Im a half back from being AWOL, hopefully I will be able to start posting more often again from now on. I have been busy trying to find myself a new job that requires more brain work than deciding which buttom to press on the coffee machine. The most I expect are letters saying thank you for your appliacation however... but I have to keep trying all the same otherwise I think I might go mad. Sadly the local college have decided that its a good idea not to update their website from year to year so the course that I had picked out is no longer available. With my work being shifts which change from week to week the only course I would be able to go on would have to be distance education which in itselfs causes limitations. Oh well no one ever said it was going to be easy.

A 61-year-old Swedish fisherman who spent three weeks adrift in the Baltic Sea with almost no food or water has been rescued by Latvia's coast guard. Edstroem began a fishing trip in the Stockholm archipelago in early September with only a few potatoes and green beans on board and some dog food he happened to have stowed away.

When he arrived at a good fishing spot, he cast anchor and settled in for the night. But when he awoke, his six-metre gig was adrift at sea and he had no idea where he was. "I don't how to navigate. I usually ask other boats where they're heading and if I'm going their way I follow their course,"

The timing of this news was of particular interest to me. After yesterdays post moaning about my present work situation it came as a timely reminder of how things were this time last year. With my very modest savings running out and delivering junk mail my only source of income I faced the prospect of going to sea on a Norwegian commercial fishing boat. It was very much towards the bottom of jobs I would ever like to do, but the money for being at sea would have set us up for the rest of the year.

It was a route that a crazy Aussie we knew took and he came back with stories that turned this land lover a little green. The pay is good for a reason; it has to be to get anyone out there. Working long shifts each day in rough seas, then to be kept awake by a constant banging noise wouldn’t be my idea of fun. Even less so when you realise the repetitive boom boom boom is your head being knocked against the wall. Things may be far for ideal at the moment, but they could be a lot worse.

Despite his ordeal, Roger Edstroem is already planning to go fishing again in November. Perhaps he developed a taste for dog food, myself I am staying on dry land.

I have been over here in Sweden for just over two years now. A week ago when I could say I had been here a year and a bit I felt better about my work situation. But now I feel I had better pull my finger out and find something better. What I am doing at the moment is okay in the short to at a push medium term but at the end of the day its mind-numbing donkey work.


My grasp of Swedish is getting better; I think my parents are least slightly impressed last week while they were over. Mums are easy to impress though. Potential employers tend to be pickier. I have applied for a payroll / accounts assistant post today but I don’t hold out much hope really. Just a feeling they will look at most of the Swedish applicants before I get much of a look in. Given the choice between two equal candidates, one Swedish and a foreigner without a perfect grasp of the language, who would you choose? That is if the job hasnt already been filled internaly and is only being advertised to comply with the nicaties of the law.


I will just have to keep battling on, I have applied to do a basic accounts course at the local college. Hopfully having a swedish qualification on my cv will help make a better impression.

Printing press sick. Doctor called but doesn’t really know what is wrong with it. In absence of any helpful professional help, machine proscribes itself random periods of rest and relaxation. Not having to do anything at works sounds wonderful. Getting paid to sit around, pure bliss what could be better. In reality anything would be better. It doesn’t take long before the boredom sets in with very little to banish it. There are only so many times you can read the same magazine and paradoxically there is very little else to read either. The books are either packed away for shipping, incomplete or in Norwegian. At least my Swedish has improved so I no longer attempt to read these.

My parents have returned home after spending last week over here with us. Next time they are over we will have to spend a day or two in one of the main cities as activities for the tourist can become limited in this area especially out of the tourist season. It was good to see them again, even if they did prove they could still beat me at bowling and insult by rowing technique. It wasn’t that bad, I just like to take the route least travelled, which in this case consisted of several circles and many zigzags.


As for the writing experiment, I will start to set up a page at the end of the week. Anyone have any ideas for a topic?

Your writing style is unique to you as your fingerprint according to a programme on Discovery channel recently. The FBI used document comparison to attempt to trace the anthrax outbreak in America last year but were hindered by lack of access to the suspects past documents. Section of words, range of vocabulary, paragraph indentation, spelling and grammar errors (I had better not commit any crimes I would be far to easy to catch) can all be used to pin a document to its author. This had me thinking, could you tell your regular blog reads authors if their writing was published elsewhere. Anyone up for a spot of experimentation?

