- This is so yummy.
The cook looks at me and smiles. I shouldn't say that - he adds - since I cooked this myself but there's just so much love behind this dish.
He's an artist in his own right, trying to make a living in a competitive climate where not every restaurant will comply with taxation laws. Somehow, his words moved me. Pure, simple pride in a work well done. I wish him a successful year and many delighted lunch guests in the golf restaurant.
2010-04-20
2010-03-04
Kafka by bus
Bus 540 heading for Universitetet makes a stop at Råsta by the bus garage. Our driver will go off his shift and someone will replace him. Four (4) drivers wait at the bus stop, cheerfully chatting about this and that. One by one they enter the bus asking each other which one of them is going to drive this bus. Negative. They're all passengers-to-be, going home after a long day at work or just commuting to another place where they will pick up another bus.
Picture this: a bus with some thirty frustrated passengers, four drivers and no one takes the wheel.
Two of the non-drivers moan about missing their train connections in Ulriksdal. So did I.
Enter modern technology. The administrative staff in the garage suddenly receive scores of messages over radio and cell phone, each of them evidently emanating from this same bus. The administrative lady subjected to this burst of information successfully dispatches a fifth driver (the one who should have been here from the beginning) and he makes a run across snow and ice. By the time he arrives one of the four non-drivers has decided that enough is enough and assumed the driver's position. The real driver barely manages to catch the bus (as a passenger) when it finally continues from Råsta.
A minute later the garage calls to check that all is well and the real driver confirms that he has successfully taken the wheel. Which he has not, he is standing among all the other non-drivers at the front of the bus but now we're finally under way. And after a few more dare-devil runs across snow and ice plus the additional benefit of a two-minute delay for the commuter train I believe we all made it.
A surreal moment in the life of a commuter.
Picture this: a bus with some thirty frustrated passengers, four drivers and no one takes the wheel.
Two of the non-drivers moan about missing their train connections in Ulriksdal. So did I.
Enter modern technology. The administrative staff in the garage suddenly receive scores of messages over radio and cell phone, each of them evidently emanating from this same bus. The administrative lady subjected to this burst of information successfully dispatches a fifth driver (the one who should have been here from the beginning) and he makes a run across snow and ice. By the time he arrives one of the four non-drivers has decided that enough is enough and assumed the driver's position. The real driver barely manages to catch the bus (as a passenger) when it finally continues from Råsta.
A minute later the garage calls to check that all is well and the real driver confirms that he has successfully taken the wheel. Which he has not, he is standing among all the other non-drivers at the front of the bus but now we're finally under way. And after a few more dare-devil runs across snow and ice plus the additional benefit of a two-minute delay for the commuter train I believe we all made it.
A surreal moment in the life of a commuter.
2010-01-31
home sweet home
Meanwhile in a small house, life goes on.
Days are still short so the lights go on and off. One of them stays on all night until sunrise.
The house signals warmth and comfort in the coldest of months.
No doubt busy residents are happily pursuing their daily routines.
There's just one thing.
Outside, around the little house and all the way up to the small road nearby lays a thick blanket of untouched snow. Half a meter of accumulated precipitation is proof beyond reasonable doubt that noone has been walking to or from the house for a month. At least.
So, who are you kidding?
Days are still short so the lights go on and off. One of them stays on all night until sunrise.
The house signals warmth and comfort in the coldest of months.
No doubt busy residents are happily pursuing their daily routines.
There's just one thing.
Outside, around the little house and all the way up to the small road nearby lays a thick blanket of untouched snow. Half a meter of accumulated precipitation is proof beyond reasonable doubt that noone has been walking to or from the house for a month. At least.
So, who are you kidding?
2009-12-26
five years later
Swedish Commissioner Margot Wallström is stepping down after five years at the forefront of the European Union. (Ten, actually, but the most recent five years as First Vice President.) Prime Minister Persson appointed her and since the two of them are known to get a long about as good as... well, folks who don't get along terribly well... there was a lot of speculation about his getting rid of her from the domestic scene. Be that as it may, she has been a great Commissioner - effectively helping promote openness and as a side-effect contributing to a more positive view of the Union back in Sweden and throughout Europe.
