The subway station in Kista, Stockholm, is quite nice a place. It’s so close to Kista Galleria and everything. It does not locate underground; in fact it’s very much above the ground. There are two things I want to mention here.

There’s something wrong with the card readers at the station ports. It’s usually 4 times out of 10 when a reader accepts my SL season card. By comparison, my card is accepted by other stations about 9 out of 10 times. I can see that other people have also problems with the card readers in Kista – it’s not just me.

It’s at its most irritating when the train arrives and you should be quick through the ports. Trains don’t wait. It’s not their job to wait. Then it’s a panic at the station, a lot of people trying to get through but almost every reader beebs for an embargo: access denied.

Another thing. I’ve been wondering for a long time, why’s there no shops or kiosks at the station. It would be a success undoubtedly. And now, in the very last weeks of me being here, they have built two shops inside the waiting rooms - one for each entry. I can see a lot of people stopping by and buying something. Of course the Galleria is near, but since you have managed to get through the ports, you wouldn’t wanna take a risk and go back to Galleria, if you needed a snack or something.

It’s good to see these kind of things pop out of nowhere. Give people what they want, that’s my kind of attitude…

There’s something wrong in the way I walk. My shoes wear out at the same place, right under the heel of my foot. I have to change insoles once a year, because the nails in shoes start hurting. Insoles wear out soon, mostly because they are loose and therefore my feet can move them. This may sound crazy, and it’s hard to describe it, but that’s exactly how it happens.

Yesterday I bought a new set of insoles in Kista Galleria. Yup, in the very same place that smells of turpentine. Not this time fortunately. 99 kronor a pair, sounded reasonable enough. Then I tried to be clever. I glued them into my shoes. The downside of glueing is that you can’t take insoles out anymore and put into another pair of shoes. I didn’t care about that.

My shoe size is between 42 and 43, so I chose 42. I didn’t want to start cutting insoles in case they wouldn’t fit in. I had some kind of super glue, and I didn’t hesitate to use it a lot.

This morning I put my shoes on. The new insoles felt warm and good. When I got to the work, I noticed that they were detached again. How can it be possible? The glueing had failed miserably. My strength of walking or stepping incorrectly outwon the mighty power of super glue, LOL! I should try stapling insoles into my shoes, but that doesn’t feel like a smart idea either. Maybe I will try with contact glue later on.

I know I should go to a foot therapist, but it’d cost money. I also know that feet are one of the most important parts of your body, affecting your well-being. I’m saving in the wrong places again. This could explain the pain in my feet up to a point. Even if I had the money, would I spend it on going to a doctor? No. Being cheap really doesn’t pay off in the long run. Signed by Smek.

Finland won its first gold medal in floorball WM championships. It’s not my cup of tea, but winning Sweden in final is always worth mentioning. Because they are tough. Also this time. The result was 7-6 to the Finns, and it was concluded during overtime. Can’t get tougher than that.

What made me write about it was a comment in a Swedish free newspaper. One Swedish player, probably the captain of the team, said in disappointed voice that maybe it was Finland’s turn to win this time. Finland’s turn? Sweden has won ALL the 6 championships that there is! Yup, that kind of comments feed my anger. But then again, arrogant behavior must be inborn in some of us – can’t really blame anyone for that, can we? Six for me, one for you, six for me, one for you, …

It makes me smile to hear a Swede speak English and use Swedish pronounciation every now and then. Of course we Finns have the same kind of ‘problems’, but anyway. Especially the ts/ds phonestheme (äänne/ljud) is easily sounding like j/y. Hell, I need examples:

John (Yon)
Jessica (Yessica)
Just (Yust)
Jump (Yump)
Join (Yoin)

Etc. Ok, you got the picture. Otherwise the words are perfectly pronounced. I have no idea why it’s so; maybe someone would like to tell me? These things are interesting to me, but I can’t just go and ask. Someone might get offended by it, and that’s not my purpose.

Idol(s) competitions are over, once again. I watched both the Swedish and the Finnish versions sporadically. Here’s my verdict:

I must say that the Swedes chose the correct winner. Kevin sang perfectly and he clearly deserved to win. Alice was great too. Somehow I felt like she was happy to have achieved as much as she had, and she didn’t really believe in her victory.

I sense a little bit of Ara effect here though. Kevin was from abroad and knew close to nothing about Swedish language. Now he had learned at least to say ‘Tack så jättemycket!’ which seemed to be enough. And Alice in the second place looked clearly like a Chinese. They both may have benefitted from their immigrant backgrounds, since the Swedish are eager to point out how equal they are. This time only the final duo was great per se, so there’s no actual evidence about the Ara effect. So the Swedes got away with it…

The third one, Robin, sang very badly, out of tune almost all the time. I was afraid of him reaching the final. Also the young 16-year-old boy, what’s-his-name, sang personally but out of tune. I wonder why the judges didn’t say anything about it. They didn’t dare..?

