube now....

Bloody freezing

We have just had a Greek meal in Linnegaten..It was the best Greek food that any of us have ever tasted..Unfortunately the weather has turned a little chilly, and we had to sit on the terrace..Everyone snuggled into blankets did not stop the wind whipping all the warmth away..We just galloped back to the flat and are going to watch some teev and slurp some Banrock Station...

Miserable teenager

As a disaffected youth growing up in Coventry, I sometimes found my fellow teenagers irritating and often found myself wandering into my neighbour Clive's garage..

Clive and his family were the first black people on our council estate, and they were exotically different..I used to watch him fixing his old Ford cortina or building up speakers and I would listen to his music..Usually a deep beat Reggae tune spilling out into our close as we talked while he worked..I cannot remember what we talked about, but any reggae beat takes me straight back to the smell of engine oil and the memory of late seventies Coventry..

The popular music at the time was two tone ska but I found it tinny and with little base..I was also two cynical to go with the flow..Which in retrospect would have been the smoother direction to trendiness and girls..

Masters of your Universe

Boris Von Kumquat de Pfeifell Johnson

And associated world dominating numpties at ...an ex Etonian club..Whilst at Oxford..

David Cameron...Second from left...Boris Kumquat...Bottom right

They truly think that they are better than you..

A world of contrasts

While holidaying in Ithaka our favourite beach had an ancient cave..People used to leave offerings to the gods there..To get to the cave you have to walk past the Aussie beach attendants camp..He has a small tent, a table, chair and lamp..He keeps a black sack filled with water in a tree for his evening shower..When the season is over he returns to his Summer job in Melbourne as a beach attendant..He saunters around the beach in his shorts and his blue hat cheerfully enjoying each day..He offers Shiatsu massage, and he flirts with the Greek girls in the Tavern near the road..

In the shelter of the bay was a large motor yacht..Twice a day the owner took a swim, closely followed by a lackey in a speedboat holding a towel..

Bursts of creativity

Cycling home tonight i got thinking deep..
If we suppose that we were created..And if our creator was a "Euphemistic"father..
Then I wonder was he an attentive father, who changed our nappies, read us stories and ran crouching behind us as we learned to cycle..
Or was he a preppie medical student who donated semen for a few hundered quid..
In light of recent disasters, we could bitterly suppose the med student..Yet there are still billions of us left alive and kicking on this amazing little planet..
All any of us need is a bit of love and a sense of purpose..

Having thoughts about racism

When I blog I am spilling my thoughts and feelings, and the anonymity of this blog affords an opportunity to be honest..So when I talked about having racist thoughts yesterday, I was describing my racism, in the context of other viscous and raw emotions like hate,fear, envy and greed..All are a part of the miserable angst ridden animal that lays within all of our Psyches..
Surely it is how a person deals with their weaker emotions that is important..Pretending that they do not exist is dishonest folly

Having racist thoughts

So here in Goteburg there are many recent immigrants..The rule is that if they find work quickly, then their families can join them..If after four years, they are still unemployed..Then the families may join them..It means that any new arrival must quickly learn Swedish..

The Swedes that I have spoken with are a laid back bunch and they are not at all vociferous with their opinions.. Unlike myself, "sorry bout that"..

In the City I have observed young Turkish/ Balkan looking men..Tough looking, behaving machoistically..It stands out fiercely here, where young Swedish men have impeccable manners and are gentle natured with no, territory issues..But.. I get these ugly little racist thoughts..About my territory, and my Country.."New Europe"...

I am a pretty good racist, and I soon get a lid on it..But I do feel a little filthy just the same..

When I was a boy, my Ma made me wear a dodgy leather hat..A black lad called Patrick Jones spat on it..That was the last time I wore it..I was sure it reeked of Bananas..

I must have started early...

Archipeligo

We took the boat to Styrso today. We sat at the very rear of the ferry and we watched the green wake and I wondered if it could be surfed...When we got to the Island we had a coffee..We sat drinking it in a well kept herb garden...

The houses are large and immaculate, and throughout the island the trees where all in blossom..

After a short walk we ended up at a wooden jetty and we all swam.. The sea was fairly warm for the season..Boats everywhere increased my boat envy...

Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and Chum....

I mean ...Come on.... Please...

Vertical strata

Today was another glorious day..I ate my sushi lunch out in the garden with some pals ..The garden has been blasted out of pink granite that is inclined almost vertically..The geology of Sweden is quite different to England..There is very little flat arable land around the city, just rocky outcrops of schist and granite..

After work I cycled down through a lovely park towards Eriksburg..Along past marinas, and offices with people sat outside drinking tinnys and eating pizza with their workmates..While I was eating lunch I noticed a slither of a moon and a Buzzard..

Sunburned Tramps

Riding to work this morning, I noticed how all of the tramps are looking very tanned..They sit around near the System Bolaget near Hjalmar brantingsplatz..They do like an early start and a nice social discourse..They are so intent when they speak, and they appear to be listening to one another very intently..
We are having a lovely sunny spell here in Gburg , and it is bringing out the best in everyone...

Three Trillion dollars

A conservative estimate of the cost of Iraq war to the U S A.. Without considering rehabilitating wounded veterans and their pensions ..Or the cost of re enforcing military facilities..So many overheads and we all know who is going to pay...!!Absolutely not the multinational cooperate directors who were baying for Saddams blood the loudest.They only exist on golf courses and in five star hotels..Not on any national revenue returns..They are stateless and nontaxable, and yet they insist on calling most of the shots....

Would it not be a moral obligation ,to establish any future governments foreign policy agenda..I mean what they precisely intend to do in our name and with our money...

Anyway,, today I sat outside in the garden and ate lunch with some of my younger Swedish colleaueges..It was very pleasant too...

The Eton Rifles

I strive to keep an open mind about individuals that I have never met..And I honestly do not have any specific dislike for either person. What I find offensive is the blatant fact that two absolute toffs are on the verge of such power..Shoehorned in by Murdoch and his cronies, and then blithely voted in by The Great British Electorate..Who seem eager for a change..

It would make a glorious change if People would make the intellectual effort to understand how precious their own individual opinion is..The elite are not really elite, they have just been conditioned to believe that they are so...

Riding off my tea

Today we have been riding our bikes all over..We followed the riverbank along to the old boat restoration yard. People were painting and rubbing down bits of boat, some of them really old and battered..Then we cycled back and had a coffee at the Maritime museum. Sat on top of an old tramp steamer drinking strong coffee..
After lunch we headed inland to Skatas..It is in the woods where we first camped in October..Lots of flowers out and Swedes running, ski training, power walking..
Wife and I walked around a lake, if it had been a little warmer I might have skinny dipped..
On the way back there was a trendy cafe with some Italians posing in sunglasses..We soon joined in ,I with a double espresso, and new Police 08 aviators..
After our dinner I wheeled down to the harbour and watched the sun set over the Eriksberg shipyard..Oblique sunlight wobbling pastel shades all over the harbour..Smelled nicely Briny..

Celestial entities

'We are all profoundly privileged owners, of a brief spark of consciousness..'Ian Mc Ewan..

Raunchy Rozzers

We have been staying in for the last few nights, babysitter was in Denmark..Last night we watched Swedish Crimewatch..The Rozzers on the computers and phones were all glamorous, nicely made up..Well groomed male coppers as well.. And even the villains were handsome and trendy, they had coordinated they're look for maximum elan as well as effect..

We are moving back to England soon, so I will be on the lookout for typically defining Swedish stuff to Blog..

I intend to be upbeat about my return to England, there will be a lot more new swimming stuff, different places..Starting with a big Cornwall trip in early July...

Steel cutter

Thirty three feet long is big enough to cruise oceans in..Me and my young son were fantasy yacht buying and this is the one we decided on..It is affordable as well as intensely desirable..
We planned our voyage around Britain first, iron out any gremlins..Then Azores, Caribbean, British Virgin Isles..Panama canal, Galapagos, Easter island then New Zealand..
Is a wet old Mayday in Gburg.We walked down river to Clippan and had a coffee in a knackered old boat..Then we took the Vastraffik ferry up to Rosalund..The Yangtze river had two tugs pulling her away and off to see..All spruced up and ready for business..

Motion fever