Earthquake!

There was an earthquake here this morning, about 6.20am. Reports say it measured 4.7 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was around 20km east of here - between Malmö and Ystad.

I woke up to the sound of a big bang, and the house shook for about 20 seconds as it tailed off. It's the biggest earthquake in Sweden since 1904 - that one was a 6 - much bigger. No damage here to report, but there were a lot of calls to emergency services and may be some cracks in building facades. It could be felt across the water in Copenhagen.

See the news report here and the US geological survey report here.

Back from Syria...

Back from Syria... I've uploaded the photos in full resolution, including those from the last blog post. You can see them here.

My trip took me to Damascus, Palmyra, Homs and Deir Ezzor, as well as the drilling rig sites in the deserts and hills north east of Palmyra where the Bedouin still herd their sheep. Highlights were the Roman ruins in Palmyra and the seemingly endless market stalls and alleyways of Damascus. In the west there are olive groves, almond trees and vineyards, giving way to desert in the east. The Euphrates river passes though Deir Ezzor, not far from the Iraqi border - the river valley is very green and fertile.

The people were friendly and hospitable and the food was good - olives (grown locally), hommus (sometimes with tahini), halva, lentil soup and everything served with flat bread. Also good was the Lebanese wine - from Chateau Ksara or Clos St Thomas.

Postcard from Syria

On assignment in Syria. I'm staying in Der Ezzor at the moment, and it seems there's no agreement on how to spell it - not in the Latin alphabet, anyway. It's on google maps as "Dayr Az Zawr". So far the weather has been good and the people friendly, but finding internet is not so easy... Here's some photos of Damascus and the Roman ruins in Palmyra.

Early autumn...

A few photos from the start of the autumn.


In Häckeberga, a nature reserve in Skåne.


The house in the autumn.


Apples by the hundreds.


Summer barbecues still continuing.

Lamb roast beef

Spotted in a restaurant in Malmö: "Lammrostbiff". Time to ask the obvious question -is it beef, or is it lamb?

"It's lamb roast beef". We're none the wiser then.

Turns out lammrostbiff is lamb sirloin or chump - the "rostbiff" implies the cut, not the animal.

Reminds me of a trip to eastern europe, where the english description of a menu item reads "Chef's special turkey".

"What is the turkey?", I ask the waiter.

"Is like... you know, big chicken."

Fiskbilen: Sweden's answer to the ice-cream truck*

Just when you think you have seen it all... Today I got a visit from Fiskbilen - the "fish car". A guy came to the door with a price list for fish and seafood, by the kilo. In his van he had a big household freezer, presumably full of the fishy stuff. He says he comes around every three months. You can even pre-order on the website.

According to the site, the company was started in Sweden in 2004 by two guys from Norway. Certainly sounds like something your Norwegians would be into. The site also says other businesses have started with the same idea, and asks customers to check that the van has the right logo and web address written on the van - so beware of rogue fishmongers!

*OK, there are ice-cream trucks here as well. I've even seen one out here in the countryside around midsummer time.

Scandinavian taxis: "Engelsk Herre"

Scandinavian taxis are full of machinery. They usually come equipped with GPS navigation, credit card machines, several meters and CC-television. (The issue of why Taxi Skåne drivers can never find my house I'll leave for another post.)

Similarly, Scandinavian taxi receipts are extremely detailed. They come complete with addresses of pick up and drop off, the exact times and distance travelled. If you call one up, your name often appears on the receipt.

I went to a meeting in Denmark the other day. I arrived at a small train station - no taxis were present so I called the number on the taxi stand, and ordered the taxi in English (I could order in Swedish, but the reply would be pronounced in the Danish way - with 80% fewer consonants). I thought it a little strange they didn't ask my name, but it was apparent later that the operator thought me being non-Danish was enough. The name "Engelsk Herre" ("English Man") appeared on the receipt.

Need help? Ask Anna...

Ah, IKEA... it was only a matter of time before this appeared in the blog. I usually use the Swedish IKEA website, but sometimes skip over to the British one if I can't handle the language. On the website if you need help, you are invited to "Ask Anna" - but I notice that on the Swedish site Anna (and on the Australian and US sites) is a redhead. But on the UK site, Anna is a blue-eyed blonde. Next stop: ABBA...

Skåne i maj

Spring has arrived in Sweden, the mercury hit 25C on the weekend. Many fields nearby are covered with raps (rapeseed). Here's some photos.

