Record Breakers

Wow yesterday was a popular day, our most busiest to date.

We had 745 visitors in one day which is double the previous record. The last milestone was set when I wrote about my impressions of a game and the atmosphere at Hammarby Football Club.

I think yesterdays record demonstrates that people are really interested in a Swedish Christmas and Swedish Christmas words.

So if you have any more to add please let me know.

Getting UK tv stations from abroad

I guess I am the same as most British expats in that I do get frustated with the local tv stations.  Personally I dont watch that much tv but  I miss Match of the Day, the news, the Sunday political programmes, Question Times, Little Britain etc etc

A lot of TV stations now offer their content and output online.

The BBC launched the BBC Iplayer which means you can download and watch any BBC programme from the last seven days.

I tried to use this but as I am based abroad it wont let me.  I understand why. I am not paying BBC licence fee so shouldnt be able to access it. However I would happily pay the fee to get access to some of their output.

Mark Base of Helsingborg recommends the VPNUK solution, he says its Mac friendly and very easy to use. He even rigs it up to his main tv, hmm now this is getting interesting. I am not that knowledgable on audio/visual stuff but this really is screaming out to be tried. There is a cost, around 150 SEK a month, but I would consider it worth paying if I could watch Match of the Day and Question Time.  Incidentally the 150 SEK would actually cover the BBC licence fee which I would prefer to pay but…

The VPN UK solution basically routes you through a UK server so the BBC Iplayer thinks you are based in the UK. As far as I can see there is nothing illegal in this but please point it out if it is.

Other than the BBC iplayer there is also HULU which gives access to US programming, that will be nice, I can get to watch FOX News then instead of the awful CNN.

I will let you know how I get on.  If you have any experience with any services like this please let us know in the comments section.

PLEASE NOTE THIS BLOG HAS NOW MOVED TO

Let Me Tell You About Sweden

Swedish Christmas words

Apart from ‘God Jul’ many of the Swedish language books do not give a comprehensive Swedish vocabulary list for Christmas related words. I thought it would be fun to try and create the definite Christmas Swedish wordlist that we can all add to. Words that you may see or hear if you were to spend Christmas with a Swedish speaking family.

I have kicked it off with a list below that Ms Palin gave me and some of my own. I am sure there are many more out there. If you can think of any more Christmas related Swedish words please add it to the comments and I will update the main post with your contributions.

Sylta -jellied veal
Pölsa – ‘hash’ (not the kind some people smoke!)
Julskinka – Christmas Ham
Janssons frestelse – Sliced Herring, potato and onions baked in cream
Inlagd sill – pickled herring
Köttbullar – meatballs
Prinskorv – chipplota sausage
Grisfötter – pigs trotters
Julknäcke –
Edamerost – Edam Cheese
Sillsallad – herring salad – salad of pickled herring, beetroot and potatoes
Rödbetssallad – Beetrootsalad
Ål – eel
Lax – salmon
Gravad lax – raw, spiced salmon
Lutfisk – boiled ling fish
Dopp i grytan – lit. ‘dip in the kettle’, – bread dipped in the cooking juices of the ham.
Revbensspjäll – spare ribs
Risgrynsgröt – rice pudding
Ris a la Malta – Rice pudding with oranges.
Knäck – toffee
Ischoklad – ‘ice chocolate’ melted chocolate and cocoa butter
Mintkyssar – mint kisses
Pepparkakor – gingerbread
Mjuk pepparkaka -soft gingerbread
Fruktkaka – fruit cake
Lussebullar – saffron bun
Pepparkakshus -gingerbread house
Choklad – chocolate
Glögg – mulled wine served with raisins and almonds
Julöl – Christmas Beer
Porter – stout
Snaps -schnapps

Julklapp – Christmas gift
Lackstång -stick of sealing wax
Presentpapper – wrapping paper
Paketsnöre –
Etiketter -gift tag

Julgran – Christmas Tree
Julgranskula – Christmas Tree Ball
Julgransbelysning – Christmas Tree lights
Stjärna – star
Spira – spire
Glitter – glitter
Julgransmatta –

Adventsljusstake – Advent calendar stick
Adventsstjärna – star shaped lanterns hung in windows over Christmas
Adventskalender – Advent Calendar

Julstjärna – Christmas Star (the one you put on a tree)
Hyacint – hyacinth
Amaryllis –
Azalea
Narcisser
Julgrupp – pot of Christmas flowers
Vitmossa – reindeer moss

Jul – Christmas
Julafton- Christmas Eve
Julbak – Christmas baking
Julbock – Christmas goat (not a real one but made of straw)
Julbord – Christmas Buffet
Juldag – Christmas Day
Julferier – Christmas Holidays
Julfest – Christmas Party
Julglädje – Christmas cheer
Julgodis – Christmas sweets
Julgransplundring – Childrens party after Christmas where the kids strip the tree.

