Författare: Ricklingen

Have you ever said ”what if” and wondered how different things would be? My most decisive ”what if” goes back a lifetime, fits into 30 seconds and can be summed up, ”what if I had opted for the cotton mills and chimney stacks?”

One day the London managing director of HRW, the publishing company I was working for, called me into his office. I had been informed earlier that the advertising division I had been a part of was to be closed down so I was feeling rather apprehensive. He began, with what I was convinced was to going to be a thank you and goodbye, by saying that although my department was being closed down the company did not want to lose me.  ”We have two area sales representative vacancies and if you are interested we would like to offer you one of them.”  I had only been with the company for a few months but knew this job entailed a lot of travelling to university cities, visiting bookshops as well as lecturers teaching subjects the company specialized in. He continued, ”the North West of England is one area and the other is Scandinavia.” Having lived most of my life in London or the Home Counties, the North West of England brought on images of cotton mills and chimney stacks. I gave it some thought though, about 30 seconds, and said, ”I´ll take Scandinavia,” coyly adding, ”It will give me the opportunity of learning  a new language.”

The Swedish word ”skatter” is the plural of ”skatt”  which has two meanings. Tax and  treasure. I never thought of this connection before reading a rather amusing article by Susanna Popova in today´s Svenska Dagbladet. She claims that taxes are something Swedes never joke about to which I wholeheartedly agree. Just to be clear on one point though, in my opinion Swedes do have a great sense of humour and never hesitate to see the funny side of most things. Swedish taxes just aren´t funny.

There are three predominant types of habitation in Sweden if you exclude summer camping in tents, mobile homes, caravans and time spent in little red and white summer cottages. They are renting a flat , owning your own house or being owner of a ”bostadsrätt” which literally translated means ”dwelling-right” Usually it means a block of flats where as a tenant you own a percentage of the whole and have a contract defining your own flat. It´s quite handy as everybody gets to share maintenance costs etc. by way of a monthly fee. The contract is bought and sold on an open market like any other dwelling. Things often work reasonably well, little different I would say, to owning your own flat at the same time paying homage to ”the Social Democrat that lives in every Swede.”  Wise words from a late friend of mine.

On its persistent treasure hunt to fill the nations coffers, the Swedish Tax Agency has now sniffed out the possibility of taxing dwelling-right owners if they have purchased extra space by e.g. buying a neighbouring flat and knocking down a wall or even if they have only bought a few extra square metres of parking space. The claim being that in theory the property was sold and bought again despite the owners not having moved an inch. We´re not talking pennies here but capital gains tax on the price difference the flat was purchased for and its new market value including the extra square metres.  For a house owner this would be like having to pay capital gains tax on one´s entire property just for buying the neighbour´s shed and the ground it stood on. Sweden´s Minister of Finance hasn’t been falling over herself to investigate possible legislation to avert what could have dire economic consequences for many people. She advises people to take the Tax Agency to court.

Enough to make a cat laugh but not a Swede.

When I first cameI to Stockholm I was often asked what I thought of Sweden . My answer would vary slightly depending on who was asking and any need of mine at the time to be provocative. This worked in both directions. A rosier picture when describing Sweden to my friends in England and somewhat more critical in the same situation in Sweden. My job which had me flitting around Scandinavia meant that my exposure to this Swedish culture shock was more in instalments, much like slowly walking into a freezing cold lake rather than jumping in. Well not too happy at first, I finally adjusted to the water. To be honest Sweden wasn’t the problem, as most people here seemed quite happy, the problem was me. I had been very fairly and politely treated by the Swedish Consulate in London, language was no problem until later when I started learning Swedish and everybody insisted on speaking English. The bank let me open 2 accounts, one private and one business, without a personal identity number. There was even a terrific pub on Grevgatan. Then what was my problem? Let me try and explain. First of all it was not only a terrific pub it was also the only terrific pub in the whole of Stockholm. Not that all the other pubs were sub-standard, they just didn’t exist. If you are young and live in Stockholm, close your eyes  and  just imagine for a minute: no pubs, very few restaurants, no coffee shops, no seating anywhere on a pavement outside, no pizzerias, no kebab stalls, no McDonalds or Burger King or any other hamburger joint for that matter. If you wanted a cold beer in a restaurant it  would have to be consumed with a sandwich or other food, local regulations. Well, I survived and somewhere along the line somebody realized the error of their ways and Stockholm today is one cool city. In another meaning you understand.

