He’s making me humble, he’s making me cry

Today we went to a funeral. It was the funeral of a man who was very close to J and his family, a wonderful man. He was kind, gave so much of his time to others, always had a house open to all, helped many people in their lives, and had two sons who are fine men and spoke with love, warmth and eloquence about a man loved by many people.

I said to J this evening how lucky and privileged we are to have known and know people like this and to have them in our lives; people who think the best of other people and in return get the best out of them. In this world where people are often cynical and full of mistrust it’s good to remember that if you trust your fellow man, treat them how you’d wish to be treated yourself, and expect them to be fair and good, in general they will indeed be that way.

So let’s hear it for love, kindness, generosity, trust and respect! We are human beings after all.

Losing sleep

Daisy has been poorly. She hasn’t been eating and more importantly she had stopped pooping. J took her to the vets yesterday and then today he had to take her back so they could knock her out to x-ray her. The vet wanted to keep her in overnight but she’s come home bulked up with fluids and drugs. Joy of joys her bowels seem to have started moving again this evening so hopefully she’s on the mend. Back to the vets tomorrow to make sure that is the case. All I can do is worry from a distance.

I went to an “after-work” tonight. This must be some kind of Swenglish as it’s not a phrase used at home. In fact they say “aw” (pronounced ah-vay) for short. On the way back to the hotel, my American colleague decided it would be a good idea to walk up the hill of the Observatorielunden. Once at the top, the choice of ways down was 1) some icy steps with a handrail or 2) an icy zigzaggy long path, also with handrail. When I say icy I’m talking several centimetres of shiny, shiny ice. We decided to go for the the zigzaggy path. After slipping and sliding down and clinging to the handrail for dear life for the first bit we realised the quickest way down was on our arses which was amazingly good fun – think bobsleigh run just without the bobsleigh!

Follow the lights up for the route we took down (sorry for the crappy photo).

 

Swedish words of the day;

1. ursäkta (pronounced ooshekta) – excuse me, sorry, pardon me (general)

2. förlåt (pronounced ferlot) – sorry (in a more deep and meaningful sense)

You do it to yourself, just you, you and no one else

<start job analysis/>

I don’t normally write much about work on here, only in very general terms and really not at all if I can help it. It’s not that I don’t like my work; on the contrary, the job I’m doing now and have been doing for the last 14 months is the most interesting job I’ve ever done, I like and respect the people I work with, and I when I look to the future I hope it’s with the company I’m at now. I feel lucky to be doing what I do and I never take it for granted – I haven’t got a university education and started out my working life doing temporary jobs in warehouses and factories for £3 an hour. I’ve never forgotten where I’ve come from.

I have a friend who quite often blogs about his job. He works at a big corporation where he’s been for 15+ years, in a job that’s in a field not dissimilar to mine. His blog posts about his job tend to be fairly negative, he appears not to respect his colleagues and certainly not his boss, and though I’ve not seen him since just after Christmas he wasn’t feeling too enamoured by it all then either. He ummed and ahhhed last year about resigning but hasn’t got round to it yet. We all have a moan from time to time but he seems on a permanent job moan setting.

From 2010-2012 I had 4 different jobs before I got the job I’m in now. It would have been easy just to stay in any of those jobs, take the money, whinge about what was wrong (and believe me, I did plenty of whingeing, just ask J) and not risk having to build up trust, respect and start over again in a new place but, you know, life’s too short to be a martyr over these things. Both I and my friend are in  fortunate enough positions to have choice and to take a risk, there’s a lot of people stuck in shit jobs they hate that haven’t got that option.

(so, here’s the rub….. I have a sneaking suspicion it’s really not all that bad…. because part of working for a big corp is that there’s a few shit people about and a lot of pointless bureaucratic stuff …. and actually for the main part it’s money for old rope….. and moving somewhere else might mean a challenge and a big step outside his comfort zone somewhere that people might not be shit….. and you know I think he actually cares a lot more than he lets on about his “pointless career” at this place……)

I’d actually just like for him to be happy. We all spend a large part of our waking lives at work so the more enjoyable it is the better as far as I am concerned. But, who knows, maybe he is both happy and enjoying it!

