a shitty start to a sunny week

I had a lovely weekend, which you can't really tell from this post title, I know...

The parental unit went away for most of Saturday. I was supposed to sort through my boxes in the (very small) storage space and 'make it less'. However, once I got as far as my long-sought after box of CDs from my early teens, I didn't make much more headway that weekend! Sadly I discovered they were all un-rippable, so clearly from the time before mp3-players really made their mark. I don't even use an mp3-player because of my ears, but playlists are really the laymen's way of playing librarian, and as a librarian I love making playlists excessively...
I did make some headway in re-organizing my closet, as I could do that while listening to the music (and no, I will never reveal on this blog what the music was, suffice to say I hid the CDs if anyone was coming over and then managed to hide them so well I coudn't find them for almost 10 years)...

Yesterday we went shopping at Center Syd, one of the shopping malls that has lately been re-modeled and which has now lost even those few last remnants of individuality. Every single shopping centre in Skåne now look, feel and smell pretty much exactly the same, and contain to roughly 85% exactly the same stores. It was eerily creepy and uncomfortable, not to mention soulless. I wandered around aimlessly (even I know when I've hit a limit and I was so not buying anything like all the shit I have crammed in at home), but eventually I found my way towards the sports outlets and finally found the running jacket I've been looking for forever (at a decent price).

It's perfect! Lightweight, rain-proof, with lots of reflex details in nice patterns, with removable arms and zip pockets at the front. This way I have something to keep phone and keys in while I run even in the summer when it's warmer. I bought one of those things to wrap around your arm you can keep your mp3-player or phone in, but it feels quite bulky and awkward. I also found two sports tops in nice breathable materials, at discount prices. I'm not usually one for outlets or sales, but I've discovered proper sports equipment is apparently something for the wealthy (as is good healthy food, incidentally, with the way junk is cheap and vegetables are expensive... anyhow).

Oh yeah, the reason for the post title. I arrived at a suspiciously empty train platform this morning, and was like what the heck before I even got out of the car. Dad sad it's probably because people have gone on vacation - he was almost right! The train had gone on vacation - and is taking a whopping 2 months off!! I now have to work 9-5 and not get home until about 7.20pm or start getting up half an hour earlier - which would make it 5.10am. Sucks dude! I know there are worse problems, but this one really bummed me out!

Consequently, I answered 3 housing ads today. One of them looked for vegetarians so I may stand a fighting chance!!

rain, rain, rain, and tax

The rain is like a wall outside the open windows, it's actually quite fascinating (as I type, the other two in the office are just staring and exclaming in astonishment, making noas ark references - it's that kind of rain).
Incidentally, today is the start of Roskilde, Scandinavia's biggest rock festival taking place a few miles away (in the outdoor's, of course...). It's also the day when most high school kid's in Copenhagen graduate and are riding around in open cars and trucks around the city.

Moahaha that's the only thing cheering me up this awfully slow Friday afternoon, life is not fair!! and you'd better learn it soon and get used to it...
It's also the day after I decided to wash my rain jacket after 4 weeks of on-off rain (but not this kind of rain), which I consequently didn't bring with me today. An umbrella really isn't going to help much if it's still raining like this in an hour. Oh well. TGIF.

My sister has been home this week and my mum and dad have vacation as well, so they've been on outings and bbq:ing and sipping wine till late in the evenings, while I've been getting up at 5.40am like usual. I also have a cold, and after a few shorter weekend trips I'm now gagging for a longer vacation.

