First Snow

It’s snowing in Stockholm. The view out my window:

It’s not really a nice snow – mixed with rain, and it’ll melt by morning.

More Al Gore

It occurred to me today that Al Gore has managed to do what no one has ever been able to do before. He’s turned himself into the cultural equivalent of a “former U.S. President” without ever actually having been President. That said, he will never get to stand next to all the other former U.S. Presidents for photo shoots at funerals for other heads-of-state and other such events.

And now, the view out the window of my apartment, right now…

birthday in the neighborhood

As many of you already know, last Friday was my birthday. I had high hopes of a sneaking in a barbecue on my building’s roof patio on Saturday, but the weather served up one of the rainiest days of the past two weeks on exactly that day.

“Yes to Congestion Tolls”

As many of you know, one of the subjects of my research is Stockholm’s trial, and now permanent installation, of congestion tolls along all the roadways leading into the central city. The other day when I was parking my bike outside my new apartment, a sticker on the railing caught my attention: it was a campaign sticker for the 2006 referendum on congestion tolls, after the trial was complete, encouraging voters to approve the permanent installation. Here’s the sticker…

S:t Eriksloppet

Exactly two weeks after the Midnattsloppet, the 10K run I did, I was at my new home relaxing one Sunday afternoon, with my windows open, when I started to hear some cheering and some coordinated clapping from below. I looked down, and there was a stream of runners going right along Hornstulls Strand, my street! This, after the Midnattsloppet and the Pride Parade already went through my old neighborhood. This time, it was the St. Erik’s Run, Stockholm’s half-marathon. I swear, it’s them that are following me!