Show & Tell: Favourite Magazines

I've missed the last two weeks of Show & Tell but this week I thought I'd take the time, even if it's technically one day late.

One of my first favourite magazines was Bamse.

Picture from Tidningskungen

I think the first issues I remember were from 1982 when I was 6 years old. I saved all editions for years but at some point in my late teens I threw them out. It's a pity because it would have been fun to have those 1982 ones still. I don't know if my grandmother gave me my very first subscription but it became a tradition that every year in December when it was my "name day" (9 December) she gave me a subscription for the coming year as a gift. I don't remember when I stopped getting them but presumably when I became a teenager. I still prefer Bamse over Donald Duck though. I think the stories in Donald are okay but I don't care much for the drawing.

At some point as a child and a teen I also subscribed to Kamratposten. It had interesting stories and took up all those subjects about your body and feelings that you didn't want to bring up with either friends or adults.

Image from Tidningsbutiken

I was never a horse fan so I never subscribed to (and hardly read) "stables" magazines. As a teen I read a lot of teen and music magazines such as Frida and Okej.

Picture taken from Vassa Eggen

Nowadays my favourite magazines are the Economist to feed my current affairs needs and Vanity Fair for a mix of everything including some interesting articles. I got a subscription for VF from Peter for Christmas and I have subscribed to the Economist in the past but at the moment I don't feel like I have the time to read it and they just grow into a big pile on the floor (at the moment I have a little pile of VFs that I haven't read...). So I buy it once in a while instead.

Image from China Daily

I also read King when Peter buys it (he stopped his subscription for a while), which is a men's magazine but I find it much better than the equivalent women's magazines. Maybe because it's a bit more "exotic" or the abundance of useless fashion ads in the women's magazines.

Picture from Dagens media

Lastly I enjoy reading design and interior decorating magazines - I like those much better than women's mags actually. I also like gossip magazines but I hardly ever buy them; I read them for free and cafés or the hairdresser's instead. And I also get my gossip from Just Jared :)

A Party Well Thrown

Peter's 30th birthday party took a place last night and it was a hit with both the birthday boy and the 52 guests.

• We only had two late cancellations


• Everything was ready in time for the first guests to arrive


• There were some really entertaining, spot-on speeches


• Most people had seconds of the catered food but there were still plenty of leftovers for us to live on for a few days


• There were still 20 people left at 3am


• The dance floor was rocking all night


• Only one out of 54 attendees turned annoying and drunk


• We only broke a total of two glasses


• The cleaning the day after went smoothly, thanks to regular clearing up throughout the night

Less successful

• Why did we book the laundry room for 5-8pm on Sunday?

Passing Time

Lullun and I share a love of lists! Johanna also challenged me to tell time a few months back so...

What I did...

15 years ago (1993):
1. I was in my first year of upper secondary school
2. I went to Estonia with a church youth group (or was it 1994...?)
3. I listened to "I Will Always Love You" a lot

10 years ago (1998):
1. I moved to London to study
2. I spent the summer in Darien, Connecticut, as an aupair with the extended family of my original American aupair family (I was an aupair in 1995/06)
3. I met a lot of new friends in the UK, both English and of other nationality

5 years ago (2003):
1. I spent 5 months as an intern with the European Commission (well, technically 3 months was in 2002 and 2 months in 2003)
2. I had a really fun summer working for the Swedish pro-euro campaign, even if we lost the referendum :(
3. I started my first proper job at a consultancy working with EU research funding, among other things

3 years ago (2005):
1. I went on my first ever charter trip. It went to Marmaris, Turkey, and I brought an old childhood friend.
2. I left the consultancy (well, technically on 6 January 2006) for greener pastures
3. I visited my friend Helena in Toronto where she was spending 6 months with her now husband and daughter

1 year ago (2007):
1. I did a LOT of travelling: Hong Kong, Malta and South Africa were the highlights, but I also went to London and Barcelona
2. My friend Anoushka got married
3. I moved in with Peter

3 months ago (January 2008):
1. I looked at all our photos from South Africa
2. I celebrated my birthday
3. I worked a lot!

