Franks informal blog

Selfraising flour

2012-01-07T19:30:00.004+01:00

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!

2011 Holiday Summary

2011-08-23T11:29:00.003+02:00

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!

2011-05-04T14:50:00.002+02:00

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)

Kitchen finally complete

2011-03-24T13:58:00.002+01:00

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!

Two bus companies

2011-03-01T13:37:00.003+01:00

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.

Lots going on at present!

2011-01-17T11:03:00.003+01:00

There's a lot going on at present and since I haven't written much here for a while I thought I'd better write a little summary.

I'm a granddad again. A little girl Ingrid Frances Dorotea was borne on Wednesday, early this time! (He big brother was some weeks late)
Her name was only announced (on their blog, who needs Churches for christenings when we have blogs?) last night, so now we can stop calling her Nameless or 'lillasyster' (which her big brother will probably continue with.
We've been babysitting big brother and generally trying to help out (i.e. not just get in the way).
Our kitchen is being rebuilt. We are a week into the work now. We have the same people helping (i.e. doing all the real work) that worked on R & J's house. They seem very good, hard working and conscientious. I'm posting pictures on picasa.
Our son is getting married in March.

Of the much less important things that are happening I can just mention that I'm going to play bass this weekend with the Bergslagens Orchestra. This outfit meets for a weekend and puts on a couple of concerts rather than meet every week as do most orchestras. This means that the crew is different every time. This will be my first time. We're going to play the Planets by Holst, a Carmen Suite (Bizet, arr.?) and the wind are playing something else.

I'm also trying to sort out replacing our telephone system here at work. We have an old analogue exchange with 5 external lines and 12 internal extensions. This is very much overkill since we are now just 5 people working here, and we hardly get or make any calls with it, most calling now being done with mobile phones. We will probably get a more modern IP based setup, which we should be able to scale up or down as required. We are also expecting to move office sometime soon, which is what prompted this change.

A cold ride to work this morning

2010-12-22T11:18:00.003+01:00

This morning my mobile phone claimed that it was -28 C in Västerås, and whilst that was a slight exaggeration the real thermometers outside the house did show about -21.

I have two caps that I can put on under by helmet when I ride, one is an ordinary one, the other a balaclava (known as a 'råneluva' ≃ robber's hat, in Swedish!). I put them both on this morning!

My eyelashes froze! This isn't as bad as you might expect, but you need to keep wiping them so that you can still see.

When I arrived my colleague was talking on the phone, and described me as wearing a burka with a helmet!

It's going to stay about the same temperature all day. It should warm up a bit in the next few days, but then we can expect more snow. No need to worry about not getting a white Christmas this year! - God Jul!

Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

2010-12-13T11:56:00.003+01:00

I just found this:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

-- Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

Nobel Peace Prize

2010-12-10T14:08:00.004+01:00

I've just listened to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Always a moving ceremony, especially so today when the prize winner's seat is empty except for the medal and certificate.

Liv Ullman read the statement he (Liu Xiaobo) made during his latest trial. What a speech! Part of it was a very moving statement of his love for his wife (starts with If I may be permitted to say so... four paragraphs from the end). The most surprising thing about it was that he was allowed to make it at all, and that it was so long! Here's the text (taken from this website).

I Have No Enemies BY LIU XIAOBO | OCTOBER 8, 2010

In the course of my life, for more than half a century, June 1989 was the major turning point. Up to that point, I was a member of the first class to enter university when college entrance examinations were reinstated following the Cultural Revolution (Class of '77). From BA to MA and on to PhD, my academic career was all smooth sailing. Upon receiving my degrees, I stayed on to teach at Beijing Normal University. As a teacher, I was well received by the students. At the same time, I was a public intellectual, writing articles and books that created quite a stir during the 1980s, frequently receiving invitations to give talks around the country, and going abroad as a visiting scholar upon invitation from Europe and America. What I demanded of myself was this: whether as a person or as a writer, I would lead a life of honesty, responsibility, and dignity. After that, because I had returned from the U.S. to take part in the 1989 Movement, I was thrown into prison for 'the crime of counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement.' I also lost my beloved lectern and could no longer publish essays or give talks in China. Merely for publishing different political views and taking part in a peaceful democracy movement, a teacher lost his lectern, a writer lost his right to publish, and a public intellectual lost the opportunity to give talks publicly. This is a tragedy, both for me personally and for a China that has already seen thirty years of Reform and Opening Up.

When I think about it, my most dramatic experiences after June Fourth have been, surprisingly, associated with courts: My two opportunities to address the public have both been provided by trial sessions at the Beijing Municipal Intermediate People's Court, once in January 1991, and again today. Although the crimes I have been charged with on the two occasions are different in name, their real substance is basically the same, both are speech crimes.

Twenty years have passed, but the ghosts of June Fourth have not yet been laid to rest. Upon release from Qincheng Prison in 1991, I, who had been led onto the path of political dissent by the psychological chains of June Fourth, lost the right to speak publicly in my own country and could only speak through the foreign media. Because of this, I was subjected to year-round monitoring, kept under residential surveillance (May 1995 to January 1996) and sent to Reeducation-Through-Labor (October 1996 to October 1999). And now I have been once again shoved into the dock by the enemy mentality of the regime. But I still want to say to this regime, which is depriving me of my freedom, that I stand by the convictions I expressed in my 'June Second Hunger Strike Declaration' twenty years ago, I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies. Although there is no way I can accept your monitoring, arrests, indictments, and verdicts, I respect your professions and your integrity, including those of the two prosecutors, Zhang Rongge and Pan Xueqing, who are now bringing charges against me on behalf of the prosecution. During interrogation on December 3, I could sense your respect and your good faith.

Hatred can rot away at a person's intelligence and conscience. Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation's progress toward freedom and democracy. That is why I hope to be able to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our nation's development and social change, to counter the regime's hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love.

Everyone knows that it was Reform and Opening Up that brought about our country's development and social change. In my view, Reform and Opening Up began with the abandonment of the 'using class struggle as guiding principle' government policy of the Mao era and, in its place, a commitment to economic development and social harmony. The process of abandoning the 'philosophy of struggle' was also a process of gradual weakening of the enemy mentality and elimination of the psychology of hatred, and a process of squeezing out the 'wolf's milk' that had seeped into human nature.1 It was this process that provided a relaxed climate, at home and abroad, for Reform and Opening Up, gentle and humane grounds for restoring mutual affection among people and peaceful coexistence among those with different interests and values, thereby providing encouragement in keeping with humanity for the bursting forth of creativity and the restoration of compassion among our countrymen. One could say that relinquishing the 'anti-imperialist and anti-revisionist' stance in foreign relations and 'class struggle' at home has been the basic premise that has enabled Reform and Opening Up to continue to this very day. The market trend in the economy, the diversification of culture, and the gradual shift in social order toward the rule of law have all benefitted from the weakening of the 'enemy mentality.' Even in the political arena, where progress is slowest, the weakening of the enemy mentality has led to an ever-growing tolerance for social pluralism on the part of the regime and substantial decrease in the force of persecution of political dissidents, and the official designation of the 1989 Movement has also been changed from 'turmoil and riot' to 'political disturbance.' The weakening of the enemy mentality has paved the way for the regime to gradually accept the universality of human rights. In [1997 and] 1998 the Chinese government made a commitment to sign two major United Nations international human rights covenants,2 signaling China's acceptance of universal human rights standards. In 2004, the National People's Congress (NPC) amended the Constitution, writing into the Constitution for the first time that 'the state respects and guarantees human rights,' signaling that human rights have already become one of the fundamental principles of China's rule of law. At the same time, the current regime puts forth the ideas of 'putting people first' and 'creating a harmonious society,' signaling progress in the CPC's concept of rule.

I have also been able to feel this progress on the macro level through my own personal experience since my arrest.

Although I continue to maintain that I am innocent and that the charges against me are unconstitutional, during the one plus year since I have lost my freedom, I have been locked up at two different locations and gone through four pretrial police interrogators, three prosecutors, and two judges, but in handling my case, they have not been disrespectful, overstepped time limitations, or tried to force a confession. Their manner has been moderate and reasonable; moreover, they have often shown goodwill. On June 23, I was moved from a location where I was kept under residential surveillance to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau's No. 1 Detention Center, known as 'Beikan.' During my six months at Beikan, I saw improvements in prison management.

In 1996, I spent time at the old Beikan (located at Banbuqiao). Compared to the old Beikan of more than a decade ago, the present Beikan is a huge improvement, both in terms of the 'hardware', the facilities, and the 'software', the management. In particular, the humane management pioneered by the new Beikan, based on respect for the rights and integrity of detainees, has brought flexible management to bear on every aspect of the behavior of the correctional staff, and has found expression in the 'comforting broadcasts,' Repentance magazine, and music before meals, on waking and at bedtime. This style of management allows detainees to experience a sense of dignity and warmth, and stirs their consciousness in maintaining prison order and opposing the bullies among inmates. Not only has it provided a humane living environment for detainees, it has also greatly improved the environment for their litigation to take place and their state of mind. I've had close contact with correctional officer Liu Zheng, who has been in charge of me in my cell, and his respect and care for detainees could be seen in every detail of his work, permeating his every word and deed, and giving one a warm feeling. It was perhaps my good fortune to have gotten to know this sincere, honest, conscientious, and kind correctional officer during my time at Beikan.

It is precisely because of such convictions and personal experience that I firmly believe that China's political progress will not stop, and I, filled with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future free China. For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme. I also hope that this sort of progress can be reflected in this trial as I await the impartial ruling of the collegial bench, a ruling that will withstand the test of history.

If I may be permitted to say so, the most fortunate experience of these past twenty years has been the selfless love I have received from my wife, Liu Xia. She could not be present as an observer in court today, but I still want to say to you, my dear, that I firmly believe your love for me will remain the same as it has always been. Throughout all these years that I have lived without freedom, our love was full of bitterness imposed by outside circumstances, but as I savor its aftertaste, it remains boundless. I am serving my sentence in a tangible prison, while you wait in the intangible prison of the heart. Your love is the sunlight that leaps over high walls and penetrates the iron bars of my prison window, stroking every inch of my skin, warming every cell of my body, allowing me to always keep peace, openness, and brightness in my heart, and filling every minute of my time in prison with meaning. My love for you, on the other hand, is so full of remorse and regret that it at times makes me stagger under its weight. I am an insensate stone in the wilderness, whipped by fierce wind and torrential rain, so cold that no one dares touch me. But my love is solid and sharp, capable of piercing through any obstacle. Even if I were crushed into powder, I would still use my ashes to embrace you.

My dear, with your love I can calmly face my impending trial, having no regrets about the choices I've made and optimistically awaiting tomorrow. I look forward to [the day] when my country is a land with freedom of expression, where the speech of every citizen will be treated equally well; where different values, ideas, beliefs, and political views . . . can both compete with each other and peacefully coexist; where both majority and minority views will be equally guaranteed, and where the political views that differ from those currently in power, in particular, will be fully respected and protected; where all political views will spread out under the sun for people to choose from, where every citizen can state political views without fear, and where no one can under any circumstances suffer political persecution for voicing divergent political views. I hope that I will be the last victim of China's endless literary inquisitions and that from now on no one will be incriminated because of speech.

Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. To strangle freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth.

In order to exercise the right to freedom of speech conferred by the Constitution, one should fulfill the social responsibility of a Chinese citizen. There is nothing criminal in anything I have done. [But] if charges are brought against me because of this, I have no complaints.

E18

2010-09-10T14:40:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow Margaret and I will be amongst about 2000 others who will be cycling, running, riding inlines, rullskidor (wheeled skiis) and wheel chairs along a new bit of motorway.

The E18 is the main road between Stockholm and Oslo. For most of the way between Västerås and Stockholm it is motorway, except the stretch between Enköping and Västerås. The worst part of this will shortly be replaced by the new motorway bit, which is almost completed. It is along this bit that we will be riding tomorrow morning.

