A bit of whining
Grr. Just when the weather is getting so nice, I have a cold. It’s only been a few days and I’m sure I’ll get better soon, but at the moment, it’s really frustrating. No writing (still suffering from writer’s block), mum’s got her broken finger and her allergic itch and is convinced it’s never going to end, and my sister also has this cold, just when she has to be mentally alert to finish the work for her course. I guess I just feel stressed out about everything that needs to be done. Now. And I can only do the mere basics, because of this cold. Sorry about the whining.
A loud bang
Today, when my sister and I were going home after doing the shopping (dragging heavy shopping trolleys behind us), we heard a really loud bang. It was maybe a block away, but we could see all the way to the place the explosion (?) took place, since there was a parking lot and the waterfront/harbour between us and whatever happened. For quite a long time there was a cloud of smoke hanging in the air over the water. I have no idea what it was. I also couldn’t see anyone who might have been responsible. It was a little scary.
iPhone 6+ (and 6)
I have had the chance to use both the iPhone 6 and the 6+. By now it’s old news, I know, but I would still like to say something about my impressions. Before the iPhone 6+ I had (and still have) an iPhone 4. I still love that one and I still use it.
As for the 6+ I love it too. I love the big screen, I love the great battery time. In all fairness, my old iPhone 4 still has good battery time. With the iPhone 6 + I might have managed to get by without any e-book readers, surf pads etc, except for one thing: despite the great battery time, I’d probably end up charging it every day. As it is, with normal phone use, it lasts about 5-6 days, just like my old iPhone. Like my old, old iPod Touch used to when it was new (but it’s still pretty good, only a bit small). Using e-book readers, cuts back on my phone battery use. Just don’t get me started on the great battery time of my e-book readers… 😉 (Unfortunately, my beloved Cybook Odyssey Frontlight doesn’t work right now, or rather it doesn’t work without me using the charger cable – not for charging, but to be able to turn it on. If it can’t be repaired, that’s what I’ll do, but I’m still hoping the little problem with the on/off button can be fixed.)
Unfortunately, the iPhone 6 that I’ve had my hands on, has always been trouble, since it was bought. Twice it’s been handed in for repairs (both times it pretty much died when it had to be charged.) That brings me to the other trouble with it – the dreadful battery time. I’ve read somewhere that people in general thinks of the iPhone 6 and 6+ as having better battery time than earlier phones. I don’t know about the 5 and 5s, because I haven’t had any experience with them, but I do know the iPhone 6 is a lot worse than the 4 and 4s. That’s also the impression I got when I read about the new iPhones. The 6+ has both a bigger screen and a better battery life, the 6 has a bigger screen, just not quite that big.
If the iPhone 6 had worked ok and had a better battery time, I’m not sure what my choice would have been. Maybe I would have settled for the 6, because I do have my e-book readers for reading and my computer for writing. I know there are ‘power banks’ that you can charge and take with you, but I’m afraid that such a poor battery will die soon and I’m not sure there would be any point.
Some people have complained about the size of the iPhone 6+. I don’t understand them at all. I find it easy to hold both new iPhones in my relatively small hand (one at a time, naturally, LOL). Sure, I need to use my other hand for the touch screen, but I did that with my older, smaller devices as well.
My conclusion: the iPhone 6 + is awesome. If you’re an Apple fan, who doesn’t want to use more than one mobile device, pick this one.
Bad luck
Today when my mum and I went shopping (and to pick up a package that had arrived for us), she fell and hurt her hand. It hurt so badly we had to go to the clinic on the way back. There she first got to see a nurse, then a doctor (ironically the same doctor who she saw this morning, and who gave her a clean bill of health then). The doctor sent her to a hospital, not the one closest to here, but the other one, where mum has to go for her eye checkups and treatments. Now she’s had an x-ray but hasn’t been in to see the orthopaedist yet. She will either need a cast or some sort of bandage. We don’t know yet if she’s broken the fingers or not.
Edit: They kept mum waiting until the last bus left. Now she and my sister will have to take a taxi. And we still don’t know if the fingers are broken. Both their phones are running out of battery so I can’t get any more updates.
When I went shopping today…
I didn’t expect to have anything to say so soon after my last post, but today when I went shopping, a few things happened.
