There is a Facebook application called "Compare" where you get to compare your contacts (all right, your friends) within a number of different categories - you get the names of two random people in your friends list, and choose which one of them is the more famous, more talented, cuter, a better singer, a harder worker, or whatever. This can get rather amusing, such as when I was asked to choose which one of two bald friends has the better hair, or whether person A (male) or person B (female) would be a better father (though I think the latter was actually a bug.) In any case, it makes me wonder if my friends know me at all. At the moment, I'm ranked as the most organised person in my network - eleven people think I'm more organised than some other friend of theirs. Well, maybe they just have very disorganised friends, what do I know.

Looking at the bottom of the table, I find that nobody thinks I'm more outgoing or more talkative than anybody else. (Well, nor do I!) And almost nobody thinks my smile or my taste in music are better than their random friend's. Hmph! I'll just stick to the top of the table, where people would rather have dinner with me. Not to mention that 11 out of 18 people would rather get stuck in handcuffs with me than with their other friend - which probably means they think I know how to pick locks.

Labels: fun, Internets, personal

 
The children came back later: I was outside trying to get Bonadea to agree to come in, and they were sitting on our fence so I went out there to chat with them. The girls are 5 and 7, and the boy is 7, and they are not siblings but live in the houses next to each other (and next to our house). They told me this and many other things, and I got Cassandra and held her for them so they could stroke her until she tired of it - then I took her inside and gave her some cat milk to appease her. The younger of the girls wanted to hold Cass, but I didn't let her for there could have been some blood-shed, and I'd certainly have had to go Cassandra-hunting for quite some time. Bonadea, clever cat that she is, stayed away until they had left.

It felt very... familiar but opposite, to be the neighbour lady you come over to chat with. I mean, when I was a kid, the grownups in my street were kind people who did their incomprehensible grownup things, but were generally happy to see you and usually up for a few minutes' chat.

So we'll see if these become general hangers-around and fans of our cats, or if this was a passing interest of theirs and they will keep doing their incomprehensible kid things further down the street. It's good to have some social contact with the neighbours in any case.

Labels: cats, personal

 
Three kids just rang my doorbell. I heard them talking all the way up the driveway (all of seven metres or so) and was prepared to say "No thanks, I don't want to buy jultidningar" as I opened the door. But no, they were not selling anything (they must have been too young for that, actually) - they wanted to give me a glass marble. They had a basket full of them, and asked with toothless grins if I wanted one. How could I have refused? So I got a marble, and gave them each an apple from our tree, and we were all quite pleased. As they left, they gave me another marble. "My cats will like these!" I said. "I have SEEN your cats! They are really cute!" said one of the girls. Excellent kids, those three. They will go far.

Labels: personal

 
The wedding was really fun. The weather was perfect, the bride and groom were lovely and radiant, and we suffered not at all from our halting German - though as always, I decided that I will try and improve it, I really will...

German weddings are not that different from Swedish ones, except that the church wedding is not sufficient on its own - the legally binding ceremony is civil, and can take place before or after the church wedding (which is not obligatory). In Sweden, couples can choose a civil or a religious wedding, but if they go for the religious version they don't need a civil one as well. Anyway, in this case the happy couple had been legally wed for a month already, not that that detracted any from the ceremony in the church! I admit that I did not quite understand all of the priest's speech, but to sing hymns in German felt quite natural.

The wedding cake was magnificent and very yummy - and quite rich. Fortunately, we got a few hours to get hungry again, before the dinner which was excellent. I don't think I'd had Sauerkraut before, it's definitely a taste I would have remembered. I wonder where I can get it in Sweden.

According to a couple of the other guests, and the bride, many German weddings include a lot of games for the guests. (Well, so do Swedish weddings, come to think of it.) This one didn't, which gave us lots of time to talk to the other people, those we knew and those we didn't. The entertainment was splendid, too.

Our pictures are here. (There will be more of them soon, I believe - I managed to hide some of the best photos so Johan couldn't upload them to flickr.)