For those of you that understand Swedish the website at http://e18-loppet.se/ has the details, and promises to show the results!

I believe similar events happened prior to the opening of the Channel Tunnel, and the Öresunds bridge, but I don't suppose this will attract quite the same international interest that both of those occasions did! Although I expect the VLT (our local paper) to be there, and quite possibly the various local TV stations as well.

The cycle course is 30km long. It will be interesting to see what it's like to ride on a motorway. The slopes and curves are of course designed to be advantageous to motor traffic which means that the hills will be relatively shallow, but very long! It will probably be rather open (bad news if it's windy). There are two tunnels shown on the map, that'll be a first!

In the scale of cycle rides 30km isn't very long. This should mean that the speeds of the faster riders will be very fast. I hope that I can find a group that goes at about my speed.

Result: I came in 17th (out of 400+) with an average speed of 33.6kph.

We are in the starting phase of renovating our kitchen. This also means that we have to change the floor in the kitchen, allrum (the sort of dining room) and the hallway. This also means that all that area needs to be redecorated.........

AC working at last!

2010-08-16T15:22:00.002+02:00

Well finally the air conditioning in my car seems to be working. Today it went to Bilia (Volvo) here in Västerås where they did what I'd read was the usual fix for this model of car! Two other places had done different things, neither of which helped.

The first place, our nearest car workshop (where I usually get it serviced) just topped up the gas and said that it was all right. Because it wasn't all right I took it into a garage while on holiday in Skåne while the temperature was about 30 degrees. They said there was in fact a little too much gas in it, adjusted that, and tried it for a few minutes and declared that it was OK. Later the same day the very nice man had a demonstration of the fact that it wasn't fixed! He then fiddled with it for an hour or so, while I was there, and only managed to make it somewhat worse! At least I didn't pay anything for that hour's work!

Of course it won't be as hot again now until next year, but it did keep pumping out cold air all the way back from Volvo, and they did do what I expected them to (or rather just hoped they would do).

What did they do? They adjusted the electric clutch on the compressor. If you look up '1999 V70 AC fel' you will eventually find blog entries like:

Du kanske behöver schimsa ac-kompressorn, det är ju ett rätt vanligt fel på volvobilarna.
(You might need to adjust the shims in the AC compressor, a rather common fault in Volvo cars)

Grittleton 2010

2010-08-10T11:09:00.002+02:00

Well I've been there and done that now. I put some pictures and videos on http://frank.mcnamara.se/Grit-2010.

It was, as always, great! We played the Frank Bridge sextet for strings. Our normal Rosemary, David & Jean group got two guest members in Pippa (1st cello) and Sean (2nd viola). You can see the result of efforts in the video that Sean arranged of our concert performance.

The other work was a quartet by C. V. Stanford. This is (justifiably) unknown! There is no known recording, and whilst this was an interesting experience one could understand why his music is known as 'bad Brahms'! We did perform one movement to another group in an informal session.

The afternoons were almost kept completely free, but the evenings were completely filled with informal sessions which included an unusually high number of Brahms Sextets this year. One highlight was playing the Mendelssohn Octet with Livia. She's 90 years old and as bright as a button!

Livia is an interesting person. She does both weeks (most of us are exhausted after one). She was Britain's first female professional horn player with the Halle Orchestra. She later stopped playing horn and went onto the violin when her front teeth became damaged (not uncommon problem for horn players).

The journey home was nice. Solbritt and I got a lift with Rosemary back to Fleet where we played, together with John, David and Jean, the Schubert double cello quintet, one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. All this while Rosemary made lunch! We ate lunch in the garden in the sunshine, then Rosemary took us to the airport. A very nice way to break up a journey!

Thanks Rosemary and everyone else who helped make Grittleton 2010 yet another fine experience.

Grittleton 2010 soon

2010-07-28T08:43:00.004+02:00

It's been a while since I last wrote in here, and that's because not much of interest has happened since last time. At least nothing that fits well in this format.

This morning I went for a 30km ride in perfect weather. The sky was clear blue, temperature was 12C, and the wind speed was more or less 0.

Grittleton
On Sunday I fly to England for my annual orgy of chamber music called the Grittleton Chamber Music course. I'll be playing with old friends most of whom I met on the course during the past years. I haven't missed a year since my début in 1982.

The course is organised in a rather unusual way. Usually music courses are shorter, spanning just a weekend, and are open to pre-formed groups. This makes the administration of these courses very simple, at least compared to Grittleton.

Every participant plays in two organised groups. These groups, usually but not always string quartets, meet each morning. The first groups meet for a session lasting an hour and a half (I think) during which a coach is present for about 30 minutes. Then there's a coffee/tea break, then the second groups meet for a similar session, again with a coach for part of the time. The coaches are professional musicians, experienced in chamber music, not infrequently active chamber music performers.

For the remainder of the day after lunch everyone is free to play with informally organised groups. A series of session times is delimited by lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and 'late tea'. A few of these sessions are used for organised activities, including a staff concert, the junior course concert, and a barn-dance!

These two aspects, the fact that everyone plays in two organised groups, and the informal groups, make Grittleton very special, and more or less unique amongst chamber music courses. It's through this mixture that one gets to play with a very large number of different people, and a vast range of music! The course is amongst the largest of it's type with about 20 groups, i.e. ~100 players in each of two consecutive weeks.

Up until a change of management some years back Grittleton was extremely cheap (it still is very cheap but not quite as cheap!). This was achieved by reusing as much as possible (to an unbelievable extent), and paying the coaches very badly! The coaches were frequently retired and some were very old and frankly past it. This last aspect has changed in the years under the current management, and now the coaching has become very much better.

This year I will be playing first viola in the Frank Bridge sextet for string (2 violins, 2 violas & 2 cellos) in my first group, and a quartet by Stanford in the second. The Stanford work is completely unknown to me, but I've played the second cello part (on double bass) of the Frank Bridge at a Mazer evening.

I expect that I'll take a few pictures, and will probably put some of them on the net somewhere. http://frank.mcnamara.se/Grit-2009/ has a few from last year.

The hardest part of going to Grittleton is getting there! I have to fly, which I don't like. The other difficult part is going back to normal life afterwards! That's very hard, so please bare with me if I'm even more grumpy that usual for a while when I get back.

Back to Work!

2010-07-06T08:29:00.003+02:00

Clive, Sean (UK), me, Johanna & Peter (Germany)
with medals after completing Vätternrundan.

Now I'm back at work, while most others are just starting their holidays. Ah well, I have a week in August to look forward to.

I completed Vätternrundan (300km bike ride) in record time of about 14h 30m, despite two punctures, rain and cold! The first puncture was half way up a hill about half way between Hammarsundsbro and Medevi. There was a very helpful family of spectators that helped me fix that one, but I should have changed the tyre as well as the tube, since the next puncture just about 10km from the finish was almost certainly caused by the fact that the tyre had stretched and wasn't sitting properly on the rim.

Up to the second puncture I was going to be just a few minutes over 14 hours.

I had the company of two guests from England and two from Germany.

Last week Margaret and I were in Båstad for the chamber music festival. We stayed in a stuga (cottage) in a place called Förslöv some 12km from Båstad. We were attracted to the festival because the Vertavo quartet from Norway were playing. They are our favourite quartet, and they didn't disappoint.

In the beginning of the week I was a little put off by the fact that we were amongst the youngest there! But I warmed to the people despite the fact that they speak Swedish on their own very special (i.e. difficult to understand) way. Except for the scramble for seats it was a very nice experience.

I was a bit irritated by the AC (air conditioning) in the car which didn't work despite the money spent on it before departure. I tried to get help locally but that only actually made it worse, so now I have a non functioning, probably empty of gas, AC.

Tjej- and Halvvättern

2010-06-15T19:59:00.006+02:00

The weather Gods were not kind to Margaret and Jo on Saturday when they completed the 100km Tjejvättern cycle ride for women.

They had to fight through a strong head wind, although they were spared the rain that the later riders had to put up with. Omberg hill was just as steep and long as ever, but at least it is enclosed in forest so they exchanged wind for hill climbing!

They managed a time of just under 6 hours, which considering the conditions, was a good time.

Jo had raised a whole load of money for charity by doing this as well! We just do these things for our own amusement.

On the Sunday the wind had dropped although it wasn't very warm. I gt round the 150km Halvvättern in, for me, record time.

Now we have to see if my improved performance holds for the coming real test of the 300km Vätternrundan. My Grittleton friend Sean and a friend of his are coming from England to partake, and so is another Grittletonian from Germany, Peter, with his girlfriend Johanna.

Watch this space! (Or look us up on http://www.vatternrundan.se/). I have start number 645 and start at 20:20. The other numbers to look out for are 5789, 5790, 8026 & 8027.

130km ride completed

2010-05-13T17:59:00.004+02:00

I rode the 130km ride organised by Västerås CK. (get a google translation of this site).

We were about 20 cyclist, and rode together (for most of the way), which is why it went so fast. When I spoke to one guy at the front I said that I could keep up on the flat and down hill, but tended to get left behind up hill. He said the fast boys 'ride like madmen!'

One other (older than me) man and I couldn't keep up towards the end, and dropped back. One of the leaders dropped back to help us home. He was very nice.

When we arrived back at Västerås' main square we got applause from the other guys that had been there a while. A hot dog and a cheese roll were very welcome, as was the fact that we'd driven into town, so we didn't have to ride all the way home!

I plotted the route with my phone, and you can see the results (I think) at this site.

Energitrampet cancelled!

2010-05-09T12:59:00.003+02:00

Energitrampet is a cycle ride organised here in Västerås every year. Usually about 1 - 2000 cyclists ride the three different distances (125km, 70km & 25km). This year it has been canceled because of insufficient interest!

All of us that have registered got a mail late last night, and will get more information about getting our money back.

It's a good job that this was the one cycle fixture that we don't have any overseas guests coming to! I'm confident that the two weekends in Motala won't suffer the same fate, Vätternrundan was fully booked up last October!

A different cycle ride is being organised on Thursday (Assencion day, a public holiday here), and might be seen as competition to Energitrampet. It's a lot cheaper, and probably even more simply arranged. Not much advertising has been seen for this event, but the one advert we saw indicates that the town council is supporting it, so perhaps they would prefer this event. Time will tell.

I'm off shortly to play viola in Mozart's Requiem in Sala. This meant that I couldn't ride with VCK where I would have heard all the gossip about this! I did,however have a nice ride with Margie. She has ridden to Sätrabrunn, and will after a treatment and relaxing afternoon there will ride on to Sala to listen to the concert.

Volcano disturbs string quartets!

2010-04-15T16:03:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow (Friday 16-April) I'm booked on a flight to London Heathrow so that I can partake in a string quartet course with my friends from Grittleton, Rosemary, David and Jean.

I got a mail this morning from Rosemary pointing me to a web site which explained that the air space over the UK was to be closed from 12 noon because of an approaching ash cloud from the volcanic eruption on Iceland.

At the time of writing air space over most of northern Europe is affected. The last I read was that in the UK it was going to stay closed until 06:00 tomorrow. My flight is due to leave Stockholm 11:10.

If I don't make it, it'll be the first time I've been stopped by a volcanic ash cloud from doing anything!

I was particularly amused by one news piece here. They asked some expert how said that the volcano is still issuing ash, and this could carry on for some time. He quoted two previous eruptions, one of which continued for over a year! I wonder how the airlines would cope with that!

Added Sunday a.m.

Well as will be well known by now nobody has been flying anywhere this weekend. They managed to find a replacement viola player and are presumably having a good time! I've been working in the garden which is looking a lot better for it, and today I'm going to ride with the local cycle club. This weekend tuned out not quite as planned. At least I had the good fortune to be stranded at home unlike many who are now trying to get to their homes.

