The R Team and Pancakus Maximus

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, Ian, Wolf and I boards the train to Copenhagen where we'll meet Steve and then Pete from Brighton. 4 days of musical bliss at Roskilde. And Motorhead!

Meanwhile the amazing R Team - Gitte, Sussi, Astrid and Yvonne - will be helping out here and keeping Kai and Zoe out of mischief so that Ulrika can keep on top of things.

Hot here so I won't need an umbrella or my wellies.

Bliss!

To sleep perchance

Summer is not good for sleep here. The long hours of daylight mean that Kai has problems getting to sleep and then wakes very early in the morning. And the bloody dawn chorus starts at about 3.00 am!

Midsummer. And Midjumper!

A few photos from our Midsummer celebrations out at Danne and Helena's which were a great success.

Kai spent hours on the trampoline.

And here's Zoe picking forest flowers to decorate the maypole and then later on in the day, flirting shamelessly with the DJ from Disco Danne, Ortala Lund's groovy new hotspot!

Beyond my Ken!

A wonderful featurette to whet our appetites for Toy Story 3 featuring Ken.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkg2ptFFTD4

Not, regretably, the ex-mayor of London! Now that would be fun.

While we're on the subject of Ken (the plastic one, that is) here's a version of that song about his better half which is a great favourite here in Kärrtorp. We were under the impression that it's sung in Japanese until some cunning linguist (probably Ian) pointed out that it's actually sung in Russian. A cracker whatever language it is!

Midsummer? Not so murderous!

Kai, Zoe and I are out at Danne and Helena's summer place. Tomorrow we will celebrate the great, Swedish,pagan holiday of Midsummer.


Ulrika felt that she wasn't really yet up to daubing herself in woad and dancing naked round the maypole, as is customary during the celebrations, so she has stayed in town to take it easy.Stockholm is like a ghost town during midsummer weekend.There is always a vaste exodus to the countryside. The lack of background noise from traffic is a real ear-opener. One suddenly realises how much background noise one endures every day when it's no longer there.

Tomorrow morning we will get up early and a tractor will drive all the children into the forest to pick wild flowers to decorate the maypole.

The whole celebration is very uncommercialised and amateur in the very best sense of the word.

Zoe has already been dancing a bit with Helena and Vendela to ensure that tomorrow night she will be a dancing queen, ready to pingle all night long!

Palindromedary

Andrew, that brainbox of Valencia, sent me this link, which should appeal to many of the readers of this blog.


http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/06/broody-baba-yaga-a-note-on-palindromes.html

The return of the Mummy

Carol told me about this article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/22/recovering-brain-injury


Interesting reading. The problem when someone is recovering from a brain injury, as against something like a broken leg, is that they look perfectly normal and act normally. But they get tired easily and tolerate no stress.

The doctor today explained how Ulrika will suffer from brain fatigue for a while and will rapidly get tired. She has a small supply of mental energy for each day and must use it carefully.

Maybe we should cover Ulrika's head in plaster or bandages to signify that she is still recovering?

Kai would probably go for that. My Mummy is a Mummy!

Sweet Home a la Mamma?

A big day for us today. Ulrika is leaving hospital and coming home. She's been away since 17 May! This isn't to say that she's fully recovered. She can't drive for 3 months and won't be returning to work until August when she'll start probably working 50%. All the same, she's made marvelous progress and it will wonderful to have her back.

But poor girl! I fear it will be a shock for her to return to Vikstensvägen and reality. I suspect that her absence has led her to believe that she lives in a designer palace with Brad Pitt. Tough then to come to terms with life in a suburban shanty town with a fat, bald John Peel clone!

While she's been away there's been a turf war between three factions in the family.

Zoe has done her best to turn our home into a 24 hour hour disco. Studio 53? All that girl wants to do is dance. That is when she hasn't been empyting every cupboard and receptacle of its contents and strewing them over the whole flat.