In Finland, the best singer and performer, Pete, was surprisingly left out of the final. It was a crying shame. Perhaps he was such a surefire finalist that everyone forgot to vote him? Accidents do happen.

The winner, Koop, may also have benefitted from him living abroad. Anyway, he had balls in his singing and I’m glad that he won eventually. At one point even he was singing clearly out of tune, but no-one seemed to notice care.

The second, Anna, wasn’t that impressive. I mean the sound of her voice was ok, but the pitch wasn’t. And again, the judges didn’t want to bring that up. They weren’t under oath, so they didn’t have to tell ‘the whole truth’, I guess. To me, that’s also manipulating.

It was interesting to compare these two Idol(s) competitions at the same time. I think that the Swedish version was of higher quality and better organized. On the other hand, they didn’t have Jone, the legendary loud-mouth judge, which kind of makes the whole Finnish Idols show worthwhile.

My blog has leaked to some of my co-workers at the customer’s. It’s a small miracle that it has taken that long, because I haven’t actually kept it hidden. I have been thinking so far that no-one really cares about what I do or don’t. By now, they know about the blog, not the address of it. I will reveal them the URL this Friday.

There’s scarcely any information that might hurt anyone at the customer’s. My hands are tight so to speak, and I wouldn’t want to tease nice fellows in our team. My problems come more or less from the company I’m working for, not the customer. Although I must say that the language politics is still something that keeps me wondering – inside and outside the job.

I just counted: this is my 541st post in this blog. That’s a lot of reading for a new-comer. About for 1,5 years worth. I didn’t start blogging immediately when I moved to Sweden, which is something I regret. I’d like to have had the whole stay documented. Of course I have written about some of those early incidents retroactively – both in my blog and book (the book download and purchase option from Lulu is now cancelled by me). This one being my first blog ever it didn’t occur to me right away to start doing it.

Right now, I have four full working days ahead of me in Sweden. The rest of the year I’ll be on vacation and moving back to Finland. I haven’t yet decided what will be the the number of the last post, but it’s got to have a meaning. At least to me.

There has been readers from 34 countries so far, which is heart-warming. Alas, the number of hits has decreased back to 300 – 400 visits per month. In my heyday, I used to have that amount tenfold. Readers may have gotten fed up with my recurring themes and vulgar stories. Well, it’s easier to finish blogging, when there’s not a lot of those who are going to miss it.

But cheer up, there’s still something to write about. And maybe I’ll continue after the big move. Maybe. I’ll let you know if/when that is going to happen. As soon as I know myself  

Yes, it’s here. My post on dicks again. This one was one of THE subjects in Finnish tabloids last week. It took this long for me to find a pleasing angle to it.

Condom Consultancy, apparently a German research institute, has collected the hard-on sizes of penises around Europe. Men have measured it themselves and sent the result to the institute. The French – the official lover nation – had the biggest, and the Finns were one of the smallest. The Swedes had one of the longest, according to the survey. Margins were quite small, but the racket about it was quite big.

Hello? There is no one proper way to measure it, and even if there were, would everyone agree to use it? Also the tape measure should be calibrated; I have seen visible differences in cheap measures. Yes, the ’test engineer’ in me raises its ugly head, LOL! The conditions should be the same for all. And the person who does the measuring should be the same, to make sure that there would be no cheating.

One commentator explained why the Finns were down in the list. It was because they were the only ones to tell the truth. While the others exaggerated. Hadn’t I heard that all Finns lie, I would have believed that theory. However, some may have rounded up and some rounded off – depending on self-esteem and the local customs maybe. It’s hard to imagine anyone measure it with 0,1 mm precision, as the results were given in the tabloid.

We’re getting closer to my angle. Why is it so bad to be 22th out of 25 European countries? I mean, someone’s got to be there too, so why not Finns? Is is that shameful? The Finns with big dicks should be happier than their colleagues in other countries, because they have beaten the odds, LOL!

If it’s so shameful to be a small-willy land (providing that the study was accurate and reliable, which it can’t be), then the size really matters. I’ve never doubted it for a second though. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t get statistics of this kind published.

The article in itself was written in a gentile way, which is a big plus. The reactions in comments were not that discreet. Yeah, big balls – small brains et cetera. Why don’t we all get measured when we turn 20 (for example in the army, by a certified luscious blonde that would guarantee a maximum hard-on, LOL! And a gorgeous hunk for those who’d prefer that.) and set the facts right? There’s no point in measuring if only those exhibitionists that had sent their results to the condom company are taken into account. We could get rid of this endless speculation for once and for all! It shouldn’t be that hard (pun intended)…

…forever Slussen, LOL! Those few who have read my drunken ’Götgata open’ story, can understand the meaning of this post. I simply had to see the view from Gondolen. Well, the place is closed on Sundays, but the bridge up there is open. I walked to the elevator and paid 10 crowns for the lift up. Students seemed to get a free ride once again.