The racer out for first time this year

2010-04-04T14:29:00.003+02:00

This weather this weekend has been fantastic here. Sunny days and low winds without rain. I managed to get out on my bike and get a few km start on this year's training for Vätternrundan. All the snow is gone from the roads, although there is plenty left in the fields, which are in places completely flooded. The cycle paths are still covered in a thick layer of grit, so I ride on the roads where possible.

I recorded some of the rides on my new phone, which you can see here and here.

Today Margie also came out for a ride.

As you can see from the pictures we also had time for a visit with Victor to the sand pit near by.

Hot cross buns were baked earlier in the week so that I could take some to our English classes.

All in all a busy weekend!

Disappointing Brodskis good Stenhammar

2010-03-28T12:44:00.002+02:00

Yesterday Margie and I went to Stockholm for one of our regular quartet concerts. We heard the Stenhammar quartet play very well.

They started with a quartet by the seldom played Swedish female composer Elfrida Andrée, not great music, but very nice and worth hearing more of. This was following the Shostacovich 9th, a great work very well played. After the interval they made a very good job of a late Beethoven. As an extra piece they play a charming little Elergy by Tor Aulin (I must try and locate the notes of this).

All in all a very enjoyable concert.

Sadly I can't say the same of a concert here in Västerås with the Brodski quartet. The Brodskis are internationally well know partly because they play both the 'normal' quartet repertoire and also play with a number of singers from other areas, including Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney.

The leader must be the newest and youngest. This quartet play standing, which the lower three do without moving too much. Unfortunately the leader moved and even stamped his feet occasionally! This was rather distracting, and I thought that even the quality of tone wasn't up to the standard I had expected. They played the Puccini Chrysanthemums but it felt a bit weak.

The Brodskis are playing the last of our Stockholm concerts in May, so it'll be interesting to see if they do better in the most prestige full Stockholm, or if they just need to get a new leader!

Fank Bridge at Mazer

2010-03-04T12:12:00.003+01:00

We played all our Frank Bridge works at Mazer on Monday.

An Irish Melody: Allegro moderato

Novelletten
Andante moderato, Presto, Allegro vivo

Three Pieces: Allegretto, Moderato, Allegro marcato

John lead the Irish Melody, and Lena lead the other two works. This gave me the excuse to explain how many movements etc., and let them know that we expected applause particularly after the Irish Melody so that we could move around!

The drive home wasn't quite as difficult as feared, although a snow storm had be raging the road was relatively quiet and well ploughed.

Off sick!

2010-03-04T12:04:00.004+01:00

When I went to the office yesterday morning I felt fine, although I felt the need for a toilet visit. However shortly after I realised that I wasn't up to much, and mostly just took it very easy, until about 11 when I suddenly had to be sick into the dustbin in my office!

At this point I got Tomas to drive me home and I have felt like death warmed up. I went to bed and am only now 24 hours later beginning to feel human again.

I think I must have what's called here 'Vinter kräksjuka' (~winter vomiting sickness). This is exactly what Margaret had earlier in the week, although she didn't actually through up.

I had to cancel my English last night, and have told them that I'm not going to orchestra tonight either.

We suspect that the source of infection is probably young Victor. I called in to see him and Johnnie on Tuesday evening to deliver their router which they'd left here. Their house is coming on very nicely now, and Victor got his first bath in the new bathroom while I was there!

Skiing and quartet playing short holiday

2010-03-01T10:18:00.004+01:00

Last Tuesday evening my friends Roesmary and Kit arrived for a short visit. They came to try out cross country skiing, and she came to play chamber music at the biannual play-in organised by the Mazer String Quartet Society at Riddersvik on Saturday.

They were a little nervous about the -15C when they arrived, but soon discovered that it's surprisingly comfortable. This is because the air dries out. The snow was also extremely good just when they arrived.

We went out on the Wednesday to Rocklunda where the local skiing club does an excellent job preparing the tracks. They have an approx 1km loop round a football pitch which is almost flat, which is absolutely perfect to learn on. This leads onto their other tracks which are somewhat more varied and pass through beautiful forrest.

They had been to one of only three cross country ski clubs in the UK, which by an enormous coincidence happens to be situated in their town! So their only experience was one attempt using either grass skis, or roller skis!

They were very good students, and after a loop round the football field, we ventured into the forrest!

On Friday I'd invited Solbritt (cellist) round, and we played string trios. On Saturday was the excuse for the visit, when we went to Riddersvik. Because Rosemary had to get back to England she isn't able to play at the Mazer Monday evening which was the original idea behind the visit, but John, solbritt, myself and another very good violinist are going to perform Frank Bridge this evening.

They joined in with the whole winter experience while here, including shovelling snow!

Tomorrow I have to go back to work!

Victor and snow

2010-02-21T17:07:00.001+01:00

I went woth Victor and Ruth to his swimming class today. When we got back I took some pictures showing just how much higher the snow is than Victor! Quite unbelievable how much snow we've had this year.

New Phone

2010-02-11T11:25:00.003+01:00

While I'm waiting for the servers I'm working on in Falun to get restarted after some electrical work is being done, I'm going to write a little about my latest acquisition, an HTC Hero mobile phone.

It's a smart phone based on the Android OS, which is in turn based on Linux, and produced by Google.

I had to decide between that and an iPhone. It was a very close thing, but the Android/Google/Linux thing swung it in the end. It is a more open platform than the iPhone, which means that no one company can decide if an application is allowed to be supported, which is the case for the iPhone. It also has a more multitasking nature to it, although I'm not completely convinced that that makes any actual difference!

During the first few days I noticed, even when I'd stopped playing with it a lot, that the battery consumption was rather bad, on the first night it claimed to have about half charged battery when I went to bed, and had stopped before I got up!

After a bit of googling I discuvered that there is a known bug in the built in SMS program that stops it from going to sleep once you've sent a message! The solution/work-around is to disable that program and install any of the several alternative SMS programs. Since doing this it has behaved much better.

Trio Zilliacus Persson Raitinen

2010-02-01T09:07:00.003+01:00

Margie and I went to a concert in Lilla Salen here in Västerås on Saturday afternoon with Trio Zilliacus Persson Raitinen. They played a very good programme ending with the great Mozart Divertimento.

We like to sit right at the front and get the full experience, coughs and all! Most people won't sit in the very front row, but it must have been almost full, because there were already a few people in the front row when we sat down, and it filled up completely.

This is a group well worth hearing. The string trio repertoire isn't very large, and there's one great master piece (the Mozart). Zilliacus and Persson played the second Mozart Duo first. This is a seldom heard very fine piece for Violin and Viola. The first duo is played slightly more often, and is a touch easier to play!

After that the cellist played a wonderful cello solo piece by Sibelius which was only discovered relatively recently when clearing out a summer house (or some such place).

Then there was a modern work, which was more enjoyable that we expected! After the interval was the tour-de-force, a work I know very well, since in the seventies while these three were in dagis, when our quartet lost one the the violinists (she moved to Hampshire) we worked at this not realising quite how difficult it was!

After the concert we went and ate a very nice meal in Ruffinos followed by too many beers in the Sky Bar.

All in all a very nice day.

New UK Passport

2010-01-26T16:06:00.005+01:00

I've just filled in the papers and sent them off together with a 'certified' photo.

I have two passports to go with my two citizenships (British & Swedish). The procedure for getting the two could hardly be more different!

The Swedish Passport:
Turn up at the police station in town, take a queue number, wait five minutes, talk to a lady behind a desk, show driving licence, get photo taken, pay 400 kr, go away. Come back a week later and collect a nice new passport.

The British Passport:
Download and print and fill in the forms. Go into town to get a photo taken, which much satisfy exacting standards so that a biometric passport can be made. Get two photos, one of which has to be certified (see above) by someone who knows me for at least two years, mustn't be a family member etc. etc. Send all this registered post together with the old passport to Düsseldorf (yes in Germany), where they will take 10 days to produce the new passport, which they will send by DHL back to me. The price?
10-year adult passport - €143
Return shipment is handled by DHL Worldwide and costs €28

The only advantage that the UK passport seems to have is the fact that it is valid for 10 years as opposed to the Swedish one which is only good for 5 years.

400 SEK / 5 = 80 SEK per year

€171 / 10 = €17.1 ~= 175 SEK per year

Why bother? - I don't know, perhaps I just need something to moan about. Perhaps I want to keep my options open!

I suppose I should include in the Swedish side of the equation the 1500SEK naturalisation cost, but since I don't know how long I'm going to live, I don't know how many years that has to be spread over! If I've got less than about 16 years (3+ have already gone), the UK passport comes out cheaper!

All of this is of course spurious, I chose to take up Swedish nationality. I didn't need to, and many British people who live here don't bother. Why did I do it? Besides the practical point of making some things a little simpler (actually very few things) and being allowed to vote for the parliament (non Swedish residents of more than a number of years can vote in local elections anyway) the only real reason I can think of is that it better reflects my status. I am now a mixture of British and Swedish. I'll never sound quite like a native Swedish speaker, although some of my English has been a little affected. I'm not a 'more English than the English' type of ex-pat, nor am I 100% Swedish.

Which passport do I use when travelling? So far, with the exception of once when I was trying to confuse the British system (into UK Bristih, out again Swedish), I've used my Swedish passport. This has been at least in part because the Swedish one has the newer computer readable text, and biometric stuff, which makes it quicker.

When my Swedish Passport runs out (end of next year) when I get a new one I'll need to give my finger prints. The Swedish passports have incorporated this for some time now. Ignoring the invasion of my privacy issues, I wonder if/when the British get round to this how that will work. Will I need to travel to Düsseldorf to get this done?

The whole identity thing in the British system is ridiculous! I happen to be a director of a UK company. In order to establish my identity with Companies House I had to send them a 'utility bill' with my name and address on. This was of course in Swedish. My offer of an English extract taken directly from the Swedish Population Register, was rejected! They'd rather have an incomprehensible (for them) bill for groceries than a complete description from the Swedish state! What security doesn't one have in a British Passport where the identity control is based on a foreign language grocery bill, or the signature of a friend they might ring up?

End of rant! (for today at least)

English in a new place

2010-01-20T20:07:00.002+01:00

I've just got back from the first English Conversation study circle session this year.

ABF is moving out of the place it has been in for the past ?? years, and my study circle is being run in another place. I got a key, and was told the code to open the front door, but when I finally got there it was in a bit of a mess! The room numbers don't line up with what I have on my instructions, but that doesn't matter since we seem to be the only group there (this evening at least) and so I could pick the best room!

I had decided to arrive a bit early, but before leaving my 'proper job' Margie rang to ask if I could collect her from town. She'd been at a meeting for work and wasn't feeling very well, so I just about had enough time to drive in, collect her and take her home, and then drive in again. This meant that I had to park in the multi-story and pay (about 40kr) instead of parking somewhat further away for free and walking.

When I got there none of my students were there of course. The first one turned up just a few minutes late, but I had to ring around them. One sounded dreadful when she answered, so it was clear that she wasn't well enough to come. Another was waiting at the old place, and the third one to arrive had had an accident in the car park!

So we were three plus me. 50% isn't actually too bad under the circumstances, and we put the worlds to rights in the correct way.

The new place doesn't have any coffee machine, so I need to make sure that the three that didn't come get to know that. Margie will also need to tell her students. I think her courses start next week. Of course the facilities might have improved by then. I don't think this place has been officially opened yet! I wonder if I'll get an invite?

Some pictures

2010-01-03T13:40:00.003+01:00

Lego for adults!

Actually sorting out Lego by adults for Victor.

Super skiing weather

2009-12-31T13:15:00.002+01:00

I took these snaps with my phone while out on my cross-country skis.

I went out on Christmas Eve morning, when most of the Swedish population was at home preparing for the big annual feed-up.

The temperature was about -3, and the tracks were in perfect condition. The pictures were taken when I went out again last Tuesday. It was considerably colder on that occasion with about -13. I managed 10km each time.

As you can see from the picture of me the frost builds up on the beard and moustache very well.