Kai, meanwhile has been filling every nook and cranny with robots and mechanical monsters. That is when he's not been watching Transformer cartoons arounbd the clock. His vision clearly is that our home should be as similar to the planet Cybertron as possible.

And of course, it's no secret that my dream is to have a home that resembles a branch of my favourite record shop. You can't open a cupboard without finding an interesting pile of obscure CDs or indeed DVDs of anime masterpieces.

Between us we have created Studio Hamley Kulti!

Jinkies! Have I got some tidying up to do!

Klingon and other invented languages

Another interesting article from my pal John Timpane in Philadelphia!


http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/96646229.html?viewAll=y#axzz0rWubkOu6

I don't want to be a pinhead no more, I've just found some brass that I can go for!

How many Ramones cover albums do I need? Well these two are certainly worth a listen.

First out, The Nutley Brass play the Ramones Songbook.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO3fOFe9_eo

Thank you Martin for putting me onto that: the fab four elevator style! It certainly gave me a lift!

And now the boys from Rockaway Beach go on a hot date with some gurls from Ipanema.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Ha3XCLw3w

Bossa Bossa Hey!

Glad Tidyings of Great Joy

Ulrika is coming home over the weekend to see how she copes with "normal" life. So I've been tidying up all day. Not so much housework as an archeological dig, particularly the kids' room. There are large areas there which have not seen the light of day for centuries. As the weeks have gone on, layer upon layer of stuff has accumulated as Zoe empties every cupboard she can and Kai discards things everywhich way.

I'm making all sorts of discoveries: innumerable robot spare parts, a Japanese fan from Kai's first ever rock concert (Asaksa Jinta), sundry seashells, rocks and other aquatic flotsam and jetsam,a copy of the Magna Carta, a pizza carton from the dynasty of Tutenkamun and the Holy Grail.

Not bad for a morning's work.

One small word!

After 57 days " the invisible man" opens his mouth and puts his foot right in it!

"We care about the small people."

One "small" word used wrongly, and the CEO of BP is in even hotter water. I suppose that a "big" person like him doesn't think to run what's he's going to say past a native speaker.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/bp-chairman-we-care-about-the-small-people/19519355/


Gary and I could have saved him a lot of grief. Thank goodness he didn't say "We care about the little people". Then we'd have though he was talking about leprechauns and had really lost the plot!

Send in the marines!

Lawless gun-toting hooligans roam the streets. The infrastructure has collapsed.Food supplies have run out.There have been serious breaches of the UN Convention on Bedtimes.A monomaniac extremist has come to power.

Welcome to Vikstensvägen 53!

Sweden has a long tradition of UN missions in the more unstable parts of the world.
Continuing this good work, this evening the Swedish marines will be landing here. To be more exact, my old friend Nina and husband Sten will be coming over to cook dinner and establish a bridgehead for a trouble-free return to normality.

Nina is ideally suited for this task. For many years she has been a reservist in the Swedish marines. Military efficiency is second nature to her.

And for almost as many years, she has been refusing to tolerate any nonsense or jiggery pokery from my good self. She is well aware of the kind of japes that unruly English hooligans can get up to.

Nina likes things ship shape and Bristol fashion and I've little doubt that, by the time she returns to base, order will have been restored to the troubled province of Baksmellistan.

Notes from the Knitosphere

As a blogger, it's fun to be able to put in a plug for my fellow bloggers.

Here's the one written by Anna Maria, one of Zoe's wonderful nursery ladies. It's primarily about knitting but here are some wonderful photos of Kärrtorp wildlife taken from her kitchen window.


http://knitonnet.blogspot.com/2010/06/mor-och-barn.html

I'm more of a nit than a knitter but Anna Maria is also very interested and knowledgeable about music and has introduced me to many a fine artist in recent years.

Homeward bound!

The doctor has now announced that, all being well, Ulrika can return home next Wednesday 23 June. Great news!

First of all she's coming home for the weekend to see how she copes and then on Wednesday she'll be back.

