Home Less Sweet Home – at least this time

There are moments in life when it’s better turn away and don’t look at the misery. Half an hour ago there was one of these moments, when a blonde Swedish girl of maybe 16 years vomited into a trash bin in a subway station. Such things assure that western civilization is certainly on the right track.

The birthday dinner I had before was much more convenient. Anna turned maybe 18, maybe 21 – who cares about age – yesterday and I came along more or less incidently. Quite a nice evening, although our 20 minutes walk through Södermalm was pretty much the end of it. The concert we wanted to see ended just the moment we arrived. So there was nothing to say but “tyvärr” (unfortunately) – and go home.

I received a nice sheet of paper yesterday – it was attached to my cars windscreen and is named “Kontrollavgift”. I’m supposed to pay 450 kr. In other words: it is a parking ticket. Now that my car is standing here at the place the caretaker told me to park at for about one month, I receive finally a fine for it. I’m not going to accept it. In my opinion my car was parked definitely on private property, which can be seen on this photo.

Parking Ticket

The car on the right is mine. As can be seen, my car is standing on the lawn in the direct neighbourhood of the container. It has to be private, not public property.
I’ll register a complaint – that’s for sure.

It maybe of no direct concern to me, but I think it’s necessary to drop a few words about what is going in the USA at the moment. After 9/11 it has become difficult to use the word solidarity in connection with something happening in the US – the final result of an unjustified and meaningless invasion in Iraq gives it a bitter taste.

However I assume the people there have everybody’s solidarity here, including me.

I don’t want to comment too much about the results of this natural desaster, but the political effects of it will be undoubtedly severe – as the mayor of New Orleans points out quite harshly.

Enough for today- tomorrow there will be maybe more time for cheerful things. For example a good result at the Bellmanstaffeten relay run. I also have some nice new photos.