</end job analysis>

I need sunshine

I’ve been working in Copenhagen for 3 days a week every other week this year and my routine has been as follows :

Early morning flight from Stockholm->work->eat->maybe work some more->skype J->sleep and repeat until flight back to Stockholm.

This evening for the first time I went for a wander round Copenhagen and guess what, it’s lovely! I’ll be making more time to explore next time I’m here. I came across a good street sign. What does it mean?

 

 

ps – I am eating too much bad shit and not doing enough exercise. I am turning into a lardbucket.

 

I’m not looking for a new England

You know you’re back home when you hear a girl giving it a good stroppy loud rant on the phone to whoever from the train station platform. She is not happy.

That Is All.

All the things she said

Yo, how ya doin’?

There is a group of four of us that used to work together about 10 years ago. Since then we’ve all moved on (only 2 of us are still in IT) and in some cases moved away. However, we’ve kept in touch, meet up for a beer every 6 months or so, and email each other every week. January seemed to prompt a flurry of emailing between us – on an almost daily basis. One of the guys decided to compile a list of what he considered to be my January ‘best bits’, which when taken out of the context of the email they were sent in are pretty bizarre. Here they are (I’ve removed one to protect the innocent!) :

• I spotted the following graffiti from the train into central Stockholm – (it was in English) “I wrote on a wall, take that society”
• I remember when I was working at (Big Bank A) for (Company B), one of the girls down there used to take herself off to a side table at lunch and read Shane Ritchie’s autobiography “Rags To Ritchie”
• Sheep and make are the same word in Swedish
• You can never trust a Tarquin
• Google Maps have started mapping North Korea, including such attractions as labour camps
• I started playing some chess at a local club and the second week I was there this guy came up to me, told me “I’ve googled you” and proceeded to inform me of several chess facts about myself and then said “there’s lots of pictures”
• Lotus Notes is utter pants
• Currently I am eating a packet of Minstrels whilst watching Don’t Forget The Lyrics
• At one point I had one of them hanging off my neck whilst the other one was trying to drop-kick me in the face
• The Swedish word for vegetables is grönsaker – literally translated this means green things
• I got propositioned on the Docklands Light Railway by a very drunk Italian sounding bloke – “hey, I like you…. You busy?…. You want to come partying with me?”. As he exited the train he decided to stick his face in front of mine and try to kiss me. Luckily for both me and him he missed completely.
• I think for pure volume of pissage you wouldn’t want an elephant wazzing on you and definitely not in Skelmersdale

TTFN

 

I’m in a wide open space, it’s freezing

Hejsan!

Guess what? I’m still in Sweden! J came to visit the weekend before last instead of me going home. We had a great weekend. The weather was -20C but it was perfect. Take a look at this loveliness from the eastern tip of Djurgården.

 

I’m working with Danes and Swedes (I work in Copenhagen for a couple of days every other week) so phrase of the day today is from one of my Danish colleagues. Tongue twisters were the subject….

Far, får får får? Nej, får får ikke får, får får lam.

This means – Dad, do sheep make sheep? No, sheep do not make sheep, sheep make lambs.

I nearly killed this very Danish colleague last week. He was new on the project and we work out in the Stockholm suburbs so I offered to show him the way to the tunnelbana (tube) to get him into town to his hotel. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from work up a moderately steep hill. You can get a bus but I like the walk. I told him we were going to walk and pointed out the route. He did not protest or say can we get the bus (he did know about the bus). Halfway up the hill, he turns to me and says “can we stop, I need a breather. I have a heart disease.” He was really, really short of breath and bucketing sweat. He was no better by the time we got to the station. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad I felt about it.