Here she is with Susan, Zoe's wonderful resource person, at today's Nursery Garden Party.

When they squirt down your front door, how you gonna come?

I knew I shouldn't have introduced Kai to Snoop Dogg and Warren G!

On Thursday they are going to have a Water War at school, so today I took Kai and Frida down to our local weapon supplier to get them properly equipped. The pieces they are sporting are called Saturators. Zoe also got herself tooled up for the ensuing deluge.

A bit scary how, without any prompting or suggestions from me, the two of them got into gangster rap poses. Weapon fetishism begins at an early age.

Add your own captions!

Oh water! Lovely war!

Machine gun wetiquette

Fear of a child planet?

Wet man in Hammersmith pool, eh?

Guns of Kärrtorp?

Language police

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/david-mitchell-comment-is-free

Moving the goalposts?

DN mentioned this article this morning so I read it on the Grauniad website. Makes me very glad I'm not in England enduring all that appalling Sun-fueled, beer-sodden jingoism!


http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/10/world-cup-not-supporting-england

Oh for the 1960s when footballers used to travel by public transport to the matches!

Call me a fogey, but things ain't what they used to be! These youngsters today with their loud music and their guitars! Appalling!

Not so much Pirate Bay more a case of Pyro Bay

Kai has never expressed any opinions on his favourite directors, however I suspect Ingmar Bergman ain't one of them. Michael Bay though, the man behind the two Transformer live action movies, is probably near the top of the list. Now there's an auteur who understands the needs of a seven-year old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKrQ0umHUGA

Thanks to Sam Brown, Kieron's son, for putting me on to this.

Lively times for the Undead

What do you do on a Saturday afternoon with a bored seven-year old? Take him down to the Zombie Walk, of course. I received this fine photo from Tor Zombiedad and Tycho who spent some of Saturday walking with the Undead.

Children of today are pretty unphased by vampires, zombies, werewolves etc and seem pretty clued up about what to do with them. In fact if the earth got threatened by a giant robot invasion or a plague of zombies, I'd hand things over to a gang of seven-year olds. They'd soon get things sorted.

Zombies, in case you hadn't noticed are big business these days. Kai has a DVD of a cute children's TV series called Zombie Hotel and one can even buy zombie jim-jams for toddlers.

Tor and Tycho later wandered down to a medieval event in Gamla Stan.I remember going to one of these a few years back and benusedly asking a pock-marked, bewarted peasant in stinking rags who was stirring a cauldron what he did as a day job.

You're joking! He replied.Things are booming in our business sector.

And what sector might that be? I asked.

The medieval sector of course. It's spreading like the Black Death. If you want a career with a future I recommend the Middle Ages!

Time for Debrett's Pop Peerage?

Many years ago, when I was studying to become a Blue Badge guide in London, a very useful reference book was Debrett's Peerage, an invaluable guide to the British aristocracy. I think it's time for them to diversify and produce a guide to the aristocracy of pop.

Yesterday Kai overheard me talking to Ian about the fact that Prince is playing at Roskilde this year.

But Daddy, he's dead.

No, Kai, Michael Jackson is dead. He was the King of Pop.

I thought you said he was the Prince of Pop.

Well yeah, he was but then he died and now he's the King of Pop.

I thought that was Elvis.

No, no. he's the King of Rock.

Well, I prefer Lordi anyway. And he's not dead either. Just undead. Is he Prince of Anything?

Well, no, maybe he's a minor Duke of Darkness. Cos Ozzy Osbourne is the Prince of Darkness.

Who's King of Darkess, Daddy ?

That position is vacant at present, darling.

I'm just grateful he didn't mention Lady Gaga, the Sultans of Swing, King Sunny Ade or Queen Latifah.

And let's not get into religion! I don't want to have to explain about Judas Priest, Deacon Blue or indeed why dear old Mozzer is the Pope of Mope.

