Never again...

Well, I've said it before, but this time I think I mean it: next time I move, I'm getting professional movers in. I've only ever done it once, and that's when I was moving here to Sweden (as there wasn't another easy choice) and that went well, even though they were just moving the boxes into a storage facility at the time. As mentioned on a previous blog, we were moving twice on one day - something in hindsight we definitely shouldn't have done. We finished at something like 9:45pm, and rushed to the biljard to at least have something to eat. We were absolutely knackered - moving my stuff down three flights of stairs, a 400 meter drive and then walking up three fights of stairs was just too much.

But, it's over and we moved now. Linda has come over the past couple of weekends to visit; once she has an internet connection I'll be going back up with her and spending a couple of days there.

Speaking of internet... Tele2 - despite being recommended by several people - have really dropped the ball on getting my phone line sorted. As mentioned in the previous blog, they had "lost" me and said they'd send a new contract "straight away". Well, last Thursday I still hadn't received anything. After phoning them AGAIN and explaining that I've already moved, the girl on the line said she'd send a new contract out priority post. I finally got it yesterday -- and it was EXACTLY the same piece of paper I had originally got! So... I've sent the new contract back to them, and let's hope it works this time. After that, of course, there's still another 10 working days before they can even switch on the ADSL connection; so I'll continue walking to Slaygon's to work each day.

The important stuff is unboxed now; but I haven't carried on, so I still have a load of boxes around. On top of that, I need to do the final clearing up in the old flat, as that will have new tenants from December.

So, a few odds and ends but it's getting there. I like the new flat - all the rooms are slightly smaller (except for the bedroom and bathroom), but squarer as well which I like - and it has a bath!

Marcel Donné came to visit and stayed at Slaygon's this weekend, so I managed to see him too. It's been a year since I've seen him last so it was good to catch up. Plus we found a new favorite restaurant - Tilda's, which is a five minute walk away. Excellent, excellent food and we still don't know why we hadn't tried it before! Methinks we'll be going again!

A man on the edge...

GAH!

This weekend sees the Big Move, where Linda moves to Trollhättan, and I move to her flat, which is about 400 meters from where I live now. The first task is to move everything down from Linda's old flat and convoy out to Trollhättan, so that her old flat is free. It's also the "longest" move because THN is about an hours' drive away. Then we'll come back, pack the van with my stuff here and drive all of 400 meters to unload the stuff. I know, it's only 400 meters... but it's 400 meters, and there's a main road to navigate.

Of course, there's always glitches to these things. Tele2 is the company I've chosen as my telco, mainly because Linda uses them already, and they seem pretty good - or at least, they DID. Until I phoned them this week to ask if everything was OK and my application (which I had send two weeks ago) was approved. It seems they had "lost" me in the system somewhere, and had no record that I wanted a telephone line, let alone an ADSL connection. So, after being handed around to three different people, the contract was sent out again. I was hoping it would arrive today, but it hasn't. I bloody well hope it arrives tomorrow - and even then, I'm not going to get the phone line or ADSL in time. In the meantime, I'm either going to have to walk back to this flat with my laptop in my rucksack (as technically I move out of here on the 15th), or I'm going to have to ask Slaygon very nicely if I can work from his in the daytime.

This also means that BBB, my radio show, is looking a bit dodgy, although I did speak to Slaygon about that and I will probably be able to do the show from there. It will be a different show, as I won't have the sound effects and stuff that I use -- but that, actually, is a good thing. When I moved over here, I was doing the shows from Slaygon's in the first place, and I didn't rely on so much effects, just me talking bollocks. So this will be a good experiment to see what the listeners think and do an A/B comparison.

My faith in humanity dropped a bit this week, too. I went to the biljard with Slaygon on Tuesday. We left the table for a few minutes, and when I got back, someone had stolen my expensive jumper that I love wearing. I mean, a JUMPER for chrissakes! I would have understood - although I'd be very angry - if they'd have nicked the cue that I got for my birthday (which was on the table), but a jumper? And this was before the cold snap that we're in at the moment. It was mild and only drizzling slightly. Unbelievable.