Today we got paid and my 5 days of unpaid holiday really made it's mark. In July I'm taking two weeks... but I can't imagine not taking any holiday. Still, this part of the Scandinavian system really sucks. Even when I worked for slave wage in Spain and also in the UK I never had to earn my holiday compensation. Granted, we had fewer days, but still. So far, the famously fair and wonderful Sweden appears to be quite crap in comparison to where I've been with regards to the labour market:
-higher taxes
-despite higher taxes going to the doctor/health centre costs you a standard fee (free in UK, in Denmark, in Spain we had co doctor = free as well)
-'karensdagar' ie the first day each time you're sick you don't get paid (gov currently aiming to make it 2!!)
-the first year of your employment you don't get paid holidays

I'm lucky I work in Denmark, and not. Tax in Denmark is the highest in Europe, including Sweden. So, I'm being taxed to finance healthcare which I am not recieving, and have to pay in Sweden. Still, we only work 35h/week compared to 40 in Sweden. And then wages are higher than in Sweden. So basically, if I ever started working in Sweden, I would get:
- fewer paid days due to unpaid sick days
- lower wage
- work more hours per week
+ slightly lower tax

(notice how I wrote 'if I ever work in Sweden'? ha)

On an unrelated note I've decided to start tagging my entries - it's really quite spectacular I haven't done it before, even if no-one else reads this. I'm a librarian for heaven's sake! Classifying is what I do, all day (not books, but still). So. I might make that a project this weekend, tomorrow is supposed to be equally dull before weather prospects improve slightly...
bye for now
/grumpy

immaterial vs material

So. Sweden is out of the Euro cup, after a defeat I didn't even watch after Saturday's anguish. I watched that game at PlainPomplain in Geneva on the big screen, with about 50 other Swedes and 1500 Spanish, where Spain of course scored 2-1 in the last 40 seconds of the game. I was pretty upset. Publicly. Spanish guys waved their hands at me in a 'sorry but we were just better' way. I wanted to hit them.
Apparently our game held a pretty low quality yesterday, and we had it coming. Whatever. I think I'm the furthest thing from an adrenaline junkie there is, at least when I can't affect the proceedings. It's very frustrating.

Anyway. Yesterday was a pretty crappy day - my Battlestar Galactica DVDs had apparently been 'lost' due to the postal workers bike being stolen. I got the empty packet and a nice letter from the postal services apologizing for any inconvenience. After questioning the homepage, a postal worker in an actual office, and the customer services hotline I was told to fill out this form and hope for the best (because there wasn't much hope of getting compensated, but maybe I would be incredibly lucky).

Then I proceded to leave my cell phone at work (yes, stupid, but I don't think it's ever happened before and I was upset!! at the loss of material wealth and the indifference with which I was treated). My train was about 7 minutes late, but I didn't borrow some strangers phone to call dad cause I figured he would just realise we were late. Unfortunately, another train exactly like mine arrived when mine was supposed to arrive, and having not seen his daughter exit the train and not being able to reach me on my phone, he went back home.
I figured we missed each other by about 1 minute. So I had to borrow some strangers phone and call home, whereupon a very grumpy father picked me up (had I not been on vacation for a week I would have walked, but I wanted to run quite desperately and so choose to face the wrath of dad).
Anyway. I e-mailed amazon hoping only to get maybe some policy document or something to wave in the face of Danish post and tell them they were liable - but instead amazon told me it was their policy to replace the goods when this kind of thing happened!!! I mean, maybe not if you order suspiciously expensive stuff and you've never shopped there before they're suspicious, but I'm a long-standing loyal customer (I have about 4 different addresses listed on my account). The only downer beign that one of the items is now out of stock and they're going to refund me.

Thus, being overwhelmed by this act of corporate policy in *my* favour, after feeling like a consumer without voice or rights, I am feeling a lot better about the whole Sweden-out-of-the-Euro cup. Material kicks immaterial's ass, at least this time (unless one argues I'm more happy about being vindicated than the loss of 40 quid - but how will I ever know).