Breakfast in Peckersville

Walking home through the forest after the school run, I was lucky enough to see our neighbour, mother woodpecker, delivering breakfast to her chick who even obliged me by sticking its head out of the hole.
Actually, I'm not too hot on woodpecker sexing, so it may well have been dad who was doing the catering.

Magic! A real David Attenborough moment.

Let them eat cake!

A visit out to Täby Kyrkby to The Crazy World of Kieron Brown to celebrate Katie's third birthday. It was Ulrika's first social engagement in a month (the rehabilitation centre let her out for the afternoon) and a good time was had by all.

Camilla Brown bakes the best cakes in the world. Ever!

A week ago Ulrika was in a wheelchair - now she can walk unaided and even climb a flight of stairs. Progress! If you didn't know she was hospitalised you probably wouldn't even suspect it.

But of course, we have a way to go. She still gets tired very easily and has zero stress tolerance and gets worried about things.

Nice to see The Brown family, Ian and Suzanne, Majken and Wolfgang. It reminded me of Kai's disappointment the first time that he met Wolf who he'd heard a lot about.

But Daddy! He's only one bloke! Where's the rest of the gang?

Genetically deficient!

It is a well-known fact among my pals that in (at least!) one area I am genetically deficient: I am an Englishman who has no knowledge or interest in football. One one historic occasion I tried to watch a match with Ian. I was fast asleep before the end of the first innings.

I realise that this is my great loss and I will be missing a hours of drama and excitement in the next four weeks.Gary, Duncan, Ian, Kieron and t'lads are all intensely preoccupied with some sort of prediction table, the mind-boggling complexity of which leaves me gob-smacked.

Ian sent me this, this which will doubtless be very useful in the weeks to come:

http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-en
glish.html

I am not a quitter and will doubtless give it another go. Sweden are playing Liechtenstein this evening,I believe, so I'll give it a try.

Zoe, at least, is getting into the spirit of things and kicking a football around the flat. Her money is clearly on Argentina. She and Messy have a lot in common!

Tiny peckers

Kai, his pal Konrad and I were walking home through the forest after the end of term celebrations on Wednesday when our attention was grabbed by a hole in a tree from which came an almighty row. On closer examination, we discovered it was a bird's nest and the baby birds inside were screaming for lunch.

An intelligent guess tells me that they were woodpecker chicks. The more knowlegeable twitchers among you will doubtless be mines of useful information on Nordic 'peckers.I apologise for my ignorance.

Everything is so green here right now. Summer arrives at a hurtling pace in Stockholm and the birds and the bees get to work with a vengeance. One week everything is deep in snow,the next it's spring (which seems to only last seven days)and then the week after that summer is in full swing.

I think it's indicative of how Swedified I've become that I get so excited about this sort of thing. These days I really need to live near a forest so that, if need be, I can go out and hug a few trees or roll around in a heap of dead leaves.

Despatch from our man (on the roof) in Somaliland

Cousin Andy has been up on the roof again.Here's his latest despatch entitled FGM. Depressing stuff!

Due to the security policy I have to take my exercise on the roof, walking round in circles, more than a little like a high security prisoner. I was on the roof the other night about 9pm when a large white car came through the gate and slowly went round the bollards and stopped in front of the hospital entrance. The rear door opened and two large bats got out. Well I was looking down from almost directly above, and it took me a minute to recognise two women dressed from head to toe in black. They entered the hospital and I was curious because the complete black outfit is rare in Somaliland. After a while they came out and one went and sat in the car and the other walked across to the pharmacy. It was clear that these were expensive robes as they were both copious and light, so they fluttered in the breeze. It was also clear that the wearers were not old. Eventually the second woman entered the rear of the car and the car left. I was intrigued.

There are two young American women working in the hospital as volunteers in order to get experience as they have both applied to medical schools. I asked one of them over breakfast if she had seen the women in black. She told me that it was the wedding night of one of them and that the other was her friend, accompanying her. The wedding celebration starts about 6pm and when the female relatives of the groom have inspected her she comes to the hospital to be opened.