Yes, we're going through a cold snap at the moment. It's been quite mild recently, until Tuesday evening when it suddenly snowed. Wednesday's temperature was -2°C, and today's has been on the zero. Luckily I have my Mafia Coat, which keeps me nice and warm.

Anyway, I have to pack a few more bits and pieces before heading off to Linda's. (That's also a source of anxiety - whether I finish in time.) I might try and add a quick addendum tomorrow before packing my PC up - failing that, I'll look for an internet connection somwehere...

Oh, and before I go, here's an Apple keyboard that I've "altered" a bit. See if you can see what's happened...

Well, I'll go to t' foot of t' stairs...

It's been a week since my birthday, and a number of things have happened.

First off, the "quiet round of pool" that was supposed to happen last Friday was hijacked by my sneak of a girlfriend, Linda. "Come over to mine first," she texted me, "to open your card!" So, I wandered over and was led into the kitchen... to find a load of people in there shouting "SURPRISE!". A minute later, there was a knock on the door, and there was Skitz, along with Nick and Ellie! All I could manage to say to Skitz was "Whaddayawant?", so much in shock was I.

So, I had a great time on Friday, drinking with friends old and new, and we went to the biljard afterwards, too.

Ellie, Skitz and Nick stayed until Monday afternoon, so we spent a couple more nights at the biljard, and generally chilled out as well; so the whole weekend turned out to be fantastic.

Linda, Slaygon and Lisa had all chipped in to buy me a voucher to get my very own pool cue, and I chose it last night. To the right is me with a slightly demonic look, holding my stick in my hand (fnar). I like the "flame" design on it.

I also got a teddy bear with a customised message on it from Ellie and Nick (complete with Geordie accent!), a book on how to speak Geordie (that's the accent that Newcastle people speak, if you didn't know) from Ellie, and Nick gave me a DJ mixer... for kids! But it has some class sound effects on it! Ellie also brought along my Emergency Supplies as well - Bombay Bad Boy Hot Noodles, Pork Crackles and Black Peperami (the hottest!) -- three things I miss from England (but also the reason why I have lost weight!).

Other than that, it's back to normal. I'm a year older, but not wiser!

Ups and Downs

It's been a strange week, or a little under actually.

The thing that started it was Sunday. Linda and I went to the Tower Café. It's basically how it's described - a little café on top of a tower (I don't know what the tower is for, actually), and you get a great view of Gothenburg. We had raspberry pie with ice cream and custard (or vaniljsås, as the Swedes call it) with come café latte. Then we had a little walk by a nearby beach, because it had been a remarkably nice sunny day.

Then we went back to Linda's, the plan being that she picked her work clothes up and we go back to mine, as I was catching a plane on Monday morning (more on that later). It was by pure chance, then, that I was in the kitchen and I heard Kittypoo meow. But, it didn't sound like it was coming from inside the house, so I leant over the kitchen window, and there was Kittypoo, outside, looking up at me. "Oh God," I immediately said to Linda, "Kitty has fallen out of the window," to which Linda ran down the stairs, picked him up and brought him back in.

He was in bad shape - Linda lives on the third floor (or second floor if you count the first floor as "ground"). He was limping badly, trying not to put pressure on his left hind leg; his body was twisted slightly, he was in shock and very "distant". Linda immediately phoned her boss to say she was having Monday off, and we looked after him the best we could. (I went back to mine briefly to pack my case, but came back.)

Linda took me to the airport on Monday morning and went back to the house. After all of my travelling to England, I got an SMS - Linda had taken Kittypoo to the vet, but he had to be put down. Linda was in tears and I felt useless because I was in England. She knew I had to go and was fine with it, but still... you know what I mean.