My sister and I were on our way to the pharmacy/chemist’s to get medication for mum (who has a terrible itch, possibly caused by the shingles she had several years ago). There was this guy who had messy hair and was walking with two girls (and possibly a third one, trailing behind). He was smoking something what wasn’t tobacco, because I know that smell. Anyway, I had a slight headache and after I breathed in the cloud of smoke he was generating, my headache was gone. 😉
A few other things happened, but I’m not sure any of it would be of interest to my (potential) readers. For instance, while I was waiting outside the pharmacy/chemist’s three little boys ran past, one of them only about four years old. I thought, three boys would really be a bit much. Just then the youngest boy smiled very sweetly at me. So I thought, maybe just one…
I also happened to see a rather unusual little dog (with a young couple). It’s probably a Miniature English Bull Terrier (like the one on the right in the pic below, except I think this one is a male, so a bit bigger).
Miniature Bull Terrier
She began to sniff in my direction, so I said ‘can you feel the doggy smell from me’? The young people holding her leash said a few words to me, but seemed rather giggly and not really interested in talking. Then an older girl (mid-twenties, maybe) came back to claim her dog. I think she was the older sister of the first girl. We got to talking about pets. It was actually quite nice and totally unexpected in this town. When they left, the older girl said bye to me, which has to be a first. People don’t TALK to each other in this town, at least not to us. Except for the poor beggars. I can’t believe I’m even mentioning that. Two-three years ago there were no beggars in Sweden, at least not in smaller towns. Now there are at least a few even in the tiniest towns/villages. It’s so sad that we rarely have any change, or any cash at all, to give them. We sometimes buy buns or coffee or something when it’s cold, but they really want money, to send home to their children.
A bit of whining…
On Monday, my sister and I went up to see a house, very close to our cottage. Yes, I know that sounds weird, but our thinking was that this house has indoor plumbing which our place doesn’t. Considering how expensive these things can be, we thought we might be able to save a bit on that (at least if we could bid lower than the owners really want). Instead, we were uncomfortably reminded of how very isolated both houses are. So we probably won’t make a bid, even though it’s a very nice little house, just not quite as awesome as our own. I just wish someone we knew, some friend or relative would want it, but we don’t really have anyone like that.
That’s not what I was going to whine about though. When we were getting ready to leave the bus, we pressed the buzzer and stood waiting by the sliding back door. We thought we did everything right, but the driver just kept driving past our stop and one other and wouldn’t have stopped there either, if I hadn’t started calling out and a nice passenger got up and yelled at him. He stepped on the brakes and let us off, without a word of apology. I think that he was running late and didn’t want to bother with letting us off. Bastard. He left us in the middle of a rather intensely trafficked road (one not built for all that traffic), trying to avoid being hit. One more reason not to move out there, unfortunately.
Another reason is that even when we did get to the nearest town, there wasn’t that much to choose between in the shops, especially for us vegans. Still, both shops were open, even on The Second Day of Easter (whatever that’s called in English…?).
Lectures and haircut
Table Hill
Here’s an update about what I’ve been doing lately. First of all, what I haven’t been doing lately is writing, I’m afraid. 🙁 I’m stuck in the middle of my latest children’s book and so far I haven’t been able to get unstuck. I’m looking forward to getting some help from my sister but at the moment she’s too busy with work and her studies to be of any help.
So what I have been up to lately is mainly going to lectures. Usually, I try to go with either my mother or my sister, but so far, they haven’t had time or felt up to it so I’ve been going alone.
The first one was about this town and surrounding area during a time or rather times of unrest (ie war), back in the 17th, 18th and early 19th century. It was interesting, except for the fact that the lecturer (the head of the museum) kept referring to sources for genealogists. which my family and I are, but at the times the lecture referred to no one in our family lived around here, so I always feel a little bored when that comes up. Anyway, I’d already heard a little about this in an earlier lecture by the same man.
At the end of the lecture I went up to ask the man about something I’d heard of before. Some of you may remember that my sister and went on a guided tour of the cellars underneath the ‘Residence’ of the ‘governor’ (not sure of the exact translation of the Swedish term). Anyway, that’s about the oldest parts left of this town. Except for the rumoured baking ovens beneath the old prison, now converted into an exclusive apartment building. As it turned out, there are no ancient ovens left, but apparently there are some vaults or a vault anyway, where the ovens used to be. The man quite decently offered to show it or them to me, since he lives in the building. Unfortunately, I lost his card, but my sister works in the same building and knows him, even though her archive doesn’t have anything directly to do with the museum’s archives so she can get in touch with him. I hope we can both go and take a quick look at the vault. It may not sound very exciting, and the man himself didn’t seem to think so but again, we’re talking about some of the oldest parts of this town, so I’d still like to have a look. I’ll post about it later if I do get to go.
