I moved to Sweden on a six month secondment...that was nearly two years ago. Life has a funny way of working out.
My name is Shane and this blog is my Swedish story.

100,000 visitors to this blog

March 2, 2010

Wow dear reader you amaze me again.
In the last hour this blog has clocked up its 100,000th visitor since December 2008!
I am really overwhelmed by this, thanks for your visits folks!

2 comments Read the full article →

Mona Sahlin, Lars Ohly and Maria Wetterstand would put household service workers in a RUT

March 2, 2010

So there we have it the Rödgröna have decided to remove the reduction in tax on  hushållsnära tjänsterna (household services.)
Now many senior citizens who may be using household help may have to reduce that service because it will include more tax. Many painters and decoraters may lose their jobs because people may not have that [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Veggie for a month

March 1, 2010

So I am into juicing and have felt the great boost to my health. I am running well, off the booze and my weight is dropping. Now I want to challenge myself to go vegetarian for a month. I actually love cooking vegetarian dishes, there are some great cook books and you have to think [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Gutted is not the word!

March 1, 2010

I dont know whether to laugh or cry.
I am very honoured to be invited onto a prestigious business ‘academy’ for those earmarked for future leadership within the company.
Its spread out over a year and is run by a major Dutch University.
Now here’s the rub. One of the dates is the weekend of the Stockholm Half [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Garmin Forerunner 305 – A James Bond Watch of my very own!

February 28, 2010

I have blogged before that as a kid growing up I was mad on James Bond 007. Even now I have all the DVDs, most of the books though I never joined the official fan club.
I remember my parents buying me a James Bond watch when I was probably 10 years old. I cannot find [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Lars Ohly – what a clown!

February 28, 2010

Every time Lars Ohly – the Leader of the Left Party opens his mouth I wince. The now Leninist but once Stalinist leader said recently
‘Vi ser nu hur nyliberalismens kollaps gör att manniskor inte kan åka tåg när det blir snö’
Roughly translates as:
‘We see now how the collapse of neo-liberalism means that people can not [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Whistler

February 27, 2010

Nope this is not a Winter Olympics post.
The temperature has actually crept past the 0 degrees mark and so the snow is melting. The snow is turning into that awful dark slushy crap.
With that brings a real danger though. The snow forms into ice on the top of rooves so all over Stockholm you can [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Treptower Park, Soviet War Memorial in Berlin

February 27, 2010

So this is the first of several photo collections of my visit to Berlin last weekend.
I had never been to the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park before. This was built to commemorate over 20,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle for Berlin in 1945.
It hard not to be moved by the place. The [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Two months off the alcohol

February 26, 2010

Its now been two months since I drank. I realise these kind of posts make me sound like a recovering alcoholic which I am not.
I have kicked the booze into touch as I need all the help I can get in training for the Stockholm Half Marathon.  The hardest part has not been resisting the [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Sweden is right, the EU is wrong!

February 26, 2010

I am delighted to read that Swedens new EU Minister Birgitta Ohlsson is going to fight the EU over maternity leave.
The EU are saying that mother should be forced to stay at home for the first 6 weeks after childbirth. Sweden places equal emphasis on maternity and paternity care so they are against this latest [...]

7 comments Read the full article →