Yesterday (16 April 2007):
1. I celebrated Peter's 30th birthday by taking the day off
2. I went for spa treatment and a nice lunch with Peter
3. I bought half of Systembolaget's stock of alcohol for the party on Saturday

Today (17 April 2008):
1. I went to a chocolate tasting at work at lunch time
2. I received Åsa & Rikard's wedding invitation
3. I listened to Peter compiling music lists for Saturday's party

Tomorrow (18 April 2008)
1. I'm hopefully going out for lunch with some colleague(s)
2. I'm going to the supermarket for the final stuff for Saturday's party
3. I'm making a nice pasta sauce from ingredients in the fridge that will otherwise go bad

In 1 year (April 2009):
1. A friend of mine who's trying for a baby has succeeded
2. I'm planning my wedding (I hope!)
3. I have changed jobs

Grocery Shopping Extraordinaire

One of my favourite bloggers, American Beverly living in Skellefteå in north Sweden, did a very impressive thing the other day. When she and her husband went grocery shopping they let a list they found in the trolley completely decide their shopping! Isn't that daring, in such a cosy and safe way?!!

Folded up in the back corner was a forgotten piece of paper, the kind of thing I usually disregard. This paper caught my eye, though, the words on it not written in your usual list style–item by item, vertically–but horizontally, and grouped closely together. At first glance, it looked like a note or a letter instead of a shopping list, and curiosity got the better of me so I unfolded and read it. Alas, closer scrutiny revealed it to be a grocery list after all, and I commented to Olof, a little disappointed and put-out, 'That’s a strange way to wrive a grocery list.'.

The story continues...

It reminded me of the book "Dice Man" by Luke Rhinehart where the main character lets the dice decide everything in his life. I once saw a documentary about it - apparently the book/guy even had a following for a while.

Not My Favourite Flower

I did a another personality test but it wasn't accurate at all. Does this sound like me??!!

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

"You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

I'm not shy at all and I'm a very social being who likes meeting new people! And I'm usually up for trying new things! New food, new music, fun activities (maybe not bungy jumping but other fun things) or what have you.

Anna by the Letter

I've been challenged by Lullun and Anne (indirectly as they haven't single anyone out) to tell personal stuff about myself with the help of the alphabet. I have just taken the first things that come to mind.

A - Anna (this was a given)

B - Blog fan (another given)

C - maybe a Coyet one day...

D - work as a Desk officer

E - at an Embassy

F - huge fan of Friends; I need to get in Feminist here too

G - despite paying a lot for the Gym every month I hardly go...

H - hate Horror films

I - love Indian food although I have never really felt like going to India

J - one of my first talents were solving Jigsaw puzzles and I still enjoy them, though with a few more pieces

K - had a cat called Kitty

L - can be quite Lazy sometimes, especially Saturday and Sunday mornings, and doing chores in general

M - was pretty good at Maths in school and according to a career test I took last year I should work with something mathematical...

N - addicted to the News and reading Newspapers

O - Organised, especially at work, maybe less so when it comes to my home

P - the man of my life is Peter

Q - like the word "Queue" in the English language, sounds so much better than "line"

R - Read too few books at the moment

S - Social democrat at heart

T - look forward to spending a long weekend in Tuscany in June with Peter and my parents...

U - and a US spending spree in August (NYC, New England and DC)

V - not as Vain as my boyfriend ;)

W - one of my Wishes at the moment is to get a job for the European Commission

X - don't like reality television like the X-factor or Big Brother or Top Model

Y - 30+ but still young!

Z - zzz, I don't sleep as much as I want

Mobile Flightmare

It looks like the EU will allow mobile phone calls on airplanes soon*. What a nightmare! Can you imagine dreadful 10-hour transatlantic flights with mobile phone ringing constantly and people jabbing away about relationship problems or their latest illness??!

The newspaper Svenska dagbladet reports that reactions to the news among passengers at Stockholm Bromma Airport were somewhat mixed, with several worrying about disturbance onboard. Some believed that a number of airlines will use peace and quiet onboard as a marketing tool - for those who regard one of the virtues of air travel as being the haven it provides from being reached or hearing other people being reached - while others will target passengers with the offer of mobile phone use.

Hopefully it will only be a short period of free mobile use before airlines - and passengers - come to their senses! The future probably - hopefully - holds mobile phone booths or small compartments for those who cannot stand being disconnected for a few hours instead.

