Finally walking towards Christmas

Spending some time awaiting Christmas in a fifteen degrees cold Stockholm. The city is quite calm except on the major shopping streets, since many people have left for the countryside. Tonight I will meet a few old friends to take a pint or two. Chers! 

Eventually

Soon the freedom of Christmas leave will be a reality. Although liking the work that you do, there is nothing that goes up to be the master of your own time (if you are the slightest sane or at least have a life to talk about) and free to do whatever you feel for. The constant movie that goes in front of the eyes is changed for once and you can hang out with friends or just be with yourself. Chers for free time!   

Prima donna behaviour

Today I just want to show the following clip, that my Irish friend sent me a couple of months ago. It shows an angry audience in Dublin, having enough after waiting several hours for an Axl Rose consert. Being in the right mode it is quite funny: Walks off stage in Dublin.

Trivial stuff

During the Sunday I went with a couple of friends to eat brunch at Visby Hotel. Fortunately I was picked up by them in their car. We parked down by the small harbor and slowly walked towards the target. It became apparent that the local authorities on Gotland do not seem to understand how to stray sand on the streets, and for a couple of days there have been ice on both streets and sidewalks. Even fairly young people at work have bought spikes for the shoes (Visby have quite a few slopes). For me it is not too much of a matter, but my thoughts go to old people who have a hard time getting around in the city during this time of year.

News from the mainland

Yesterday a man blew himself up near the main shopping streets in Stockholm. Apparently he was a fundamentalist acting against Swedish involvement in Afghanistan and the pictures by an artist. Although probably amateur and not member of some advanced cell, it was very lucky the person had not reached the most crowded places in the city centre. Only one of a few containers with explosives exploded, resulting in that the bag which contained nails was not affected by the impact. According to specialists the bomb was not very well done. Today my thoughts go to all the people killed by hatred and conflict all over the world.   

Saturday evening

Living in Visby, a small city with about 25000 inhabitants, there is a limitation of things you could do during the weekend in winter time. The town itself is situated at a harbor location surrounded by more elevated ground and limestone cliffs. The medieval part with the well preserved city walls, which makes up the world heritage site, makes it attractive to tourists (especially in the summer time). Also in the winters more restaurants and pubs is open than a typical Swedish city of the same size, much do to some limited tourism, the school of higher education and business conferences and such. You couldn´t compare it to the big city though, and if you go to the countryside much is closed until summertime. One thing to do is to hang out at the cafés, my favorites at the moment being Café Ringduvan and Amalia (the picture below).

  

Really recommend the following blog

Soon I am off to a friend for some mulled wine (swe. Glögg), so this passage will be quite short. I simply want to recommend the blog below. It is in Swedish and hysterically funny if you are able to read the texts, but also the fantastic album covers is worth a view. Enjoy: Katastrofala omslag.

News from the island

Sorry I have not written for a while, but the last week has not been spent in front of the computer. This weekend I also went to Stockholm to celebrate my niece birthday. News from the island is few, but tomorrow the prosecution will be raised against those involved in the plundering of archaeological sites on Gotland. The case may form a precedent in Sweden since the maximum sentence according to the law has been raised to four years in prison.