Labels: friends, personal, weddings

 
Tomorrow morning we're off to Germany to attend a wedding: that makes three weddings this year, in three different countries. (The first one was in Finland in February, the second in Old Uppsala in August.) It should be fun; I leave too many unfinished things behind but hopefully I'll be able to relax anyway. I'm not bringing the computer which may or may not help with relaxation. I very much look forward to meeting some friends I've never before seen in real life (you know, Internet friends as oppsed to real friends) as well as the happy couple and a few other people I've met before - it will be a lot of fun, I'm sure of that.

I just hope I won't have to speak too much German, or that if I do, I won't make a total fool of myself. I understand the language pretty well, but when speaking I tend to get lost. Perhaps I'd better practice a bit. An auf hinter in neben über unter vor zwischen. Aus außer bei gegenüber mit nach seit von zu. Think the other guests will think I'm odd if I respond to them with a string of prepositions?

Labels: friends, personal

 
We spent last weekend in Helsinki, celebrating the wedding of Eemeli and Saijaa, two friends of ours from the Finnish science fiction fandom. Wedding parties are always fun; this one included the opportunity to come up with names for the twins who are expected in May, as well as the Finnish tradition (which I didn't know before) of the bride being abducted and the groom having to perform and do various tricks until he has collected enough money from the wedding guests to buy his new wife back. (Eemeli can juggle pretty well, even with eggs. He cannot sing, however.)

One of the best parts was the performance by three of the four members of the folk music group Inehmo. They sang six or seven songs during the evening, and wow, are they ever good! Their site is mostly in Finnish, but the link "Ohjelmisto" leads to a page with a few sound clips. Here is a YouTube video of them, again only a short clip of about 30 seconds. I really like Finnish folk music, and I like that type of singing, strong voices without much vibrato. If I understood Tero correctly, one of the members of the group is an old friend of Eemeli's mother, which is why they were hired for the evening. Their first CD (I assume -- the site says "recording") will be out in April. I think I'll try to get hold of that.

Labels: friends, music, personal, singing, weddings

 
Gosh wow. We received four Unshelved albums in the mail today -- a gift from our friend Jay the Librarian. And all four albums were signed -- with a dedication to me!

The envelope was gorgeous, too, covered in stamps, one each in the Wonders of America series.

Gosh and, if I may say so, wow. Thank you so much, Jay.

Labels: books, friends, personal

 
Stina gave birth to a son two days ago :-) :-)


Added: Here is a picture. He will have to practice a bit before going to his first hard rock concert. (Vital statistics: 49 cm, 2900 g, and everybody involved is doing just fine.)

Labels: birthdays, personal

 
I read in DN that the hottest single record of 2006 in Sweden, the one most sold in shops and most downloaded from the net, is Who's da Man with 7-year-old Frans. OK, so I know I am not exactly with it when it comes to music, but usually I've at least heard the names of groups or artists. Not so in this case.

I am old.

(Looking it up I discover that it was apparently the official team song for the Swedish football team in last year's World Cup, so there was good reason for me not to have heard it - but still, not even having heard the artist's name... I am old.)

Labels: music, personal

 
Rebecka was here today. She's a very cheerful kid, and ridiculously cute. Pictures may well follow.

Also, I've started tagging my posts. It takes a very long time to tag the old posts, but I am slowly doing it all the same.

Labels: personal, Rebecka

 
My Christmas holiday is winding down. I went to the department today, saw my tutor briefly and discussed my time plan. Once back home, I started tidying up my reference lists and making todo lists. Tomorrow I'll start writing again.

I feel fairly good about the thesis right now. I think I can finish it on time - more or less. I feel less sanguine about the quality of my research, though. Sometimes I don't think what I'm doing is relevant at all. But at the moment I'm not too panicked about that.