Her retrospective blog post looking back at these five years got me started thinking about my own humble presence in the world of web logs. I started writing in February 2005, also five years ago. One key driver was an interest in politics from a conservative perspective. Finding your own party in opposition creates energy and a passionate urge to make your point. Then - all of a sudden and when enough people have successfully been making their points - your party is in fact forming a government! Not having PM Persson to kick around anymore plus the disillusion which comes from realizing that your party will in fact not deliver a lot of what you had been hoping for can effectively dampen the political drive and so I find myself now writing about entirely different things - or not at all.
My posts are few and far-between and that doesn't bother me, I have never accepted the idea that one has to keep writing constantly regardless of whether one actually has anything to say or not. Updating infrequently was a nuisance in the old days when the reader used a static bookmark and had to randomly probe and visit to see if anything had been written. These days we subscribe to a feed so anyone can see if there's new content to be read at the moment without having to visit first.
Now we're heading into an election year again and I'll gladly leave that particular scene to others. I may however occasionally have something to say about risk, photography or life itself. Or something else - we do change as we grow older, you know. So feel free to bear with me and stay tuned for another year. Have a happy one!
Her retrospective blog post looking back at these five years got me started thinking about my own humble presence in the world of web logs. I started writing in February 2005, also five years ago. One key driver was an interest in politics from a conservative perspective. Finding your own party in opposition creates energy and a passionate urge to make your point. Then - all of a sudden and when enough people have successfully been making their points - your party is in fact forming a government! Not having PM Persson to kick around anymore plus the disillusion which comes from realizing that your party will in fact not deliver a lot of what you had been hoping for can effectively dampen the political drive and so I find myself now writing about entirely different things - or not at all.
My posts are few and far-between and that doesn't bother me, I have never accepted the idea that one has to keep writing constantly regardless of whether one actually has anything to say or not. Updating infrequently was a nuisance in the old days when the reader used a static bookmark and had to randomly probe and visit to see if anything had been written. These days we subscribe to a feed so anyone can see if there's new content to be read at the moment without having to visit first.
Now we're heading into an election year again and I'll gladly leave that particular scene to others. I may however occasionally have something to say about risk, photography or life itself. Or something else - we do change as we grow older, you know. So feel free to bear with me and stay tuned for another year. Have a happy one!
2009-11-28
crime and punishment
I've had the opportunity to study a bit of criminology during this semester. I'm aiming for a refreshing perspective on my home turf - risk and security. Sort of getting into the minds of malicious individuals out there.
Crime has been around as long as there have been laws but criminology in a modern sense is a surprisingly young topic of research. A 19th century Italian doctor-turned-professor - Lombroso - is generally regarded its pioneer. So criminology is young and maybe not entirely mature yet. Numerous schools still coexist and they each have their preferred model, trying to explain deviant behavior (or conformity for that matter!) in a biological, economic or maybe psychological context. Or even deconstructing crime itself into a haze of postmodern subjectivity: "there's no way of understanding an objective reality so let's stop trying!".
Not every theory is enlightening and some seem hopelessly obsolete. I'm amazed to learn that there are still Marxists around, for instance. But the dynamic mix of contradictory views, many of which appearing to be based on at least a certain amount of solid reasoning, is very interesting. To be continued...
Crime has been around as long as there have been laws but criminology in a modern sense is a surprisingly young topic of research. A 19th century Italian doctor-turned-professor - Lombroso - is generally regarded its pioneer. So criminology is young and maybe not entirely mature yet. Numerous schools still coexist and they each have their preferred model, trying to explain deviant behavior (or conformity for that matter!) in a biological, economic or maybe psychological context. Or even deconstructing crime itself into a haze of postmodern subjectivity: "there's no way of understanding an objective reality so let's stop trying!".
Not every theory is enlightening and some seem hopelessly obsolete. I'm amazed to learn that there are still Marxists around, for instance. But the dynamic mix of contradictory views, many of which appearing to be based on at least a certain amount of solid reasoning, is very interesting. To be continued...
2009-09-27
ferdinand & the chainsaw massacre
I would never make a good gardener, let alone farmer. Deciding on matters of life and death for plants and animals - naw, that would take some getting used to for a semi-sentimental fool like moi.