The American likes to attend the births and she also confirmed that most females in Somaliland have been cut.

Natalie Merchant interview

It won't have escaped your notice that Natalie Merchant's new double album,Leave your sleep, is one of the best of 2010. My old university pal, John Timpane, has just interviewed her. Enjoy!


http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/96031694.html#axzz0qS1alLhF

Ellen muses on Moomin and Miyazaki

The mutual fascination between the Finns and the Japanese has interested me ever since I spent a year in Helsinki.

Ellen (Percival), currently an undergraduate student in London, sent me this excerpt from a paper she's written, quite rightly presuming that I'd be very keen to reead it. Now I'm sharing it with you. Thanks Ellen for letting me post this.





"Lastly, although I have not been able to conduct research in any way
other than through books, I have long been intrigued by the Japanese
passion for Moomins. Certainly, Moomins are kawaii, which explains a
chunk of their appeal, but it seemed to me that the connection ran
deeper. As the virtual museum on moomin.com attests, when Tove and
Tooti travelled to the region in the 1970s, the Japanese publisher
believed that the Moomins’ popularity was due to a lost sense of
togetherness experienced by broken families: the Moomin family offered
“a rewarding combination of freedom and safety.” The atomisation of
Japanese society has certainly been a hot topic in national discourse
during recent decades. For centuries communal life was centred around
family houses known as ie, which existed both architecturally and in
the form of the extended family, living communally or in multiple
dwellings, but possessing one ancestral home (Hendry, 2003). Hence,
isolated, urban living does represent a dramatic shift, although I
doubt this is the only element at play.
"Other affinities may spring from Japanese religion. The pictograms
for Shinto, Japan’s native religion, translate literally as “the way
of kami”. Kami has several meanings. It can imply spirits of nature,
such as rivers, trees, rocks or the ocean; the deities dwelling in
these objects, or a collective, supernatural ancestor spirit
protecting an ie (Yusa, 2002). Human beings, such as emperors, can
also be kami. Kami are not necessarily good; anything which is
possessed of superior power, or which is particularly awe-inspiring
could be called kami. Thus, it seems to me that although characters in
Jansson’s books are not kami, they have some of the same strange,
liminal, nature-based qualities. A number of Hayao Miyazaki’s films
deal implicitly with Shinto and kami, not least ‘My Neighbour Totoro’
and ‘Spirited Away’. Having seen these I would also argue that, from a
visual perspective, Jansson’s characters and kami share an affinity.
"Japan’s ‘second’ religion is Buddhism. The Buddha taught that sorrow
and discomfort (dukkha; ku in Japanese) resulted from craving and
attachment, the catch being that everything in the universe is
impermanent and changing (the state of anicca; mujō in Japanese).
Thus, things break down, fade and die, including beloved moments,
objects, and the bodies of oneself and others. It seems to me that
Jansson’s Moomin books, particularly the later volumes, deal with
themes not dissimilar to these, and attempt to show a path through
loneliness and suffering. The landscape of Moominvalley and its
surroundings is often evocative of mujō, for instance in autumn,
during storms, or at the end of summer."

Embossed?

Music is a great source of solace in troubled times. For most of you this probably means reaching for the Purcell, Arvo Pärt or Mozart. I have different needs.


This morning I've been listening to a double album of Rolling Stones covers done bossa nova style. What a tonic! After that it will Norwegian death punks Turbonegro given a Brazilian makeover. Then perhaps a little Morrissey a la Mariachi? Or the Irresistible Zulu Warriors of Soweto sing the Cocteau Twins songbook?

And to round things off The Who a la Ipanema: Meet the new bossa, same as the old bossa!

Marvelous!

Escape to Björkhagen

It was an extraordinary experience driving through town yesterday with Ulrika on the way to the new rehabilitation centre. Just to see cars, a canal, people, birds was a revelation to her. Easy to forget that she's been cooped up in a hospital for over three weeks.Here she is in Björkhagen today where she had a half day of freedom to be able to attend the end of term festivities at Kai's school.