Ho hum. Here is a good link regardless of your nationality: The Local, English-language news from Sweden. Only from Sweden, and by a team of native English-speaking editors who live here (mainly expatriate Brits, I think). I enjoy reading The Local for many reasons - their articles are well-written and usually well-researched; even if the news are the same I get in DN the language factor makes it seem as if the perspective is somehow different; and knowing that Sweden is very small and very insignificant it nevertheless feels good to be able to point to news articles (not to mention in-depth articles about Swedish society, culture, traditions, science, politics...) for the benefit of foreign friends. Read The Local, it's a good newspaper. Especially if you're a forriner.

Labels: links, personal, Swedish stuff, thesis

 
Happy New Year.
In 2006, some good and some bad happened. I never did get back into the blogging habit. But I won't dwell on that -- there is too much guilt connected to not blogging and that's just silly. Better just to post :-)
In 2007 I will finish and defend my PhD thesis, or else -- well, there is no else. I will. What else? I'd like to go places with M, and also hang out some more with H and V; A is getting a bit too old to want to socialise with aunts, and N is too young still. Nieces and nephews are excellent, at any rate. Especially mine. As for the rest, I have no real plans. We shall see what happens.

The old year ended well, we had a very excellent dinner with some of my favourite people, played a board game and chatted comfortably for several hours, before toasting and listening to the church bells ringing in the new year. I also got seriously annoyed with some idiot children (a group of 10-15-year-olds or so) who were shooting fireworks in a patently illegal spot, only a few metres outside the window at our friends' ground floor apartment. They held the pieces in their hands, too - and there were adults with them, too, so I think the epithet "stupid" really does apply, not just "too young to understand". It ended without any accidents or broken windows; the effect on the dogs in the surrounding flats is unknown. Other than that fireworks thing, as I say, excellent.

Am watching the ski jumping from Garmisch. It is New Year's Day after all. However, the jumping is no longer broadcast in the afternoon just after the New Year's concert from Vienna; instead we have to wait until the evening, and we can only watch it because we have all kinds of odd channels. But I don't mind. I do feel old watching the competition, though - they are mere boys, almost all of them. I'll order a Zimmer frame on Ebay tomorrow.

Labels: personal

 
Thanks for birthday wishes. Unfortunately, the five days since my last post haven't all been wonderful: I started feeling vagualy crummy with a bit of a cough on Wednesday afternoon, and went home early skipping the choir because I had no voice left and only wanted to go to bed. I felt too tired and generally out of it to have anything seisible to eat, so just took a mixture of cough drops and went to bed, sleeping very badly. On Thursday, I was supposed to teach from 8:15 to 9, which meant I had to get up at 6; I got up, had some water with honey for my voice, and promptly threw it up again. I didn't feel too bad though, just very tired, so ascribed it to having had not much sleep and nothing to eat the night before (my stomach does these things to me when I don't feed it regularly. Silly creature.) So I did go to work, and taught for 45 minutes, and went home again, had a cup of tea and immediately lost that, too. And a banana I tried to eat.

Cutting out sordid details, I was thoroughly sick to my stomach all day Thursday, in addition to the cough getting worse (not a particularly pleasant combination). Johan, being an angel, got me blueberry soup which by the end of the evening I was able to drink and keep. Yesterday -- Friday, I feasted on boiled, unsalted cod and toast without any spread. It may have been the nicest toast I've ever had.

Today, my stomach is fine, but I do have a whopper of a cold. And I really, REALLY can't be ill now. I MUST be well by Monday, because I'm teaching almost all day -- on Friday it was only one hour and I expect they found somebody to stand in (I did call in sick when I got home on Thursday), but not for six classes! And of course this means I can't relax cos I'm worrying too much, which is totally counterproductive but I don't know how not to. And my stupid nose doesn't work to breathe through.

In addition, this morning I found a grey hair. On myself. I'm old....

(OK, that last isn't serious. I got a grey hair -- big deal. Shows I'm big enough to, er. I'm sure I'm big enough for something.)

Labels: personal

 
Happy Birthday to... well, me. :-)

A good day, on the whole. Luxury breakfast in bed, nice presents; and later, colleagues singing to me and giving me cake; funny cards with cats on them, both the e-variety and paper ones; and a virtual cake with everlasting candles, plus a virtual IKEA Fabergé egg. I know nice people. (And odd ones.)

