December 21. The other day, while walking around the Södermalm island in Stockholm, I was thinking about the year that has passed. As usual we spent time on our archipelago island, more than usual due to covid.
Mette worked on the Swedish preparations for the Montreal summit on biological diversity, and a couple of days ago it seemed successfully completed with an agreement. Now, the coming six months Sweden holds the presidency of the EU, so the Ministry of the environment will have something to do …
Emil, in the beginning of the summer, became a graduated nurse and now has his first job at the Karolinska hospital, in the for reconstructive plastic surgery. Klara continues her artistic education and after a year of a playwrighting studies, she now focusses on physical theatre/dance and mime.
I myself have been following up last years study on the economic and political situation in the town where I grew up, and where the radical right (SD) is today a strong force, but still kept outside of the local government.
Wishing us all a happy Christmas and peace in the New Year!
Now a few photos from a walk around Södermalm, where we live, and after that a link to a wonderful Lucia concert, followed by glimpses of what I’ve been up to this past year.
“Christmas boat”, at Hammarbyslussen (Södermalm, Stockholm) where Baltic salt water meets Lake Mälaren.
Sunset over the new railroad bridge from Södermalm (meaning something like the southern suburb, southof the center, the Old town) to “south of south” as we sometimes say.– -Above: Three persons skating among Stockholm’s islands (on very thin ice) , and with their dog approaching the old railway bridge, Årstabron.A village with villas in the center of Stockholm? No, Rather koloniträdgårdar, allotment gardens with sheds, some of them traditional, some creative constructions, where you have your gear and can drink coffee on the veranda. Wonderful area for walks during the summer months with flowers and fruit trees. Winter walks are also nice in this ‘graphic landscape’.Finishing the walk, close to home, Katarina Bangata, at the statue of Greta Garbo, the Hollywood film actor in the 1930’s. — Nearby one may find a statue celebrating “Nacka” Skoglund, great football player in Inter, Milano, with a tragic end of life. Both of them lived in this neighbourhood on Södermalm.Do you see the football in the upper right corner?
Lucia morning with Christmas and Advent music from Gräfsnäs church,, December 13 as always. Link to the concert in a program from SVT, Swedish Public Television. On the Lucia tradition.
My walk around Södermalm along the water, a couple of hours a beautiful december afternoon. North of Södermalm a small island, Gamla stan / Old town with the Royal castle. These are two of Stockholm’s fourteen islands, linked together by 57 bridges. Credit: stockholmkarta.comI just found again this wonderful picture . A manifestatio outside Stockholm’s Concert hall, during the Nobel Prize Award ceremony – in 2006. The year that the center-right government closed down the National institue for Working Life, fired 400. Time to reconstruct worklife research, but preferrably at new universit institutes. In the picture professors and researchers.Find a couple of links to my research activities lately – and earlier. Above a seminar on work and labour at the Institute for futures studies. Finally I have now begun writing kind of a biography of a football player from my home town, Säffle-Gunnar Andersson, great star in Olympique Marseille in the 1950’s .“Främling i sin stad” min bok om historia, jobb, politik, SD i min uppväxtstad. Den får nu förnyad aktualitet. Säffles tidigare kommunalråd Daniel Bäckström kandiderar till att bli C:s nya partiledare. ENGLISH: A short summary of my book about the town where I grew up. Säffle is now governed by the center-right, with very strong Sweden Democrats (nationalist far right) in opposition; in this town with industries in decline, Social Democrats are now weak. The former chair of the municipal council is now one of three candidates to be the new leader of the Center party (liberal, former ‘Farmers’ party’). Alongside work, I have been to La Gomera, seeing friends there, hiking i the mountains and writing. And in June to Kenya, after Mette’s UN meeting in Nairobi, experiencing Kilimanjaro and several of the big animals in national parks. By the way, some may remember times when Tommy Steele competed with Elvis Presley as the rock star. His song Nairobi may shed light on why Elvis won! Below another species in a way a contrast to the giraffs. How many of them do you see?