If you are planning to take a train in Sweden make sure to wear sensible shoes. After having problems last winter with newly ordered trains not coping with the cold weather, passengers found its not always easy travelling in autumn either. Travelling towards Västerås a section of track lost power. Rather than just sit and twiddle their thumbs, the travellers got out and pushed the stranded train to a section of track which still had power. Aparentely ”It was difficult at first but once we got it moving it wasn’t too bad”

I know you get bored and your eyes glaze over when I blog about my running. I am aware that it bores most people to tears, however today I manage to run non stop for an hour. Something that I havent manage to do for years, if at all before. So feel free to skip over this post if you so wish but I just wanted to give myself a pat on the back.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police must wish all criminals were as naive as the Halmstad robber. The 47-year-old man walked into the post office of the small town in southern Sweden, told the cashier he was armed and demanded a bag of cash -- plus 350 million crowns (23 million pounds) to be paid into his bank account, whose number he handed her on a piece of paper. Police had no trouble tracking him down and made a speedy arrest, the Swedish news agency TT reported Monday.

Remind me not to ever sit in the passenger seat of a car Maria is driving. As a treat to myself I brought one of those driving wheels you can connect to your computer. I know it’s unnecessary but I’m a big kid at heart and you rest assured my wallet has been put back into storage for the rest of the year. Maybe I will even get a chance to have a go on it soon if I can only get Maria Schumacher out of the driving the seat. Her method is the scary part for any potential passenger. I think it comes from the ”First day at the January sales” school of motoring. Think of the bedum as a bunch of sale crazed ladies are let though the door as the sale opens for the first time and you get the idea. 364 days of the year these folk may be the polities creatures on the face of the earth, but on sale day all that goes to out of the window. Elbows, swinging handbags, death stares whatever it takes to be first to whatever has had 20 percent cut from the price tag. And thats just how maria drives. Scary, but at least i found out from the safety of a computer game.

The Swedish election is on its way with the swedes going to the polls on the 15th. Being a Johny foreigner I can not vote in the main elections but can place my cross in the local elections. With no direct roll to play, I have to admit to not paying too much attention to the news coverage. Shoot me down for this comment if you like, but I find that the Swedes have a voice they use for speaches and it has the effect of making me want to fall asleep. Some stories however do manage to catch my attention.

Teres Kirpikli, a Christian Democrat running for a seat in Sweden's Parliament, is calling for porn to be broadcast on television all day every Saturday in Sweden to help boost the population and the economy. The report, from the Stockholm correspondent for Australia's Mercury News, says Kirpikli believes the best way for couples to have more sex and procreate is to watch pornography. "I want erotica and porn on television every Saturday, all day. Then people would feel like having more sex. I think most people like porn, even though they don't want to admit it," the Mercury News reported she said in a statement. "There is nothing wrong with a man and his wife or partner watching porn together." Kirpikli's proposal did not have the full backing of her party.

I have just been bounced all around the Swedish telephone system trying to hire a car for my parents next week. I hate having to practice my Swedish over the phone, as I don’t get the little clues that I would otherwise receive from watching their lips and gestures. Mind you that might be a good thing as the signs they are making to their colleagues suggesting they have another English prat on the phone are maybe something I would prefer not to see. Anyway I think I managed it and I am quite proud of myself. Until my parents turn up in articulated lorry instead of a Peugeot 307 on Monday.

To death do us part, or maybe a bit longer. A company in Chicago has claimed to have developed a way in which you can carry your departed loved one around with you while you carry out your daily chores. It’s not quite as morbid as it sounds at first. Life Gems say they can turn cremated human remains into diamonds, “We’re building on the fact that all living creatures are carbon based and diamonds are carbon based” At 22,000 dollars it may sound expensive at first, but consider the chance of having your partner wrapped around your finger for eternity and the deal suddenly sounds a lot sweeter.

I know this post is only to leave the way open to all kinds of terrible gags, and no Paul I am not thinking of you when I say this, but yesterdays ski jumping was canceled due to excess levels of wind. Shame but there you go.

Lemming watching. That’s the activity for the day, and the best part about it is that I don’t have to go far to watch them. In the town where I live we have 3 jumps, one of which is a training jump and 2 proper ones, ski jumps that is. For the 2 years that I have been living in Sweden I have wanted to watch some ski jumping but circumstances have been against me. Its not something they do everyday, it takes time to collect enough nutters together who are either brave enough, stupid enough or both to fly down a ramp at break neck speeds.

And before you ask I am not planning to become the next Eddie The Eagle Edwards, my feet are going to stay placed firmly on the ground. Why anyone would want to jump like that is beyond my comprehension. To fly through the air with just two small strips of plastic/metal to land on seems like madness to me. How do you get started in something like that? When you start playing football, you just kick a little ball about. The big kid next door might give you a few rough tackles but unless you’re unlucky he won’t break any of your bones. But with ski jumping it’s a bit different, a wrong move could provide you with a guided tour of the local hospital, which perhaps not surprisingly is located near the jumps.

Its total madness, and that’s why I am going to watch it.