Den vådliga vådan av jul och alkohol

Skriver inte ofta på svenska men detta irriterar mig. Läser just nu jag vet inte hur  många ledare i svenska media om hur hemskt det är med julfirande och alkohol, hur våldet minsann genast kryper in på nåt sätt.

Så funkar det inte, i min erfarenhet. Julen innebär för många en paus då mycket kommer till ytan i relationer och samtidigt ett sorts tryck av traditioner. Jag tänker inte förneka att alkohol kan spela en roll men folk blir inte plötsligt våldsamma bara för att dom dricker nåt annat än julmust under julfirandet. Det finns nog andra problem först i sådana fall.

Om jag fixar till julmaten med ett glas rödvin, glögg eller whisky i näven innebär det inte att jag efter det först går och slår frugan och sen jagar barnen. Inte heller somnar jag brakfull på soffan senare. Igår delade frugan och en flaska vitt på restarungen. Kan inte minnas att vi vare sig slog varandra eller barnen efteråt. Eller grälade.

Gräla under jultid kan man göra av många orsaker som sagt men skyll inte allt på glögg, vin, öl, snaps osv.

Människor reagerar helt enkelt olika på både alkohol, stress och "äntligen ledig". Jag har en god vän jag en gång fick lyfta ut ur huset då han blev helt oregerlig. Det var inte det faktum att vi hade delat några glas, det var nåt annat som brast i honom. En annan god vän (hans son faktiskt) faller i sömn efter typ 3 öl. Det hanterar vi genom att visa honom gästsängen (han vet var den är) men inte genom att säga "hallå där, ingen öl för dig minsann). Själv kan jag utan större bekymmer snutta i mig en flaska whiskey under en ledig dag som denna utan att nån egentligen märker nån större skillnad så länge jag inte behöver klättra upp på taket eller nåt.

Med andra ord anser jag att det är personligt. Att ta en drink av nåt för att slappna av eller helt enkelt njuta av hur gott rött vin, champagne, whisky, cognac, öl osv smakar skapar inte våld och julmust, cocacola mm begränsar det inte.

Det är vad som finns i personen just då det rör sig om. Och att ta julen som vad det skall vara: avkoppling och för dom som är religiösa att fira Jesu födelse. Ta det lugnt. Om nu nåt med julklapparna, granen och julmaten inte blev som det "skall vara", ta det som det kommer. Skratta åt att granen är lätt bedrövlig och lutar (min), acceptera att man inte kan köpa allt man vill ha, ge fanken i skinkan om du inte orkar fixa till den. Köp en färdiglagad eller strunta i den helt enkelt.

Och med det säger jag God Jul till er alla

Sidetrack 2

It seems to be the year of dying. But as a writer of obituaries pointed out: a lot of famous people are actually old so expect more of it.

In any case, it might surprise some of my friends that over the years I have become a fan of boxing. This as I, at least I hope, is known for my stance of non-violence. And whatever you say of boxing, non-violent it is not.

You can argue forever (and believe you me people do) who was the best boxer ever and so on. Mike Tyson had a punch like noone else, the Klivenko brothers were (are, they still alive) simply massive. Rocky Marciano. And so on.

But Muhammad Ali will be remembered as "The Greatest". For his style, his attitude, his political choice of rather going to jail than to fight in Vietnam. His comebacks. If you can, find "When we were Kings" and watch it and you get an idea.

He then fought with Parkinsons for many years. But still, shaking and with slurry speach, managed to appear at various functions. A true fighter to the end.

And yesterday I read about the passing away of someone else I admired. Some of you may never have heard of Freddie Wadling, a singer from Goteborg, Sweden. We moved in the same circles for a while and  I have quite a few CD where he sings. And boy could he sing.

He was odd, different. And to be honest always looked frail. He was known to, at least years ago, believe in magic and his flat was full of odd objects.

I would never have thought that he would become what you might call popular, to me he was too on the fringes for that. But somehow he did. In truth he could sing anything, out of that frail body came anything from a raging roar to a whisper. Or (and have I been looking for a recording of that) when he suddenly during a concert started singing "Mackie the Knife" in the best version I have ever heard. He did things like that, suddenly changed and confused whatever band he was performing with.

