The Swedish Terminator

We don´t have so many species of felines like in America. We´ve just got two, the lynx and the alley cat, that is the domestic cat. The lynx you don´t see very often, it´s very shy. Sometimes you can see tracks of it, especially when there is snow. We call the lynx the lion of the North. But there are people who´ve seen lynxes. I remember an Englishman who was in our school to speak English with the kids. We talked for a while, and he told us that the first day he was in Sweden, he saw a lynx. He said that nobody believed him. Why? Because of the people who live in Sweden all their life maybe one per cent has seen a lynx. Well, it wasn´t this I was going to tell you about. It´s like this, my neighbor, or to be exact, his son, has got a little gray cat. It is very nice. When we have the doors open, when it´s warm, or when we open to fetch the news-paper, he comes in to the house to inspect it. First he takes a walk to the living-room, he is very careful, you mustn´t hug him or come close. Then he walks up on the second floor to inspect if everything is in order. Usually he leaves after this. This ceremony takes 10 minutes. But you´ve got to watch out. One time when my wife had forgotten something and opened the door to fetch it the cat went in without her seeing it. And after a couple of hours, when we came home the cat was very eager to get out…. The most terrible would be if we went to the weekend cottage and the cat was locked in… But sometimes, when his mistress isn´t at home, it´s easier to get in contact with him. He doesn´t want to leave and you can hug him. He behaves like a child. My wife gave him food once, but better not to do it if you don´t want to get another member of the family.. When I was young we had many cats, but all died. One died in an accident, another one we thought got food for the fox, and the other ones just disappeared. After that some cats had died we decided not to have more animals. To feel sorrow every time an animal dies is hard. No better then, having a cat that comes for visit sometimes!

My friend of whom I told in the episode about Walborg has a lot of land. He has inherited it from his father. But he hasn´t got time to grow it and therefore he has leased out his fields and meadows to a neighbour. That man, Gösta, takes a 10 km walk everyday with his dog in the morning after having worked with the cows. He has had farming till he got over 80 years. That´s unusual for a Swedish peasant. I´ve made a PPT-presentation with him. That one is on my own Swedish site. Here is a translation in English to inform you a little of how the life on the country side is in Sweden. http://www1.shellkonto.se/gertfors/goesta/goesta_spel_eng.ppt

As I mentioned before the end of the 17th century was a period of autocracy. The time between 1700 and 1721 is called The Great Northern War. The king was Karl the XIIth, with the by name The Warrior King. He fought against Denmark, Poland and Russia. He beat the Russians at Narva. Karl had 10 000 and the Russians were 30 000. But Russia had a tsar, Peter the Great, who was modernizing his country and his army. In the battle at Poltava Karl was defeated. He went to Turkey to look for help against Russia. In 1718 the king was in Norway (then it belonged to Denmark) trying to conquer Denmark. A shot killed him the 30 of November. The Swedes didn´t want to come to the peace negotiations after the Russian war and to force them Peter let attack the places along the East coast. In the Peace of Nystad Sweden lost almost all of its conquests from the 17th century. Only Finland and the southern provinces were left (and a few in Germany). The country was exhausted after the wars the late years, of taxes to pay the wars and the autocracy. Karl´s sister inherited the crown. She assigned the crown to her husband Fredrik I. He didn´t take so much interest in being king, and the estates (the four estates) came to power. The period until 1772 is called The Time of Freedom. There were two groups, not exactly parties, hats and caps that alternated in power. It was kind of an early form of parlamentarism. The peasants estate was held outside the centre of power The Secret Committee. Arvid Horn was the strong man during this period. The Russians had rather important influence during this period (at least the second part of the period). Carolus Linneaus (Carl von Linné) lived in this century, one of our most famous scientists. He divided the plants into different classes and species. In 1772 Gustav III came to power through a coup d´etat. The Council of the Realm lost its power. The king let introduce a new constitution that gave him more power. The peasants got more influence and the other estates less. Those who lost didn´t like his politics and in year 1792, at a costume ball, a man named Anckarström shot him. Some days later the king Gustav III died and his son Gustav IV was crowned king. (1796, he was only 13 years old 1792) . Gustav IV was the king who finally gambled away the Swedish possibilities to be a Great Power in Europe. In a war against Russia he lost Finland, which belonged to Sweden since 600 years. The army accomplished a coup d´etat and dethroned Gustav IV. They wanted another king who could reconquer Finland. In France was a field marshal by name Jean Baptiste Bernadotte. 1818 he was crowned king of Sweden, but did he win back Finland (?), no, instead he conquered Norway… (from the Danes).