The second lecture was about the Swedish language and it was quite interesting, despite the fact that the woman who held it, a professor of Swedish at the University of Gothenburg, and the Dean (I think that’s the word) of the local college, was really proud of herself and her ancestry and never let a moment go by without pointing out what an illustrious ancestry she had or how brilliant she is to have been appointed to many prestigious councils and other exclusive academic groups. Apparently she didn’t like my questions so she tried to silence me by being condescending, while flattering an older man in the audience (entirely made up of retired people, except for a guy who seemed to be there as the driver of his grandfather or someone) for his questions that chimed in well with her narrative. Oh, well, like I said, it was interesting, but I didn’t like that woman.
Finally, I went to listen to someone give a talk about the ancient mythology of the Table ‘mountains’/hills around here. Some people are of the opinion that all our ancient mythology can be traced to them, or rather one of them in particular, one that is right nearby (see image above). The whole thing was entertaining, and since the subject refers to ancient times (more or less – in the Mediterranean, they’d refer to this time period as ‘Late Ancient Times or Early Mediaeval) anything might be true. However, this recently retired man, not sure about his actual qualifications, who used to be the head of another museum nearby, was so completely convinced of his own ideas, it was a little scary. He made little half-hearted jokes about how he ‘might’ be wrong about a few little things in his research, but his facial expression and tone hinted that he didn’t think so, at all. Despite that, it was all quite fun to listen to and made sense up to a point. Our Nordic mythology might have originated here, it’s a guess as good as any and like I said, some of his arguments made a bit of sense.
Other than these lectures, all I’ve done is have a much needed haircut. I might post a photo later on. Anyway, any readers I might have, will surely have tired of my ramblings long ago. 🙂
The Circle
The Circle
I just went to see the movie The Circle. Since I haven’t reviewed the books, I’m not going to go into too many details about my thoughts. However, I did like the movie as much as I liked the books. The actresses closely matched the looks of the characters, at least most of them. I hope that the other two books in the trilogy will be made into movies and that I’ll like them as much as I liked the first one (though I must admit I always did like book 1 the best.) It was also quite cool (I’d never have thought of that ten years ago) to actually be in a movie theater though there were only four people watching the movie, that is counting me and my sister. That might have been because it’s been on for about two weeks.
Just one thing, if you do read the books, bear in mind that the translation isn’t all that great. In my opinion it’s a mistake not to get a professional translator to do the translating.
Meeting in the animal rights group
My family has been members of an animal rights group here in Sweden (a national group with local divisions.) for ages. In any case, my sister and I hadn’t made an appearance on the meetings for more than ten years (when we went to a very nice vegan Christmas meal) so we thought that this year, for the annual meeting, we’d actually go. One reason we haven’t been there is that they’ve been rather bad at announcing those member meetings, expecting people to check the web page for all info.
Anyway, when we first found out about the meeting (from the web site) they hadn’t decided on a place for it, but eventually, they settled on a new vegetarian restaurant, cafe and shop in a big fancy building in the center of the town next to here. I’d never been there so I’d always been a bit curious about what it looked like from inside. Tonight I found out. It was just as a impressive as on the outside. They were just a little short on light, for some reason. I was curious about the shop, but the meeting dragged on so long that I’d lost my wish to check it out if it was even still open by that time.
The main reason I wanted to join the meeting was that I want to do a bit more for the animals. It’s good that I had no other reason, such as meeting nice new like-minded people, because though the board members were pretty much ok, there were a number of older members who just seemed to be there to complain and make trouble. Maybe I’m being unfair, but I got so tired of their whining after a while. When the meeting was declared finished, my sister and I just left. Some of the more reasonable people might have understood our feelings and others might have realized that it was getting late and we needed to go (no car). In any case, everyone else stayed behind. I’m not sure what they were up to.
There was some talk about nut allergies (there was coffee/tea and something like a muffin or sandwich served for those who wanted) and I’m just saying that if my sensitivity or allergy to garlic had been as serious as nut allergies, I might have died there because one of the worst old people there stank of garlic. It was a bit hard to breathe, even though he was across the table from me.
After the meeting I got to thinking about the way people see us animal rights activists and vegans. Do they see me and my sister as similar to these very weird, tiresome old people, or do we just look like ordinary people from a distance? I’m not sure I want to know. Even if they do see us as the same as these people, I wouldn’t change a thing. Fighting for the animals is my life. The thing is, my sister and I have once been told by a girl with half a pound of scrap metal in her face, that we ‘don’t look like real vegans’, so maybe we do look more like people in general, than the typical animal rights activists, though these whiny old people aren’t even vegans. They were going on about ‘humane farms’ as if there was such a thing.
I’m not sure what I want to say really, maybe just vent. If you’ve read this post all the way through to the end, thank you for that.
We’ll probably go to a few more meetings and see what we can do. My sister got roped in and put on the board so now she’ll definitely have to go sometimes.