The view wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would have been, but I could see the Slussen and Södermalm area pretty well. It was a clear day and there was quite many of us watching down and taking photos. It was alright. And I took some fabulous photos up there. Here’s a collage of some of the best, just for you:

What caught my eye at the very second I exited the elevator, was a strikingly visible crack all along the watchtower floor (pic 2). Even if it weren’t a dangerous crack, it should be fixed to give a feel of safety to people walking there (Remember my respective note in my Kista Science Tower post?). The concrete isn’t forever, unlike diamonds. There was vibration, when the train passed the building underground. I had no cup of coffee in my hand, but I could sense the vibration.

Katarinahissen, the old and ugly elevator artefact is worth the money spent, but you can visit the bridge up there without a cost. As I realized that the trip down via Katarinahissen would have also cost another 10 crowns, I decided to leave the other way. There was an exit and also a free entrance at Mosebacke. Just walk up the Götgatan street and turn left to Hökens gata. Up on the hill, close to Mosebacke restaurant and theatre there’s a gate leading to the bridge. It was a lucky break for me, because I had planned to go to another second-hand record shop which lies in Hökens gata. I saved 10 crowns and 10 minutes. On the other hand, I spent almost 400 crowns there, so after all, what’d I save?

The Mosebacke’s record-shop was so full of records, especially vinyls, that I had hard time fitting in. My extra kilos around my belly didn’t help either. When the records are put so tightly that you can’t browse them without trouble, it’s easier to give up. Dozens of boxes full of vinyls lying here and there, and no signs what they might include… Can’t make it inside the framework of my life. Sadly. But it was a worthwhile trip just the same.

Another incident worth mentioning happened when I came back from Slussen. There was a trumpet player near the Solna Centrum. He played ’Speak softly, love’, the famous Godfather theme as I walked to the Centrum. I spent about 30 minutes there and came back. The man was still playing the same song. I know it’s a long movie but still…

It must be the season to eat Lussekatter or Lussebullar, a Swedish bun that has saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, and russins. I have read articles where they compare taste and prices of those buns in Stockholm. The first time I tasted a lussekatte I thought it was not fresh anymore. Later I found out that it was its unique taste. Maybe it’s the saffron, I’m not sure, but there is some ingredient in it that tastes bad to me.

It read on Wiki pages that these buns are related to Lucia’s day which is on hand, i.e. today. Still the name ‘lusse’ comes rather from ‘lucifer’, and indeed these buns were made to keep the devil out. Interesting detail: In English Wiki it says that ‘lusse’ comes from ‘lucia’, while the Swedish version denies that. I’m leaning on the Swedish this time.

Last time I ate one it was more delicious than the previous. You may wonder why I bother eating them since I don’t fancy them. It’s the curiosity, you know. If so many people like them, there must be something likeable in lussebullar. I have given them a fair chance. And, in addition, you can’t get those in Finland. Not yet at least.

Yesterday I went out to lunch and have a drink with our team at the customer’s. It was enjoyable. We ate the ‘julbord’, a Swedish buffet with seasonal (read: Christmas) food, in a restaurant in Ulriksdal, Solna. The place was old and beautiful, close to the Ulriskdals slott (castle). There were so many types of meat and fish available that I couldn’t remember which was which when I started to eat.

Then we walked to Bergshamra subway station and travelled to Slussen. The idea of Götgata open was to drink a pint of beer in every bar from the beginning of Götgatan street till Medborgarplatsen, a square which lies in the midway of the street. There were 10-15 bars, pubs and coffee houses that served beer, cider and wine. The basic idea of drinking up in 30 minutes and then moving to the next target was abandoned. Lucky for me at least.

I drink like an amateur but there I was amongst others. Just as drunk. I’m not particularly proud of it, but I guess my co-workers were pleased to have me with. After one cider and 5 glasses of redwine I parted the company at Medborgarplatsen. As planned, but the others wanted to carry on.

Later I heard that the rest of the group had gone back to Slussen and visited the expensive restaurant Gondolen shortly and went back home to sleep. My money had run out conveniently, but I might have loved the view over Stockholm. The restaurant itself doesn’t look pretty, looking from outside, but the city itself would have been well worth seeing.

The night was pretty bad. It could have been much worse, at least I didn’t have to throw up. Today it’s been better, but the slight hangover is casting its shadow on everything I’ve done since I woke up. I was lucky enough to have accidentally bought small bits of herring in tomato sauce, which spread on rye bread served as a breakfast for me. That taught me a lesson once again. I won’t drink alcohol until Christmas time. Maybe a glass of redwine with another ‘julbord’ but that’s it. I guess I’m about to give it up totally in near future. It just doesn’t work on me like it should.