Now I am going to go the loo, change my shoes, pack up my stuff and be on my way to a 3-day holiday - tomorrow is midsummer's eve, the biggest party night in Sweden after New Year's. Sis is also dropping by the house tonight (from Spain...) , and we're having awesome smoked fish. Mmmm. Laterz.

no

This weekend was fun, but I definitely don't have any urges to move back to London!! It was nice to see everyone, but it's so noisy, and dirty, and I like my forest (granted, hopefully I won't live with my parents permanently, but still).
It all went by very quickly, and kind of in a haze - I have about a 2h gap on Saturday afternoon, where I can't actually remember what I was doing... I think I prefer having 2 or 3 very expensive drinks (usually how it goes in Sweden) to large quantities of cheap wine or beer... Less of a hangover too!!

Anyway, I now have more summer clothes than I know what to do with, and a firmer conviction that I did the right thing in moving.
Now off to Geneva on Friday!! Can't wait to see L, and inadvertedly I will be there during the Euro cup! I've checked it out online, and there seems there will be a lot of partying going on. After yesterday's impressive win over Greece, I'm more optimistic about the big game against Spain on Saturday. In any case, I'm sure the atmosphere will kick ass!!

Off to London!!

I'm so excited, I hope I manage to get there alright this time...

Up at 4am (in 6h!!) to be there in plenty of time for my 10am flight, I know how much can go wrong with these trains across the straight!! Can't wait to see all my friends, which is funny seeing as how I left because I felt so alone... But no regrets! It'll just be cool to see everyone again - though maybe I shouldn't make a statement until after this weekend... haha, u don't know what you've got till it's gone! Haven't missed anything about London so far except for people and OK, Ping Pong and Itsu... ;)
So long!

a day by the sea

Heatwave! Spent the day with the parental unit in Kivik and Simrishamn, and had a lovely time. I'm loving it, though I managed to burn my ears!!!

The rest of the weekend was spent helping my dad drag furniture around and clean and rearrange according to his and mom's (to me completely unknown) plan, as my mum woke up with a bad back yesterday. I had planned to go to Malmo or something so I could go to the library, and get a much needed haircut. But I can do all that Thursday, which I have off due to the Danish independance day (but which is a normal day in Sweden - very convenient thing about working in a different country!). I do however have to work Friday, which is the Swedish independance day. But it's a recent holiday that I've never had off in my life, so I don't feel terribly ripped off.

I am all recovered!! And still taking penicillin, to stop it spreading. Friday we even had a visit from (rough translation) the Danish institute of contageous disease prevention, who checked everyone who wasn't already on penicillin. I think it's because it's one of those diseases you have to report to them (not good for the economy to spread this bug!!).

Anyway, hopefully nothing will stand in the way of me going to London *this* weekend, as I rebooked the trip for this Saturday. And the weekend after that I am taking a long weekend and seeing L in Geneva - I am so excited!! I can't wait to be able to spend some time with her, we are so different but such good friends. Also, when you've lived together (and if the friendship survives) you just form a special bond. It also means she's one of a few number of friends with whom I know how to deal with conflict, which is major, and a very good thing to have in a relationship. The week after that it's midsummer, for which I still don't have definitive plans - I think I'll manage to do something though, as a fair number of my friends will be around.

Apart from that, work as usual. Friday was the annual spring lunch (which I guess is the Danish version of summer party). We went to the zoo and had lunch and team-building exercises (my team won!!! the glory and a coat hook shaped likea buffalo, which is actually really cute). Afterwards we went to the pub, and I was the only Swede who bothered to stay. It meant I was home quite late but pub events are rare here, so I figured what the heck. It was really nice, the pub was by the water and greenery and we had rosé wine and crisps (except for the setting and the early departure, like any sunny London post-work drink).

Oh and I also got to work from home for the first (and last?) time ever, as the penicillin kicked in. Even though I took more breaks than I normally would (having my tea on the porch and throwing slimy balls to Linus), I got a lot more done when I actually sat down. My boss even remarked upon that, so I may be able to lobby for working from home occasionally in the future.

Right! Off to take a cold shower to cool off my slight sunburn, it's gonna get even hotter tomorrow!!