Crisp and even?

Not sure about crisp and even, but the snow is certainly deep out there this morning.

It's been snowing all night and there's about 6 inches of it. All very pretty as I trudged to he laundry room at 7.00 am. I am very glad I am not a car owner.

Stockholm is going to be full of happy children and irate motorists today.

Xmas presence of mind

One of my friends or loved ones is going to be very happy this Xmas! I was rooting around The Ants (the Sally Army charity shop)and I found a real treat: a 10 VHS set of The Avengers.

Outdated technology. Cult TV series. And I've left the best to last: it's all dubbed into French! Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir! Bowler hat and kinky boots!

Formidable, Monsieur Steed!

The happy friend of course, will be the one who doesn't get chosen to receive this cult item!

Who's the cat that won't cop out....

..... when there's danger all about!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfK-UzQ48JE

Can you dig it?

Middle-Aged Flabclub?

Grand night out last Friday wth Kieron and Duncan: a curry followed by the fabulous Teenage Fanclub. What a marvelous band they are!

Kieron commented very wisely that despite the fact that they are not the best singers in the world or the best instrumentalists, and their songs are not megahits, somehow there is a special magic about them. The sum is infintely more than the parts. Which is pretty much what John Peel said to me about the Pink Floyd when I interviewed him for our school magazine, the Gaytonian, more years ago than I care to remember.

This song was one of the highlghts of the set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlTwJYVXOk0&NR=1


(Kai clearly doesn't think I am a Real Man: Daddy! How can you possibly like the Teenage Flanclub?)

Sore 'Un

Cold, neo-Siberian winds blew through Kärrtorp yesterday evening and today,sure enough,everything was covered in snow.

Kai and I nipped into our local charity shop and found a Lord of the Rings Risk game so that should keep us busy. He wants to play as Sauron and conquer everything.

Reminds me of the time,many moons ago when I played Risk with Michael Portillo.(!) He proposed a Non-Invasion Pact and then sunk my navy and invaded all my territoroes!

Hooving and grooving

The joys of housework!

Today I learnt that, provided one has a good album of atonal, ambient Finnish accordion music to listen to, cleaning the flat can be quite enjoyable.

Hoover? Hyväää!

New dimensions in cinema!

Dark, gloomy rainy weather here so the Stockholm Film Festival couldn't be better timed.That cinéaste extraordinaire, Mr Dunn is dashing off around the clock to sample international cinematic gems. After an English rasher, it's a Korean slasher. A ploughman's lunch then some Hong Kong punch.


We also had our own exclusive premiere here today: Shrek in 3D that Kai and I had found in a second-hand shop. It came complete with ridiculous paper glasses which his lordship insisted that we all wear. The family looked a right bunch of wallies! Even more so when Ulrika pointed out that it was only the 10 minute extra film that was in 3D. The film itself was in boring old 2D.

Kai, who'd been raving about the 3D effects and how much they added to our viewing pleasure, was particularly crestfallen!

A case of the King's New Clothes methinks.

Jingle all the way!

Xmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. Personally, I'm getting earplugs.

Visited a toy shop today and Kai decided he wanted an unspeakable, cuddly penguin that squeaks Jingle Bells for hours on end ( probably pre-tested by US military interrogators).And Zoe has her eyes on a large drum kit.

Jingle Hell! Jingle Hell! Jangle all the way!

Hamming ut up

Some of Kai's classmates are into Warhammer and today he told me that he wants Warhamster for Xmas.

Is this a pronunciation problem or has he really found a game packed with axe-wielding rodents all beating the shit out of each other? Interesting!

It's certainly got to be a bit more interesting than Warlemming which I fear would be a real damp squib!

Stamp of approval!

An invaluable addition to our modern lifestyle! Wallace and Gromit Xmas stamps!

http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/wallace-and-gromit-christmas-stamps/


K & and Z are deep in W & G revival at present, watching all the films again. Zo is particularly taken with that finest of English pooches. So they are going to be pleased as punch about this.