Labels: personal

 
I finished my Master of Arts degree in December, 1998, by submitting and getting a Passing grade for my paper in library and information science. Today I picked up the degree certificate. I am the queen of procrastination! Given that it won't be that many years (I hope) before I get a much prettier diploma saying I'm a PhD^*, it might seem a little unnecessary. But the department secretary has asked for us all to show our degree papers, which meant I kind of needed a paper to show. The funny thing is that here, at this job, my degree doesn't make any difference to my pay, it's just a matter of what letters they put in the university phone book; whereas at my former job it was a substantial difference in pay -- but there they didn't ask to see the diploma, they took my word for it.

It's a rather nice-looking piece of paper though, with my full name, an embossed seal^** and a water-mark and everything. If I remember it, I might scan it on Monday when I bring it in to work, and post a picture.

^*Wood duly touched.
^**Not that kind of seal. Stop barking.

Labels: personal, work

 
Another week, and I still haven't fixed the colours. Sigh. Also, I need to learn to tell the difference between the save as draft and publish buttons; otherwise what I do write won't be published!

Ah well. I would like to make it known that I honestly could not possibly care less about the ice hockey results in the Olympics. I know Sweden won, and that doesn't bother me, but nor do I feel happy about it; in fact, it doesn't change anything at all in my life in any way, positively or negatively. In a month or three I will have forgotten it to the point where I won't be able to answer the question "who won?" -- I always do that. And I hope the agitated muffin eaters will still be my friends...

Labels: blog meta, personal

 
Merry Christmas, dear reader. Many books have come my way, so far, and that is all good. Also new sheepskin slippers, and a certain DVD, and many other good things too. I feel loved.

And I feel sleepy. There is a warm bed a-waiting - and Santa brought me a new pillow! I really wanted a new back, but what the hey.

Labels: personal

 
There is more to Christmas gifts than giving, I've come to understand lately. Judging by some ads I've seen, the most important thing about a Christmas gift is that you, the person who is giving it away, will benefit by it. Some phone companmy or other, for instance, asks in a brochure that was thrust at me when I walked through a mall today "What Does Your Sister Want?" (Picture of underwear or a pair of earrings.) "Will That Make You Happy?" (Picture of happy sister and sulking giver.) "You should give her a phone instead" (or maybe a phone card from some particular company? I didn't pay that much attention, I just know a phone was involved.) "Then she'll be able to keep in touch with you!" (Picture of giver, in bed, sleepily answering phone.) "Come to think of it, maybe you should go with the earrings."

Sure, it was humorous and it did make me remember it - which is of course the only objective of advertising. It would have been more of a success if I'd remembered whether it was Comviq or Motorola, but still.

But really. I mean, really. I don't think I'm a particularly generous or good person, but I like giving things away, and Christmas provides a good excuse for squandering lots of money on presents for people I like. It's probably partly the kind of feel-good hormone that is released by shopping for oneself, and of course also the selfish joy from seeing other people getting happy. I do like receiving as well, I can get ridiculously happy by material things. But I'll reserve the right not to give away things that will mostly benefit myself, and I don't particularly like that kind of advertising or what it implies.

So my sisters are not getting mobile phone cards from me this year. Sorry, Ulrika and Pyrola.

Labels: personal

 
So I went to see my doctor, because it's perfectly ridiculous to have a stupid cold for three weeks. He drew blood and poked me in the throat with a stick and didn't come up with anything. Sigh. But at least he prescribed a couple of good cough medications.

Then I popped by work, since my doctor's office is just across the graveyard from the dept of English. My supervisor is great, she really is - she suggested that my planned seminar before Christmas be moved to January, and that I study some Old English now, not with any set exam date or pressure, but just to make it less frustrating having to be home. I feel much better about my work situation now.

