Meteorites Over Västerås

Thursday night I stood in my garden and saw three shooting stars. Tonight my chances of seeing some more should be even better. It’s that time of year for the Perseids Meteor Shower, when the Earth passes through the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle and as the debris hit’s the atmosphere it burns up to form shooting stars. The best time to see them will be from Sunday night to sunrise on Monday morning, but even tonight there will be plenty to see.

Since there is no moon just now, if the skies are clear then it promises to be a good show. It’s just a shame that its still quite light in the sky over southern Sweden, as the darker the sky, the better. I’ve been watching the Perseids every year since I was a child so they are a real pert of the summer to me.

So go out and watch the skies…

Just a Perfect Day

One of things I love most about working in Sweden is the freedom which flex time allows. When I worked in the UK it was all very rigid, we started at 9.00am and finished at 5.00pm.

Today though at 14.00pm I decided to flex out and enjoy what might be the last of the summer sun and take my son swimming at 'Gropen' in Hökåsen.

I wasn't the only one either, many of my collegues left early to enjoy the sunshine too. Flextime is like freedom of expression, or the right to vote, it should not be taken for granted since not everyone in the world gets the chance to make use of it. It makes the balance between work life and home life so much easier to manage and it gives you opportunities like today, to go off and spend some quality time outdoors with the kids.

See - I'm not making this shit up!

With reference to 'A Land of Two Seasons'

On the back page ofthe local newspaper, VLT, they have a Question of the Day section. Today's question was, 'What do you do so as not to start getting stressed after the summer vacation?'. One guy replied, 'I started work today so I try to think of something like, it's not long until the christmas vacation'.....

This came from a 24 year old student!

Get rid of the TV and Chill Out

The local Västerås newspaper has been running some features on lack of sleep, which is apparently a modern health hazard affecting ever more of us. In recent years sales of medication to help people sleep has increased dramatically.

It's the curse of our modern all connected information overload world. For example I am writing this at 10.00p.m in the evening when I should be winding down and getting ready for bed. Last night I stayed up watching Foyle's War till 22.30 and the night before it was the Midsommar Murders. A few years ago I would play computer games all evening so when I finally got to bed, laid down and closed my eyes I would still visualise Civilization units, or bad guys waiting to be shot at.

You don't need medication to fix this, you just need to disconnect from the buzz of modern life for a while and let the body relax.

I know this, being a caravan owner because when we are out with the caravan there is no TV, no computer or DVD player and instead we sit up and read or play cards, Yahtzee etc.. before going to bed at around 22.00 ready for the next day. After a few days of this you start to sleep like a brick and the lights in your head go out just as soon as your head hits the pillow.

I wonder how many people are stressed right now glued to their computer looking for on-line farmacitical sites where they can buy pills to help them sleep!

Most of the time it's not what goes on at work that makes us too stressed to sleep, it's what we do in the evenings that doesn't allow the brain the time it needs to cool off and relax.

Bunking Off

Next week more people will be back at work and normality is beginning to be restored. So this seams like a good time to take a day off before the pressure returns.

I'll be taking my son to the swimming pool, it will be the first time he's been to a pool for about a year. I had hoped to take him to Björnön or Gropen this summer, but the weather has never allowed it.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Hooray! Last night I looked out of my bedroom window and could see two stars in the sky. It's been months since it was last dark enough for the stars to be shinning this early in the evening.

The long summer evenings are great, but I do miss seeing the stars at night. Living, as I do, just outside Västerås there is very little light or air pollution so on a dark clear night the you can see the whole band of the Milky Way spread out across the sky. It's a big contrast to when I was living in Birmingham in the UK, where, with all the streetlights and cars, you were lucky to see a plane going over at night!

Still all the air pollution did lead to some pretty spectacular sunsets.

All change at the Bish

This evening I got the chance to drink in the newly refurbished Bishop's Arms pub. They have made some major changes to the bar, drinking and dining areas which are very new and flash but do take something away form the character of the place.

The Bish was always the one true 'English Pub' in Västerås (don't get me started on what is wrong with the Oliver Twist). It might not have the ale selection or quality of the Akkurat pub in Stockholm, but it did capture that intimate pub atmosphere you get in English pubs where you can sit amongst the other drinkers and feel that you are all part of the family. The term pub is an abbreviation for 'Public House' and the old Bish felt like a public house where everyone was welcome to come in and drink.

The new Bish by contrast has gone down the sad route of so many refurbished English city pubs in that the open friendly atmosphere has been replaced by smaller eating areas where you go to eat with a private group rather than sitting amongst a mass of other people. Also the bookshelves are such a goddamn cliche!!!

What is it that makes pub interior designers think they can throw in a load of old books and suddenly it creates a traditional 'old world' atmosphere. Take it from me, the shelves full of old books only serve to date a pub in that they prove it was refurbished in the last ten years or so.

Of course you should ALWAYS judge a pub by the beer and one very pleasant surprise for me this evening was the Bödeln Indian Pale Ale from Västerås's own Hantverksbryggeriet which was really excellent and my only gripe was that the glass was too small and it should really have been served in a pint measure.

I have been told that the beer is brewed by a group of researchers from Mälardalens Högskola, which just goes to show what happens when you take a group of academics and put them to work on something really useful for a change.

Were the dildos really necessary?

The English are well known for being a bit uptight about sex. Its all part of the culture of remaining in control and keeping things private, where the only things remaining stiff are the upper lips.

Being a modern bloke I'm much more relaxed about these things but even I was surprised to open up the local newspaper this weekend (VLT) to see a two page review of different dildos and sex aides. I guess the context for this was that it was the midsommar edition and the midsommar pole is basically a huge phallic symbol. I'm just not sure its what I want to see first thing in the morning while eating breakfast...

This does however reinforce the English stereotype of the Swedes as being more sexually open and promiscuous. I don't really see this stereotype now I live in Sweden but the problem is that in the UK the most well know Swedes as Svennis, a man who would do well to exercise the same kind of 'ball control' as his players, and Ulrika Jonsson, who is Britain's top Eurotramp. Ulrika was not only linked to Svennis, but also, and this puts her in a real class of her own, when called upon to host a UK version of the bachelor...slept with the bachelor.

The third most famous Swede in the UK is of course the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show and although he was never involved in any sex scandals was never the less regularly seen in his kitchen choking the chicken...