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Written by Stephen Baines
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Thursday, 02 November 2006 |
Last weekend we had the happy and sad experience of going to collect our Genebank Blommehöns from a delightful couple not too far away from where we live. They sadly are having to give up their chickens due to the family deciding not to keep animals on their farm any more. Goldie was heartbroken to give up her chickens. More info about them is <a href="http://www.alledal.nu/content/view/33/30/">here</a>.
This week has seen a real reminder that winter is well and truly arriving.
The last few weeks have seen heavier skies and colder nights, and the temperatures have been falling at night, and the electricity has been climbing! The issues with the satellite dish over summer that had been annoying became very problematic, and thanks to some very helpful people on the internet we finally found that when our 2.4m dish had been installed the wrong type of LNB had been used, meaning it could only "see" about 80cm of the dish, hence everytime it rained the picture dissappeared. We have now fitted the correct type of LNB and a <a href="http://www.invacom.com/products/adf_120.htm">feedhorn</a> (something Nigel reckons looks more like a potato masher than a horn!) a little tweak, and we now have BBC and ITV again. The picture failed yesterday, but that was quickly solved when the snow was removed from the dish.
Ah, did I just mention snow? On Wednesday, after days of promises from SVT, the snow did indeed arrive. We got up at 6am on Wednesday and there was no snow, by 7am it was falling.
<a href="http://gallery.vollans.co.uk/v/Malmo/OctoberSnow/?g2_highlightId=12274"><img src="http://gallery.vollans.co.uk/d/12277-2/IMG_2374.JPG" alt="Snow covered fields in Billinge" />
<img src="http://gallery.vollans.co.uk/d/12236-2/IMG_2363.JPG" alt="A better view of the snow" /></a>
One of the things that has proven to be a pleasure in moving to Sweden has been the fun of learning new words and concepts. There is an amazing word in Swedish, <strong>Lagom </strong>(pronounced lar-gomm). There isn't an English translation of it that can easily be made, the best you can do is explain the whole concept and where it comes from. The nearest English word would be "average", but that does it a disservice - lagom is a whole believe in just enough, not too much, not too little, everyone has enough, nothing <em>in extremis</em>. It's a laudable concept, even if it does come from bloodthirsty times. The concept of lagom came from the days of the Vikings when a big bowl or horn was filled with mead, it was then passed around the team ("laget om") and each took a swig. If someone took too much, there wasn't enough to go around, and they would quickly feel the pain of the knife!
The next wonderful concept is that of the <strong>Janteloven</strong>. The Janteloven, or Jante Law, is a concept that most of Fennoscandia believes in. It comes from a novel about a town called Jante. The basic idea is that no-one should stand out, everyone is equal and no one should push to be better than everyone else.
The original Jante Law was more detailed:
<blockquote>1. You shall not think that you are special.
2. You shall not think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. You shall not think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. You shall not think that you know more than us.
6. You shall not think that you are more important than us.
7. You shall not think that you are good at anything.
8. You shall not laugh at us.
9. You shall not think that anyone cares about you.
10. You shall not think that you can teach us anything.
</blockquote>
The combination of lagom and janteloven is very powerful! Everyone here knows the concept, even if it is hard to explain why it's so important to them.
The next bit of Swedish culture that I've come to love already is Thursday and the arrival of "ärtsoppa" - pea soup. It doesn't sound that exciting or wonderful, but believe me it's a great start to the end of the week. The pea soup is made with yellow peas and is again eaten all over Fennoscandia (though the Finns eat it with green peas!). It's thick, warming, and served with ham, dark bread and mustard which you stir in yourself so it's just right. And you always have pancakes, cream and berries of pudding! If ever you plan to visit Sweden, do so on a Thursday. I asked where the tradition comes from, and no one really knew - there were some suggestions of it being from the military, but no one was quite sure. I've ended up having a look for myself and found out that it most likely comes from the Pre-Protestant Reformation days and them filling up on a Thursday for the fasting on Friday. Everyone gets very excited about lunch on Thursday.
Finally, as we're getting settled in, people are suggesting things we should try that are very Swedish, Scandinavian or "Skånish". The latest suggestion has me not so sure, especially in light of this weeks weather! That was that we take our friends this weekend to one of the local "kallbadhus" or "cold bathing houses". It's a place where the Swedes go to, which is basically a pier out into the sea where you swim in an enclosed area in the sea, then have a Sauna, another bathe or two, and then tuck into some delicious food on the pier whilst watching everyone else in the freezing sea. Me? Currently not sure. I may wait and see if the icebergs are ready for mounting, so I can chip some fresh ice to go into the G&T to fully enjoy the experience. |