I read recently that cocoa is good against coughs, so I popped by the chocolate shop on the way home (both my supervisor and Terry told me I should, so I did!) On the bus home I started coughing, and ate a couple of chocolate mocca beans, and the fit subsided immediately. Yay chocolate!

Labels: personal

 
I wasn't being intentionally obscure in my previous posting, as a matter of fact. I received in the mail today a delivery from Amazon (ha, after I bad-mouthed them yesterday!) Not having ordered anything from Amazon UK, and not expecting the delivery from .com to arrive the day after I ordered it, I was very confused indeed... turns out it was a book from my wishlist, one I really REALLY wanted, as well as a CD I'd never heard of but like instantly.

I've been ill for a long time, now. Nothing serious at all, just a string of colds, which never go away and get worse the moment I try to step out of doors. I'm trying to work, but it's not that easy from home, and I'm getting rather worried about the state of my thesis. In addition, the weather is very grey - we don't have a lot of sun hours at this time of year, on the 60th latitude, and although it can be brilliant in December when the sun is out, it has been very overcast lately.

So getting unexpected presents really cheered me up. A lot!

Labels: personal

 
Unexpected, early Christmas presents from unexpected source -- random act of kindness -- much gladness!

Labels: personal

 
You get used to being a second-class person, if you're on the web a lot. That is, provided you're not living in the US. I've got used to it, and it usually doesn't bother me much, but today I made my first and last purchase from Amazon.com.

I should probably stop using Amazon.co.uk as well, because it is the same company after all, but so far I've mostly had ok experiences with them. And since boycotting them won't make anything change there is no point in not being pragmatic.

Labels: personal

 
Oh, wow, I'm going to be a godmother!!
Am not sure it's public - we were only just asked, so shan't link to pictures of the bairn, just yet. Godparent etiquette isn't something I've ever had reason to think about, before.

In any case I'm both happy and proud.

Labels: personal

 
Am old. Have received many cool and interesting things; for instance some really nice hand-made chocolate and The Merlin Conspiracy by D W Jones, from Johan, Hy Brasil by M Elphinstone, from Kicki, Not the End of the World, by K Atkinson, from CdM, and a cuddly bathrobe from my aunts. Oaktree sent me ButtonMen and my parents gave me a very nice picture.

And from Miranda, I got Olof!

Labels: birthdays, books, personal

 


The red dot marks where our house is; the study window next to my computer screen looks due north. Some fifteen minutes ago, an ambulance and a fire engine drove past on the north-south road leading into the housing area just north and east of here. Five minutes later, two more fire engines followed. All had their sirens on. Something bad has happened, I fear — but nothing in the local rag about it yet. . . No smell of smoke when I open the windows, though. I wonder if maybe a tree has fallen down on a house.

[edited to add: No - it was a fire. A big one, and I think the house was severely damaged, but at least nobody got hurt in it.]

Labels: house or garden, personal

 
Glgh. Too many things to write, for work, for other people and for this place.

I'm going to bed instead, I think. At least I've had a fairly productive day.

Labels: personal

 
On pleasure bent again? Yes, I suppose so—in a few hours I'll be on my way to France. The VIE is approaching half-completion, and a select team of enthusiasts will be proofing blueprints from the publishers until our eyes pop out. I'll be back on Tuesday evening.

Labels: books, personal

 
Red chicken curry and a pint of HELL make Néa a sleepy girl. Content, but sleepy. I suppose my rambling thoughts on the word "blog" will have to wait another day or several.

Labels: personal

 
Oh my paws and whiskers, a very important person wrote to the guestbook asking for an earplug update. . . well, it will no doubt please you to hear that the mere act of bringing them with me caused the bus ride to be very quiet and pleasant.

I'd write more but I have enquiry desk duty in 3 minutes; being Library Babe isn't all fun and games and blogging. . .

