Pfft, snow again!

Can you adam 'n eve(*) it? It's snowing here in Gothenburg again... and it's supposed to be spring! Here's a picture I just took:

But it's lovely here when it snows. Here's some pictures taken at the end of January: Snow Gallery

(*)Adam 'n Eve is Cockney Rhyming slang for "believe". Every day's a school dy with Boz!

More Sticky Fingers and my Sports-Related Injury

I didn't quite go into as much detail about Sticky Fingers as I wanted, but that was mainly because I was tired. There's a few songs that have particular dance moves; certainly in the UK anyway. We all know the YMCA moves - thankfully they didn't play that at SF though.

Another song is House Of Pain's "Jump Around"; when you get to the chorus, you jump around. The English Contingency did exactly that. Unfortunately, we were the only ones to do it, so we looked like complete weirdos. But, we didn't care, it's all good.

The other they played was "Blame It On The Boogie" by The Jackson Five. When it gets to the chorus, you "Don't blame it on the sunshine" (right hand in an arc over your head), "Don't blame it on the moonlight" (left hand sweeping right-to-left mimicking moonlight on the ocean), "Don't blame it on the good times" (thrusting your pelvis with arms holding imaginery partner), "Blame it on the boogie" (cheesy boogie dance). Again, none of the Swedes knew what hit them and we got a few bemused looks.

Another highlight was Mez dancing with arms up in the air to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", singing loudly along with it. And I thought only Lee did that! Oh, and there was a fight outside after we left. Slaygon pulled one of the guys away, while another guy pulled his friend (the opponent) away. From what I saw, Mez just stepped in the middle of the fight, spread his arms out in an "everybody be cool" motion, and walked away. Classic (Although I was later told that he did help in the actual break-up!) What added to the amusement was Mez was swaying very slightly in an alcohol-induced motion. He would have probably toppled over if someone had touched him with a feather.

Then there was the guy who came up, asking for a lighter in Swedish. Before I could offer mine, Lee said: "English!"

"OOOHHH, EEEENNNNGGLLIIIISSHHH!" shouted the tall bloke at the top of his lungs. "I AM BIG FAN OF MILLWALL. I LIVE FOR MILLWALL. I WOULD DIE FOR MILLWALL. FUCK WEST HAM!" Right... so we can ascertain that he's a fan of football (soccer), likes Millwall, and doesn't like West Ham all that much. And, if he's a true Millwall fan... then yes, he would probably die for them

Also on Sunday, I received my second Sports-Related Injury... from pool! On some of the pool tables, there's a brass plaque on the edge nearest the cue ball's area. A few weeks ago, I managed to scrape a huge chunk of skin off my knuckle after a particularly hard shot. On Sunday, it happened again, scraping the newly-formed skin right off again. I received a Band-Aid for my troubles and C. (one of the waitresses) says "that happens frequently". Well, take the bloody things off then!

I leave you with a picture of said injury. Oh the pain, the pain of it all...

"It's all gone quiet," said Rhubarb

Well, the English gang have recently left to catch their flight home. Lee and Mez have an additional 3 hour trip to get back to Worcester afterwards, so it's going to be a long night!

On Friday night, we were going to go into town to celebrate Paddy's Day, but we changed our minds and stayed local, as some of the guys were a little tired after the flight etc. A nice gentle evening to start the weekend off.

On Saturday night, we went to a few bars and then onto Sticky Fingers, a nightclub with four floors playing different music (which is a great idea). It was Mez's birthday celebration and he celebrated in style; and got chatted up by a Swedish girl (only to find out she already had a boyfriend, booo!). A thoroughly entertaining night though full of music and mayhem, and a strangely large proportion of Goth chicks (which I'm not complaining about).

Sunday was a relaxing day; after all, we were nursing the aftereffects of a large night out. At 5:00 we went to Biljard again, had a lovely meal there, and then proceeded to drink Hair Of The Dog (i.e. more beer) and play more pool! Actually, after we got back, Mark wanted to see me "in action" doing a show; so I promptly plopped myself on air and did a short show for people!