In one of his last videos he sings about depression and getting out of it (I will put a link, even if you don't understand the language). In English the title is something like "Now we get up from the floor" and the banner at the end says "We need to be open about it".

Ships, Blue For Two

Eye of a Storm

Nu lyfter vi från marken

Sidetrack no 1

I am becoming more and more convinced that it is the sidetracks in life that are really important. It is not all those plans you make (it is good to make them to give a direction but they never really work out) but it is the sidetracks. The unexpected. The funny or shocking. Those are the ones you will remember.

So here is a slight sidetrack. For whatever reason our youngest son has taken an interest in Egyptian mythology. I think it started with the Sphinx but I am not sure and to be honest I don't care. Any interest in anything not being watching TV is good from my point of view.

So we have a cat named Scruff (as she looked a bit scruffy when we more or less catnapped her from a friend) that is, well, kind of special. I guess most cat lovers say that. And (sidetrack) I was not really a cat lover before Scruff.

Now I am having long discussions with Eric over Bastet, the cat goddess of the ancient Egypt. I claim Scruff is Bastet in reincarnation and Eric, rather naturally, claims she is not an Egyptian Goddess.

Verdict still out there.

Sidetracks. There will be more to come

Internet life is sometimes strange and take you places

Since internet really started taking off with first email (I remember when I had an account and in the area of like 5 people to email to), mailing lists, then blogs and now "social" networks you occasionally get some really strange "path crossings". Just like in that thing we on internet call "IRL" (in real life, case you did not know).

I have since around 1998 been a member of a somewhat loosely knitted community of "Swedes living abroad". It is kind of amazing, I remember a very odd event when I was locked in an office with a person who was trying to pretend he was from the police. The rest of the staff had gone to fetch a proper police officer. Being the one I am I was online and chatting and immediately got posts like "I can call the Embassy, do you need help, are you OK".

It also gave me the opportunity of celebrating the famous new year 2000 in Australia, hours ahead of most of my friends. And in good company for sure.

But to get to the point, we discuss all sorts of stuff between us. And somehow (this was years ago) I got into a discussion with a lady about a certain Lindsay Kemp who taught David Bowie miming and dancing around 1967.

To which I get the reply "yes I knew them both in those days, used to visit the place they lived quite often. Lindsay was so in love he tried to commit suicide when David left". Well hit me with a hammer or something. OK I was 6 years old or so at the time when that happened and Kemp was more famous than Bowie (am not even sure he had changed his surname yet) but even so.

And now Kemp has confirmed that story:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/24/lindsay-kemp-destined-for-stardom-david-bowie-kate-bush

The many joys of travelling

I can safely tell you that it is not fun to sit for over 1 hour at Harare airport and wait for what is clearly a delayed flight to Beira and then on to Maputo in Mozambique.

But I can tell you that following that delay sitting in Beira transit for over an hour and waiting for a connecting flight is even more boring. OK, you talk to people (at least if you are me) but there is nothing to eat or drink, there is not a shred of information as to when you might be leaving.

Then on top of it, once we arrived in Maputo my airport transport had left and to really finish it off I had a run in with the local police threatening me with huge fines for not carrying my passport after going for a very late meal.

Let's just say it was a long day. But sometimes clouds have a little silver lining.

Given my boys are now basically both teenagers and so to speak live in their own world I had kind of forgot that I am actually quite good with kids. And I think I can say that with some confidence actually. So once we finally board in Beira this little girl (say she was 8 or so) carrying that envelope that states "unaccompanied passenger" gets the seat next to me.

We start talking and to my surprise she speaks very good English (after all we are in Mozambique, right). I had a feeling she had never really been on a plane before so I explain how the safety belt works (and for sure she did not know), how the reading lights work, the cooling fan. Then how the propellers will fire up and so on.

About 15 minutes after take off I have a little sleeping head leaning on me and the kid curled up in her seat. And there she slept. She rescued my day, basically.

The birds

It is kind of strange to feel sorry for a bird. But on our grounds we have plenty, everything from hummingbirds (they make our cat produce some really weird noises when she spots them in the palmtree outside the window) to the very common african, a woodpecker and at least one owl.

And this pair that have lived here "forever". Have no idea what they are called. Large, colourful with a plume and pretty noisy. Think large parrots though that is not what they are.