But since life has bestowed me a small cottage with a few surrounding square meters of what used to be a garden, I'd have to assume some minimalistic attitude of responsibility towards this Land of Mine. And since said cottage has been blessed with more trees than what's good for it (or its neighbours) I have established sort of a yearly tradition of inviting a team of arborists to "scope the problem".
They're real pro's, I'm mighty impressed. And scope they do, indeed. Three visits in as many years have reduced seven fairly proud trees into:
a) one pile of twigs being burnt in November
b) one pile of firewood being donated to neighbours
c) one tree stump
Well, maybe not that proud... This year's trio did in fact turn out to be marked by tree rot.
Still, I can't quite get used to Deciding. A pear tree finds a place to live, grows, delivers fruits and leaves for well over a century... and one sunny morning it gets chopped up in no time in a merry chainsaw massacre. Disintegrated into those three categories of remnants.
- Wham, bam, kindly pay at the counter!
I would never make a good gardener. In the words of good old Ferdinand the Bull:
- I think I'll just sit here and smell the flowers.
But since life has bestowed me a small cottage with a few surrounding square meters of what used to be a garden, I'd have to assume some minimalistic attitude of responsibility towards this Land of Mine. And since said cottage has been blessed with more trees than what's good for it (or its neighbours) I have established sort of a yearly tradition of inviting a team of arborists to "scope the problem".
They're real pro's, I'm mighty impressed. And scope they do, indeed. Three visits in as many years have reduced seven fairly proud trees into:
a) one pile of twigs being burnt in November
b) one pile of firewood being donated to neighbours
c) one tree stump
Well, maybe not that proud... This year's trio did in fact turn out to be marked by tree rot.
Still, I can't quite get used to Deciding. A pear tree finds a place to live, grows, delivers fruits and leaves for well over a century... and one sunny morning it gets chopped up in no time in a merry chainsaw massacre. Disintegrated into those three categories of remnants.
- Wham, bam, kindly pay at the counter!
I would never make a good gardener. In the words of good old Ferdinand the Bull:
- I think I'll just sit here and smell the flowers.
2009-08-28
on frogs and trust
It's been said that a frog placed in cold water that is slowly heated will not perceive the danger and will thus be cooked to death. Be that as it may, gradual changes are interesting and important. One such gradual change is the deteriorating social climate in our societies. We don't trust our neighbor anymore and - surprise! - he doesn't trust us either. This change has taken place within a few decades.
Not so long ago people hardly locked their doors. If they did the lock was primitive by today's standards and sometimes the key was put under the door mat. Today we get ourselves security doors and all sorts of locks and alarms. Why the sudden need for all these protective measures?
When I was a kid growing up in a suburb we used to walk to and from school. My Mom accompanied me for a week or two when I began school at age six - that was it. Nowadays a growing number of kids are being driven to and from school and my guess is that they are no more handicapped than we were. As long as the school is nearby, they could easily walk too but their parents don't want them to. Why is this? What are we trying to protect them from?
There's a well-known photo from Geneva in 1955 where a friendly-looking policeman is "guarding" a summit between U.S. President Eisenhower and the Soviet leader Khrushchev. I suppose he had a couple of colleagues back at the station as well. Just how many policemen are needed today to protect any EU summit?
A football game?
I'd say there's a trend emerging here and it's not a pretty one.
Maybe the frog would in fact jump out of the kettle. But what about us? Why don't I hear any debate at all about these changes which have taken place during the course of a couple of generations?
Not so long ago people hardly locked their doors. If they did the lock was primitive by today's standards and sometimes the key was put under the door mat. Today we get ourselves security doors and all sorts of locks and alarms. Why the sudden need for all these protective measures?
When I was a kid growing up in a suburb we used to walk to and from school. My Mom accompanied me for a week or two when I began school at age six - that was it. Nowadays a growing number of kids are being driven to and from school and my guess is that they are no more handicapped than we were. As long as the school is nearby, they could easily walk too but their parents don't want them to. Why is this? What are we trying to protect them from?