I don´t care if you call me a Grumpy Old Man which really only means you find my reasoning or complaining irritating, not necessarily untrue. 20 years younger and the epithet would have been ”Messerschmidt” the Swedish equivalent of ”Besserwisser” which means, well you know.  There are politer ways of pointing out a person of experience and using one of these derogatory terms rather implies that the person at the receiving end of all this wisdom is probably not too happy with a condescending attitude rather than anything else. Yes, the cap fits and I´m wearing it!

I have lived in Sweden since 1971 which is probably longer than most Swedes. When I first came here from the UK one of the things that impressed me was the free movement of Scandinavian or more correctly Nordic nationals within the Nordic Countries. I suppose some rudimentary form of identification would have been required in some instances but I observed that fellow passengers mostly just waved their boarding cards exuding Scandinavian, or more correctly Nordic, self assurance..

My passport had expired and I had sent in an application for a new one, together with the necessary documentation and my old passport, to the British Embassy in Stockholm. No sooner said and done when my boss came to me and said he wanted me to fly to Oslo for a meeting and return the same day. Making excuses, however valid, are not recipes for successful careers so I nodded in compliance. My day return was from Örebro airport to Oslo Fornebu. The journey there went without a hitch. At Fornebu I waved my boarding card and exclaimed ”från Örebro” as if I didn’t´t have a care in the world.  If there was any doubt in the immigration (border control is the term nowadays I have noticed) officers´s mind it might have been, ”I wonder which part of Sweden he comes from, strange dialect?”  Well, I´d made it to the meeting which was the important thing.  Örebro airport was a lot busier on my return with 2 aeroplanes on the tarmac. There was no waving any boarding pass this time and my attempts at a casual ”från Oslo” were met by a question in English. Without thinking I also reverted to English immediately realising my mistake. ”Where is your passport?” ”I don´t have it with me;” I replied. ”In that case I am afraid you can´t come to Sweden” ”But I live here,” I said almost in desperation. Without hesitation he let me through. I will of course never know exactly why. What I do know is that his decision was based on trust, a currency somewhat devalued these days.

”Lagom”  The most Swedish of words. Understand this and you will understand Sweden.

Quite a statement, right?  ”Lagom” is translated into English thus: moderate, good enough, adequate and maybe one or two more. (An unkind translation would be mediocre or average but that would be missing the dartboard altogether.)  Linguistically speaking none of these translations do it justice. Much like eating chocolate with the paper on.

”Lagom” is a euphemism for doing it right. ”Lagom” represents the art of doing whatever is necessary, using the correct tool at the right time with the right amount of force or application by the person best suited to do the job and thereby get the desired results. More than adequate and no room for mediocrity, yet all hidden in a little word that offends no-one.

”Yes you did, no I didn’t” followed by ”You did, no I didn’t´. I think for most of us this type of conversation is more reminiscent of the time we hadn’t acquired too many social skills and quite prepared to hit the other kid on the head with a plastic spade for lying or, telling the truth whatever the case may be. Most of us have come a long way since then, so much so that we realise that this kind of behaviour will not open very many doors. To me there seems little doubt that this type of behaviour actually opened one door, making Donald Trump probably the most talked about man on the planet.

