Always look on the bright side of life
Some researchers (who I guess are at the other end of their careers to me) have just sort to answer the research question, “in which country is it best to die?”
Hopefully this isn’t something I need to think about for a long time, but it seems overall my best option is to go back home to Australia (via The Swedish Wire). However, remaining in Sweden will prove to be cheaper.
I think it is important for Australians to realise that not only are things not that bad, they’re actually quite good. Rather than talk about winging Poms, we need to reflect on attitudes a little closer to home.
Let’s start with healthcare. Public opinion rates this as the governments poorest performing area, yet a recent study rated our healthcare system second best in the OECD and I’ve already mentioned our end-of-life care. Further my healthcare experiences in Australia have been positive, so I cannot explain this disconnect. This is especially confusing for me when most Swedes are very proud of their healthcare system – but every session I see a number of international students go home developing and third-world countries because the Swedish healthcare system is unable to deliver them health outcomes they deem to be acceptable.
Next, public transport. I will admit that I lament at the state of Sydney’s public transport system. Yet the cumulative delays for my travel on Swedish public transport in the last week is over five hours, and while the northern hemisphere has been enduring a heatwave the airconditioning has been broken on around one-third of the carriages. And while Sweden not making the Eurovision finals was described by the media as a fiasco, the state of public transport this week didn’t rate a mention.
And I don’t want to even write about the misinformation and fear in the so called asylum seeker debate.
Im not trying to say things are better in Australia than in Sweden. I am saying that with a positive outlook everyone is happier, and you can still work to achieve greater things. We should still aim high. Things could be better and should be better. I can think of many areas where I would love to see improvement. But rather than bitch and moan about things that aren’t that bad, we should raise the quality of our political debate. When it comes down to it, we are all going to die, and Australia is one of the best places to do it.
Not a secluded beach
Yesterday a small village 45 minutes drive north of our place recorded the hottest temperature in Sweden since 1994,it was 34.5ºC. While Oziel and I spent most of the day in the air conditioned comfort of IKEA, it took us the better part of three hours to get there on a train with faulty airconditioning on a train line with faltering power. Getting home was worse – Sweden is not designed to handle “heat waves.”
Today started off somewhat similar to yesterday, so we wanted to go somewhere to escape the heat. Our experience the previous day lead us to conclude that the bus would provide a safer mode of transport.
Oziel found what appeared to be a secluded beach a couple of kilometres from a bus stop in the difficult to pronounce hamlet of Yngsjö, 35 minutes drive south from our place.
The bus was full leaving Kristianstad, but almost everyone got off in Åhus. By the time we made it Yngsjö, there were only five passengers left on the bus – and the other three were lost. So we were expecting to find the quiet and secluded location for which we had searched.
Our plan went somewhat awry. After walking through the sleeping hamlet and a pine forrest we arrived to a beach that made Bondi Beach look quiet and secluded. We have no idea from where everyone came!?
A day in Toledo
While in Madrid Oziel and I made a day trip to Toledo with Pablo. Long ago Toledo was the capital of the Spanish empire. Today is a quiet, but touristic, historic town.
Perched on the top of a hill, the narrow streets wind up and down throughout the town. The architecture primarily European, but as many of the builders were from the North of Africa there are many Arabic influences.
Getting there proved more troublesome than we anticipated. A high speed train goes between Madrid and Toledo every hour for less than 10 EUR. We turned up at 8:30 am, planing to buy a ticket for the next train. However, RENFE has troubles with their computer systems, meaning we needed to buy tickets from the ticket counter. After a 45 minute wait, we were told that the earliest train for which we could buy tickets was 12:20. Luckily coming back was no problem. For future reference – tickets can be much faster at least one day in advance, and we understand that you can change the time of the return ticket easily.
Midsummer in Madrid
Midsummer is as important to the Swedes as Christmas. So knowing the country would be shutting down we decided to head to Madrid. But we made a mistake. Midsummer isn’t celebrated on the summer solstice, but on the Friday between 20-26 June. This meant we headed off a week early, but no great harm was done.
One of Oziel’s friends from University, Arturo, kindly offered to host us in his home in the vibrant Chueca.
Our main aim in Madrid was to eat, and to this end Arturo was an excellent host. The first night we had Mexican as we watched Mexico beat France in the World Cup.
Arturo took us to the newly renovated Mercardo San Miguel. It has everything you would want to find in a Spanish market – seafood, meat, fruit, wine, bread, cakes, etc … And it’s all available to eat in or take away. We set-up camp for a late lunch at the serrano ham stall, bringing with us a cheese platter, wine and bread. Then we moved to the cake stall.
We enjoyed pinchos at Lateral. We think it might be a chain. If so, look out for it on any future Spanish adventure.
We also enjoyed both the lunch and dinner at In Situ with Arturo. The food was great, the menu changed daily, the service was friendly, and we came to love the smoke free environment. In Spain people can still smoke everywhere, so when you find a smoke free environment it is an Oasis.
There was also a great place with orange walls, but we have no idea what it is called. But definitely one to watch out for.
Watch out for the running of the bulls in the photos below. I was in the middle of all the action!
First swim for the summer
After work today Oziel and I headed to Åhus for our first beach swim of summer 2010. Between leaving home and arriving at the beach the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the wind started blowing. But I have missed the water sufficiently and jumped into the 17ºC water.
My first attempt ended quickly – the minimum length of time required to swim from the end of the peer to first lader. But for the second attempt I managed to Swim out to the pontoon.
sebastian