Ruth, Johnnie and Victor have now been living with us for a few weeks now, and their house renovation is progressing.

Since I haven't written here for a while I can inform you that I had a very nice Christmas Eve at Maggan's and Kjell's while Magie had to work. In exchange for that shift she was able to be free for the following three days. We enjoyed Boxing Day having an English Christmas at Edward's and Julia's, staying that night in a hotel.

Christmas is coming, and so are Ruth and Family!

2009-12-03T16:39:00.007+01:00

Christmas is coming, and in this part of the world it usually actually waits until about the beginning of December to really make its presence known. In most windows suddenly appear seven little lights arranged in an inverted V. Very pretty!

Ruth, Johnnie and Victor are coming to stay with us again. This time for a longer stay while their house is uninhabitable. The above picture was taken upstairs, and soon a similar process will transform downstairs! I think that a house becomes uninhabitable when the water is turned off, there's no usable kitchen, and the air is full of dust!

Victor's started to lick his fingers to turn over the pages when he's 'reading' the paper. It looked so funny when we visited the other day. I wonder what other mannerisms he'll pick up, this one is straight from Johnnie.

A Happy birthday

2009-11-09T08:27:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was my birthday and to celebrate it we went up to Stockholm. I had got an offer from MasterCard for the weekend staying at a hotel right in the centre and an evening at Wallmans Salonger for a good all in price, and since it coincided with my birthday I thought that it would be a good way to spend the weekend.

Part of the deal included a Stockholm's Card, which valid for 24 hours, gave free rides on the busses, trams & tubes, and free entry into most museums. So we've packed in as many museums as our feet could cope with.

On Saturday we went to the Nordiska Museum, which is next to the Vasa. The Vasa is very well worth visiting, but I've shown English visitors several times. This was the first time I've been in the Nordiska Museum. I suspect that future visitors will get taken there if they've already seen the Vasa!

Then we went back to the hotel, where Margie got a make-up done, which after a long wait was done very quickly. Some of the other women needed a lot longer!

Then we went to Wallmans. I've never been in Stockholm before, but we did once visit them when they were in Västerås. They have a touring team and a home based team, but the idea is the same. The waiters are also the performers. What is amazing is that they are good at both jobs! What was really surprising was how good the food was!

When the night-club bit started after the show we walked back to the hotel for a calmer good-night drink.

On Sunday morning we visited the Salvador Dali exhibition at the Moderna Museet, where we also met up with Edward and Julia. I was never an enthusiast for Dali, but I was impressed by this exhibition, he was clearly very imaginative and skilful. He's gone up in my estimation.

After lunch at the Modern we enjoyed a very entertaining guided tour through an exhibition about infra-structure at the adjoining Arkitekturmuseet! Roads and trains aren't normally very interesting, but the young lady that took us through was very gifted as an enthusiaster.

Finally we took the train back to Västerås, where we had a nice birthday fika with Ruth, Johnnie and Victor.

All in all a very happy birthday.

Oh yes, the camera over the loo in the first picture is in a loo in the Moderna! If there hadn't been so many people in the loos I'd have gone round and checked out the other cubicles! I thought that was a bit of fun art with a social comment, and what better place to put it!

A VicPic

2009-11-02T14:24:00.003+01:00

I took this picture about a week ago.

He's a very confident young man, as far as I know this was his first walk in the shops, certainly with grandma! He was particularly interested in the little shop where they cut keys and repair shoes.

House full!

2009-10-20T15:16:00.002+02:00

This week our house is full for the first time in a long time. Ruth, Johnnie and Victor have moved in while work is being carried out in their house.

So far it seems to have worked out well.

Victor isn't very well at the moment, and he was sick all over Johnnie, and their bed, and his bed, and..... He looked a lot better today when I saw him at lunch time however.

Ruth also passed her driving test yesterday, as I'm sure she'll announce on a blog somewhere sometime very soon. Last night she drove in the dark (and fog) to Eskilstuna to some sort of party on her own! Very brave indeed! Today she's driven to work (also in Eskilstuna) so I wonder if Johnnie will see so very much of their car from now on!

Fortunately the roads haven't become very slippery yet, but they will probably very soon, so we're all expecting to do the bi-annual tyre chang very soon.

Surprise audience at KAMUS concert

2009-10-18T09:39:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary concert given by KAMUS.

I'm a bit depressed at the moment, mostly about work, and it was going to be a heavy day which I'd not been looking forward to very much.The rehearsal went well, albeit very long (from 09.30 to 12.30) but it was going to be a long concert.

The music wasn't particularly hard, but I'm having to play viola, which whilst probably my best instrument, isn't what I like to play in orchestras! (I prefer double bass)

The programme was:

Stravinskij – Introduktion ur ”Suite Italienne”

Albinoni – Sinfonia i G-dur

Grieg – Anitras Tanz

Haydn – Violinkonsert nr.1 C-dur sats 1

Mendelsohn – Oktett

Shostakovich – Pianokonsert nr.1 C-dur sats 1

Bartok – Rumänska danser

Janacek – Suite för stråkorkester

Williams – Remembrances

Stravinskij – Menuett och Finale ur ”Suite Italienne”

Before the rehearsal we removed the first row of seats to make more room for the piano, but just before the performance the stage manager announced that they'd had to put them back because it was almost completely sold out!

But that wasn't the surprise. In the interval I went out into the public area to mingle, and was amazed to see Kjell (Edward's girlfriend Julia's Dad). It turned out that he, his wife Maggan, Julia and Edward had come! This might not seem like a big deal, but I had believed that none of my family would be able to come since Margaret had to work that evening.

At home alone!

2009-09-29T17:39:00.002+02:00

A few weeks ago Margie's aunty Bid 'went away' (to use a translation of a Swedish euphemism for dying). The Funeral was today. This is the second family funeral this year, and the second one I haven't been to.

Aunty Bid was over 90. She'd lived the last time in a very nice home in St. Albans, where we saw her earlier this year.

Margie flew over to England on Sunday, and returns home tomorrow, so I've been at home alone. Nothing very remarkable about that really. I managed to get up this morning in time to ride over to the swimming pool (about 5km) swim a km and then on to work.

On Sunday evening I cooked a couple of pies after cleaning the several litres of mushrooms we picked on Saturday. Most of the mushrooms went into the pies, but we did have some for lunch before Margie caught her plane (or was it on Saturday, I forget now). I also made an Apple crumble, and a plum crumble, so if I can resist eating it all up there should be some over for the guests I am expecting on Friday.

This coming weekend is one of two occasions that the Mazer String Quartet Soc. organises a play-in at a nice place called Riddersvik. This time two of my friends from England are coming, as is a local cellist, so we'll be a quartet, although we will probably only play together for one or two sessions. The rest of the time we'll be mixed up with all the other members, play all sorts of music, and eat and drink and generally have a good time.

Well I'd better go home to be alone some more!

Weekend with Victor

2009-09-21T14:50:00.004+02:00

Here are a few pictures taken while Victor stayed with us this weekend. They seem to be in reverse order.

When he arrived Margie got him helping her cleaning the bathroom!

I took him to the little playground in our area, where we investigated the sand-pit and all the toys there.

Margie was supposed to work both on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning, which would have left me to do most of the looking after, but she managed to change her Sunday morning shift, and didn't actually do a lot of her Saturday evening one either.

When Margie left to go to work on Saturday evening Victor cried, so I was glad when she re-emerged about an hour later, while I was showing him the Buddha statue which would probably have been very nice to play with (it has running, currently rather dirty, water). He was getting rather tired although it was a bit earlier than we expected him to got to bed. However Margie managed to settle him down and he slept right through until about 5 o'clock, when I gave him a bit of Velling and let him sleep with us for a few more hours!

We had to get up early on Sunday morning so that we could take him to Baby-Swimming, which he really enjoys. I was a bit nervous of this, but actually it was great fun splashing in the 37C water!

After he'd woken from his post-swimming sleep Margie and I both took him to the local playground again, this time Margie made little sand-castles for Victor to knock down! They both had a great time.

Unlike when Victor visited Edward and Julia a while back, we had a total of 6 dirty nappies to sort out! I must say that nappy technology has improved a great deal since I had to change them last. You just rip the sides of the little pants, try and avoid spreading the contents all over the place, clean up, and put new ones on like ordinary pants! No toweling, enormous 'safety' pins (which were lethally sharp and not very safe at all) nor plastic over-pants. Wonderful though all this is I'm happy to avoid the job as much as possible, they haven't done anything to improve the smell.

Yesterday he also helped Margie in the garden until his Mum and Dad returned. He was obviously glad to see them.

It was great to have him with us.

Very nice family weekend

2009-09-01T16:48:00.004+02:00

We've just had a very nice family weekend. On Saturday Edward and Julia took different trains to Västerås because the bread Edward was baking took longer than her expected, and he missed the train that Julia caught!

Ruth, Johnnie and Victor collected Julia from the station, but I had to stay sober enough to collect Ed from the next train! Ed and I caught up anyway, so there wasn't a problem.

We all had a good eat, drink and chat. Everyone stayed the night so the the house was fuller than it has been for a long time.

On Sunday after Ruth, Johnnie and Victor had gone to baby-swimming, the rest of us went mushroom picking, and got a record 6 litres of 'forest-gold'.

Wet Anundshög show

2009-08-31T09:33:00.003+02:00

Margaret and I got free tickets (from VLT, our local paper) to an outdoor show at Anundshög on Friday evening. The show was very good, but spoiled by the torrential rain, and technical problems, almost certainly caused by the rain.

Lena Willemark, folk group Väsen, choir Singoalla and a dance group performed a newly written work in the grounds of Anundshög an enormous Viking burial ground which is a well known landmark in these parts.

I'm not a fan of Lena W, I just don't like her singing, however good at it she is! Väsen are very competent, as were Sangoalla. For me however the best was the dancing. These youngsters combined traditional Swedish folkdans with modern styles, which particularly considering the wet grass they had to dance on, was very impressive, and most enjoyable.

They were so good that for moments I could almost forget the rain. I had nothing to put on my head, although I did have the rest of me well covered. I'd forgotten that I'd taken off the hood part of my rain suit and left it at home!

It had stopped raining before the end of the show, but I was very glad that we were able to get out quickly. A Whiskey-Mac when we got home helped restore me!

Here is the VLT article translated by Google (who obviously don't know the word for evening!)

English conversation classes

2009-08-26T16:14:00.002+02:00

I've just been called up by ABF to say that my English class is now full, and when can it start. Since Margaret's beginner's course starts on 9-sep I said I'd start on the same day.

They had rung me up earlier with an enquiry from a person that turned out to be just 12 years old! I don't know what minimum age requirement they have (I couldn't find anything about that on their web site) but 12 seems extremely young to me! Well I was glad to hear that she hasn't gone on the course, I think it might have been a bit awkward.

So now I expect to get a list of names in the post. I suspect that two will be from last year, they were keen to continue.

I suppose this is the first sign of autumn! The rain we've been having doesn't count, we've had plenty since the spring. I've also begun the organising of a visit of players for the Mazer Riddersvik weekend in October, another sure autumnal sign.

Kamus starts up tomorrow evening, so I'd probably better look at the notes I got last time, some of them aren't trivial at all!

I'm trying out a new viola bow, which I'll probably buy. It's made of carbon fibre. I bought a very nice, and extremely well priced (i.e. cheap) violin bow a few years ago, but the maker of that didn't have any viola bows. They've been saying in 6 months for the last couple of years, and now it's gone out to sometime next year! So they may never sell me one.

I love a good Piddle!

2009-08-10T12:47:00.005+02:00

I've just got back from three week's holidays, spent in France and England, having driven through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Holland.

This was on the door of the Cafe de France in Barfleur! The beer there was actually very nice, although I have to admit that we had already started drinking before I noticed the sign!

While we've been away Victor has apparently taken a few tentative steps and looks very uncertain on the back of his mum's bike!