Julhandla – Christmas Shopping
Julklappsstrumpa – Christmas Stocking
Julkorg – Christmas Hamper
Julkort – Christmas Card
Julmarknad – Christmas Market
Julmust – Swedish Soft Drink brewed for Christmas

Julpsalm – Christmas Hymn
Julstäda – Christmas cleaning
Julsång – Christmas Carol

Dan före dan före dopparedan – the day before dipping day.(24th Dec)
Uttråkad -bored!
Packad – sloshed
Kalle Anke – Donald Duck. The same cartoon has been shown for year on Julafton.
bakis – to get a hangover
Jularmbåge – Christmas Elbow, what you get in the ribs when Christmas shopping!

And last but not least….Jultomte- father christmas, Santa Claus….

Motorhead Stockholm 08

Sweden, England and Wales this could be my new family crest?

Motorhead, Stockholm, 2008.  Wow, what a gig! It was my third time seeing the mighty Motörhead and they were awesome. They never disappoint and put in 100% effort. Its amazing that Lemmy is 63 and  is still cranking out thundering bass lines and croaking out the lyrics to belters such as ‘The Ace of Spades’, ‘Overkill’, ‘Iron Fist’ etc etc. I have included the full Motorhead Stockholm setlist below.

I have only seen Motorhead in Cambridge so it was nice to see Motorhead in Stockholm in a bigger venue.

The venue Hovet was an interesting venue for a gig.  Hovet ‘The court’ was opened in 1955, finished in ’62 and refurbished in 2002. It is home to several ice hockey clubs including AIK and Djurgården. Its capacity for gigs is just under 10,000 and 8,300 for ice hockey games.

I am so lucky living in Stockholm as there are some great acts here. Hovet is only about 20 mins from my place and I got there just before 9 to catch the last part of the support band, Airbourne. They made me laugh actually, good music and they really played the crowd.   I wish I had seen more of them. To be honest with the recent injury I didnt want to be sat for too long so thought I would just go and see Motörhead.

I am awful at guessing crowds but there was a decent turnout for the band.  Motorhead do have a very loyal fan base. I had considered not bothering going as I have seen them twice but there is that twinge of loyalty that said I had to go and see the loudest band in the world…apparently and boy was it loud!

I took my seat which was a good perch, at the back but centre. It wasn’t long before the lights went off and Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Sweden’s very own Mikkey Dee took the stage. It wasnt long before I heard those famous words ‘We are Motorhead and we play rock and roll!’ Bang straight into ‘Iron Fist’ a classic from the golden era of Motorhead  (1982).

Watching Motorhead live brings back so many memories for me. Sitting in my room as a teenager listening to Motorhead tapes. Back then I never thought I would get to see them live, they seemed a world away from my existence.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, Motorheads recent stuff is probably a bit too heavy for me though their latest album Motorizer is growing on me. I love the fact that unlike many other bands they dont just promote their latest work. They bring out the classics and as they have been around since the mid seventies there are plenty to choose from.

It was great to see lots of teenagers at the gig, in fact there were a few oldies as well. There were also some people like myself, clearly you would never think we would be Motorhead fans unless you saw us there. I am not sure there are many out there that love Motorhead, Morrissey and Richard Wagner!!

The new album has some cracking artwork (see above), Sweden, England and Wales are represented, maybe this could be my new family crest??

The next 90 mins, they kicked ass to be honest, a cracking gig and Motorhead always give 100%, I cant wait to see them again.

Here are two videos, the sound is atrocious bloody camera, I can assure Motorhead dont sound like this but dont think my cameras mic could handle Lemmys bass!

So here you go Motorheads Ace of Spades

and an acoustic Motorhead, much better sound quality though I wish I had captured more of this. I love the fact Lemmy is singing, playing harmonica and the drummer is playing acoustic guitar whilst playing one drum with the pedal.

Again my camera was crap in the dark, I really need to look into the one H2 recommends.