So... Kittypoo has passed away. I know I called him a little git and pissed on his head, but he was still Linda's pet, and the poor thing had to go like that, injuries because of a long fall.

Anyway... the reason I was in England was that I had a business meeting. I was there from Monday to Wednesday - it was a flying visit and I didn't get a chance to see anyone at all - not even those in London. It's a shame that I didn't have time, but hopefully soon I'll meet up with the gang again. I didn't particularly like the journey either - just felt "rushed", and because Linda was hurting, that didn't help either. But Linda had a conference in Stockholm too, so she's away until later on tonight. I got back at 9:30 last night, much to my relief. I went to see if Åke (Linda's big cat) was ok and spent a little time with him.

My mum phoned me earlier too. She was hoping to wait until my birthday (which is tomorrow), but she had to tell me that John (my step-dad) had had an angiogram - that's where they use a camera to check your arteries. It was lucky they did - John has two bloked arteries, so only one was working. He could have had a heart attack. So, they've kept him in and are operating on him today.

They have two choices, depending on where exactly the clogs are: implant a couple of stents, or bypass surgery. A stent is a plastic tube that acts like an artery. They would open up the clog, and put the stent in there, to keep the artery open. The alternative - bypass surgery - well, you know what that is, so we're hoping the stents will do the trick -- especially because John was supposed to be having his eye operation next week.

As previously mentioned, it's my birthday tomorrow. It will be no surprise if I find myself at the Kville Biljard in the evening . We will probably go into town on Saturday, too, just to keep the celebrations going. Linda has promised to cook me "English" breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings too, which will be nice! (That's bacon, sausage, eggs, beans... actually it's technically called "London Fry-up" because Full English has a few other bits.)

So, happy birthday (glad födelsedag) to me for tomorrow. This may sound a bit "grumpy old man", but I'll be glad to have something else to focus on, after this pretty shitty week.

Almost Swedish

It's been a while since I've added something to this blog -- mainly because Im a lazy sod who always forgets!

Yesterday, I received a letter through the post from Skatteverket (the tax office) - and I have finally received my "proper" personnummer! This is almost the final step of making me a real Swedish resident! All I have to do now is go to a bank or post office with this form, my passport and a couple of passport photos and I will get my ID Card, and I will be fully integrated!

The only major step now is to learn Swedish - the basics to make myself semi-understood anyway. There's still the SFI (Svenskundervisning För Invandrare, or Swedish For Immigrants), but that's a one- to two-year course; it's free (run by the government) but the length is because it has to cater for the "lowest common denominator", i.e. people who are less able to learn a language. The alternative -- and the one I'm probably going to take -- is an intensive six-week course run by "folkuniversitetet" (The People's University). There are two lessons per week, each running for two hours and 15 minutes. Although it will be full-on, I think this will work better for me to saturate my brain with Swedish.

Linda's grown-up cat, Åke, had a bit of a scare last week. On Saturday, we noticed that he couldn't sit down properly and was waddling rather than walking. Linda phoned up the vet and took him down, and they received him immediately. The poor thing couldn't pee; his bladder was apparently the size of an orange and he was in danger. Thankfully they drained him out and he spent a couple of days there. He's back now -- a little lethargic but healthy. Shittypoo (as you'll recall from previous blogs) is still a little bastard, and he has two big hairy balls, so I think it will soon be time for a "Tchaikovsky" (Nutcracker Suite, geddit?!) before he starts humping everything in sight and spraying over everything to stake his area.

My old mates Lee and Mez came to visit last month, too. They did a little bit of touring around Gothenburg, and we went drinking (of course) as well. A throroughly good time had by all, I think!

I've also been helping K. out at work. He works at a "gymnasium" (college) specialising in I.T. (websites, databases, media, etc) and the college has just moved location. This means that the students' laptops needed to be re-installed, and there's a hell of a lot of them. So I was drafted in to do that. Being young students (of ages 16-19), they've just come out of high school and their English is still fresh in their brains, so I had no problem talking to them. One bright spark passed his laptop to me, ran into the corridor and proclaimed, "Take it easy, guys... he's English!", much to my amusement!