Our holiday was a complicated arrangement with people coming and going. Margie stayed in Barfleur while I went to England for my annual orgy of chamber music (Grittleton). While I was away Margie had the company of first her sister, then a friend also from England. I returned with some other friends for the last few days before heading back home, arriving yesterday (Sunday 9-aug).

Surprisingly all the arrangements actually worked, and no-one was left stranded in the wrong country, and as far as I know everyone involved enjoyed themselves.

Babysitting

2009-07-17T08:30:00.004+02:00

Margie and I babysat last night while Ruth and Johnnie went out for a meal.

It went very well, we played a bit, he had a bath, then went to bed! What could be easier! Especially for me, it was Margie that did all the work!

Tomorrow is Margie's birthday, and we've got plans. I'll possibly write about them here later.

Nice weekend in Värmdö

2009-07-06T16:27:00.006+02:00

I notice that I haven't written in here for a few weeks, so I will just say that Margaret and I have just come back from a very nice weekend with friends who live in Värmdö, a nice spot in the Stockholm archipelago.

While we were there enjoying good food, good company, and in my case too much booze, the very hot weather we've been having broke, and a more normal amount of rain did its bit to keep everything green.

We even picked some blueberries!

I should like to thank our hosts, Eva-lena and Leif, for their hospitality.

Best time so far in wet and windy Vätternrundan

2009-06-14T21:46:00.006+02:00

15 hours 23 minutes. (Start 20:14, finish 11:37) and NO PUNCTURES!

The rain and wind was very similar on my very first Vätternrunda in 2004.

On the way to Jönköping we pass through Gränna. This is Sweden's home of the equivalent of Brighton Rock. It is the only part of the whole 300km route which goes over cobbles! For me this is usually a nice massage, but for those that go really quickly all the fixtures on a bike that aren't properly fixed end up scattered over the road! When I passed it was early enough that the pubs hadn't closed, but I have been through later when added to the cobbles one has to be careful to avoid running over the drunks.

It went quite quick down to Jönköping despite the rain. This was in part due to the strong following wind, and of course my improved condition and 1000+km training. After the porridge in the Jönköping depot it was very cold to get started again. As usual Vätternrundan coincides with school graduation. This means that while we extremely sober cyclists are pouring through the town, we have to keep an eye out for drunken youngsters with their fine caps and suits.

After Jönköping it all gets a bit harder. The road isn't very interesting, more hilly and it was very dark, cold, wet and windy. We do this why exactly?

Some hours later I got to Hjo, which is where they serve the main meal of the ride. This is a very welcome pasta dish. I sat next to two men of about my age, and when they started to speak I realised I was sitting next to two English men. It turns out they had come over specially for this event, and were beginning to wonder why they had! I hope that they enjoyed it despite the weather. They come from Surrey and were very impressed with how positive the local people view this event, supporters cheer the cyclists, thousands of people assist in running the whole thing. They told me about an incident in Scotland (I think) where the locals were so upset about the closing of some roads because of a cycle event that one person spread tacks over the road causing a number of injuries!

After Hjo (where I stayed for about an hour, my longest stay anywhere on the ride) the wind reduced in strength, a bit like me. Since the wind was coming from the north, and I'd been fighting it, it was a bit of a disappointment when it didn't help for the last 40km from the beautiful bridge at the extreme northern point of the route. However it always feels good to start on the last part, at last heading towards Motala instead of away from it.

Sadly Margaret had to work this weekend, so wasn't able to be in Motala, but it still felt very good to arrive at the finishing line, eat some more pasta, and drink a wonderful beer! I should point out that they serve lättöl, low alcohol beer, but after over 300km on a bike saddle it tastes wonderful!

After a few hours sleep, the others in our group arrived, (they also did a very good time, which I could only dream about!). We had what has become something of a tradition, pizza, champagne and an early night! Before travelling home in the morning we also visited another of Motala's attractions, this also being something of a tradition, 'Två Små hus' (Two small houses) where they sell some of the most wonderful ice creams.

My companions started much later than me, since they are in a completely different class as far as cycling is concerned. (the underlined start numbers should take you to their respective statistical pages at the VR site, where you'll be able to see previous years results)

PATRIK HORSELL, VÄSTERÅS Vätternrundan 2009 17435 05:04 - 13:34
JOHAN DAHLBERG, UPPSALAVätternrundan 2009 17432 05:04- 13:35
MARKUS DAHLBERG, UPPSALA Vätternrundan 2009 17434 05:04 - 14:15
ERIK DAHLBERG, UPPSALAVätternrundan 2009 17431 05:04 - 17:14
FRANK MCNAMARA, VÄSTERÅSVätternrundan 2009 469 20:14 - 11:37

As you can see I came in first! Patrik & Johan actually went all the way round together, the arrival time difference was due to the fact that they had to queue up to pass the timing mat that read the chip we all wore. It was Erik's first time round. Johan, Markus and Erik are brothers, which explains the common surname.

I should also congratulate my friend in England, Sean Overend, for completing the 1030 miles from Lands End to John O Groats. 1600+km puts some perspective on it all. Press the tab marked LEJOG Ditty on http://www.monticello.org.uk/ to read all about that adventure.

Two punctures on Halvvättern!

2009-06-08T08:12:00.005+02:00

Margie and I have just come back from Motala after the second of three cycling weekends in a a row.

Margie did a good job of her 100km Tjejvättern, which went on a new course this year including a tough hill called Ombergsbacken. This is about 2 km long, and very steep in parts. She managed it without stopping and/or walking (many did both stop and walk up it!). The new course is a shortened version of the new Halvvättern (150km) course. The part that goes through Omberg is particularly nice, thick forest with occasional views out of the lake.

They had heavy rain for a while early on and then it cleared up, and they even had following winds on the open later part of the course.

The next picture of the three of us that were about to set off on the Halvättern. I was in the first start group starting at 08.00, Edward and Julia were in another group starting at 08.48.

Edward had promised to stay with Julia, which he did. It seems that he was in front all the way round!

Well we all made it round, despite a strong head wind for a long stretch towards the end, and two punctures on my bike!

After last week's puncture I was more observant when I changed the tube thankfully at the top of the long Omberg hill! I noticed that the puncture was on the wheel side, rather than the outside, indicating that there was something wrong on the wheel itself rather than some external sharp thing (which shouldn't really get through a brand new modern tyre with it's Kevlar layer etc. etc.). So when I got to the next depot I bought a new tube and was recommended to buy a new rim-tape (I think that's what they're called in English, fälgband på svenska) and told, if I get another puncture, to put it on over the existing one so that I'd have two in place.

Sure enough after ages of fighting that strong head wind, I felt the hard road against metal again, and knew it was time for another unscheduled stop.

Next Friday is the last and biggest of the three weekends, when I attempt the 300km Vätternrundan. According to the weather sites I've looked at we're in for rain and strong winds all the time! In my very first VR it rained for 15 of the 18 hours I took, and if this site it right it's going to be even worse this time. I've got better clothes and hopefully better condition this time, but I just hope the weather site is wrong, in particular about the wind! Rain is much easier to live with than strong head winds.

Expensive Car inspection

2009-06-03T12:46:00.002+02:00

Well I took the car to bilbesiktning (the Swedish equivalent of MOT test station except this is not connected to any garage, at least not yet). It failed on a couple of points, which are going to set me back nearly 4000SEK.

Something called a spindelled (which I think might be known as a king-pin in english, but I'm not sure) is worn, and one of the brake pipes as well. This isn't the first time this has happened. I think they've been changed on both sides since we've had the car, so this is clearly something common in Volvo V70s.

Ah well, can't be helped. Having changed one of these myself before, I have no difficulty in putting the job out to a car mechanic! I've never changed a break pipe, and that's also a skill I don't wish to acquire. I get quite dirty enough fixing bikes.

The car's booked in next Wednesday, and the re-inspection is a drop in affair. I have to get it done within a month, or the car becomes illegal, but that shouldn't be a problem.

A puncture on Energitrampet

2009-05-31T10:28:00.005+02:00

(Thanks Clifford for this picture taken at the finish line)

At the point where I was furthest from both start and finish I was unpleasantly surprised to feel the unmistakable hardness of the road as it was now hitting the metal of my back wheel following a puncture. These modern tyres are supposed to have a puncture resistant layer made of Kevlar, the stuff they make bullet proof vests of.

The must have been some 'sharper than bullets' grit on the roads, because I lost count of the number of cyclists I saw beside the road with punctures.

I thought that I was near the next watering depot, so since I didn't have my little tool kit, with its tyre leavers I rode and walked on. But after a while I realised that it wasn't just down the next slope, so I stopped and tried to change the tyre. I discovered that a key will work as a tyre leaver, and was able to change in about the normal time. The little pump I carry with me can't (not with my arm muscles) manage to get the pressure up to the full 6Bar, but it was good enough to get me home. I discovered that I hadn't put the tyre on properly, and it was a bit irregular, making the ride a bit bumpy, when the road surface was good, which isn't very much of this route! So I have to sort that out today, before the next adventure.

Up until Köping (about 50km) I was doing very well. I went with the 'medium' group and had an average of bit over 30kph. We seemed to be in one big pack up to that point. We had a rather long wait just before Köping while the motorbikes that were riding round lake Mälaren (seemed like thousands of them) went past. When we got out onto the road again, we had a few km in their company, which I was glad to loose.

My average speed, including the walking parts, all the time on my own and the gentle ride home afterwards with Margie, was about 25kph.

Margie got round in reasonable time, which was perhaps better than expected considering the fact that she's done very little training this year. Although we both swim twice a week, so she's not unfit by any means.

To my surprise not only was Margie waiting for me at the finish, but also Clifford and Lisabeth. So I can expect a high quality picture (or two) of me as I arrived.

I'd put sun-tan lotion on my arms and legs, which weren't burnt at all, but forgotten my head. It isn't burnt, but I didn't feel too good last night, which I think was caused by the sun rather than anything else.

I've now done 972km of the 1000km recommended for Vätternrundan, so with next week's Halvvättern (150km) I'll be more prepared than I've ever been before! Let's just hope I don't have any more punctures!

One thing lacking from Energitrampet's depots is 'salt gurka' (small cucumber/large gherkins in salt). These are available at all the Vätternrundan depots, and whilst I very seldom eat them during the rest of the year, I always want some while cycling. I have never had cramp except when cycling Energitrampet, I wonder if there's a connection?

Long weekend in England

2009-05-28T16:29:00.003+02:00

We've just got back from a long weekend in England. The main reason for going was to partake in the wedding of my nephew Martin to his Heather. Martin is the younger son of my sister Mary and her Julian.

While we were there we also visited Bath, a very attractive city, and also the first year birthday party of Henrietta, daughter of Robin (older son of Mary) and his wife.

The weather was very nice pretty well all the time we were there. The flight back suffered a rather bumpy landing, but in every other respect was fine, despite Ryan Air.

Last night I discovered that I'd forgotten to register Margaret and me on the Energitrampet cycle rides on Saturday. We should still be able to go on them because you can register on the day, but of course it costs more!

When I got back to work this morning my computer was broken! I've spent most of the day trying to fix it, and at last I've discovered that that the problem is the graphics card, so I'm able to continue by using the built in graphics card on the mother board. I've also ordered a new card (of a different make).

Another quick cycle training session

2009-05-17T13:34:00.004+02:00

I went with the 'lugn' (calm) group again in today's Energitramp training session. It wasn't so lugn, I had an average of 28kph. We went about 65 km. (see the route roughly on maps.google.com)

When we got to Strömsholm for fika (coffee etc.) for the first time this year we were able to sit outside in the warm sun.

The other groups went a different route. Because the wind at 10 o'clock this morning was gently blowing from the north they went in that direction, with the intention of going a long way. By long way these people mean something between 120 and 150 km. They also go very quickly, average over 30kph.

Fortunately for us the wind was very little, and we seemed to be a group of compatible strength. Sometimes it's difficult to hold a group together when the strong ones get to the front, they tend to go at their favourite speed, and that makes it very hard on the not so strong ones to keep up.