Motorhead Stockholm 2008

Setlist

Iron Fist
Stay Clean
Be My Baby
Rock Out
Metropolis
Another Perfect Day
Over The Top
One Night Stand
I Got Mine
Thousand Names
The Chase I s Better Than The Catch
In The Name of Tragedy
Just Cause You Got The Power
Going To Brazil
Killed By Death
Bomber
———–
Whorehouse Blues
Ace Of Spades
Overkill

Swedish Dolls House

When we were in the toy shop, Sarah pointed out the Dolls House.  Hmm very Swedish dont you think?

Swedish Dolls House

IKEA?

Compare these with a British Dolls House…

Very twee

Todays Swedish Word of the Day is dockhus-dolls house.

Stockholm Christmas Shopping

Did  a spot of midweek shopping last week with Sarah.  To be honest its rare I just shop around it’s nice to do this with no time pressures.

We wandered through a Christmas Market at Sergels Torg.  I ended up spending a small fortune on cheese. Picked up some great Dutch goat cheese one with pesto and the other with garlic and nettles. Both of them are very tasty I managed to get hold some of lovely French cheese, it was the priciest of the lot but tastes fantastic.  At Christmas  I do tend to indulge my cheese habit, I prefer it to chocolate.

The Christmas market focussed on stands from all over the world so it was nice to see the British represented (see below)

Christmas Market Stockholm

We then hit a toy shop. It was like Aladdins cave in there. I can’t remember the last time I was in a toy shop so here are some of the presents I would have loved as a kid!

Ostrich Thai Curry

We then went to a nice Thai place that Sarah knew. The great thing about Sweden is that there are Thai restaurants everywhere. This place was called Wokhouse, The menu was very good, Thai places can get a bit monotonous but they had all sorts here including ostrich!  So I was straight onto that. Looks good eh? It tasted fantastic!

Ostrich Thai Curry

Todays Swedish Word of the Day is Struts-ostrich

The Editor Writes Back

The Editor of Thelocal.se has kindly written to me with his thinking behind his newsletter article that I hightlighed in The Local Gets Sensational

Here it in full with permission.

Hi Shane,

Thanks for your feedback and I’m glad you enjoy reading The Local.

When I sent the email this morning, it actually didn’t cross my mind that it could be perceived as sensationalist. Using the word “party” was simply a rhetorical device to express what is a completely new development in Swedish politics.

Prior to the last election, the centre-right parties had never run on a common election platform. While voters in 2006 could still vote for the four individual parties, they knew that a vote for, say, the Christian Democrats, was in essence a vote for the Alliance, a party-like entity that had ironed out its policies before the election.

In the same way, the Social Democrats have, until now, always favoured a minority government model and have consistently shunned the notion of official coalitions. The last time they were in power, they governed with the “support” of the Left Party and were always quick to stress that it was not a coalition government. What they are now proposing, in cooperation with the Greens and the Left, is unique in their history and essentially means they are mirroring the model that proved so successful for the Alliance. All they are lacking is a catchy name, though that will probably come soon.

As I see it, these changes have altered the Swedish political scene in two important respects:

First, there is a new political rigidity that was never there before. Previously, the Social Democrats were free to flirt with everybody from the Greens and the Left to the Centre Party and the Liberals, as they often did. But the Alliance has put paid to that.

Second, in traditional coalition politics, all the important horse trading is done after the election and the rival parties are free to tear each other to pieces until the results are counted. Sweden’s new electoral alliances instead create two distinct teams. This enables Mona Sahlin to say with great certainty that a vote for Reinfeldt is also a vote for the socially conservative Hägglund. Reinfeldt in turn can counter that a vote for Sahlin is a vote for a man who until very recently called himself a communist.

Hope this goes some way towards explaining my rationale.

Best regards,
Paul

This is a very interesting reply and I find this topic fascinating.

I wasn’t aware of the entire backdrop to this. I thought the Swedish Social Democrats had always been keen to jump into bed with those on the Left but it appears that they are just as bad as the British Labour Party in that they don’t want to power share with anyone.

That’s why Labour have never put forward any real alternatives to the ‘first past the post system’ of voting that’s used in the UK. They are as conservative as the Conservatives on this.

It’s also an interesting contrast because UK Liberals would never work with UK Conservatives on a national level. In fact in the early 70’s when Prime Minister Edward (Ted) Heath invited the Liberals to join his government, then Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe turned it down.

At the end of that decade, then Liberal leader David Steel took his Party into a disastrous alliance with the ailing Labour Government of Jim Callaghan.