Linda is moving away to Trollhättan on November 1st. The main two reasons are that she works there, and commuting every day is taking it's toll on her a bit. She's always tired because of the long hours and the type of job she does, and she has to get up at 5:30 every morning just to get ready and catch the train (or drive), so moving into the same town will be perfect. The second reason is that her grandparents are helping her buy the flat (yes, she's setting foot on the property ladder!). There's also the fact that the sub-lease on this flat that I'm in runs out in November, too, and I need to move (because of the way that landlords work here). So, I can move into Linda's flat when she moves.

Now, the downside to all of this is that her and I are going to be in different towns. But we've had a good long talk about it all, and it's not as bad as it seems, especially because of this intenstive Swedish course I want to do. She can still drive down here for the weekends, and I can go up with her and do my work on my laptop on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then I can take a train back down here for the first lesson, be here on Wednesday for my radio show, and then do the lesson on Thursday. So, we'll be apart for three days (which will take a little getting used to) but we'll still have an extended weekend together, so it will work out.

And that's my recent happenings! I think I'll lie down now, I'm not used to writing this much in one go!

Step dad and Visitations

Blimey, it's been a while since I've written something in here. Suppose I'll have to rectify it

My mum and step-dad are on vacation at the moment, in a county called Dorset, which has a number of seaside resorts. Then they fly over here at the end of the weekend to visit me for a few days: this will be their first visit, so they're looking forward to it as much as I am! Then they'll fly back to find out what day John (that's step-dad's name) goes back to the hospital.

John has had the follow-up consultation after his operation; but unfortunately, the tumour hasn't disappeared. So there are now two more options. The first one is an operation where -- and I won't go into too much detail here just in case you're a bit squeamish -- they basically use a mini vacuum cleaner to try and suck the tumour out.

Failing that, it will mean a complete removal of the eye and a "glass eye" fitted (although I doubt they use real glass nowadays). So, we will just have to wait and see whether the vacuum idea works, and we'll find that out over the next month.

In the meantime, they're keeping in good spirits; they're determined to enjoy their vacation and it'll be good to see them over here in a few days' time!

Slaygon and Ziza are on their way back after a long trans-Europe trek. They'll be knackered but happy, and we shall no doubt meet up for a good old chat about it tomorrow.

Next weekend, of course, is the SLAY Radio Gathering, where all the listeners and DJs meet up together. I'm not doing my show next Wednesday; instead, Ziphoid and I are doing a joint show on Thursday. Then we'll have the "unofficially official" pre-Gathering drinks on Friday evening, after some of my English mates fly over. Then it's the actual day on Saturday. In the daytime we're having a barbecue at Keillers Park (weather permitting!), and then in the evening we have the private room booked at the pool hall (Biljard). More information here.

My step dad

My mum phoned me today, to tell me that John, her husband of two years and my step-dad (obviously) went for his yearly check up. About 10 years ago, they spotted a cancerous growth behind his eye, so they performed raiotherapy on it and it seemed to do the trick, albeit that he only has something like 10% vision in that eye.

He's been going for a check-up once a year from that point, and everything seemed to be going fine, until this year's. They found two tumours, offshoots from the original, one right behind the eye and one around the side. There were two choices: [1] Removal, which meant freezing the one at the back and laser-shooting the one on the side, or [2] remove the eye completely. After a consultation, they decided on surgery, and he had it on Friday.

He has the follow-up checkup in a month's time, so let's hope it did the trick. If not, then we hope at least that they haven't grown too fast, and they can just remove the eye (well, not "just" but you know what I mean).

Mum and John are visiting me at the end of July, and depending on when the hospital give him his appointment, he may have just had the checkup, or just before. But he's determined to come over anyway, bless him.

Fingers crossed... (or thumbs held, as they say here)...