Eh lad, that's what I call a true stamp of approval!

I suspect a knighthood is imminent!

Arise Sir Wallace of Wigan!

Gobbling

The Hobbit hobbles forward.

There are no pictures and Kai was pestering me about what a goblin looks like. In desperation,I picked up the nearest thing to hand, this morning's DN, and showed him a photo of Keith Richards.

He seemed very satisfied, if a tad incredulous that they looked so terrifying!

Was pondering the fact that so far Bilbo and pals have not run into any buxom, bikini-clad, sword-wielding, battle babes (standard issue for fantasy books, I thought) when I realised that The Hobbit was published in 1937, before that particular garment made an appearance.

Tentatively dipping our toe into Tolkien

Kai and I have started to read The Hobbit,which he seems to be enjoying.

But talk about a return to a bygone,more leisurely age. 10 pages in and the only thing that has happened is that some dwarves have turned up,pigged out on Bilbo's buns and had a jam session.

No explosions,car chases, gratuitous nudity or Mexican standoffs here!

Uncommon person heats things up in the kitchen

Our day started with a Wacko Jacko Breakfast Disco. K & Z just love the King of Pop.

No point in telling Zo that the man was a narcisstic, deranged megalomaniac with major personal problems. She just wants to boogie!

I'm with Jarvis here and just want to groove with the common people. But the kids can't resist the magic of pure pop!

Glad Dad

It's Father's day here and Kai has just given me a home drawn card.

It's a drawing of what looks like a mariachi, wielding a large axe in one hand and a submachine gun in the other.

What a thoughtful child!

Kate's cottage industry

My pal Kate Percival has started her own cottage industry selling gorgeous things that she has made herself on line .

So with Xmas coming, if you are looking for something unique as a gift or decoration, do take a look!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff

Listless?

As Nick Hornby so clearly documented in High Fidelity, lads do love lists. Personally I find those that catalogue such things as the 10 best Beatles B sides or the world's 5 greatest lefthanded jazz xylophonists rather tiresome.

This very witty, erudite book though is a joy from beginning to end.

http://bfgb.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/inventory-by-the-onion-a-v-club/

It inspires me to want to start more offbeat lists of my own

Hindifever !

Ulrika has got a new favourite!

Since Saturday's concert Ms Zahra has been heard a lot in these parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ZsBimsaUc


And quite right too!

He don't need no education

Jinkies! We are meeting Kai's teacher, Eva, today for his Development Discussion.

The agony! Our ignominous failure in the parenting sector will be put under painful scrutiny.

I've made it very clear to his lordship that if he doesn't pull his socks off, we'll be shipping him off to boarding school next year. The St.Begbie Gentlemen's Academy on the Outer Hebrides.

50 winks

The new Boring Bedtime Project to get Kai off to sleep at an earlier hour has got off to a rather wobbly start.

Our strategy yesterday was to listen to a talking book. When Ulrika came into the bedroom at 21.00, she found me in a deep slumber snoring contentedly like a large walrus.

Our son was wide awake and looking very bored.

Making bedtime boring

"O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free..."

That ingenious chap, Tor Bergman, has suggested that in order to get Kai off to sleep I sing the Canadian national anthem.

Any other suggestions for the Boring Bedtime songbook?

Bear essentials

As wise as a bear! I only I was!

As I cycled to school through a snowy blizzard to get Kai from school this afternoon I thought of our visit to Skansen on Sunday. On Bear Mountain there was no sign of life. Our ursine chums had very wisely stocked up with a few DVD box sets and snuggled in for the winter.

Perhaps I should send a note to teacher tomorrow. Kai can't come to school for 6 months due to hibernation

Piping hots?

Icy winds are blowing in from the Baltic and the snow is bucketing down or whatever it is that snow does.