Where we have our summerhouse is a little piece of land that belongs to the lot. There and on the commonage we use to take two Christmas trees, one little one and another bigger. It´s really fantastic to walk with the ax and saw in ones hands in the snow (unfortunately no snow on the picture) and watch for a spruce with breath steaming in the fresh air. That´s Nordic. And to take it on your own lot. The first one is an Advent tree for the summer house and the other one is for our house in Flen. And it has to be spruces. There are people who have pines but that´s not so common. My wife chooses the trees and I cut them down. The tree in the summerhouse we decorate with English decorations, small santas, trees, snowmen, bells and angels. This we do on the first of Advent. That´s my job. The other tree we decorate (before our son Martin did it, but now it´s my job too…) the evening before Christmas Eve, with more varying decorations.

To live in a country that has had peace for almost 200 years is good. We have been neutral during the two World Wars. Some say we were cowards who didn´t participate. Sometimes people from the US say it, but they didn´t go in the wars without being attacked. When I was young everybody who was 18 (young men) had to enroll. And most of them must do their military service – me too. I served in the anti-aircraft defense, about 90 km from home. I didn´t think much about Sweden´s position between NATO and the Soviet Union. The military service was more of a game. In the morning we prepared the canon and then we went to the baltic beach to deliver some shots, we cleaned the canon and then to the barrack. Where some officer´s taught us how to make our bed and clean our rifle. There were many interesting persons in the army. Particurarly I remember Wiklund, who wasn´t afraid at all in his attitude to the officer´s. He had no respect at all. He was very fond of making fun of a lieutenant. And it´s important to know the badge of rankings. You´ll see… One day we were placed in a square formation in order to give the lieutenant better possibility to teach us the badges of rankings. This came about this way: The lieutenant had a book with the ranks and pointed at them and asked every soldier about something. But when he came to Wiklund he wanted to use himself as an object for education and asked him: “Wiklund, if I have two stars on my shoulders, what rank have I got then?” Wiklund answered without hesitating: “You tenant!”. We thought: ”He is really cheeky”, and the sqare of soldiers moved in roars of laughter. And the lieutenant, who was nearly bursting with rage and with a red face, said to Wiklund: “Wiklund, listen to me, let´s repeat it. If I have two stars like the ones I´ve got on my shoulder, what rank do I have then?” The answer came quickly: “You tenant”. The soldier square moved even more. And the burst´s of laughter echoed loudly in the surroundings. The lieutenant made a last try to get a correct answer and added: “Wiklund, if you don´t give me a correct answer this time you will have one weeks prohibition to leave your barrack. If I have two stars on my shoulder, what rank do I have then?” “Lieutenant”, answered Wiklund. The lieutenant said relieved:”Good Wiklund”. ”Yes You tenant”, said Wiklund… It wasn´t easy to teach such soldiers. And what a luck we didn´t have to be in war. When my son enrolled they asked him: “Do you want to do the military service?” “No, not at all”, he answered. And then he lost the opportunity to experience lieutenants like this one and comrades like Wiklund. The peace has its price….

My wife and I use to go to a Christmas fair at mansion called Taxinge. The last year, in the dusk, when we went home, we saw a little wild boar piglet in the meadow. It was striped and very cute, as if it wore a striped pyjamas. This was the first time we saw such an animal in the nature. We had seen the tracks of them in the wood where we use to pick mushrooms but we haven´t seen them alive. This year, when we went home from the same market, we saw an animal the second time, but much bigger. We thought it might be a moose, but when the animal turned up on the road we understood that it was a grownup wild bore. When I broke to avoid an accident, the car behind us overtook us, the driver hadn´t seen the animal. But luckily enough the wild bore got time to disappear out in the wood. The wild bore is back in the Swedish forests. It was extinguished in the 17th century but around 1970 some farmers introduced it in enclosures. Some of these animals escaped from the enclosures and in this way we got a wild strain of wild bores again in Sweden. Now there are wild bores in all the South of Sweden. And one can also see a new type of warning sign along the Swedish roads – with a wild bore on it! I read in the news that people steal them because they are so odd. Before it was the signs with moose's on them they stole. Especially Germans like a souvenir with a moose on it. Now they sell moose signs to the tourists. But of course, it´s not as thrilling as it is to steal them. Maybe we can find wild bore signs I the tourist shops soon….

A plague is ravaging the summer house area where we have our weekend cottage. Everybody found ponds. My nearest neighbor devoted a couple of vacations to dig up a space for a pond. He´s got fish in it, fish that breed. I´d never do that, that is dig in the ground. But there are other solutions. On one side of the house there were a place with soil and grass on the rock. I thought there should be space enough for a pond under it. But it was hard work to get away all the soil and grass from the hole. Well, I filled the cavity with water and it didn´t leak. Perfect! We bought a “waterproof” fountain and some water hyacinths. Incredible! The pond has a depth of 40 cm. I asked myself if it was possible to have a fish or two in the pond. I didn´t want to buy fish, the pond is a too ground, and It´d be necessary to keep the fish in the bath during the winter. Then I got an idea. I could borrow a fish of my neighbour. The fish could be in my pond on vacation, on kind of summer camp. I proposed this to my neighbor, but he didn´t like it. He said the fish would feel lonely. Furthermore he pointed out that with such a ground depth, if it was warm, the fish would boil in the pond. And so it is, I´ve to be content with fountain and flowers. We use to sit down at the pond the afternoons with a drink and listen to the water that flows and the singing birds.