Ny kamin

Been busy over Easter installing a new kamin (wood heater/log fire) to replace the old one. The hole in the chimney had to be enlarged (a precise scentific process involving a hammer and chisel) and a new chimney pipe cemented in. The rökrör (smoke pipe) goes into the chimney pipe. Once all the sealants are dry, you can fire it up... but it smells terrible the first time, as all the chemical fumes come out - so you have to open all the windows... it's all working fine now, though, and the house is warm.

I'm living in the white house now, it looks great. Still in the commissioning stage as I'm fixing things here and there and working out where to put things. Next up: floor tiles...

Svensk personnummer

You can't do anything in Sweden without a personal number. It's a bit like a tax file number (Aus), social security number (US) or national insurance number (UK). Except more useful. Without it you can't register a car, get a phone line, get a mobile phone contract, connect broadband internet... you can get a bank account but you can't have internet banking, phone banking or a cash card.

I got mine the other day. It's a 10 digit number starting with your date of birth. So now I'm really somebody.

There's a wikipedia article about it here...

Out of the heat wave, into the freezer

We have snow!

I'm back from 3 weeks in Melbourne, with temperatures up to 40C. Arrived back in Sweden on Monday night. I took the train from Stockholm (4 hours) to Lund where it was blizzard conditions. Here's some of the photos I took the next morning:







There's more on the flickr site.

Most of the snow has melted now, but there's more on the way over the Easter weekend...

Postcard from Melbourne

Spent the last couple of weeks hanging out in Melbourne, catching up with friends & family, having barbecues and getting some welcome sunshine. It's been warm, and hit 37 degC yesterday - took a cruise down the Yarra River to Williamstown for fish & chips and ice cream. Good stuff.

Thanks to the smoking ban, the latest thing in Melbourne city is rooftop bars, which are springing up all over the place - but not always the easiest places to find. If you play your cards right you can get yourself a deck chair on fake grass, a cold drink and a view right over the city.

Postcard from Carnival!

Greetings all... Just spent 4 days in Trinidad during Carnival. See the photos here.

Floor replacement

Back in Sweden now, after some time abroad. Time for some more Sweden-related posts, starting with the white house.

Now the cement is dry, the floor has been laid on top - over 3 days last week. Looks great, but there's some finishing touches to go - like tiles in the doorway and cement and more tiles in front of the fireplace. It's almost time to move in.

I've started on the furniture, as well...

Swedish comedy: the snabbmat nation

Swedish comedian Henrik Schyffert on fast food.

There's enough english to follow, but it's subtitled as well.

Strålkastare

Got some second-hand headlights on the weekend. Because I'm driving my British right-hand-drive Saab on the right hand side of the road, the headlights are aimed slightly towards the oncoming traffic - so by law I have to have covers glued to the lights. This doesn't work so well on modern headlights, because the reflectors consist of many parabolas. In any case, it's only a temporary measure. Thankfully the replacement lights just slot straight into the car and now my lights aim slightly to the kerb side.

The postage & payment system works well, too. When buying second-hand car parts by post, the wrecker's yard or parts dealer sends the parts to the post office. Instead of paying for the parts when you order them (running the risk that they'll never turn up) you pay for the parts and postage when you pick them up from the local post office. You get an SMS when the parts arrive. Good system.

More photos from Doha

Greetings all.

I'm back in London now - it's warm for January, 14C. It's back to Sweden tomorrow and there's some snow predicted there this week. In the meantime, here's some more photos from Doha.


Fountain on the Corniche


Fishing boats on the Corniche, with the skyline of new Doha in the background - note the number of cranes: there's an enormous amount of construction going on.


Doha's new museum


Crazy high-rise. This one's got a ball between the two buildings. There are offices inside the ball. Mad!

There's more on the flickr site.

Dust n' traffic: Postcard from Qatar

Greetings all. Been working the last 10 days in the State of Qatar. It's a strange place - very wealthy thanks to oil and gas, but flooded with migrant workers from all over. The traffic is terrible, mostly due to impatient people and an abundance of roundabouts. In Doha there are accidents all the time.

Managed to catch the Doha Open tennis, the tickets were free to everybody and it was no problem getting a seat - the population here is roughly only 800,000 but they have the cash to host world class events like this. Doha is bidding for the 2016 olympics.

The weather here's been sunny but cold - for the gulf - so cold it's been in the news. The daytime temperatures have been a max of 10-14C, getting down to 4 at night. The locals are wearing winter jackets. There was a sandstorm one night, too.

My work here is something of a paradox - moving from the extravagant Four Seasons Hotel in Doha to the dry and dusty industrial area and the rig camp in the desert in the north of Qatar.

Looking forward to finishing up and getting back to Sweden, in most aspects except filling up the car with petrol. I filled up the SUV here the other day for €7. It's cheaper by volume than bottled water.