Dreaming of Freedom

Week two of SFI passed uneventfully. It continues to be excellent although we can’t help but sit there letting about 70% of it wash over us as incompressible. It seems that usually someone or other understands what the teacher is saying and that manages to carry the class forward. It’s very interesting trying to learn a new language. I think I’m still in awe of myself trying and can’t quite believe I ever will. But nothing ventured, nothing gained…
Although it feels like a mountain to climb, it is an excellent excuse for reading kids books and last night I branched out into film and tried to watch Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking). Perhaps not surprisingly I could really only make out a couple of words!

It’s now turned icy cold here which is a relief after all that horrid rain. Braving the cold on Thursday night I took the ferry across to Lindholmen and met up with K and friends to watch Manufacturing Consent - a film all about Chomsky and seeing as it’s his 80th birthday coming up, we ate cake to celebrate. Although he is one of the leading intellectuals of the day and certainly has some of the best politics, I don’t think there is much in the way of films about him. I think this one is a good attempt to introduce people to ‘Chomsky the political activist’. Chomsky himself if somewhat ambivalent about the film, in part because he feels the medium of film is prone to heroizing. He says he regularly receives letters asking how people can ‘join his movement’, which is of course frustrating when he is just one person in a whole diverse sea of people working towards a better world. I think the fact that he is a professor at MIT, articulate, white and male gives him a certain credibility to begin with but also he is extremely hardworking and in the public eye and that in itself is going to lead to a certain amount of admiration. So while he isn’t the figurehead of any movement he is certainly able to analysis, collate and present evidence that is used to support anarchist interpretations of theories of power, propaganda and control - which is something that makes anyone read his work feel less isolated in their own interpretation of the world and more empowered to try and change it for the better.

On Friday after work I met up with Karin at Botaniska and walked around the wooded laked area behind it. It was cold but beautiful and the pearly white deposits of frozen water sparkled on the trees and the heather and the frozen ice shapes on the lakes and puddles made the world seem calmer and stiller. There was hardly anyone there and we spent a couple of hours wandering around and stiffening up in the cold before coming back to the flat for a well earned fika.

No Comments »

It’s All Helgona here in Sweden or All Hallows as it would be called in England - at least it was yesterday. Although we went on the Critical Mass last night I didn’t see anyone out on the street dressed up in silly costumes as you would in England. Although earlier in the day my friends showed me their carved pumpkin and costumes so I think the American traditions are taking over here too. Apparently this is the weekend that the Swedes honour their dead so often graveyards are lit up and people are visiting the graves.

It’s very cold here. Yesterday as we cycled round with our small but persistent band of cyclists our hands and feet were absolutely frozen and it took an ages to warm them up once we got home. There weren’t that many people out on the street although the bars and restaurants were aglow with people filling up to eat the weekly ‘after work’ buffets. The cars were super aggressive - whizzing past us as soon as they could, driving up on the pavement when they couldn’t. Not to mention the constant beeping and the one crazy guy who buffered a couple of bikes out of his way by getting his bumper up close to their bikes and shaving the metal off their mudguards with it. It’s very odd how the drivers are hardly inconvenienced by a Critical Mass at all - at worst it’s like a slow moving traffic jam for a couple of minutes, but as soon as a lot of drivers see cyclists they see red. There seems to be a genuine hatred there. Someone must have written about the psychology of drivers once they get into cars, because these metal boxes seem to be an amour for people. It’s quite shocking that so many people still use their cars in a city with such a good transport infrastructure.

Talking of which … big up to Ellie who now cycles the 7 miles to work and 7 miles back everyday - pretty impressive

No Comments »

Last night at 6pm I arrived in Gustav Adolf Torg to see the welcome sight of a bunch a cyclists with ‘bilfri stad’ tied onto their bikes. Accompanied by a handful of policemen in two vans they set off to cycle round the city in a peaceful celebration of cycling. This was my very first actual critical mass and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole thing was just so calm and relaxed. There was a real sense of ’safety in numbers’ which as you can imagine makes cycling seem ultra safe. I spent a very enjoyable hour cycling round with everyone, chatting to people and noticing how generally the drivers were quite respectful of our group.

I was in two minds about the Critical Mass because here in Sweden they actually have real cycle lanes with traffic lights that run over a significant part of the towns. This is something cyclists in England can only dream about. But after much thought it does seem that cyclists are still marginalized. In the face of serious climate change, cycling as a viable alternative to driving really needs to be taken seriously by town planners and significant provision needs to be made for cyclists. A Critical Mass certainly seems a good way for the individual cyclist to come together with other and feel less isolated and more normalized.

K videoed the Critical Mass yesterday and has created a video of the event.

Critical Mass Gothenburg:
Last Friday of the month
Gustav Adolf Torg
6pm

1 Comment »

So autumn is creeping in with it’s chills and fallen leaves and it’s raining an awful lot here. Yesterday we crept out with raincoats and cycled up to Härlanda Tjärn which is a lake west of Göteborg. It was lovely cycling through the woods to get to the lake and I think I’ll have to head back there soon. There are lots of paths there to walk around the lake and woods so it’s very walker and cyclist friendly.

Apart from that I’ve been working on the Swedish which seems to be at the same level it was two weeks ago! I’ve also been out scrumping apples as you do at this time of year.

Sadly I’m not in England to enjoy the Heritage Open Days so I want lots of emails about all the free thing people have been to instead.

No Comments »

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.

1 Comment »

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.

1 Comment »

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.

No Comments »