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)...

I survived...

Well... I got through it The parental units turned up at 17:00 on Wednesday after checking into their hotel. So we had a cuppa, then met Linda in town for a meal. Yep, she's met them too!

On Thursday we went to the archipelago in Saltholmen, where you use the ferry system to visit the series of small islands off the main coast. Absolutely beautiful; I was awestruck myself as I'd never been here. Definitely doing that again when my mum and step-dad are coming (more news on that below).

On Friday we went to the botanical gardens (Botaniska Trädgården), had a meal, and then visited Slottsskogen ("Castle Forest"), a park just over the road from the botanical garden. Then we had a meal with Slaygon, so now they've met the guy that had me sleeping in his living room for 5 months!

On Saturday, we went on the Paddan, a boat trip that lasts 50 minutes and takes you around the harbour and some of the river system in Gothenburg. Well worth a trip as the tour guide points some of the city's more prominent buildings and features out.

And then it was Sunday. A quick walk around Keillers Park, a snack, and then they were off to the airport! Very enjoyable.

My mum phoned me on Monday, and has already booked her time; she's coming at the end of July, just before the SLAY Radio Gathering. So, it'll be time to do it all again soon!

While I'm here, have a look at this link, which is a news item reported by the BBC that some people are branding Superman as "gay". Have a look at the headline and then the picture they use to show how not gay Superman is. Well, it's convinced me...

Argh! Parents!

t's 15:50 in the afternoon, and my parents should have landed by now, and are probably in a taxi on the way here. Yes, they're visiting from today until Sunday. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with them. Obviously, there's places I can take them, but I really don't know what they like.

When I say "parents", it's actually my dad and step-mum. My dad and mum split up when I was 5, and I stayed with mum, seeing my dad at the weekends. It's a sad fact of life that, although he's my dad, we've kind of grown apart, so I don't really know their likes and dislikes. But, I do have a small idea, so hopefully it will all work out.

Anyway, I'm off to wait for the phone call to say they're here! I'll be back soon...