A couple of weeks ago one was found dead on the driveway. And now I hear the other one calling and calling, day in and out. I assume it may be one of those species that "bond for life".

Which is why I actually feel a bit sad on behalf of a bird.

The Starman has left us

"There's a Starman waiting in the sky, he'd like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds"

Yes David Bowie, you truly blew our minds. 

I well remember hearing your music for the first time and that was Ziggy Stardust. Sitting in a classmate's bedroom, playing vinyl on whatever equipment a kid of 13 had in 1973-4. Somehow I scraped together money to buy Diamond Dogs when it was released in 1974. And played it on an old "mobile" mono gramophone or, when I got the chance, my parents stereo.

We tried to look like you, we tried to dress (well not the more outrageous styles) like you. I dyed my hair red using henna (Mom was not impressed) and somehow persuaded my parents to buy me plateau boots. Still don't know how I managed that. Apparently I share that experience with Madonna. She has shared her experience of climbing out the window (having been grounded by parents) to go watch her first ever concert, being David Bowie. And "it was not all that easy as I was wearing plateau boots".

To me it was never the bisexual, genderbending part that was interesting. I did not put on any makeup (quite a few of my friends did) but it was the music. And to some extent I guess the "breaking the frame" part. There was a time when I saw photos of officials in London neatly dressed in a costume - only with a skirt instead of trousers. No, I am not making it up. Not kilt but skirt. With a bowler hat. But you made it "cool" to come out with whatever style or sexual orientation and I am reading so many "thanks you saved my life" stories that it is almost unbelievable.

Then came the "plastic soul" era where I was wondering what the heck was going on. Followed by a druginfused "Thin White Duke" 1976 that happened to be the first time you perfomed in Gothenburg and I could see you live. To open a concert with a surrealistic short black and white movie made by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali...

We camped outside the hotel after the concert hoping to catch a glimpse, with no luck. The next day I went to school and my classmate "Flaskan" (The Bottle) who I will forever not forgive skived school and went to the hotel. Strutted in and asked if he could see David Bowie. Which he did. For like an hour in his hotel room. That is another side of Bowie that was well known - he was kind, took time to talk to fans and try and help younger artists. "Flaskan" came out with signed posters, albums and whatnot. I never forgave him for not telling me his plans.

Did I mention that during these years he produced Lou Reed "Transformer" album with the classic "Walk On The Wild Side"? And reviving Mott The Hoople with the song "All the Young Dudes"? And kept visiting Iggy Pop (after producing Raw Power in 1973) who was in a mental institution following heavy drug abuse, later to move to Berlin together with Iggy in 1976 and out of that came the famous "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger" albums. And for Iggy - well Bowie basically wrote and produced his comeback album "The Idiot" at the same time. 

Phew. And somewhere during all that acting as Thomas Jerome Newton in the movie "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (that was before Berlin), considered a minor classic in science fiction. 

Then came "Scary Monsters" followed by years of relative quiet. Apart from the movie lead song "Cat People" and the collaboration with Queen "Under Pressure" he seemed to focuse on movies and art. And yes, Bowie also painted.

More or less out of the blue came his biggest commercial hit album: Let's Dance. A somewhat superblond and tanned Bowie had suddenly decided to go "pop" and did so. I saw the "Moonlight" tour in Gothenburg, it was simply awesome. The following "Tonight" he later admitted himself he did not get right - simply not used to follow up on a megahit. But "Blue Jean" is still a great song and video. Or "Loving the Alien".

Bowie then decided it was time to be just a band member and became the singer in "Tin Machine". Probably a bit underrated I think he simply had too much persona to be just a singer. He met and married Iman and went on to release "Black Tie White Noise" with what can only be described as a love song to Iman on it.

There was also the soundtrack to "Buddha of Suburbia". And I almost forgot "Absolute Beginners", another soundtrack but where he also acted. 

He then reunited with Brian Eno (the Berlin Trilogy) to release the industry/electronic rock "1.Outside". It was meant to, again, be one of 3 albums but according to some notes and statements Bowie decided that making music about the future was pointless as the future "was already here". It kicked off his co-work with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, touring together and Trent reworking "I'm Afraid of Americans" while Bowie performed "Hurt" (as did later Johnny Cash in one of his final videos).

