Dreaming of Freedom

I’ve finally got myself into a routine learning Swedish and can now actually say a couple of sentences - I’ve been mainly focusing on how to say I can’t speak Swedish and today I actually got to say ‘Jag förstår inte svenska’ to a real life Swede. I’ve been using a variety of programmes all of which seem very good. I’ve also treated myself to a couple of kids books from the library (hard going I can tell you - these kids don’t get it easy!) and have relied ever more on the translating genius of Systran without which I would be lost.

It’s not all work! Tonight I’m going to go on one of the free cultural events going on in the city. For the last few nights we’ve been watching the fireworks out of our window and wondering what was going on. Now a helpful poster at the library has told us all. What would I do without these steadfast cultural institutions!

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So firstly, out of context and belatedly a big hugs and kisses congratulations to Will and Ella!

Secondly you all need to be buying Now or Never because it’s as irreverent and hilarious as ever. Although it’s been out for ages I’ve only just seen it so you’re getting this sales pitch now.

And thirdly why is it either boiling sunburning hot or blooming raining in Sweden?

Apart from the last gripe the love affair with Sweden is continuing. I’ve spent several days with Ellie exploring the city and convincing her that Gothenburg is the best place in the world. We’ve been to the now completely open Art Museum, the library (which I have now joined), Gunnebo House, Klippan, The Botanical Gardens, Lindholmen on the ferry, the coast, all the other museums, several parks, and all the nice little streets and churches hidden away. We’re now both convinced that it’s just much much nicer than England. I think it’s the sensible attitude here - communal heating systems and laundry rooms, recycling, a interest in healthy lifestyle, the cleanliness and quietness, the efficiency, the general politeness, and perhaps the fact that we live in the city centre and can walk and cycle everywhere and have no need for a car but have the option of using a good transport infrastructure if we want.

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We’ve had several days of boiling hot sun drenched days. Unlike the avid sun tanners I am hiding inside and wisely refusing to go out until early evening just in case I droop, burn or perspire to death in the heat.

Mum is spending some time here with us in Sweden and she is cheerfully brazing the heat and whizzing about on one of the bikes. In braver moments I have accompanied her on exploratory journeys around the city and we’ve been to the city museum and taken advantage of their free city tour and the museum tour. Both highly recommended. We’ve also been to look at the reconstruction of a viking ship at Klippan. It looked surprisingly like other boats.

Last night we cycled down to the coast in time to watch the sunset on the water. It really is the most beautiful coastline and tonight we’re going to go back and will perhaps just perhaps go swimming. We’re a little scared of all the jellyfish.

In keeping with our low impact environmental lifestyle we have introduced Mum to Swedish recycling and she really getting into the swing of it. She particularly loves the recycling facilities at supermarkets where you get cash back for empty cans and bottles.

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So being back in Norwich was great. Mum and I spent many productive hours restoring the garden to it’s former glory. We also re-felted the roof on the garden shed. There is a general roofing problem at the house at the moment and roofers are up on the roof re-roofing it to match our brilliant shed job.
It was nice catching up with friends and enjoying the English sunshine for a while. I wandered around Norwich, spent time in the steel and glass Forum, and followed part of the trail of elephants scattered throughout the city. The elephants are lovely works of art and people in Norwich were obviously enjoying looking at them.
I’m now back in Sweden and the weather is of course lovely. After several days of gardening and cleaning in Norwich it was a relief to lie in this morning and wake to muesli and yoghurt.

I’ve just been watching a video of my cousin’s trip from Market Harborough to Mongolia. It looks so cool and I’m so impressed that not only did he do it but he followed it up by cycling across China. Was it China? Email me George and tell me all the details so that I will no longer be ignorant of your exploits.

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I’ve just come back from another cycle ride to Gunnebo House. This time I took K with me and he had to confess he loved it as much as I did. As the house is situated in a cultural reserve we explored beyond the house and gardens. The area is surrounded by two lakes and deciduous woodlands. There is a bathing area, a bog overgrown with birch trees, pastures, woods and perhaps most excitingly… potholes. As we managed to miss the last and exciting element we’re going to have to go back. However I’m not counting this as a hardship!

K has been telling me all about Paris and the bike scheme there Vélib. It sounds great. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere and it’s used. Perhaps the only drawback is the lack of bike lanes in the city and the lack of bike parking for people who own their own bikes. However it sounds strides ahead of any British city so I’ll give the Parisians a big thumbs up for their efforts with sustainable travel.

Sadly however Vélib is owned by big business ( JCDecaux) and not the people. In short the deal was one city wide bike scheme in exchange for exclusive management of the city’s billboards. If you think it sounds a bit dodgy- this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. The whole thing raises questions about ownership and management of sustainable transport, the role of advertising and the possibility that through pursuit of profit big business may actually (as a byproduct) produce philanthropic results. It also raised questions about why city officials can’t instigate and run such a scheme and why they need big business to do it for them. Above all it’s important that we know who is running things in our cities and why.