As fast as I saw him I understood that I wouldn´t like him. We were in a youth hostel on the west coast and wanted to take it easy in a calm environment. This gentleman was about 35-40 years old and he turned up with his boys on the place where you have your food. The boys played with their mobiles while the father whistled. I didn´t understand why until his wife put out her head and cried: “I´m not a dog! I´ll come down when I´m ready”! This occurred several times and the couple seemed rather irritated. The children went on with their mobiles. Suddenly a terrible noise was heard from his mobile. Evidently some kind of music, but far too modern in my opinion and above all too loud. The boys tried to stop him whispering half aloud: “Please, dad. You play too loud”. But without success, the father kept on amusing us with his strange taste of music, sometimes whistling to his wife, who put out her head etc. The boys got embarrassed and disappeared into the hostel. I had noticed that my wife was about to explode. And she did. She tried to convince the gentleman that it wasn´t kind to mistreat ones neighbours in this way, and many other matters. But he continued to inundate people with his infantile music. I´m a peaceful man. Moreover I take antidepressants, which make me even more peaceful. But this was too much. The MCP and I began to yellow and argue: “We aren´t in a gravehouse are we?” (he meant graveyard) And I responded: “No, but not in a funfair either”. The situation got more and more complicated. Then his wife put out her head and she and my wife managed to have us keep quiet. People around us sat quiet, without saying anything. But they seemed pleased that the noisy one had ended his terror. When his wife came out (the family were about to take a ride by bike) she said to me: “Yes, I know his playing to loud, but you could complain in a more calm way”. And I defended myself: “Yes, but he was impossible to convince…” Everything ended up with a good by from both parties, and all was well.

Now I´ll tell you a little about Swedish food. Like the cuisine in other countries cooking in Sweden is a mixture of influences from other countries and epoch´s. Also in our country the pizza and the kebab have triumphed. But there are some dishes one can say they are Swedish. The first one is Janssons frestelse (Janssons temptation). The ingredients are potatoes (8-10), onion (2), one tinned sprat, cream (2 -2,5 dl) pepper and some salt. Take an ovenproof casserole. Grease it and heat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius . Cut the potatoes and the onion to slices and put them in the casserole in layers. One layer with potatoes, then a layer of onion etc. The sprats you put between a layer of potatoes and onion and not on top of the dish. When you put the sprats on you can spice. Pour on the creame and a some of the sauce from the sprats on the dish. Put it in the oven for about 40 minutes. And then: To the table! They say it´s the Italians favorite dish when they eat in the IKEA-restaurant, and I hope you´ll enjoy it too. The other example of typical Swedish food is Gul ärtsoppa (Yellow pea soup). Our custom is to eat it on Thursday´s before we eat pancake. Here are ingredients for six persons. Take a parcel dried yellow peas. Put the peas into water 24 hours before you use them. (Pour water till it covers the peas). Put the peas in a colander and let them drain off. Pour them in a saucepan together with an onion, 250 gram salted pork meat, two stock cubes, two teaspoons of marjoram, one bay leaf and if you want, some salt. Pour on two liters of water and let it boil under lid till the peas are soft, about one hour. Take out the pork and cut it in small pieces. Taste the soup with more marjoram or salt if it´s necessary. Put the pork in the soup. Dish up with mustard. Towards the table!

This episode I devote to coincidences. My grandmothers uncle was a bishop. His episcopate was very large. All of northern Sweden was his diocese with the town Härnösand as cathedral city. His name was Lars Landgren with the nickname Långlars (Tall Lars). Before he became a bishop he was vicar in an area where there was neither law nor order. The name of the place is Delsbo and there is a saying that is as follows: “The dottle in Delsbo he disappeared he.” To this part of the country came Långlars. Many people made moonshine. This was forbidden and the anarchy grew worse. Långlars decided to end this bad habit. But some people in Delsbo didn´t agree with him and the leader of the “resistance” was named Skytt and they called him Skytt drunkard. I could give many examples of the resistance and the work as vicar more seemed like that of sheriff. One time when Långlars sat in the parish hall (he was leader of the parish meeting too) in front of the people some of them tried to move the benches in order to press Långlars between the table and the wall. But he was strong and pressed the table before himself and Skytt drunkard and the others had to give in. Another time they had put a rope over the road to hurt Långlars when he came in his wagon. They didn´t succeed in doing this either. And Långlars went from house to house and broke the home stills. There is a movie from 1949 that deals with Långlars and there you can see more from his life. I have a mate, Tommy. His cohabs name is Annicka. Once when we discussed travels in Sweden, we told them that we´d been in Delsbo. Then Annicka said: “I have relatives in Delsbo”. And I said: “My grandmothers uncle was vicar there and his name was Lars Landgren”. And Annicka said: “Yes, and my relative that was Skytt drunkard”…