So having abandoned the trilogy concept he instead made "Earthling", an album he said was "just a bunch of rock guys trying to play jungle". I love it though I don't play it that often.

Suddenly, and now more "as usual changing" he released the rather mellow "Hours". It could not be more different from the 2 albums preceding it.

After a few years of quiet came "Heathen". I remember driving around in Maputo, Mozambique, in a rented car playing it at full blast. To me personally that was a comeback like no other. Pete Townsend of The Who blasting away the guitar in "Slow Burn" is just a total classic. As is the quiet "Everyone says Hi". 

Bowie then released "Reality" that many think was a personal reaction to the Twin Towers attack in New York where he lived. He went on tour and in 2004 suffered a mild heartattack on stage. After that he basically went quiet and only made a few appareances to support "up and coming" bands and some charities. 

I, as most, thought he had chosen to retire and spend his remaining days raising his daughter. And why not? I have not even mentioned his off-Broadway acting career as "The Elephant Man", those other movies where his last was as Nikolas Tesla, when he did the narrator of "Peter and The Wolf" or and so on. Or the Bowienet ISP or being basically the first artist to trade in his future rights. Or predicting that internet would kill off copyright "music will be like water from a tap". Or the "David Bowie IS" exhibition that toured the world based on his outfits and fashion. Or the 2 classic music symphonies written by Philip Glass around the "Low" and "Heroes" albums.

I should perhaps also mention that in 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music the same year.He declined the royal honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000, and turned down a knighthood in 2003. Bowie explained his reluctance, saying: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.” 

So he was laughing at us or just getting restless, who knows. Roping in his old band and his long time friend and producer Tony Visconti he spent almost 2 years to in all secrecy record "The Next Day" and release it on his 66 birthday. To me the best songs are "Where Are We Now" and "The Stars Are Out Tonight", especially with the brilliant video of him and Tilda Swindon as an ageing couple in "The Stars...". 

He refused to give interviews after that, leaving it to Tony Visconti mainly. One thing was made clear: there would be no more live concerts or tours. He was awarded the "Brits Awards" and sent supermodel Kate Moss to collect the price. He was also appointed "the best dressed man in British history" but, in style, did not appear to pick up the price.

One of those "best of all remixes" collections after that did not really impress me but on it came hints of what was going to come. The, mildly put, experimental "Sue, or in a season of crime" pointed to what whould be his last album.

Instead of tried and trusted he chose to partner with a freeform jazzband someone had told him about. Tony said the whole idea was to get a jazzband to play rock. Well, if the first version "Sue.." was an Ornette Coleman Trio thing he did get them to play something that was perhaps not rock but certainly not jazz either later. 

So shortly before his 69th birthday came the single "Blackstar" with a video so haunting some tinfoilhat thought it predicted Earth about to be hit by an invisible planet in our solar system. Followed by the now really spooky video "Lazarus". Also connected to an off-Broadway play he was involved in about - what else - the Man Who Fell To Earth. In Lazarus (brilliantly made by Johan Renck from Sweden who I guess will suffer forever "will I ever do anything so poignant again" syndrome) video Bowie slips out of a wardrobe to watch himself in a hospitalbed. Then to make a few dancemoves like his 70-style "Alladin Sane (A Lad Insane) shows. Then goes back in and closes the wardrobe. Some days later I woke up to the news of his death.

The opening line of Lazarus:

"Look up here, I'm in Heaven"

Yes David, if there is a Heaven the Starman belongs there

Traveling Wilbury

This is a story written for those who think that travelling and working is awesome.

A week ago I woke up at 4.45 to take a quick shower, make some coffee and shake my wife out of bed. Then it was off to the airport for a long day of mainly sitting at airports.

On arrival in Maputo I checked in at the hotel to immediately fall asleep and try to catch up with sleep. Once I woke up I went to a very nice local restaurant to eat something, then repacked my suitcase and went to bed.

To wake up at 4.45 to take a quick shower and catch a taxi to the airport for a long flight to Lichinga via Nampula. There is no hotel on Earth that serve breakfast at that time and very few are hungry at that hour. Once on the plane I am served with the smallest, not even white but albino "bun" with some cheese in it. And some juice.

