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.