Well yes it would seem that another three years have passed since my last entry here.
Well plenty's happened in that time, but most of the interesting stuff that I'm prepared to make public has already been mentioned on Facebook.
I only remembered this blog because I got a mail from Google (who seem to own everything including blogger.com) to tell me that the new EU data legislation applies and they'd put a notice on this blog to tell everyone how much they're spying on us.
Ah well, not much to see here! Keep guessing spies!
Have a nice life everyone!
2018-08-30
2015-03-17
I'm still alive!
Just in case anyone actually follows this blog I thought I'd just let you know that I'm still alive!
It looks like the last entry was about three years ago, and plenty has happened since then, but the one or two of you that have ever read this blog probably follow me on Facebook anyway and don't need any updating.
I only came back here to check up on some stuff that happened a while back, so don't expect anything to start happening here!
All the best - Frank
It looks like the last entry was about three years ago, and plenty has happened since then, but the one or two of you that have ever read this blog probably follow me on Facebook anyway and don't need any updating.
I only came back here to check up on some stuff that happened a while back, so don't expect anything to start happening here!
All the best - Frank
2012-01-07
Selfraising flour
After nearly 24 years of living in Sweden we finally discovered that Self raising flour does exist here and is called Extra Fint Mjöl.
When asked we've always said that it isn't available here because mostly recipes just use ordinary flour. Then this Christmas we got some silicon muffin moulds complete with a recipe book which called for Extra fint mjöl. When we looked in the shop we noticed the ingredients includes baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
The final proof were the muffins I made today. Very nice!
When asked we've always said that it isn't available here because mostly recipes just use ordinary flour. Then this Christmas we got some silicon muffin moulds complete with a recipe book which called for Extra fint mjöl. When we looked in the shop we noticed the ingredients includes baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
The final proof were the muffins I made today. Very nice!
2011-08-23
2011 Holiday Summary
I've just realised that I haven't put very much in here for a while. Recording stuff here makes it easier to remember what I've done and when I did it! So here goes with a bit of a catch-up on this summer.
I took four weeks holiday this year from early June. The first day off was spent riding the Västeråscykel2011 - 140 km organised by VCK (Västerås Cykelklubb), followed by a grill fest at friends Kjell and Maggan.
Our friends Jo and Michael arrived from England in their new camper van on the following Monday. We all drove down to Motala to stay in a Stuga from the Thursday until the following Monday for the Tjej- and Halvvättern rides. Edward, Julia and two friends shared the stuga for some of the time while the girls did the Tjejvättern. Margaret, Jo and I did the Halvättern this year, after having had a few training rides. This link will show you some pictures I took with my new camera of Tjejvättern, this one for Halvvättern..
I managed Halvvättern in 5 hours 11 minutes, which is a personal best.
After saying farewell to Jo and Michael who set off back to the UK on the Monday, we drove back to V-ås. I returned to Motala on the Thursday with two more guests from England, Sean and Clive, who had flown with their bikes with Ryan Air to Västerås for the 300km Vätternrundan.
We stayed in a house organised by one of the regular VR cyclist, Markus. This was a house big enough for six at a pinch - we were nine! It actually worked out very well. We arrived first and took the best rooms and beds, claiming seniority! Pictures can be found here.
I broke my record again with a time just under 14 hours. Next year I'm going to ride with VCK, starting at 04:46. I'm not sure if Sean and Clive are coming yet. They'd better make up their minds soon as I suspect that it will be sold out in record time because the booking system is being changed to allow start time selection with booking. This means there won't be any advantage in waiting for the time you want.
After Vätternrundan the tempo was reduced drastically when we drove down to Germany and France to ride the Moselle/Mosel valley from Metz (F) to Koblenz (D). On this 360km ride we had an average speed of about 18 kph!
Pictures (some with comments) are here.
A very nice four weeks off work!
I took four weeks holiday this year from early June. The first day off was spent riding the Västeråscykel2011 - 140 km organised by VCK (Västerås Cykelklubb), followed by a grill fest at friends Kjell and Maggan.
Our friends Jo and Michael arrived from England in their new camper van on the following Monday. We all drove down to Motala to stay in a Stuga from the Thursday until the following Monday for the Tjej- and Halvvättern rides. Edward, Julia and two friends shared the stuga for some of the time while the girls did the Tjejvättern. Margaret, Jo and I did the Halvättern this year, after having had a few training rides. This link will show you some pictures I took with my new camera of Tjejvättern, this one for Halvvättern..
I managed Halvvättern in 5 hours 11 minutes, which is a personal best.
After saying farewell to Jo and Michael who set off back to the UK on the Monday, we drove back to V-ås. I returned to Motala on the Thursday with two more guests from England, Sean and Clive, who had flown with their bikes with Ryan Air to Västerås for the 300km Vätternrundan.
We stayed in a house organised by one of the regular VR cyclist, Markus. This was a house big enough for six at a pinch - we were nine! It actually worked out very well. We arrived first and took the best rooms and beds, claiming seniority! Pictures can be found here.
I broke my record again with a time just under 14 hours. Next year I'm going to ride with VCK, starting at 04:46. I'm not sure if Sean and Clive are coming yet. They'd better make up their minds soon as I suspect that it will be sold out in record time because the booking system is being changed to allow start time selection with booking. This means there won't be any advantage in waiting for the time you want.
After Vätternrundan the tempo was reduced drastically when we drove down to Germany and France to ride the Moselle/Mosel valley from Metz (F) to Koblenz (D). On this 360km ride we had an average speed of about 18 kph!
Pictures (some with comments) are here.
A very nice four weeks off work!
2011-05-04
For those of you unable to be here on Saturday here's a video (please excuse the quality, it wasn't very bright at that time in the evening) of Västerås Male Voice Choir singing one of the many traditional songs sung at this festival.