Labels: personal

 
Note to self: Remember to bring ear plugs tomorrow morning! Having 2 walkmen in opposite ends of the bus leaking sound is stressful enough, but this morning the bus driver put the radio on the loudspeakers so all the passengers were treated to a sports-and-pop radio channel; I am exceedingly bored by sports (and besides I needed to work this morning, which isn't really possible when a radio talks Very Loudly at you in the wrong language), and when the drum beat from various strands of pop music mingle (for naturally the walkman listeners turn up their volume three extra notches) and don't match even a little bit, it pretty much makes me want to tear my arm off and bash it over the bus driver's head. And I'm sure that could cause an traffic accident. . . much better to just wear ear plugs.

Labels: personal

 
I'll try posting this again, then.... so, I went to the Uppsala Choir School's spring concert yesterday. This autumn, it will be 20 years since the school started; I was one of the original 60 pupils, so naturally I have a special relationship to the school, and to the spring concert which I remember as the highlight of the school year. It is something extra, still, to hear the 300+ kids ages 9-19 singing together, in particular as much of the repertoire is the same today as it was in my day. But the concert has changed a lot, too, from the straight-laced affair of the 1980s -- no dancing or dressing up for us, heaven forfend! It's good to see that there has been development, even though I have only good memories from the spring concert, myself.

I met one old class-mate: Linda, whom I don't think I've seen since we finished grade 9 in 1988. I wouldn't have recognised her if it hadn't been for her smile -- in any event, it was really good to see her. We dared each other to crowd up on stage with the other former pupils for the final encore... it's been a few years too many since I sang the rather peculiar alto part to Sommarpsalm that the UCS uses -- it's one of the songs every choir in this country has on its repertoire, but the UCS version is the only one I've encountered where the alto part is mostly the same as the tenor part! It took us half a verse to get into it again, but it's not as if anybody could have noticed, not in that huge choir.

Labels: music, personal, singing

 
We have a piano! Yay! The cats are surprised but not disapproving, and Johan plays really well (at least in comparison to how useless he's always claimed to be at it...) Now I have another project: to learn to play the piano, at least a little bit. The French-learning project moves forward very slowly, but I know considerably more than I did 3 weeks ago which is something.

Johan got a video from Dave Lally in the mail today (but my tickets to France didn't arrive, hmph); it contains 3 episodes of a British comedy show called "Give my head peace" -- I'd never heard of it before but we intend to watch it tonight so I'll be in a position to review it anon.

Labels: house or garden, personal

 
Tally so far: 1 2 cheering email messages and 5 cheering phone calls :-) :-)
I am cheered! (Not least by the fact that people actually read this....)

Labels: personal

 
Home in bed today; that always sounds like a nice thing when you're well, but when you actually get to do it. . . Cheering email welcomed. I think I'll go lie down again now exits stage left, clutching aching head

Labels: personal

 
Came second in Pooh Sticks -- hmph, I was first in under the final bridge! Instead, the victory went to Johan. . . I bet he did something sneaky to my stick under the bridge.

Labels: personal

 
And tomorrow, Miranda is coming to stay overnight -- my cup runneth over...

Labels: family, personal

 
Reasons to be cheerful today: Sunshine, Long-Winded guestbook entry, massage. . . ah, bliss! And my freckles are coming out. Apologies for going all Pollyanna, but this is a good day.

Labels: personal

 
We got rid of the birch that was standing too close to the house; its roots probably went into the drainage from our house which is a Bad Thing. Dad was over with the power saw and had it down in a jiffy; we'll have plenty of firewood from that tree once we cut it up and cleave the logs! The fumes from the power saw invoked my childhood -- so many good memories of working in the forest returning! Feeling like professional house owners now. After all we've lived here for almost seven months.

We keep making new discoveries in the garden, too. The red mushrooms coming up in the strawberry patch are rhubarblings! Not quite as cool as if they had been The Shooting Star (Tin-Tin) type fungi but much nicer on the whole.

Labels: house or garden, personal

 
Just a brief note before going to bed: The cats didn't stay hostile for long; as soon as they calmed down a bit they started to recognise each other and returned to normal. I know I worry too much. . .