I also find it fascinating that Liberals can work with the ’socially conservative’ Christian Democrats. One look at their website in English indicates they are a Party that believes in the ‘family’, I think we all know what that means.

On the other hand it’s not surprising that the Social Democrats and Greens will team up with a Leninist daydreamer like Ohly!

The Local gets sensational

Before I write this post, I will say I am a big fan of The Local -Swedish News in English and recommend it to all those English speakers who move to Sweden.

I am on their email list and like to get their updates.

As some of you know I am bit of a political anorak and was astonished to read an email from the editor of the Local, Paul O’Mahoney titled ‘The dawn of Swedish Two Party Politics’.

I thought maybe there had been some seismic change within the Swedish political landscape and that the Social Democrats had merged with the Greens and the Left Party, and that the Moderates had cobbled together a new Party with the liberals of Folkpartiet, the farmers of the Centerpartiet and the bible bashers of the Christian Democrats.

However when I read on, Mr O’Mahoneys mail had no such exciting news. He basically wrote that Mona ‘Moaning’ Sahlin had allowed Lars ‘the Berlin wall was ok really’ Ohly into her opposition coalition along with the Green Party.

This hardly heralds the start of ‘Swedish two Party politics’ does it? The two major Parties -the Moderates and the Social Democrats cannot realistically govern without the input of the other smaller Parties.

I come from England where there really has been two Party politics, Conservative and Labour. The Liberals have been trying to force their way in but it’s a hard slog. In the US there are only two players, the Democrats and the Republicans of course.

Having grown up in a two Party country, maybe I appreciate the Swedish political scene a bit more. Conservatives (both Left and Right in the UK) derided proportional representation because it could lead to coalition governments, as  if it’s something awful that should be avoided.

I believe the Swedes get better government because there is a national alliance of 4 parties. We all saw what Thatcher and Blair did with their massive majorities in the House of Commons; at least there is a safety check on that within Sweden as the junior partners in the respective alliance would certainly not allow that to happen.

I also think it’s fantastic that the Swedes can vote for a smaller Party and have some influence.  In the UK I always voted Liberal Democrat and was always told that it was a ‘wasted vote’ as they never had a chance of winning. Here at least a Swede can vote for the Centre Party or the Greens and know their vote will count.

So Mr O’Mahoney surely this not the dawn of Swedish Two Party politics but the continuation of Swedish political pluralism and consensual politics? What do you think readers?

Maybe its your job to be sensational or you got carried away but I think that was a bit ‘tabloid’ as opposed to your usually good output.

Barred from borrowing books because of nationality.

I was appalled to read that a Swedish library has restricted someone to two books because of their nationality!

Was the lady an illegal immigrant? No.  Was she someone with no address? No.  Was she someone with no idea? No.

She is actually Dutch, has a personnummer, pays Swedish tax and works as a language tutor.

The library staff member answered that that wasn’t enough and that immigrants aren’t allowed to borrow more than two books because [library staff] couldn’t check what they did with them,” reads the complaint.

Shocking!

Luckily the ombudmsan has ruled this is unfair and will fine the library accordingly. Good! I have been subject to some of this nonsense before, once at a DVD store and another at a well known Swedish bank.  Well done to this Dutch lady for taking it to the authorities as I usually just give them a bit of lip and storm out.

Read more about this story at thelocal

It had to happen someday

I have through this blog been very complimentary about Stockholms transport network. In London a week would not go by without some sort of disruption.

Yesterday was the first time my journey home was delayed.

There was a fire in the tunnel at my local underground station Mariatorget. So the red line was down for most of yesterday.  It was pretty chaotic at Karlaplan. It took me well over an hour to get home when its usually around 25 mins.

Of course, it was an accident this couldnt be helped but what annoyed me was the local transport staff. Is it just me or do most public transport officials get their customer service skills from the ‘Josef Stalin School of Charm.’  There must be a global college for this because it seems public transport officials are the same the world over.

The guy was pretty rude to me in Swedish, all I wanted to know was what bus to take. There were no signs or assistance. Ordinarily I would have taken a walk home but it was pissing down and cold.

I eventually found out that I had to get the number 4 bus, but I had to go the other side of the station. I found this out from a local passerby wheras the Station Commissar was still throwing me evil looks.  Maybe his girlfriend had run off with a Brit or something, anyway I gave him a piece of mind, in English expletives included.

In fairness I am still delighted with the transport system in Stockholm. This is the first major disruption in 11 months, cant be bad?