I'm still ahead of the 1000km target for Vätternrundan according to my calendar on their site. I don't have to do a lot more! I've done a total of 708 km so far, add Energitrampet (123km) and Halvvättern (150km) and you get 973 km!

I am planning on a longer ride of some sort next Thursday, when it is a public holiday here (Kristihimmelfärd, ascension day). VCK, who actually lead the groups in these sessions, are doing a run starting 10 o'clock on Thursday morning, I haven't decided yet if I'll join them, or do my own thing.

VCK had a tent at the market place yesterday, so I filled in a form to join. They seem a nice bunch, and it seems to cover all abilities, right down to my level!

Windy weekend in Tällberg / Christmas in May

2009-05-11T15:56:00.003+02:00

It was a windy weekend when we (all seven of us) spent the weekend in Tällberg. We stayed in the Dalarcarlia hotel. The rain held off until we were leaving.

In the little movie you can see and hear the effect of the wind on this set of chimes, which are mounted outside the Spa.

Victor seemed to enjoy himself, particularly in the pool.

Tällberg, is about three hours drive from here. It lies in the heart of Dalarna, which is the most Swedish of Swedish places in Sweden. Margie and I were here once before, at midsommar.

We'd agreed not to buy each other Christmas presents, but to all do something together, and this was it. A very nice Christmas present indeed.

My debut as leader at Mazer

2009-05-05T10:28:00.005+02:00

Last night I performed a quartet by R. Vaughan Williams called Household Music at the regular Mazer Monday evening soiree. This is a very nice three movement work based on three well known (in GB but not here) Welsh hymn tunes. With me were John, Kathy and Solbritt. The man standing in the picture above is Krister Persson who was host for the evening which included three other works. He pointed out that unusually for a Mazer evening all the works were in fact quartets, although only one a string quartet (ours!). He played in a piano quartet (violin, viola, cello & piano), then it was us, then after the interval a flute quartet by Bach (two flutes, a viol and harpsichord). The last group was a saxophone quartet! (very nice, but dynamic range from loud to deafening!) They ended up with "When I'm 64", but I wasn't alone in thinking that "When I was 64" suited a rather high proportion of the audience!

The historical importance which was missed by most spectators was the fact that it was my first appearance as leader of a quartet in public. Some have said that I lead from the viola position of course, but that's not quite the same as playing the first violin part.

I was very glad that Margaret could come because she was supposed to have worked that evening, but someone wanted to swap shifts with her. Kathy's husband Gary had come with her from England, and was also there. Margaret was complementary about our performance, and she usually says what she thinks, so I take that as a great compliment! I think we played well. I made new and different mistakes of course, but that's normal in any performance. John put his mute on too early at one point, and so had to take it off again! But no-one except him commented on that!

So that was the end of a very nice weekend for me. Kathy & Garry arrived on Saturday, when we had a nice meal together, and a bit too much nice wine. Sunday John & Solbritt arrived while Margaret was working, so we could play all day. On Monday we drove to Stockholm, and while Margaret and Garry went to the Vasa Museum (well worth a visit) we played some more, ending the evening at the Konstnärsklubben.

So now I'm back at work where in addition to all the usual problems that have built up there is building work going on next door, with machinery designed to drill a whole in your brain! Evacuation isn't completely ruled out.

Städledare / Cleaning-up Boss

2009-04-24T08:04:00.003+02:00

Those of you who know me and especially those that have seen my office will realise how inappropriate it is for me to be appointed städledare (roughly translated person in charge of cleaning/tidying) for our part or our housing estate. We have 20 houses in our delområde (subarea), and each year the next household takes it in turn to be städledare.

We moved in 21 years ago, and got the job after only living here for about 6 months. We could (sort of) speak Swedish, but didn't have a clue how this was supposed to work. I'd been on one städdag (cleaning/tidying up day). The main job of the städledare is to decide on the date of the städdag and deliver a note to everyone calling them to meet in the car park with the apropriate tools.

I did this, and was a little alarmed when one of the longer standing residents came up to me in the car park one evening before hand and said that he couldn't come, but would do his bit on another day, and to please leave him something to do! I don't actually remember the day itself, but it probably went like most of the 40 odd that have happened since. We all gather and start brushing the car park (probably not necessary this year since it's been cleared already), then go round to another part where we do similar work. No-one seems to actually run it is such, and it doesn't take much more than an hour.

I've since discovered that we are very fortunate in that last respect, as in many areas the whole day is consumed. I can't say that our area looks any worse that those places but perhaps I'm a bit biased.

I got the call to a meeting with the new leaders of the other 7 areas and a member of the committee late this year, just last Tuesday. This means that I'll have to call the städdag next Saturday (2-May) when of course some people will have travelled away for the weekend, since the Friday is 1-May, a national holiday here. Good job there isn't a lot to do (at least I hope not).

The committee gives each leader 200kr each year towards a group activity, like coffee and cakes or whatever. Well unique to our area we haven't spent this for the past couple of years (since it's been introduced), so together with this years sub we've got 600kr to spend. Something else I have to decide about! We'll probably try to fix something in the autumn in connection with the other städdag.

Well I've written the kallelse (announcement) and blamed the committee for it being so late. Perhaps a few will turn up. I've always assumed that it's because our städdag meetings are shorter than other that we get a relatively good turn out. There are a few that practically never come, but most come almost every time. This is an area of much angry debate in some places, and while there is sometimes talk about it, we don't have much of a problem.

I hope we can get it over with farely quickly because I have guests from England coming in the afternoon, Kathy and her husband Gary. She is coming to play the Vaughan Williams work we studied at Sigtuna in January at the Mazer Monday evening. I might write more about that later.

(2009-05-05) It was very quick indeed, we started at 09.00 I was back in the house at 09.45! About 15 turned out, which is very good considering the inappropriate date. We only filled about 4 black sacks with sweepings, which I was able to deliver to the dump together with our own stuff the same day.

Cycle season started

2009-04-06T07:54:00.002+02:00

This year's cycle season has started, for me at least.

Two Sundays ago was the first group training for Energitrampet. This was led by Patrick Serra (ex profs cyclist who organizes Energitrampet). We were about a dozen of somewhat varying ability (I put myself towards the low end on that scale!). We rode out to Strömsholm, where we stopped for fika (coffe/tea and optional cake). Our average speed, according to my bike computer was about 28 kph, something of a record for me.

On Saturday the weather here was really beautiful, warm and sunny, so after fixing the second puncture in two weeks caused by the very sharp sand the kommun uses on the cycle paths, and discovering that I don't have all the tools needed to fix the broken spoke in the back wheel, I went for a 28 km ride.

Yesterday I joined in the slowest group of three of the Energitrampet training session. Although the average speed was about 24 kph this time, there were periods when it went too fast for some of our group, and there was a certain amount of discussion about it! The main purpose of this training is to learn how to ride in a group (klungåkning) where the leaders change all the time, so that no-one has to 'pull' all the time. The problem is that the riders who are supposed to ease off when they are on the inside, and let the outside rider move over, don't, and so the outside rides goes a bit faster in order to pass, and so the overall speed just gets faster and faster!

It was very nice however, although I felt quite tired the rest of the day. This might have been made worse by the (too much) beer I had the night before, or the big fried breakfast on Saturday morning, who knows.

I hope that the weather stays nice enough to keep up this rate of cycling. For the first time I know about I'm actually ahead of the target training distance as defined on the Vätternrundan web site! With Easter coming up I expect that'll slip, but I might get out on Good Friday, while Margie is at work.

Bad news comes in threes

2009-03-21T20:18:00.002+01:00

Terry Duffy, see previous post
Alison Barratt, some one I knew at Grittleton (not very well updated site at http://grittleton.org/), died of leukaemia the other day. She was in her forties I think. I've known her from Grittleton for most of the time I've been going there, so perhaps she was a bit older (I've been going since 1982)
Ray Mangan had a stroke this week. He's also very young, about 49. It's too early yet to say how badly he's been affected.

Lets hope that's an end to this round of bad news, now that we've got Victor's christening to look forward to.

Terry Duffy

2009-03-11T08:45:00.003+01:00

The first of our generation has died.

Terry Duffy, husband to Bindy (Margie's oldest sister) had been suffering from what is called kol here, and I think is called emphysema, and had been having oxygen 16 hours every day. Whilst he was able to move about the house, he had to carry oxygen with him. This is the sad result of life long smoking, his lung capacity having been slowly destroyed to the point when he just couldn't survive on the amount of oxygen that is freely available and needed extra.

I last saw Terry at Anne's (Margie sister) 60th the year before last. We were surprised at how out of breath he was after just climbing one or two stairs. With 20/20 hindsight one could guess he had a good idea of what was coming.

Terry was just into his seventies I think.

Margie's going to the furneral which will be next Monday (16-March).

It works!

2009-03-05T13:44:00.006+01:00

Well today two technicians turned up to fix the new cooker (both have been here before). We made a few jokes about them not daring to come here alone, which they took in good part. They actually both came so they could carry out the old cooker.

Well when their man delivered the new cooker only one side of the rings worked, and nothing at all of the oven. When these two, after measuring the voltage at the outlet, and checking the wiring, it worked perfectly.

My guess is that is must have got full of damp air on the way here, which condensed, causing the, hopefully, temporary fault.

We had some fun boiling up several pans of water (very quickly), and now the oven is going through the 'burning in' procedure as prescribed in the manual.

Lets hope this is a happy ending to this long story, and that I'll find something a bit more interesting to write about here. My English conversation class has started again, this time on Wednesday evening between 17 & 19.15. Perhaps that will provide something to write about.

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2009-03-09 09.30

One of the lamps in the oven doesn't work, the fan in the oven makes a lot of noise, and the lock position doesn't lock the rings. So I called Electrolux Service, and someone is coming on Tuesday to take a look. The story isn't over yet.

2009-03-10

A man from Electrolux Service came and fixed the lamp, and showed me how to turn on, and more importantly turn off, the lock for the rings. It isn't as stated in the manual, but that's not the only error in the manual.

We looked at the fan. He took off the cover, and you can see that it is eccentric, i.e. the whole where the pressed plate fan has been drilled to go onto the shaft of its motor isn't wuite in the middle, thus the noise. He's ordered a new one, but we can only hope that it'll be better made.

But progress is being made! I stayed at home all day since it was snowing, and Margie is away (with the car). I was able to do some useful work around our HAZ1508 software (http://www.haz1508.com/).

More cooker news

2009-03-04T09:48:00.002+01:00

Well this morning the new cooker was delivered. This time the young man at least checked the wiring of the existing one to make sure that the neutral was in the right place before plugging in the new cooker.

When I tried it out however it worked fine on the right hand rings, but gave an error E6 on the left hand ones, which didn't get warm. Neither did the oven work.

One has to presume that the last connection attempt broke something, even though they claim to have 'tested' it back at their workshops. Anyway this time it is still here, but the old one is back in place. A technician will visit tomorrow with some more spares!

The rings that did work, work very quickly I must say, so if this ever does get installed I'm sure it will be great!

Perhaps I should put some recipies on this page for cold food.

Quick visit from a new cooker!

2009-02-26T12:10:00.006+01:00

This morning a new cooker made a very short visit.

When the young technician connected the new cooker he didn't notice that it says 400V on the old one, and 230V on the new one. This shouldn't mean that it is impossible to use, just that you need to connect it differently.

Well when he turned it on it showed an error message E3 on the ring display, but the clock showed on the main display. When the oven door was opened I heard a pop, and one of the fuses went.

A lot of telephone calls were made, including one I made to Jessica at Electrolux in Stockholm, who had arranged the exchange, who said that it was my responsibility to see that I chose a cooker of the right voltage. (All the induction cookers are 230V, whilst the non-induction ones seem to be all 400V)

The technician had said that the terminal block that the three phase comes out of the wall through was broken, and I'd need an electrician to fix it.