On arrival to Nampula transit I head straight for the bar and a beer, the most wholesome meal during this flight. I make that Laurentina Premium just to be sure. On the next leg we are served a bag of crisps and juice. Unless you want to pay for Johnnie Walker Black Label, it may not surprise you that quite a few do. The crisps are for some unknown sadistic reason always "cheese and onion". So you have a whole plane full of cheese-and-onion breath. That may explain why the Black Label makes a roaring trade.

On arrival I am invited to a lunch-dinner at the local manager's house that I happily accept. The best restaurant in Lichinga is always at someone's house. But with 2 days of 4.45 in my system  I fall dead asleep and wake up at the time the lunch is on! Good thing we are in Mozambique where few people worry over being an hour or so late.

After a really nice lunch cum dinner I go back to the guesthouse and try to do some work on my computer. No internet, this is Lichinga OK. Power blacks out at 8 pm and is not back when I wake up next morning.

Which is OK but for one thing: no water. The system relies on booster pump and no power means no pump means no water. Well I am used to this so the "Roskilde shower" of rinsing your hair and put on deo it is.

The breakfast at Benilde's guesthouse is by far the strangest I have ever experienced. It is kind of OK that the "juice" is more sugar than fruit and the instant coffee is blended with chickory. I guess. But you are served with strictly 1 "pao" a piece of white bread/bun, 1 minimal hot dog OR 1 fried egg and then chips. Sometimes there are pieces of boiled cassava, think boiled potatoes, as a bonus. End of story. There is no cheese, there is some kind of sugary jam and very bad margarine. And Aromat.

The flight to Maputo was rescheduled 5 hours and on top of that 1 hours late. I was tasked to bring a "mystery box" to Maputo, since I don't really want to face the question "what is this" and not be able to answer I asked what was in the box. Maize, in short. About 6 kg maizemeal that meant a lot of negotiating with the check-in staff.

Arrived in Maputo and checked in around 9 pm and too tired to even go eat something. Then I spent 2 days working and enjoying Maputo until it was time for another day of flights and airports. Arrived home and have basically caught up with sleep the whole day plus trying to calm down a frantic cat.

Yep, the travelling life is really cool...

What is "progressive" music??

After having read that Peter Gabriel had been awarded a "Prog music God" award a discussion I had a few years ago with a (much) younger man came to my mind.

We were in Zimbabwe National Park Mana Pools and somehow started discussing music. We got into talking about Keith Moon of The Who, probably one of the best drummers that ever lived. Just listen to anything they did while he was in the band, it sounds like the guy has 4 hands and 4 feet. 

And so when he claimed that The Who were a "prog band" I was totally lost.

See here is where cultural issues comes into it. In Sweden "progressive music" bands had not so much to do with the music as the lyrics and the message. When I grew up in the 70's. There more or less had to be a message of the people's power, revolution awaiting around the corner and so on. This could very well also be musically "revolutionary" and often was but the message was more important than the music, so to speak.

It took me some years to understand that in this case I was wrong, Sweden is probably totally unique in this. But to listen today to Genesis "The Lamb lies down on Broadway" and realise that out of that remarkable band came:

1. Peter Gabriel, of course

2. Phil Collins

3. Mike and the Mechanics

And when I can get my hands on "Who's Next".. "Won't get fooled again" for those of you who watched CSI: Miami

Progressive for sure! 

Sverige-och -världenvänner

Det är inte ofta jag skriver på svenska på bloggen - det är inte så ofta jag skriver alls numera faktiskt men normalt använder jag då engelska. Men mina funderingar denna gång är ett resultat av många många tidningsartiklar och kommentarer på sociala media och bloggar efter valet 14 september i Sverige.

Personligen ser jag på valresultatet med mycket blandade känslor. Att ett parti vars ledare i sitt valvaka-tal flitigt använder ordet "Sverigevänner" får 13% av rösterna tycker jag är djupt sorgligt. Skulle dom andra partierna som fick 87% vara "Sverigefiender"? Knappast. Tror vare sig Reinfeldt, Löfven eller dom andra ställer upp på den beskrivningen och med all rätt.

Men jag tror inte, faktiskt, att Sverigedemokraterna är nazister eller rena rasister även om det är uppenbart att dom har såna medlemmar. Jag tror bästa benämningen förmodligen skulle bli "förändringsrädda" om nu ett sådant ord existerar. Såna människor har alltid funnits men sällan funnit medel att samla sig politiskt då dom för det mesta saknar nån agenda utöver "jag är rädd för att Sverige skall förändras till att bli nån sorts invandrarghetto".