Today, we again took it easy to nurse three nights' drinking, and we walked up Keillers Park, a big hill that has the most amazing view of Gothenburg when you get to the top point. After meandering back down, we went to Biljard for a meal (but no drinks), and hung around until a taxi took them to the airport.

Great weekend though. The guys seemed to enjoy themselves! Early night for me tonight, I think

English Invasion

I've got four of my friends coming over this weekend - Anne and Mark, with Mez and my ex-housemate, Lee. It's Mez's birthday so he wanted to come over to celebrate, as he's done a tour of Europe (including Gothenburg) before. Plus it's St. Patrick's Day on Friday; so I guess we'll go out into town on the Friday. Then on the Saturday we'll probably go to Biljard and play some pool.

My American friend A. drew a picture of me, which was waiting in my inbox this morning. It's SO flattering when someone goes out of their way to do something like that! Apparently I was an "interesting subject to draw" - maybe my head is a funny shape or something! Still, you can tell it's me. I'll be keeping that!

Snot Nose II: Revenge of the Lurgy

I think I've discovered why so many Swedes have gone down with a bad cold(*)... it's because there's two strains out there. The reason I know? 'Cos I've gone and caught the second one, that's bleedin' well why!!

It was only three weeks ago when I was slowly getting over a crappy cold, and now I'm snivelling and sneezing. What's more, I have a deadline for a piece of work I'm doing, so I can't take today off. Bleurgh!

All I want is a hot nurse in one of those sexy uniforms and stockings and suspenders to wipe my fevered brow. Am I asking for too much? (Yes.)

(*) Of course, men call colds "Man-Flu". It's always worse than the colds that women suffer from. Influenza is a completely different thing, but not to us men!

Identity theft suxx0rs :(

GRRR!

About a month ago, Barclaycard (a credit card company in the UK) phoned me up to inform me that my card had been "compromised". Some bright spark tried to spend £500 at Ladbroke's gambling, along with a few other places. Thankfully, Barclaycard are really on the ball with that sort of thing, so the transactions never got onto my card, and the card was blocked and destroyed by me.

Just a moment ago, I had a call from Jemma at Barclaycard Fraud to inform me that the details of the second card I have with them had been found after a "police operation", and the police have advised them to block every card on the list. So, I've just had to destroy my second card!

If any of you identity theives look at this, you're the smegma under my foreskin of life. Bastards.

Mad as a Fish

I was having a Mass Debate with my friend E. the singer on Monday morning, when Nice Old Lady came into the apartment complex. Nice Old Lady and I usually say hello to each other and she always seems to be happy and jolly. This time, she stopped to talk to me via E. She started by saying "sorry to talk Swedish, maybe you can translate for your friend," and then she talked for about two minutes and wandered off.

E. turned to me with a perplexed look. "What was all that about," I enquired?

"Well for a start, she wasn't born in Sweden. Her accent sucks!" I laughed, but then I thought, "I wonder if Swedish people are going to say that about me when I start speaking Swedish more regularly?"

Anyway, she continued: "Then she was saying that she used to smoke in her apartment, but now she can't because you're not allowed to. Then mentioned that her brother and his wife are coming to visit. Then she went on about some woman who was stabbed in her kitchen about 25 years ago."

We looked at each other for a few moments, and all I could say was "Yay... I have a weird neighbour!" Yes folks, she's a mentalist. Mad as a box of frogs. Now whenever I see Nice Old Lady, I'm going hear "cuckoo... cuckoo" in my head! Nice Old Lady has become A Couple Of Sandwiches Short Of A Picnic Lady (although I'll still call her Nice Old Lady because the above description goes on a bit).

K.'s girlfriend L. is off for a job interview today. If it goes well, we'll be going to the biljard to celebrate. I need some Hair of the Dog tonight, as I drunk like a fish through my radio show last night, and woke up feeling a bit delicate