Anyway the young man reconnected our old cooker, and took the new one away, so we haven't moved very far in all this!

I'm annoyed with Electrolux Service for incorrectly connecting this new cooker, and I also annoyed with Electrolux in Stockholm's attitude that I should know to check the voltage when I chose the cooker!

In twenty years time when it's time to change cooker again, I'll not be looking at Electrolux or Husqvarna, if of course I still have enough mables left to have much use of a cooker! This whole experience is a disgrace. Of course I might be looking at buying another cooker much sooner if this doesn't get sorted out, and you can be sure it won't come from Electrolux!

When the Electrolux Service technician said that we needed an electrician to sort out the socket, I assumed that he would be able to fix one. Every plumber/builder/general dogs body seems to be able to get in electricians, but not Electrolux Service. Not only are none of their people qualified (there is a special legal requirement for 'el-behörighet' to do most electrical installations here in Sweden) but they couldn't even ring up and fix one!

I have found an electrician, who should be able to do the job tomorrow. Perhaps I'll ask him about cookers!

I'm sure there'll be more to tell before this story is finished.

----
1300 - Electrolux Service rang to say that the cooker worked fine when they tested it, and we agreed they could deliver on Tuesday.
----
Friday p.m. - The electrician came, and replaced the cables to the cooker with cables that include a neutral, and installed a Perilex socket. So now all that should be required is to deliver and plug in! That's promised for tomorrow Tuesday sometime.

They said that this is a rather common job these days, obviously the wiring standards have changed over the years. It seems strange to me that they would ever not include a neutral, but what do I know!
----
Tuesday 12.15

When they didn't ring I rang Electrolux Service, who said they have it down as 4-mar (Wednesday). Good job I wasn't staying at home specially.

The cooker story, continued....

2009-02-18T16:45:00.003+01:00

Well it's starting to look up at last. After I wrote my snotty mail to Electrolux Service, they sent Anders round again, who fixed the problem he'd caused. It was clear that they were happy to just keep coming and fix it until the guarantee expired, so I sent more or less the same mail to the shop where we bought it from.

That kicked off a much better response. Another Anders rang me from them and said that he'd passed on my mail to his contact in Electrolux, who would either get back to him or directly to me, either way a replacement was the most probably outcome.

The following day, right enough, a gent from Electrolux in Stockholm rang to offer me a new oven, and take away this one. Wooppee!! It would be passed on to some other department who shortly after sent me a mail explaining that the model we have is no longer made, and enclosing descriptions of two replacement models.

She also said that since these were a bit cheaper than the one I had they'd pay me the difference! If however I would prefer a different model that was going to be much more, then I'd have to pay them ther difference. Wow, eminently reasonable.

So I looked on their web site amongst all the different models they have. It's amazing how many different sorts of ovens there are! After closer examination I began to understand their numbering system. Part of the model number is the width (5, 6 or 7 for 500, 600 or 700mm, we have a slot 600mm, which is the normal standard here). Then there's a letter for single of double oven, another for white or stainless, and even one for gas, electric ceramic, or induction rings.

When we eliminate all the gas, wrong sizes, and just plain odd cookers we end up with a sensible number to look at. After talking to Margie last night we concluded that we would like the single (i.e. big) oven rather than the double (two smaller of course) models. The curious thing is that they put the interesting features like fan, grilling etc., in the lower of the two ovens!

Now we are just left with choosing between normal ceramic rings, and induction. There is a cost penalty for induction of about 4000SEK, not to mention scrapping some of our albeit cheaper pots and pans which won't work with induction.

So now all we have to do is decide!

Nice skiing yesterday

2009-02-15T09:52:00.010+01:00

The weather here was absolutely beautiful yesterday. Temperature was about -5C and the sun was shining on the snow, so I went out for a go on my skis.

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone while waiting at the top of a long down hill for the people in front of me to go down.

The sun's gone in today, but I want to go out again, while we still have enough snow!

Update (Sunday 15 Feb) I went out again today, although the sun didn't shine so much it was also very nice. This time I did the 15km track, which is more varied than the other shorter ones. The tracks are very well prepared, thanks IFK Västerås.

Continuing saga of our cooker

2009-02-15T04:46:00.005+01:00

Two and a half years ago we bought a rather fancy cooker. It's a Huskvarna, with an electronic display. It's very nice, with ceramic hob, and an oven that doesn't make the surface of the cooker warm (there's a fan that blows air through an air cavity that surrounds the oven)

Well unfortunately we've had a lot of trouble with it. Very shortly after we got it we noticed that the rings would get turned off by themselves. This wasn't more than an irritation because you just had to start them again. However I rang Electrolux Service, who sent out someone who changed something. A few months later and it happened again, and they changed something else.....

Then a ring wouldn't start at all. This was fixed.

Then a few weeks ago it got very exciting. We had the oven on, and after about 15 minutes or so it started making a clicking noise, which got more dramatic until it sounded and looked like a pin-ball machine. Fortunately our food was just ready when the oven stopped completely.

They came and changed something, and so I tested it by letting it run at max heat for 2.5 hours.

Guess at my annoyance the day after when after a few minutes the rings I had on turned themselves off! I called them out again, and a very nice man called Anders, who had been before, came and fiddled with the connectors in the hope of fixing this intermittent fault.

Yesterday morning, two days after that visit, I turned it on to boil eggs, and BANG! Well pop really, then the main display went through a few different coombinations including everything it had, to end up blank, the four numbers all showed 0, and a fuse went!

I've written a comment on Electrolux's service page and wait to hear what they are going to do about it. My faith will be restored if the change the cooker completely, restart the three year guarantee and promise to buy it back if I get any more faults. I will of course be satisfied if I get a cooker that works!

Here what I wrote this time (to which they've responded to say they'll do something):

Hej!

model nr.   QSG6140W
Produkt nr  *******-**
Serienr.  *******
Type  SSRC
Total Effekt 10736W

Köpt för snart 3 år sedan.

Jag har haft besök från Electrolux service flera gånger under dessa år p.g.a. fel.
Ni kan säkert kolla upp alla detaljer. För ca två veckor sedan bytte man ett kort
med reläer efter ett fel där efter ca 30 minuter med ugnen på displayed började
blinkar, reläer hördes klickar inuti, och snart stängde av sig hela apperaten.

Sedan i söndags den allra första felen upprepade sig, med två små plattor på
blinkade det till lite, och de två plattor stängdes av och det visade bara
sträkor i stället för siffror i displayen. En tekniker kom i torsdags och
tittade på detta och försökte förbättre kontaktorerna internt.

Nu i morse när jag skulle slå på en platta hördes a smäll inuti, sedan
slocknade det hela, och en säkring sprack. Jag har endast tagit ut alla
tre säkringar, och nu är vi utan spis.

Om Ni tycker att detta är acceptabel fel frekvens vill jag att Ni säger
så, så att jag kan undvika alla dina produkter i all framtiden. Jag är
fullständigt trött med denna nivå av tillgänglighet, även om Electrolux
Service har alltid kommit, och är mycket trevligt. Nu måste man ha bytt
varje kort minst en gång.

Vad tänkte Ni erbjuder denna mycket misnöjd kund? Jag kan inte lita på
denna spis längre, så jag hoppas att Ni kan komma med någontin bättre
än ännu ett besök från Electrolux Service.

Jag har inte skrivt till någon media eller ARN ännu, men det är bara en
tidsfråga.

MVH an mycket besvikna kund.

Sorry if you don't understand Swedish, try a google translation.

I'll keep this page informed of further developments.

New things in a new year

2009-01-15T14:04:00.002+01:00

Quite a few things starting up.

Victor's Christening

Well it looks like Victor will be christened at 2 p.m. on Sunday 29-March, in the Domkyrkan (Cathedral) here in Västerås, subject to confirmation next week some time.

Ruth was asked about musicians, and said that she had one (meaning me). So I don't know what that will involve, but I don't expect to get paid for it! She said in her mail:

They asked about musicians and I said we had one (pls note! I do not mean Edward or Mum on the violin J) so I hope that we can sort something out with you Dad.

She didn't actually exclude the McNamara wind ensamble but I don't suppose that was what she had in mind.

I wonder if she's thinking of a solo fiddle piece or will she want piano/organ as well? What sort of music do you play at Christnings anyway? Onward Christian Soldiers? Abide with me?

Perhaps I should get some keyboard practice in and say that I'll play a hymn on the organ, that would be fun!

She's getting the Domkyrkan because she lives in it's parish I think. I don't think there'll be any problem of space anyway! I wonder if she'll be getting a crowd from England. I imagine that Johnnie's family will be represented, but that still leaves a few hundred empty places.

I've often wondered how to say no if asked to play at a funeral of somebody I know. I suppose that playing and crying is still possible, whereas I know that I can't sing and cry simultaneously, and I cry easily. But Christenings are happy occasions whatever one thinks about the religious aspect of it, we all enjoy watching small babies and Victor likes bath time and swiming, so unless they get cold water he'll probably just want to kick and splash.

English Conversation course

I had mailed the organising lady at ABF about my English conversation course this term. I had asked if it could be on the same evening as Margaret's beginners English, which she had asked to be moved to Wednesday. (This was actually my idea so that it didn't clash with KAMUS practice, but then I forgot to write anything about it on the attendance form when I returned it, that's why I mailed).

Well someone from ABF rang yesterday and wanted to check that I wanted to do it on Wednesday evenings, and would I be able to do a second course on the same evening! Actually I think I can, it isn't very difficult for me to run this course since all I have to do is prod them every now and then, and they then do all the work.

Mazer Sigtuna Music course

I decided not to go to a course in England just before Easter that David William-Olsson had asked about, mostly because of the cost (both money and time). So I decided that I'd like to try leading something, and work at it at the Sigtuna course at the end of January. John Teague was happy to play 2nd violin, but then I was a bit stuck.

Solbritt who isn't a member, but is a very good cellist and lives locally, said she'd like to come, so the only difficulty was the viola (of course!). David W-O gave my a list of names of people that might be interested, of whom the ones I managed to contact couldn't/wouldn't/didn't want to do it. So I tried my dear friend Kathy in England, who to my enormous surprise and delight said yes!

Just to complicate things John is traveling down to Spain on the Monday straight after the course, so we won't be able to perform it then, which would have been nice. However Kathy has said that she'd like to come back and stay a bit longer, with her husband, and perform it then, so we get two visits from Kathy. For those who don't know, Kathy is a regular at Grittleton.

Mechanics and acoustics of violin bowing

One of the members of Mazer is just about to finish his doctorate at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskola ~= Royal Technical University) on Mechanics and acoustics of violin bowing and has just published his Doctoral Thesis, which you can find here. This is of course of great interest to players, and probably of absolutely no interest to anyone else. However I'm in the former group, so I mention it here.

Erwin Schoonderwaldt comes from Holland, has a very nice girlfriend (who comes from Germany, or is it the other way round?) and they both play very well. I've had the pleasure of playing with them on various occasions, mostly at Riddersvik.

One very interesting thing that has come out of Erwin's work can be seen on YouTube via this place. He has visualized bow movements, and complete violin playing, which makes for interesting annimations.

Margaret's job situation

She is temporarily working as stand-in 'husmor' (not sure what that's called in English, but sort of cook I suppose) at our local church. The previous person has left rather suddenly, so the job has become vacant, and Margaret is doing some of it for a couple of months. She'd have to apply for the job if she wants it, but I imagine that if she hasn't poisoned anyone or blasfemed too much, she should be in with a good chance if she wants it. There is the unanswered (unasked?) question of pay, and more importantly whether she actually wants it. She suffers from back pains if she does too much kitchen work.

The hours would suit her better than the care assistant job she's also doing, although she does seem to enjoy that.

She also has the English for beginners course at ABF, and First Aiders' training for the Red Cross, so she's got plenty to do!