There's a well-known photo from Geneva in 1955 where a friendly-looking policeman is "guarding" a summit between U.S. President Eisenhower and the Soviet leader Khrushchev. I suppose he had a couple of colleagues back at the station as well. Just how many policemen are needed today to protect any EU summit?
A football game?
I'd say there's a trend emerging here and it's not a pretty one.
Maybe the frog would in fact jump out of the kettle. But what about us? Why don't I hear any debate at all about these changes which have taken place during the course of a couple of generations?
2009-07-30
the happier meal
I'm pretty impressed by McDonald's. Yes, that chain of restaurants. Granted, it's not the best venue for a candle-light dinner date. It's hardly a place for unique gourmet experiences. Their wine list is the shortest available on the market. Then again, they never claimed to be everything to everyone.
But the restaurant is clean, their opening hours are generous, the staff is friendly, the food is not expensive and - in spite of what we've been told and unless you're a vegetarian - they have plenty of dishes for a nutritiously balanced menu.
As far as I'm concerned there are three simple rules:
* avoid the soft drinks - we eat too much sugar anyhow
* stay away from the desserts - same reason
* nothing from the deep fryer
My respect for McDonald's goes way back. I'm old enough to remember those days when it was all but impossible to find a restaurant without guests smoking at their tables. Guess who were the first among Swedish restaurants to ban smoking? Yep. And that's what you would expect from a leader in quality, isn't it?
But the restaurant is clean, their opening hours are generous, the staff is friendly, the food is not expensive and - in spite of what we've been told and unless you're a vegetarian - they have plenty of dishes for a nutritiously balanced menu.
As far as I'm concerned there are three simple rules:
* avoid the soft drinks - we eat too much sugar anyhow
* stay away from the desserts - same reason
* nothing from the deep fryer
My respect for McDonald's goes way back. I'm old enough to remember those days when it was all but impossible to find a restaurant without guests smoking at their tables. Guess who were the first among Swedish restaurants to ban smoking? Yep. And that's what you would expect from a leader in quality, isn't it?
2009-06-28
kids of all ages
They say that kids have a different perspective on time. Rewards (or punishments) have to appear in close connection to whatever has been done or the kid won't be able to associate cause with effect.
But what about the rest of us?
Many of us lead a destructive lifestyle. We eat too much, exercise too little and some of us insist on smoking as well. Why? Well, the negative effects aren't immediately apparent.
Some of us ignore safety while driving. Speeds are too high, margin between vehicles too short. Generosity is not the first word that comes to mind on the E4 motorway. Why is this? Well, in all likelihood the risky driver won't directly cause a crash on this particular day. So, he seems to think, let's worry about tomorrow when that day comes.
As a society, we know pretty well by now that our lifestyle is not sustainable. In a matter of a generation or two we're in for pretty drastic changes. Now, will any politician talk straight about climate change in next year's general election? About not flying unless necessary. About choosing local produce at the supermarket. About that car of ours. Hardly a vote-winner.
So, how grown-up are we in fact?
But what about the rest of us?
Many of us lead a destructive lifestyle. We eat too much, exercise too little and some of us insist on smoking as well. Why? Well, the negative effects aren't immediately apparent.
Some of us ignore safety while driving. Speeds are too high, margin between vehicles too short. Generosity is not the first word that comes to mind on the E4 motorway. Why is this? Well, in all likelihood the risky driver won't directly cause a crash on this particular day. So, he seems to think, let's worry about tomorrow when that day comes.
As a society, we know pretty well by now that our lifestyle is not sustainable. In a matter of a generation or two we're in for pretty drastic changes. Now, will any politician talk straight about climate change in next year's general election? About not flying unless necessary. About choosing local produce at the supermarket. About that car of ours. Hardly a vote-winner.
So, how grown-up are we in fact?
2009-05-28
legally yours
A funny thing happened on the way home. I was pleasantly surprised by our bus driver. We got a smooth ride, very professional indeed. A conscientious, planned style behind the wheel. And not only that - it was perfectly legal. Imagine that! Speed limits where adhered to all the way. I had given up on that ever happening on an SL bus. This guy should have a medal and he could certainly teach his colleagues a thing or two. Oh, and one more thing. We did arrive on time.
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