On a day like this,I am so grateful for Multi Kulti. I was able to pop in and stock up with a large wodge of Galician folk music, bagpiping hot!

What more can a man ask for?

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

The Galician bagpipes are known as gaita and they sound a lot more agreeable than their Scottish relative. This video is very silly but the music is rather jolly. I wonder if Susanna Seivane has done a cover of the Captain Pugwash theme tune?

Watching this video I get the impression it is considered to be quite sexy to be a gaitera and play the bagpipes. Sexy is not a word I would ever use to describe the Scottish variety which are always played by some grizzled old geezer in a kilt who's had a few too many wee drams.

Delayed departures for the Morningtown Express

Bedtime here is a total nightmare at present. Zo, bless her, is fast asleep five minutes after her bedtime story.


Kai by contrast goes to bed at 8.00 and is still awake at 22.30. Grrrrrr!

Why? Why? Why? Is he planning a career as a jazz musician or a night watchman?

This week we are going to have our meeting with his teacher. We feel like Mr and Mrs Dodger going to talk to the beak about Artful.

Hindi pop

Ulrika, yes Ulrika!, and I enjoyed a fine concert at Nalen yesterday by the impossibly charismatic Hindi Zahra.

Our first evening out together since she got ill in May. It was a toss up between Hindi and an evening of German industrial noise terrorism by Einsturzande Neubaten.

I probably made the right choice.

Regalize it!

As you may have read, the King of Sweden is currently in very hot water due to the publication of a book full of revelations about his private life.

Thanks a lot your Majesty!

When we have tried to teach our kids a few social graces, we have always used the question: What would you do if the king came to visit us?

Now Kai can answer:Get in some strippers and a lot of contraband booze.

Karrtorpski Park

Temperatures are Siberian here today.

So it was rather appropriate to find a gaggle of dodgy Russian geezers lurking near the swings in our local park, surreptitiously swigging from a bottle of vodka.

Greetings from Karrtorpistan, comrades!

Guy Fawkes and the Fake

What a bogus Englishman I am!

November 5th has gone by and I felt no urge to encourage my kids to make an effigy of that failed regicide Fawkes and then go out on the streets begging for money for pyrotechnics.

I feel I no longer have any right to a British passport

Mulatu!

Joined Tim and Duncan for a fabulous concert yesterday evening at Gota Kallare by Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics. The grand old man of Ethiopian jazz with a wonderful young band from London taking his heritage further.

Hats off to Mr Byrne for bringing them to Stockholm.


I even had a pee with the geezer selling CDs who was telling me more about life on the road with the band.

Betelmania?

Yesterday we received postcards from Ian in Taiwan. The Pope Anderssons got one of a dragon boat; we got one showing the activities of the "betel nut beauties".

We were delighted to have this aspect of Taiwanese popular culture brought to our attention and Kai had a lot of questions. Now you can all read more about Steamed Bun and her chums.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/100208/betel-nut-taiwan-asian-girls

Sweden has snus (chewing tobacco). Taiwan has betel nut.


I trust that Mr Dunn is far too old to succumb to Betelmania!

Gromit or grommet?

This morning I have to take Zoe in for a minor operation (myringotomy for all you medical folk).

Basically, she is going to have some ear tubes, called grommets, inserted which will improve her hearing. Not of course to be confused with Wallace's magnificent pooch, Gromit! Rather confusing that the world's favourite dog and these tubes are homophones.

The (Bash Street) Kids are alright!

Strange day here.

Ulrika is back at work for the first time in 6 months since her meningitis on May 17th. Only a few hours this week and then a slow build up.

And it's half term here so I'm stuck with the terrible twosome. who mercifully are glued to the telly watching Scooby Doo and the Tweenies.

As a kid, I remember going to a play centre in school holidays and discovering the Beano and The Dandy (forbidden in East Towers forbeing subversive). The Bash Street Kids and Dennis the Menace were a revelation. They became and still are my role models.