In my hand, my trembling hand

I have only been to one bar in my nearly 4 weeks in Stockholm and that was the work Julbord (Christmas do). It’s not much fun to do stuff like that on your own.

Anyway, Swedish word of the day is Öl which means beer. One of my colleagues told me that Swedish predictive text on mobiles translates OK to Öl and people have started using it to mean OK. Like.

Here’s a kebab shop window star – I’m looking at all the classy joints.

Knowing me, knowing you

So I’ve been working in Stockholm (and a little bit of Copenhagen too). I’ve only spent just under 3 weeks there but I’m expecting to spend most of this and next month there too. I will be boring you with my attempts to learn Swedish and understand what makes Swedes tick.

Here’s what I’ve found out so far – mostly observed at work and the interrogating of my colleagues over lunch…..

1. Socialism isn’t a rude word in Sweden unlike the US and how it seems to be going here in the UK with Dave and his mates. I like that very much.
2. Lunch is always taken. Sometimes as early as 11.30am. Swedes don’t think that having lunch at 11.30 is early.
3. Fairness and equality are very important. I like that too.
4. Education is free.
5. There seems to be a lot less ego and politic-ing in the Swedish workplace – though as I can’t speak Swedish I may be mistaken about that!
6. Swedes are pretty direct. This is another thing I like.
7. Swedes seem serious for most of the time, but then suddenly they smile and can really light up.
8. Sweden seems quite homogenous. Stockholm is the capital and it’s nowhere near as diverse as places like London and New York.
9. Swedes seem as weather obsessed as Brits. I thought it was only us…..
10. Swedish men are all very well groomed and they smell nice (and no, I haven’t gone round sniffing them, they give off a waft).
11. Stockholm is beautiful…. I think this and I’ve only seen it in the dark! Luckily J is going to come over for a weekend in a couple of weeks time and we can go exploring in the daylight 🙂

Since I’ve been back home for Christmas and New Year I’ve checked out a few blogs, mainly by US expats living in Sweden, and man, they get hung up on some stuff. I’m not expecting Sweden to be like the UK, that’s part of what makes it interesting, finding out the stuff that’s different, both good and bad. So far, I’m liking what I’ve seen.

Until I write again I will say hej då!

The sun is shining, it’s a new morning

Happy New Year! I hope 2013 brings love, health and happiness to you all.

2012’s been a whirlwind. Today I’ve made it to 12 months in the same job for the first time since the end of 2009. Go me!

Let’s have a quick recap (you’ll have seen some of these before) …..

January – a new job, a trip to San Fran, started London Marathon training

Sunset behind Golden Gate bridge

February – a trip to Swansea, more training, kickboxing green belt

Oxwich Bay

March – the end of the Titch, exchange contracts on new (old) house, more training!

Titchy

April – ran London Marathon, moved house

Marathon “how will you get through it?” wall

May – Elvis Costello rocked, boxes got unpacked, bunnies and guineas settled in

Having a relax

June – Long Jubilee holidays, I got to do some work in the city I live in (that NEVER happens!)

Regent St flags

July – Daisy and Twiggy came to live with us, the Olympics started, Wiggo won Le Tour

Twiggy & Daisy

August – I cheered, I laughed, I cried, I felt proud to be British. The Olympics and Paralympics were truly AMAZING and we were lucky enough to have tickets to some of it

Olympic Park

September – Ran Nottingham half in my fastest ever time, took a training run past a Paralympic gold postbox to inspire me

Richard Whiteheads gold postbox

October – A year older, John Cooper-Clarke, poetry rules as do walks in autumnal woods

Sherwood Forest beech

November – Lots of working away. Firstly in London, then start working on a project based in Stockholm (more about that some other time)

The Shard doesn’t look as big as I thought it would

December – Stockholm adventures continue (plus a tiny bit of Copenhagen)…. lots of snow = excited me, lots of time away from home = not so good

Kungsträdgården in Christmas card beautiful Stockholm