* On certain flights under new European Commission rules, provided the airlines have the necessary technical equipment. The plan is to install small base stations into the cockpits of the planes. Calls made via the station will be routed to terrestrial networks via satellite link. However, according to the decision, flight captains will have the power to switch off the service if they feel it necessary.

Healthcare or Sick Care?

Helena argues really well for more European healthcare co-operation! Some people think the EU should stay away from healthcare issues but like Helena, I think we can only benefit from more co-ordination and more patient influence.

Helena has a personal story to tell - you can read it here. In brief, she has moved back and forth between Stockholm, London and Brussels over the last five years, which has caused some difficulties for the Swedish health service, mainly as a result of the procedures in place for GP appointments, referrals for tests, waiting times, IT systems and ultimately, her living abroad. Even though she had a letter from her doctor in London stating that she needed to have a certain test taken, the Swedish health service could not set up an appointment unless she went through the normal routes within the Swedish healthcare system (details on her blog).

Her point with the post is to:

ask the question how the Swedish health service manages increased internationalisation? If they could not manage my needs, despite me being registered in Sweden, because I had taken a test in another country, how would they then meet the needs of persons who live in Sweden temporarily, persons who have just moved to Sweden, or person who do not speak Swedish?

The need of the patient must always be more important than the system. If something does not fit into the system there must exist a culture within the health service that encourages flexibility and initiative. But all too often governance through quantitative evaluation and budget goals makes it more profitable for divisions and units to stand on the side of the system when it collides with the needs of the patient.

Thus I cringe when I hear Swedish politicians saying that EU initiatives in the healthcare sector threatens the Swedish healthcare system. Defence of systems and models is seldom a very good political starting-point.

What I would add is that - which probably Helena would agree with as well - is not that we want the EU to start deciding the financing or the content of the healthcare provision, but to facilitate for patients in an increasingly global world.

Show & Tell: Spring Flowers

This week's Show & Tell is spring flowers. Spring has arrived in Stockholm but I forgot to bring my camera on today's nice walk in the sunshine so I thought I use the opportunity (yet again) to show some photos from our holiday in South Africa. We were there in December which is early summer rather than spring but it will have to do! There were so many nice flowers and other plants that I want to share with you!

1. A really cool bush at the Balule Game Reserve near Kruger National Park - You don't want to touch those spikes!

2. A beautiful yellow flower in Balule

3. Som kind of cotton-looking plant in Robberg, a nature park in Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route

4. One of many pretty flowers that grow in mountain areas

5. On the deck outside our room at Bay Walk B&B in Knysna

6. On Table Mountain in Cape Town

7. Also on Table Mountain

8. Stellenbosch in the wine districts north of Cape Town

9. Also Stellenbosch

10. Lavender - one of my favourite - in Franschhoek (also in the wine districts)

11. Rose buds in Franschhoek

12. Also something that comes with spring/summer - new babies!

13. Beautiful tree at Boschendaal vineyard

My Home - Best and Worst

I found a fun challenge over at Anne's: show what's best and worst in your home.

B E S T
Must be our wallpaper in the bedroom (a "fondvägg", in our case on the wall behind the bed). We put it up a year or so ago and we still love it! It's an English make called Osborne & Little if anyone is tempted!

It was quite tricky to put it up - luckily my mum is quite the wallpaper guru!

Another thing on the "best" list is the balcony - this picture is from Peter's birthday in mid-April last year when we had our friends Maria and Daniel over for dinner and it was such a warm evening that we could eat outside.

Peter and Maria posing on our 7sqm balcony

W O R S T
Difficult to photograph, but the worst thing is definitely the cigarette smoke that sometimes seeps through from our nextdoor neighbours. What's weird is that you cannot smell it through their door (believe me, I have tried!), instead it only smells in the kitchen (which is next to their kitchen) and it's worst around 6pm and 11pm and INSIDE the cabinets! They must be keeping all their cigarette butts under the sink or something.

Any advice on what to do? Both how to get rid of the smell and how to bring this up with nextdoor (as they are probably not going to read this)?

Passing on the challenge to Skolfröken, Johanna and Anna!