Sweden is no exception, neither when it comes to talking about Trump nor being used as a tool to justify his politics in the US. There may be some poetic justice here, considering the immigration debate in Sweden. On the one hand everything is hunky dory with ”New Swedes” (new as opposed to old where old is not the opposite of young) on their way to work in blue and yellow hijabs, on the other the looming destructure of a society and a people. No, to be fair not many people in Sweden believe either. Most Swedes are well enough educated to point out Europe on a map and even Sweden. On my travels I have noticed that that is not always the case in countries that don´t play soccer and have never heard of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede in everybody´s heart here. Say no more!

This is Sweden, so the borderlines for the extreme right or the extreme left have to be moved inwards a bit. Leaving out the loony left and the loony right makes things somewhat easier, less noisy and definitely less hypocritical. Adapting to a changing world which includes taking in refugees, is not a bone of contention either. Not that surprising considering Sweden´s commitment to the EU not to mention Sweden´s reliance on exporting its products. Swedes like to say ”in Sweden we have a system” which expresses discreet pride in the country´s achievements i.e. a generous and well functioning welfare state. Now we arrive at the heart of the matter. ”The Swedish System” is something a self preserving politician here just has to embrace but not necessarily refrain from pointing out weaknesses and possible solutions even to the point of giving Donald Trump a point.  Yes Mr President you´re quite right. Look at Sweden. It´s called Democracy.

Well, it’s a funny old world that´s for sure. As a start that remark opens up a whole Pandoras box of responses which I will hopefully be able to tick off one by one as this newly started blog develops. As a computer/internet autodidactic you will as a reader just have to bear with me. Eventually I will be getting around to fixing and displaying a little more information about myself. I managed to squeeze in a photo, which was taken in Valparaiso last year and also indicates a few things about my person. I love to travel, have very little hair and am always wondering where I am going. If you can see a bottle in the picture, well, yes I love beer. On a more serious note I feel myself to be a true European with 3 countries I call home which of course is not plausible, thus Europe (EU) is my home. Why I write in English? There are several reasons, the most important being that it is the language I feel most comfortable with and don´t have to ask my wife to check the spelling although she does proof read with annoyingly good suggestions. More about me at a later date.

Two things attracted my attention in the news here in Sweden recently. Jämtland, a Swedish county, challenges the law concerning the distribution of refugees. Nothing new I thought as quite a few local councils had earlier voiced their discontent with being forced to receive a minimum number of refugees/asylum seekers. A law passed by the Swedish government to ensure costs are more fairly shared around the country. Apparently this law is very specific and regulates not only a minimum number of people but also a maximum number. Jämtland is one of several rural counties in Sweden that has a decreasing population and now sees its chance to do something about that by taking in a larger quota of refugees but is being thwarted by a law intended to do the opposite. ”We need these people” Well, whatever we´re talking about, as much as ”Pipe Dream” Swedish Democrats would like to have it, it is not xenophobia.

I have nicknamed the Swedish Democrats (populist party) ”Pipe Dream” as leading members were once filmed on the streets of Stockholm brandishing iron pipes to be used for whatever purposes only they can tell but conjures up nasty political images in my mind. ”Pipe Dream” as an expression also fits in nicely with with SDs political platform. In short, in Sweden, it will not work but remain a pipe dream. I am still convinced that we will not be seeing their leader Jimmie Åkesson as prime minister but hardly thanks to the political establishment who seem to have been doing whatever possible to increase SDs popularity. SD has been completely ignored and treated like something the cat dragged in. It seems to me that many Swedish voters do not like being told who or who not to vote for at the same time being refused a discussion on what worries them. This has resulted in a 17% mouse. Today Swedish minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson, debated with SD politician Mattias Karlsson about what is true about Trump´s words on Sweden. Back to normal? Then maybe we can soon chuck that mouse in the bin.

Ironically leader of the opposition, Anna Kinberg Batra suggested talks with SD a few weeks ago. Her party´s popularity decreased as a result. It´s a funny old world, that´s for sure.

Ricksnyheter is a pun on Riksnyheter which in Swedish means national news. Now you know.