Labels: cats, personal

 
Enmity between the cats! They chased a strange cat out of the garden, tails all bushed up, and then they were suddenly snarling, hissing and growling at each other. I think it was Cassandra who started by growling at Bonadea in the general excitement and confusion of having her territory invaded, and Bonadea responded by hissing, of course. It seems to have calmed down a bit, they have sniffed each other's noses and aren't walking stiff-legged around the house any longer; still, they do eye each other with a new wariness which I can only hope will go away. Question: Am I being a silly over-protective human, reacting like this to something that will pass? I notice that Cassandra's eyes have resumed their normal colour -- that has got to be a good sign. . .

Labels: cats, personal

 
Dags att deklarera -- men jag har redan gjort det! Ha! Johan gjorde grovjobbet så förtjänsten är egentligen hans. Det är förmårrat skönt att ha det gjort, hursomhelst.

Labels: personal

 
And now, hooray hooray, I must do my taxes. I know I ate Squigglypills when I was a wee tot -- shouldn't that insure me from this...?

Labels: personal

 
I set a record in microsleep this morning -- fell asleep five times in approximately four minutes (between three bus stops.) I know I was asleep each time, for I had different, distinct dreams; very weird experience.

Labels: personal

 
Good Things have been happening: flerdle is going to Europe in June, and she's coming to visit us -- yay!! Am really looking forward to that, and planning things to do and see. Good Thing no 2 is that Dunx and Jen got engaged, which makes me very, very happy. Double yay (one for them each!)

And it's only 2 weeks until Walpurgis!

Labels: friends, personal

 
Today we went on our first flipist walk since moving to Storvreta. A flipist walk is the kind you make armed with a die, and for every crossroads or fork you roll the die to see which way you should go (bearing in mind that you can't take a road that leads back to where you have already been.) It's good fun, and a good way to learn the layout of a place and get to spots you haven't seen before. There will be more flipist walks; soon, probably, if the weather stays nice.

We watched Whisky Galore this evening; it is a very funny film, and no worse for being watched whilst drinking whisky, either. Which means bedtime. Now.

Labels: fun, personal

 

Today I lost my -- our -- mobile phone on the bus. Yes, yes, I know: being that careless makes me a candidate for autodarwinism; still, the happy outcome made me happy, too, even though it meant missing my choir practice.

It began with me not finding the infernal device in my pocket, coat or bag. Borrowing someone else's phone, I called my number and found that there was indeed no Néaphone present; no Mr Beveridge's Maggot was heard.

Bother.

I did know I had had it while I was waiting at the bus stop, though, so at least I had something to go by: it must be on the bus, which probably meant that someone had heard the signal as I phoned and pocketed the phone. Double bother -- but there was nothing to it, I had to put on my coat again and run off to try to find a way to retrieve the mobile. I stopped the first bus I saw and jumped on board, telling the driver about my dilemma and getting a number to call.

At the payphone on Stora Torget, I was very relieved to find that my ancient phone card, which I don't think I have used for 3 years, still worked and had over 20 periods left. The number the bus driver had given me didn't work, but the one printed on my travelcard did, and I got to talk to a very helpful person at the comm central: she called the bus and lo and behold! the driver had had my phone handed in to him!

So I set of at double speed down to the bus HQ, and arrived slightly out of breath, to be told that the driver in question hadn't yet arrived, giving me half an hour's wait in the rest area. Bus drivers came and went, to hand in what I believe was some sort of time card; the scene was a little like an airport with people arriving and departing independently of each other, yet weaving patterns like a pavane as they walked in and out and upstairs to their changing rooms.

As I walked away with the recovered phone, I was feeling happy, for no real reason that I knew. Yes, of course it had to do with getting the mobile back, but more, I think, with the real friendliness in the bus drivers' greetings, the ready helpfulness from the people I'd enrolled in my search, and the fact that I kept my head fairly level even when I was stressed. And I got a glimpse of a world that I would not otherwise have seen, which should be enough to make anybody content with their day.

Labels: personal