The last day of April is celebrated here in the usual way (food and too much drink, at least that how I celebrated it). Valborgmässoafton is called Walpurgis Night in English apparently! There seem to be many different explanations about it, but this year it fell on a Saturday, so we didn't get a day off for the first of May, which is a public holiday.
I hope you enjoy the film, it should give an idea of what the evening looks like. Unusually it didn't rain or snow, and wasn't particularly cold this year. If I remember rightly we went to our first Valborg just a couple of weeks after moving to this country and there was still snow on the ground.
After the singing there was the obligatory speech followed by fireworks, which were quite nice. On our first Valborg teenagers ran around throwing bangers about amongst the drunken visitors, that didn't happen this time.
The news on the radio every first of May always starts with 'an unusually rowdy/calm Valborg' but there are always incidents somewhere faithfully reported.
Well I drank too much and as a consequence didn't manage to go cycling with the cycle club as planned on the Sunday morning.
I did however manage to travel to Stockholm on the Monday and see some friends that were over from England. In the afternoon we played some string quintets, and in the evening I listened to their performance of Hindermith at Mazer. They were very good, as were the group that played a Mozart piano quartet after them. Thanks to Kathy, Gary, Phil, John and Solbritt for a very nice day. (Yes you did count five names, so with me that should have been a sextet, but Gary doesn't play. He was with his wife Kathy)
2011-03-24
Kitchen finally complete
Yesterday the very last handles for our new kitchen finally arrived. So now it's complete!
We had also ordered some stuff for the insides of draws etc., and some of that's now been installed as well, but the main news is that you can now open all the draws and cupboards using the correct handles!
Spring is on its way, and the cycling season is about to start. On Saturday (while M is working) I'm going to ride with the Västerås cK for the first time this year. I hope that the temperature is a bit higher than forecast, and that all the ice has gone from the route!
2011-03-01
Two bus companies
My son is getting married in a couple of weeks time, and about 20 English guests are arriving to partake. This presents a logistical problem. Usually when two or three come over for a visit we pick them up at the airport and drive them about as required.
If we tried to do that with our own cars we'd not do anything else, and I suspect people would get fed up waiting for hours while others got lifts. Public transport is quite good, but rather limited and awkward to and from the airport and pretty well non-existent to and from the Church and restaurant, which are both in the country (on different sides of the town).
We thought it would be a good idea to hire a coach to take us and our guests from the airport to their hotel in the centre of town, and again out to the church, then onto the party and finally home again.
I duly filled in the form on the nearest bus company's web site on 20-feb. We'll call this company B. After a day or so I mailed them in case something had gone wrong with the form (22-feb). I got confirmation that this mail had been read the same day, but still I didn't hear anything from them. At this point I mailed another bus company (company A), based on the other side of town. It took them 40 minutes to mail back with an offer.
Today, 1-march, I got a response from company B. Two things tell me that they don't want my custom. Firstly the price, about twice what company A offered, and of course the fact that they just ignored me for over a week.
Well as you can imagine company A got the order. If you wonder which these two companies are, the labels A & B aren't completely coincidental. The are two main companies here whose first letter just happen to be A & B respectively, so it wasn't difficult to choose pseudonyms.
I think that company B recently got a national order from SJ, the main railway company, for substitute buses for non-running trains. Those of you that live here will guess that that is probably an extremely lucrative contract. SJ is in its second disastrous winter with a very high incidence of train problems, and I don't suppose company B needs my little contract.
I am in principle a supporter of trains, I've still got much of my train set, and intend to play with it when my grandchildren get to an age where they will give me the excuse to get it out! The idea is very good, and I would like to support and use them. However the current reliability of the train service, not to mention the cost, has meant that in recent years I have used other methods of transport when I could have gone by train. If company B's pricing is anything to go by I can see why the trains are so expensive, and am not optimistic about the future of the railway system in this country.
If we tried to do that with our own cars we'd not do anything else, and I suspect people would get fed up waiting for hours while others got lifts. Public transport is quite good, but rather limited and awkward to and from the airport and pretty well non-existent to and from the Church and restaurant, which are both in the country (on different sides of the town).
We thought it would be a good idea to hire a coach to take us and our guests from the airport to their hotel in the centre of town, and again out to the church, then onto the party and finally home again.
I duly filled in the form on the nearest bus company's web site on 20-feb. We'll call this company B. After a day or so I mailed them in case something had gone wrong with the form (22-feb). I got confirmation that this mail had been read the same day, but still I didn't hear anything from them. At this point I mailed another bus company (company A), based on the other side of town. It took them 40 minutes to mail back with an offer.
Today, 1-march, I got a response from company B. Two things tell me that they don't want my custom. Firstly the price, about twice what company A offered, and of course the fact that they just ignored me for over a week.
Well as you can imagine company A got the order. If you wonder which these two companies are, the labels A & B aren't completely coincidental. The are two main companies here whose first letter just happen to be A & B respectively, so it wasn't difficult to choose pseudonyms.
I think that company B recently got a national order from SJ, the main railway company, for substitute buses for non-running trains. Those of you that live here will guess that that is probably an extremely lucrative contract. SJ is in its second disastrous winter with a very high incidence of train problems, and I don't suppose company B needs my little contract.
I am in principle a supporter of trains, I've still got much of my train set, and intend to play with it when my grandchildren get to an age where they will give me the excuse to get it out! The idea is very good, and I would like to support and use them. However the current reliability of the train service, not to mention the cost, has meant that in recent years I have used other methods of transport when I could have gone by train. If company B's pricing is anything to go by I can see why the trains are so expensive, and am not optimistic about the future of the railway system in this country.
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