Miraculous the progress she's making. She can now walk short distances unaided which was quite unthinkable three days ago.

Visiting UIrika

For those of you who'd like to visit Ulrika, here (nicked from a website) is all the info you need. All in Swedish, but not really a problem as I suspect there won't be too many visits from Somaliland or San Francisco.


Erstagårdskliniken
Hästhagsvägen 9
131 33 Nacka.
Tel 08-714 61 00


Resväg

Bussarna 401 och 403 avgår från Nackaterminalen
403 - kliv av vid hållplats Erstagården.
401 - kliv av vid hållplats Nacka kvarn på Ältavägen. Promenera ett par hundra meter fram till den gula klinikbyggnaden på vänster hand. Bussresan tar ca 15 minuter


Med bil: Kör från Södermalm över Danvikstull mot Sickla. Ta väg 260 mot Älta. Sväng vänster från Ältavägen vid Nacka kvarn, mot Hästhagens villaområde. Gatuförteckning: Värmdövägen - Hammarby fabriksväg - Järlaleden - Planiavägen - Nackanäsvägen - Ältavägen - Hästhagsvägen. Se karta i telefonkatalogens Gula sidor, Stockholmsdelen, sidan 44, ruta D 8.

Source:
http://www.neuroportalen.com/en/rehab/rehabiliteringskliniker.html#1

A different drum?

Priceless!

This made me cry with laughter.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6tOr2zLaKE

Today: Texas. Tomorrow: Spinal Tap!

Media on BP disaster

Here's my old univesity pal, John Timpane, on the events in the Gulf:


http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/95836769.html#axzz0qGJmJKtn

Ulrika on the move!

Today Ulrika moved from the Karolinska to a rehabilitation centre out in Nacka. Very pleasant it is too! What's more she actually managed to walk unaided all the way from the transport vehicle to her room. She couldn't do that two days ago.


Visitors welcome! To get there one can walk or cycle through Nacka Reservat or take bus 401 from Slussen.

Jinkies! They even let the patients go home at the weekend. This is maybe not such good news for me as there is three weeks of washing up festering in the kitchen.

Sinner ladies?

What on earth do the dinner ladies put in the food at Björkhagen School? 10.00 pm last night and Kai is still hopping up and down like over-animated Duracell Bunny while his poor dad, who actually has an evening's work ahead of him, has all the vitality of a cream-crackered sloth.

I think we should be told!

Let's get this party pingling!

Astrid was telling Ulrika about Ylva's birthday bash on Saturday and said that Zoe had been a real party pingla. This wonderful Swedish expression means a girl that is the life and soul of a party.

How true! That girl knows how to have fun!

Sadly, there is no equivalent expression for a party hearty chap.They may love to mingle, but guys just cannot pingle.

Pinglitude eludes me !I guess I'll never be more than a simple party animal!

Do bears shit in the fridge?

Yesterday evening, as a special treat, I decided to tuck into a large plate of Finland's national Easter favourite, memma.

Delicious malty taste. Shame that it looks like a bear has just taken an enormous dump on your plate.It certainly isn't recommended for those who eat with their eyes as much as their tastebuds.

Chris, that charming Welshman in Konsum Björkhagen, wouldn't even take any money for it. It had been languishing, unloved in a corner of the fridge since Easter and he was glad to bid it farewell.

Memma Mia! What a culinary delight the good burghers of Björkhagen missed out on!

SXSW

My friend Philip in Malmö was lucky enough to attend South by South West this year. I've just realised that one can enjoy lots of the artists on the YoofTube.

Here are the wonderful Efterklang from Denmark who are playing Roskilde and then Stockholm in August at the Culture Festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nffOE54uA

A treat!

