Tag: Sweden
Birthday Celebrations
Fifty-three is such a “meh” birthday, and yet it was actually quite as good one, with a few highlights. Yesterday, I woke early and went out in search of an early morning “adventure”. I left the house before 6.00am, and wandered in the direction of Kings Cross. I figured an early morning breakfast in The ...
Sweden v England
About a decade ago, probably much longer, I remember a friend, Declan, declaring he was supporting England in the World Cup. He was a born and bred Irishman, who concluded that, since Ireland had been eliminated from the World Cup, he should probably support England instead. "Don't you remember what the English have done to ...
Melodifestivalen 2018
Standing at the bus-stop yesterday and looking down at my phone (as seems to be the fashion these days), I felt a nudge. I looked up and saw the smiling face of a colleague. We both share a passionate interest in the Eurovision Song Contest, and she opened with the line, "Is this the worst ...
Melodifestivalen 2018 Deltävling #1
There were two genuine laugh out loud moments, as I watched the first heat of Melodifestivalen (now, appparently called "Mello"), the Swedish competition which chooses their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. As I've stated previously, I far prefer Melodifestivalen over Eurovision. Maybe it's because I've attended Melodifestivalen a couple of times? Or maybe because ...
Christmas Music in Sweden
They've been playing Christmas music in the shops for a few weeks, and Christmas is still two weeks away! Here in Australia, there's a certain cringe factor with the likes of Michael Buble and Mariah Carey with their "Christmas Albums". However, as I've written previously, the Swedes seem to love it, and at this time ...
Swedish Pop
The only sad moment of my trip to Stockholm earlier this year was the discovery Victorias Bar had closed down. I had been there on many occasions, with many fond memories of their schlager nights. It was there, I discovered the band, "Hallå hela pressen", seen here performing with one of the members of legendary ...
Swedish Day at the Ice Hockey in Melbourne
You know the character, "Ronald Niedermann" in one of the episodes of the Swedish TV production of "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo?". He has a congential condition where he has no feelings of pain, and subsequent attempts to kill him off are completely unsuccessful. In the films, he has a steely gaze which basically ...
Stockholm or Sydney?
As I looked down on the ice and saw the surname, "Dahlberg" on the back of player number twenty-seven, I thought for a moment I could have been in Stockholm. Except for the fact I've never actually seen an ice-hockey match played in Sweden. In fact, this was my first ever ice-hockey match, and the ...
Scandinavian Film Festival
"I thought the Swedes were so hip and cool", a number of friends and colleagues have said to me, when I've told them about a fairly dark past, about how Swedes treated Indigenous people there, the Sami. With a number of parallels to what happened in Australia and many other countries, it's a very sad ...