Sverige förändras, hela tiden. När jag växte upp var det fortfarande norm att frun i huset var hemma och tog hand om barn och hem, ordet feminist var inte ens uppfunnet. Att äga en bil eller en TV var en lyx. Att se en arab eller en svart människa var en sensation som vi ungar kunde prata om länge och väl. 

Då var "blattar" benämningen under vilka tjecker som flytt 1956, jugoslaver som rekryterades till SKF och Volvo samt finnjävlar som var dom som hotade Sverige buntades ihop. Ja, kanske inte finnarna, dom var på nåt sätt lite för bonniga för det. Bussen ut till Volvo i Göteborg, mitt första jobb, kallades "vitlöksexpressen" och mina far- och morföräldrar skulle aldrig drömt om att denna lökväxt skulle bli vardagsmat för "Sverigevänner" likväl som deras inbillade fiender. Italienare och kineser var OK då dom ju drev pizzerior och kinakrogar...

Senare kom början av det vi kan kalla flyktingströmmar från Iran/Irak-kriget då jag själv råkade komma att arbeta med flyktingmottagning och fick uppleva vad man kalla "integrationsproblem" direkt. Sveriges första moske öppnades innan dess några hundra meter från mitt barndomshem i Högsbo, Göteborg och nånstans där började det väl gnissla.

Där nånstans tror jag fantasin om invandrare som åker taxi till Socialhjälpen uppstod, senare i samband med att det ekonomiska klimatet i Sverige hårdnade och har fortsatt hårdna. Ovanpå det kom EU och gjorde det hela ännu värre, nu kan fattiga från andra EU-länder helt legalt åka till Sverige och svartjobba samt tigga sig fram (obs inte min åsikt utan en sorts tankecitat). 

Sen har det uppenbarligen blivit värre. Jag har inte bott i Sverige på över 15 år men som det ser ut för mig så har främlingsfientligheten ökat rätt dramatiskt under samma tid som vård och skola öppnats för privatisering och statens skatteinkomster minskats. Andra får avgöra om jag har matematiskt rätt eller fel i denna. koppling. 

Främlingsfientlighet ökar när gemene man får det svårare att överleva vardagen. För den som tvivlar kan jag rekommendera lite internetsökningar på Sydafrika och "xenophobia" om dom enorma oroligheter man upplevt riktat mot främst somalier. Som tar deras jobb osv osv i väl känd anda. Med tanke på hur det ser ut i Somalia kan man väl begripa att det inte är några "lyxflyktingar" vi talar om. I det rejält fattiga Zimbabwe är det nigerianer och kineser som är "dom som tar jobben" och gifter sig med "våra kvinnor".

Så sammanfattning: Under en regering som styrt landets finanser hårt mot "mer vinst" snarare än "välstånd för alla" samtidigt med en ökande ström av flyktingar har uppenbarligen många känt att "politikerna" "ger" mer åt inflyktingar än medborgare. Inkomstklyftorna ökar. "Sverigevännerna" i SD har utnyttjat detta OCH helt klart hjälpts av att alla andra partier vägrar diskutera med dom. Ge någon status av att vara "den ende som förstår och vill prata om det" så bäddar du för problem.  Jag menar alltså att man faktiskt gödslat en grogrund för främlingsfientlighet.

Ovanpå detta anser jag att det är bättre att staten tar ansvar för vård, grundutbildning, försvar, militär och infrastruktur via skatteintäkter än att det läggs ut på "marknaden". På det sättet spelar det mindre roll om du är miljonär eller arbetslös, invandrare eller inflykting. Underligt nog tycker dom som är emot detta sällan att försvar eller polis bör läggas ut på privatavtal :-D

Nåväl, vare sig denna utveckling eller valresultatet innebär att Sverige håller på att gå under eller förändras "i grunden". Något som helt klart fler än enbart skinnskallar och "helsvenska" rasister menar är ett problem är nu i fokus. 