Christmas & New Year

2009-01-01T14:30:00.002+01:00

I see that I haven't written anything in here for a while so I think I'd better report how the festive season has gone for me.

Christmas Eve

Margaret was working in the morning and also had to return to put her client to bed. This was very practical for me, since it meant that she had to stay sober so she could drive. She was very kind and drove me to Kjell and Maggan's, then after a while left me there to go to work, and later returned to take me home!

Christmas has always been quite practical for us since as we celebrate on the day (or quite often on Boxing Day) the Swedish tradition is to meet up for a lot of food and some drinks on Chistmas Eve, Julafton. This means that Ruth and Edward are available to be with their in-laws for Julafton, and with us on the 25th or 26th.

This year now that we have a grandchild we suggested that it would be nice to rotate the hosting, and we all met up at Ruth, Johnnie and Victor's on Boxing day. It was a very nice day, for us at least, and Ruth admitted that it was a lot of work. It was very nice to have Nut Roast instead of the usual turkey, I've missed nut roasts since we stopped being veggy.

New Year's Eve
Once again Margie was working. We were both invited to Maggan and Kjell's so I walked there and Margie came later and was once again able to drive me home.

And now it's 2009. Today Margie and I had a nice meal together at last.

I've been discovered!

2008-11-23T17:24:00.003+01:00

Ruth and Johnnie have found this blog! After all this time writing in secret. They pointed out that since I subscribe to their jrbaby.blogspot.com they got informed about this one. I'll have to tell Margaret about it soon, I've been a clossit blog writer!

Well I suppose I have to get used the idea that other people can read stuff I write on the Internet even if I do nothing at all to advertise it.

Margaret has been away on a Red Cross course all week (since Monday) in Gripsholm. I collected her on Tuesday afternoon. When I mentioned this to my English students on Thursday the first thing they said - you've got to cook for yourself then! It's interesting that even in 21st century Sweden, one of the more equal societies in the world as far as gender is concerned people assume that the woman does the cooking! Of course they are right, but I can survive, and quite well in fact.

I have in fact cooked for myself and Margaret quite a lot over the thirty plus years we've lived together.

Big weekend coming up

2008-11-06T14:57:00.003+01:00

It's my 'Heinz' birthday on Saturday. For those that don't know how many that is I can tell you that when I was small Heinz used to advertise their 57 varieties.

I share my birthday, although not my age, with Kjell Jäder, Julia's (Edward's partner) father.

We will be a big group round at our house on Saturday evening, Kjell and Maggan, Edward and Julia, Margaret and me, plus Ruth and Victor. Victor is going to his first Baby-Swim on Sunday, and will be staying over at our house Saturday night.

So all in all, a big weekend.

English conversation classes

2008-10-29T14:04:00.004+01:00

After living here for over twenty years I've finally been asked to run an English conversation class for ABF.

Last week Margaret was asked at the last minute if she could take a class because the teacher had rung in sick. She was already booked to run another English for beginners class the same evening, but she agreed to do an hour before starting the other course.

I said in passing that perhaps I should take it on, and she suggested that to ABF, who have now asked me to do it in place of this other teacher who has apparently let them down.

So now I have to talk with these people for 2.25 hours tomorrow (3 'teaching hours' of 45 mins = 2h15m 'real time'). We should meet for eight times in all, that takes it right up to the week before Christmas.

Margaret said that the three that turned up last week were very nice, so hopefully this will all work out all right. It'll be nice to get another, if very small, income in these hard times!

When the lady from ABF rang this morning it seemed that she already had my details, although she had a wrong digit in my ID number. I can't remember when or what, but I do have a memory of doing something there before. Perhaps I never got paid for it, and the money will turn up now (carried to me by those flying pigs I expect).

Perhaps I'll add to this post, or create a new one after the experience tomorrow evening - watch this space!

----

Well it went well, 5 of the 8 turned up, and we had an interesting conversation. We covered most of the topics usually included in 'putting the world to rights', so I set the the homework of coming next week with a topic about which they can talk. I'd better take some topics myself as well, to be sure.

Greetings Strangers!

2008-10-27T12:32:00.003+01:00

Well this blog has been read in other parts of the world. I haven't told anyone about it, but according to the map on this page it's been read in Germany, UK and USA!

Well Hello there folks! I'd love to know who's reading this, so please put in a comment.

Once again Greetings!

Riddersvik weekend

2008-10-27T12:28:00.002+01:00

Riddersvik

11 & 12 Oct the Mazer weekend play-in at Riddersvik took place. I had a group of Grittletonians from England and Germany come and play Frank Bridge's string sextet. I played the 2nd cello part on my bass. I knew this could be done because I've heard The Uppsala Kammersoloisterna play it on the radio that way.

The line up was

David Hughes (UK) - Violin 1
John Teague (Stockholm) - Violin 2
Alice Smol (UK) - Viola 1
Kathy Reed (UK) - viola 2
Peter S-T (Germany) - cello 1
Me (Sweden) - cello2 / double bass

We performed it at the Mazer spelafton on Monday (13 Oct) evening. It has become something of a tradition with sextets and larger groups of my friends coming to Riddersvik, then playing at Mazer. It is a very nice weekend for all concerned.

New month old problems

2008-10-03T14:11:00.005+02:00

Well October has started, and I still haven't been paid from last month. This is unfortunately not a new problem. Our company has serious cash flow problems caused by the awkwardness of one of our bigger customers.

Work is plodding along as usual. Loads to do, not enough time to do it in, the usual. But everyone says that don't they!

Anyway, on the brighter side Margaret is now working, so there's money coming in there.

Ruth seems to be growing in her role as mother, and Victor is getting bigger apparently. I still have a while to get the train set organized however.

A good weekend!

2008-09-15T08:37:00.007+02:00

Ruth gave birth on Saturday. The jrbaby.blogspot.com post went like this:

DSC00090

Vår son föddes / Our son was born: 13 Sep 2008,12.11 pm, 4415g, 54cm

Posted by johnnie at 16:03

Edward and Julia stayed with us on Saturday night, because we'd planned a family meal, assuming that the family would be 7 by then, which of course it was, but three were still at the hospital.

On Sunday we were able to visit, so we were all together for the first time. We've got loads of pictures, some of which might get onto this blog, although I'm sure there'll be plenty on Ruth and Johnnie's site.

Saturday morning was rather stressful, just waiting, not knowing what was going on. Johnnie said on Sunday that after Margaret had rung the hospital, he was on his way to call us, but then Ruth wasn't in the sort of state he could leave her.

We asked about which language she was using when talking to the baby, and it seems that English comes first. When asked about the language during the delivery, English was obviously saved up for the really tough parts. Johnnie said that the staff didn't understand so very much English! I expect that they'd probably never heard the really rude English that probably came out!

The little fellow will probably be called Victor Rune Edward McNamara. Ruth said that they've been reluctant to tell anyone the names, because then it stops being a 'working title' and becomes more permanent.

It's official! Johnnie on the jrbaby blog site has now announced the name!

Since she told us, I suspect that these fine names will probably stick. We'd informally started to call him Harry (same name as Ruth's cat, who died incidentally last October), this is also a good name, and it seems that Ruth took a long time over deciding his name as well!

Oh yes, before visiting on Sunday Edward, Julia, Margaret and I went mushroom picking and got quite a lot.

All in all a good weekend.

No grandchild yet!

2008-08-27T12:39:00.004+02:00

Ruth is expecting, as is well known to readers of this blog (i.e. me), and as of Monday is overdue.

Margaret points out that she was late, so this is probably to be expected.

Holiday report

2008-08-06T11:42:00.007+02:00

Two weeks in Germany, one week at Grittleton.

(Full details at here)

We drove down to Lahr on the edge of the Black Forest. We stayed at a friend Peter's house. He and I play together at Grittleton, and have done so since some time in the eighties. He's a cellist (I'm a viola player in case you didn't know that).

The weather was mixed. Some days it was splendid, other wet.

Surprise for Margie

We drove down on the Friday, staying in northern Germany that night, then going onto Transinne in Belgium. We had decided to stay at a hotel there which we'd found a couple of years ago. The hotel isn't great, but the restaurant is!

What Margie didn't know was that I'd arranged for our best friends from England to also stay that night, so it was a super surprise when Jo knocked on our door pretending to be a maid! We had a very nice evening, and a good walk the following morning before they drove back to the UK, and we went onto the Lahr.

While in Germany we rode on a steam train, popped over to France a number of times, and did a fair bit of walking. A very nice change from the normal routine.

On our way down Margie was called up and told that she'd been offered a 50% job, so that was some more good news.

Grittelton

After our return I went off for my annual week of intense chamber music. I probably play as much during that week as I do for at least half the year in between!

I'm now organising a visit by some Grittletonians to the Mazer Riddersvik weekend in october. We're planning on playing the Frank Bridge Sextet on the Monday night.

Back to Work!

Plenty to do, usual situation! Usual cash flow problems both me and the company.

Off on hols

2008-07-10T15:05:00.005+02:00

We're off to Germany for our hols. I'll probably write something about it here (or elsewhere, like my wiki)

Been planning routes etc. today. Booked in a hotel for tomorrow night at www.neukirchener-hof.de which looks nice.

Saturday we're staying in Transinne in Belgium. Then from Sunday we'll be in Lahr staying at Peter's house.

We come back after two weeks, then I fly off to England for Grittleton.

Teenager finds baby bat in her bra

2008-07-09T15:27:00.002+02:00

This story is just silly, but fun!

Teenager finds baby bat in her bra

Margie's Official Birthday

2008-07-09T15:18:00.002+02:00

Margaret's actual birthday is right in the middle of the holiday season, and most people are on holiday, so she had an 'official birthday' (like the Queen of England does).

The day was very enjoyable for all of us that attended, Ruth, Johnnie, Edward, Julia, myself and of course Margaret.

After the traditional 'surprise' bubbly breakfast, when we all turned up to eat scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and some of us (actually them) drank Champagne, we drove off to Sala Silver Mine where we got a tour in English.

Lunch was followed by a 'try it yourself' glass blowing session, where the birthday girl made a very nice globe, which now graces our living room.

The day was concluded with a sea food feast at Ruth and Johnnie's, which happens to lie on the cruising route for Power Big Meet, where thousands of 1950's American cars all descend on Västerås.

It was indeed a very nice day. Thanks to all those involved.

FRA lagen / Swedish spying law

2008-07-04T13:20:00.006+02:00

Much controversy has erupted here over the new FRA law, which permits the Swedish spying service to intercept all cable traffic which crosses the Swedish borders. There are loads of 'safeguards' put in which probably mean that as long as the people involved keep to the law they won't actually be able to do anything useful, but of course once you build a tap into the cables who knows what will actually be seen.

If you want to send me [frank (at) mcnamara (dot) se] mail my public key is here.

I enjoyed this reworking of the Swedish national anthem on YouTube. While there I also found this (Swedish girls in the Army) little jem.

Much has been written about this, I'd just like to add that whilst I think the whole idea of the state poking about into people's private stuff stinks, this at least has shown that people don't like the idea. What's not said very much here is that most of the world works like this anyway, and that traffic on the Internet, phone etc. is already being searched through.

The odd thing is that here we have actually made a law allowing it, instead of in my former land (UK), where it almost certainly has been going on for years, just getting on with it and not telling anyone. But we have a written constitution of course.

Cycle season 2008

2008-07-03T16:59:00.004+02:00

This summer in common with the past five, has seen a number of cycle events for Margaret and I.

Energitrampet 31-May-08 Västerås
Margaret did the 70km, and I did the 123km.

Tjejvättern 7-June-08 Motala
Margaret did this 90km on the Saturday, then I did the:

Halvvättern 8-June-08 Motala
150km warm up for the:

Vätternrundan 13/14-June-08
I started with a friend from KAMUS.

I've summarized our performances on my wiki here.

First entry

2008-07-02T14:13:00.000+02:00

Well following Ruth & Johnnie's excellent jrbaby blog I just had to try it out!