Moshpit Junior

The look of adoration on Zoe's face says it all. Now I know what I must look like as I gaze up at the Giants of Rock in the Skilde Moshpit.

Wrong about Japan

At Viktor's party yesterday, I was more than a tad envious to hear that Karin, his mum, is off to Japan on a business trip. I am a fairly rabid Nipponophile and I intend to give her a crash course on anime and force her to see the complete works of Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon before she even gets on that plane. I'm sure she'll appreciate that!


A few years back, when I first started Going Japanese, Pete and Rachel in Brighton recommended Wrong about Japan by Peter Carey, his book about travelling to the Land of the Rising Sun with his teenage son.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wrong-About-Japan-Peter-Carey/dp/0571228704/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275809063&sr=1-1

I read it in one sitting. Marvelous both on Japanese culture and on a father son relationshop.

On the ball

Kai had a great time at Viktor's birthday party yesterday and Zo had fun in the plastic ball pit. It is supposed to be for kids three and under and one of the larger boys did look as though he was just a few years older!

Play it again, Tor!

Zoe was the life and soul of the party at Ylva's birthday bash yesterday. The fact that there were people playing guitars and tinkling the ivories had her quite entranced. She's even more of live music fan than her dad!

Parklife

Ulrika very pleased to see the kids yesterday. Kai commented that "Mummy doesn't sound so strange any more". When one can roll out to the park, hospital visits are a lot more fun for everyone.

Give 'em enough rope?

Andrew in Valencia sent me this little gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAggWL7WuGo&feature=related

Fado. With no strings attached!

Dr Dan's dagis

I had a mini-crisis yesterday. I wanted to go a parent teacher meeting at Kai's school to hear about who his new teacher would be and I couldn't find a babysitter anywhere. At the eleventh hour, Danne, Helena, Simon and Vendela kindly stepped into the breach resulting in a very good time being had by all.

Kai disappeared with Vendela to play in the enormous inner courtyard that they have at the back of the house and Zoe opened every cupboard in the flat and emptied its contents. As can be be seen from the photos, their balcony, with its view of the rooftops of Södermalm is to die for. My batteries felt seriously recharged after our visit there.

I'm managing fairly well but am extremely grateful to all the friends here who've been so kind and hospitable during the last few weeks. It's made a world of difference.

Middleage Fanclub?

It's not often that you hear rock music coming out of our stereo.

This week, however there's going to be a fair bit of it. Kieron, Duncan and myself are more than chuffed that there's a new album, Shadows, out by Scotland's finest, Teenage Fanclub.I haven't had time to give it much of a listen yet, however I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to form a major part of the soundtrack to summer 2010.

Leave your sleep by Natalie Merchant

Natalie Merchant's new album, Leave your sleep, is a real treat with great songs and a whole variety of genres. She has taken poems and songs about childhood and set them to music.

It's available as a double CD and also as a one volume "selections". Go for the double! Recommended!

Ulrika Update Friday 4 June

Ulrika will move to Sköndal Hospital on Tuesday as they are better at physiotherapy.

Then it's the long, slow slog back to normality for her. Every day there is an improvement but she's still tired and sitting in hospital is seriously boring.

She's now sitting in a wheelchair and one can roll her out to the park at the back of the hospital and enjoy a coffee or a nice cream.

Yesterday we were sitting there and a large rat came scuttling past. I do love nature!

Always look on the bright side!

There's no getting round the fact. Hospitals are rather depressing places, however kind and helpful the staff may be. I can well understand that it's a less than cheerful experience for Ulrika to be sitting in a hospital room all day. Yesterday at least we found an oasis-like park behind the hospital building where we could sit in the sun and have a coffee which was a tonic.

Mercifully, my dear collegue, Gary, has realised that this is a rather gloomy time for me. So, what have I been proofreading this week? Reports on: fatal traffic accidents in Iran (their traffic mortality figures are horrifying); suicidal farmers in India; and today, as the cherry on the cake, suicides among pregnant women and post-natal mothers. A laugh a minute!

