Stockholm Scenes
With news today of furtther job losses in the airline industry in Australia, and a prediction there will not be many international flights for at least another year, I’ve begun to think about (and save…
Tag: Sverige
For most of my life, I’ve been fascinated by Sweden. It started with ABBA, of course. Then I discovered their approach to how society should operate matches with my mine. Then I visited and discovered the beauty of the place, and the awesome people. Music, literature, film.
Sweden’s Second Best
As we head towards this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, I’ve been keeping up to date with all of the different national finals. Last weekend, Australia chose “Don’t Break Me” by Montaigne. “Fair enough”, I thought…
Movie Weekend
My mind was taken back this weekend, to my last visit to Stockholm in 2017. In particular, to Gröna Lund, the amusement park on Djurgården, located on one of the central islands of the city.…
Swedish National Day
A few months ago, a friend and former colleague sent me a “Thankyou/Swedish Care Package”, which consisted of some famous Swedish confectionary – Daim and Bilar – along with some yellow and blue balloons, and…
Swedish Class
Like Sydney, Stockholm is a city under construction. In Sydney, it’s the light rail; in Stockholm, it’s the development around Slussen. I noticed this first two years ago, the last time I visited Stockholm, hoping…
Sweden v England
About a decade ago, probably much longer, I remember a friend, Declan, declaring he was supporting England in the World Cup. He was a born and bred Irishman, who concluded that, since Ireland had been…
Melodifestivalen 2018
Standing at the bus-stop yesterday and looking down at my phone (as seems to be the fashion these days), I felt a nudge. I looked up and saw the smiling face of a colleague. We…
Melodifestivalen 2018 Deltävling #1
There were two genuine laugh out loud moments, as I watched the first heat of Melodifestivalen (now, appparently called “Mello”), the Swedish competition which chooses their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. As I’ve stated…
Christmas Music in Sweden
They’ve been playing Christmas music in the shops for a few weeks, and Christmas is still two weeks away! Here in Australia, there’s a certain cringe factor with the likes of Michael Buble and Mariah…
Swedish Pop
The only sad moment of my trip to Stockholm earlier this year was the discovery Victorias Bar had closed down. I had been there on many occasions, with many fond memories of their schlager nights.…
Swedish Day at the Ice Hockey in Melbourne
You know the character, “Ronald Niedermann” in one of the episodes of the Swedish TV production of “The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo?”. He has a congential condition where he has no feelings of pain,…
Stockholm or Sydney?
As I looked down on the ice and saw the surname, “Dahlberg” on the back of player number twenty-seven, I thought for a moment I could have been in Stockholm. Except for the fact I’ve…