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I am having a well earned rest today after Keyvan and I trekked for miles in the Swedish countryside yesterday. It all started when we caught the first train to Strömstad and went in search of the iron age burial mounds, stone circle and stone ship settings. After we arrived and visited the tourist information office to collect a free map we finally found and followed a tiny, unused path from the north of town to the iron age burial mounds. It was lovely and also kind of strange. We don’t really have such large forests in England and we were surprised to find ourselves in what seemed to be a large, isolated forest with large deers and possibly other unseen animals. The trail was definitely only for walkers as some scrambling over rocks was required and a bike wouldn’t have been at all useful. You follow the bright splashes of orange paint on trees and rocks for about 6 km and it’s a lovely walk until the end when you have to cross the motorway to get to the mounds.

Although they have been excavated you can’t go inside - you can only look at them - and as the site is right next to the E6 motorway it’s not the quietest area in the world. However if you were arriving by car and could read maps properly you’d probably have a lovely walk in the wooded area and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately on our way from the mounds to see the stones at Blomsholm we foolishly got lost and wandered for what seemed like miles until we found a road. For the first time in years I actually hitched a lift, so we could finally get to Blomsholm as we had no idea where it was. On arriving we saw a few wooden houses and not realizing the stones were so close we hitched a lift back to Strömstad in time to catch the last train back to Gothenburg. It’s a bit of pain to get up to Strömstad for the day because the train takes about 2.5 hours and the first doesn’t leave until 8am and the last one back is at 18.02 so it doesn’t leave much time there especially if you want to walk to the stones, it is however possible and we even had about an hour in Strömstad to have a little look around! On the hitching side - I’ve never had it so easy - I stuck my thumb out and about 2 cars later we had a lift! The second lift was from a Norwegian couple who had popped over the border to stock up on cheaper Swedish goods.

Although Strömstad isn’t large, it is quite touristy as quite a lot of Norwegian tourists come over. While the fishing harbour was quite sweet, I didn’t take to the rest of the town. Although there were some nice elements: you could buy fresh fish from a little shop near one of the harbours and although we didn’t partake there was a swimming pool area in the sea that you could take a dip in for 20 ske. There is a little museum there but as there was an entrance fee we didn’t go in. There are also frequent ferries to the islands of Koster which are supposed to be very nice.

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I cycled down the river and over the bridge to Hisingen to have a look around. I cycled through the houses up to S.A.Hedlunds Park and Slätta Damm. It’s a lovely wild area - hills covered in trees and Slätta Damm is a lake covered in water lilies. The Swedes really know how to make parklands for people to use.

On another topic - tip of the hat to The Archers and the brilliant storyline of the swap club and other attempts to make the fictional village sustainable. What a great idea - we should all set up things like that - in fact people have but now it’s achieved global fame on the Archers maybe other people will jump on board the idea. On a similar note the Norwich Swap Shop is still going strong. Visit it on Gentleman’s Walk on the 8th of every month between 10 and 4, to swap some stuff or volunteer your time.

For other useful things in Norwich you could check out The Greenhouse.

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I’ve just cycled to Gunnebo House. It’s an absolutely lovely eighteenth century house and gardens and I think the first of it’s kind that I’ve actually wanted to live in just because of its simple charm. The house is built in a clean simple neo-classical style and boasts a fully functioning organic kitchen garden that supplies the busy cafe there. It also has a formal garden as well as surrounding parkland, a stage for concerts and at the moment a somewhat dead looking Swedish maypole!

It’s about 10km outside Gothenburg and so only takes about 1 hour to cycle there and it’s a simple journey to make matters even easier. If you start at Liseberg, you just head towards Mölndal until you see a sign for Gunnebo.

The first thing you glimpse is the sparkling blue green lake, then the little sandy beach. Through the woods you arrive at the bottom of the drive and you can glimpse the white house and the beautiful white gated, grass bordered steps that lead to the house. It’s completely free to wander in the gardens but you do have to pay 70 ske to go into the house. There are toilets in the cafe and one near the house that non-one seems to mind you using if you’re not a paying customer. All in all it’s a golly good day out and if you’ve never learnt to cycle it is possible to get a bus or a tram out there and so it’s a little slice of heaven accessible to everyone.

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I’ve been spending yet more time in the Stadsmuseum and am looking forward to going back tomorrow. I’ve also had a look in the neo-classical Gustavi Cathedral which is breathtakingly decked out in gold and white, as well as the German Church on Norra Hamngatan. Museums and churches haven’t been my only taste of Swedish culture I’ve also been watching Sweden on the small screen including an Ingmar Bergman film (wild strawberries) and their beautiful wizz in the kitchen Leila Lindholm. Searching for the spirit of real culture I did attempt to go on Gothenburg’s Critical Mass this evening but sadly no-one else came.

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The other day K and I cycled down to Röda Sten(Red Stone). It’s an art gallery down on the water front. Unlike the places I usually frequent it isn’t free, in fact it costs 40ske in to get in. It was worth it as there was some interesting art work there, including an instillation created by Anna Sandgren called The Game.

Today I wandered down to the centre and discovered that there are
free tours at the Stadmuseum. Free city tours Wednesday-Friday 2pm and tours of the museum Saturday and Sunday 2pm.

Tomorrow is the last Friday of the month which means it’s the Critical Mass here in Gothenburg. I haven’t yet been on one but here are some pictures of previous ones.

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