Unfortunately he hasn't received any texts that needed proofreading about cuddly, furry bunnies frolicking in the sunshine!

Mary Gautier

Anna-Maria from Zoe's nursery reports that Mary Gautier's Stockholm concert last night was wonderful and very moving.I can well imagine it. Live she has a wonderful ability to combine fine songs with moving and often amusing stories.

Yesterday's concert was particularly emotional as it was a benefit gig. There were many adopted kids in the audience and she herself is also adopted.

Now at least, I have a copy of her fabulous new album The Foundling.


Cousin Ron introduced her to me and I converted Anna-Maria. The roots grapevine works rather well!


What did I do last night? Sat and watched episodes of Transformers Animated with Kai which was actually more fun than it sounds.

Java jive

Birdsong, sunshine, an enormous sticky cake and a cup of coffee. La dolce vita!

Every day Ulrika is a little less like a medical case story and a little more like human being!

Reasons to be cheerful!

Well, the champagne is going to be popping around here this weekend.

Ulrika is getting better by leaps and bounds. (but it'll probably be a couple of weeks before she can come home -she needs a lot of physiotherapy).


AND Susan, Zoe's wonderful resource person at nursery is going to be able to stay on and not be replaced. Hooray!

It's a complicated story and I won't bore you with all the details of Swedish labour market law.

However, a big thankyou to all the parents who wrote to the powers that be and protested vehemently when it was announced that she would lose her job.

All the kids in Zo's department really love Susan so they are all going to be very happy about this news!

Bottoms up!

Laughter in a cold climate

At lunch at Sue and Peter's on Sunday,we were discussing a whole variety of fascinating topics including Russian humour. Since moving to Sweden I somehow feel I understand the Russians a litle better.Life in the vodka belt!

Ian has now sent me this intersting link.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/russia/articles/opinion/20091218/behind_poker_faces.html

Ra ra Rasputin clearly had a p p p poker face!

Happiness is cone shaped

No disrespect to the wonderful nurses and doctors of the Karolinska Hosital, but if want to perk a girl up, there really is nothing that beats a cornetto, some sunshine and an hour in the comapny of a charming,intellectual, witty, good-looking, Englishman!

Girls just want to have sun!

Here's Ulrika, outdoors for the first time in two weeks enjoying an ice cream.

Just one cornetto!

A (Little) Feat of endurance?

Talk about a treasure trove!

An archive of live shows. Anyone want to listen to 301 Little Feat or 222 Camper Van Beethoven gigs?

http://www.archive.org/browse.php?collection=etree&field=%2Fmetadata%2Fcreator

Not to mention an awful lot of bands I've never heard of. One of these has over 1,000shows on offer


This way lies madness!

Tycho and Kai share a Kodak moment

Summer is a coming in!

Here's Kai and his pal Tycho sitting still for a nano-second before dashing off to get up to mischief.

New kids on the blog

As I do actually have a few people who are reading this blog, here is a shameless plug for a few fellow bloggers.When I have a spare moment I look forward to dipping into their musings and you should do too!


Firstly, my good friends, the Averills of Westminster have entered the blogosphere.

Penny's is lots of stuff on food. Full of natural goodness! Check out her musings on Russia complete with a recipe for curd pancakes!

http://www.pinkhousefoods.com/

Next her son, Will, who has been an exchange student in Istanbul. Interesting stuff on the crusades that I'm sure will inspire Kai and myself.

http://eistainpolin.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

Tim Richards in Epping Forest, who is currently revising for his A levels, blogs about all sorts. His knowledge of Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu and other arcane, obscure bands is encyclopedic.

http://merdre.tumblr.com/

And last but not least,my good mate Andreas, here in Kärrtorp, who was the one who persuaded me to start blogging in the first place. He's got lots of ideas about enviromentally friendly inventions:

www.bulldogge.se

He writes in Swedish but that won't be a problem for all you gifted polyglots out there.

Blog on!