Detta måste både folk, fä och politiker ta sig an på ett bättre sätt än man gjort hittills. Med det menar jag att jag, du och vi som ser Sverige som en del av ett globalt samhälle också måste argumentera för att det innebär både gott och ont för nationalstaten Sverige men i längden kommer att löna sig både för Svear, Venders och Götars Rike såväl som resten av världen. Som att en av världens bästa fotbollsspelare har ett namn som inte ens med bästa vilja kan kallas "ursvenskt" trots att han är svensk. Att dom flesta av oss anser kåldolmar som svenskt (det kommer från Grekland/Turkiet). Eller att vi har tiggare från EU-länder på gator och torg, vilket givetvis är ett problem.

Så jag uppmanar alla Sverige-och-världenvänner, och vi är många, att torgföra och debattera våra åsikter om öppenhet och nyfikenhet gentemot resten av världen och varför global solidaritet är viktigt mera aktivt än förut. Dra så att säga inte skam över någon som framför en åsikt du inte håller med om utan gå i debatt om varför du inte håller med. 

Slutkommentar: jag tror faktiskt att det "vaga" valresultatet kommer att leda till vad man kalla en "mittenregering" med S, C, Mp och Fp i någon form. V, "nya M" och SD blir då opposition och det kan inte ens för vad som en gång i tiden var en kommunist vara fel för Sverige-och-världenvänner.

Rekommenderad läsning: 

Vilhelm Moberg: Utvandrarna och Invandrarna

Vibeke Olsson: Molnfri Bombnatt

Keith Richburg: Out of America

Rekommenderade filmer:

District 9

Änglagård, båda filmerna

Lamerica: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110299/

The not so social side of Facebook

I have in several blogposts and other online media commented about what I consider the "antisocial" effect of the growing addiction to online social networks.

This, sadly true, story is however about another most unwanted sideeffect of being active and a bit naive on social networks, in this case Facebook.

Recently I was asked to assist a young lady who had found that one of her photos on Facebook had been copied to "less desirable" pages, the worst one being a "hookup" page where the message was (is) that she is commercial sexworker (please inbox me...).

It is not difficult to imagine that this is stressful and Harare is from some aspects a very small, socially tightly knit place.

When we then together logged in on her profile I have to admit that I got concerned. That she had all settings to "everyone can see, chat, interact, comment" and so on I expected, most people are happily unaware and seem to not give a damn in any case. I also expected the usual bunch of "slightly sexy photos of me posing with or without friends" that young women seem to find so necessary to post on Facebook.

But having near to 1500 "friends"? It seems it is some kind of "status symbol" to have many friends from near and afar, be they friends or not.

This made it clear to me (and I tried to get that message through) that even if we change all settings to the most restrictive there is a high risk something similar will happen again. I hope she is now weeding out all but "actual" friends.

The other finding, and that one is important, is that it is NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to get a photo or post removed if it is not on your pages.

Despite quite a few (real) friends reporting this page and the post, despite herself doing so we are all met with "this does not violate Facebook community regulations". OK, so having a hookup page where women are supposedly selling themselves is OK according to Facebook!!??

Parents, check your teenagers. Older and/or wiser friends, help spread the message. Once your photo is out there you have VERY little control over it.

The Earth is shrinking?

There are many who claim that "the world is shrinking". Of course it is not, it is the still the same size and shape (not totally round actually) it has been for millenia.

What it is and increasingly becoming is connected. Your friends on the other side of Earth is now no farther away then reaching for your mobile phone. Almost anywhere you go there is mobile phone cover and 3G internet included. I actually enjoy the days when I go into areas where I am off the grid and noone can reach me.

Living in Zimbabwe has been a bit like living in one of those unchartered spots on the old maps of Earth. "Here be monsters". Internet home access has been either extremely expensive or affordable but slow and unreliable.

For various reasons I have been looking for a better choice of ISP at home than what we have endured for a long time. 1 reason being the increasing number of devices at home that wants internet access (computers, phones, tablets). We are now at 7 all in all and I don't see that it will become fewer. Another one is that my home is increasingly my office and then it becomes unprofessional not to be able to do certain things online due to slow internet.

And finally it happened - a gamechanger from what it so far seems. An ISP offered 20 Gb monthly, 1 Mbit/s with installation and home wifi-router included for US 75 a month. Only condition that you sign up for 12 months. He... signed, payed and installed by Friday 3 May. So far the kids go to sleep and wake up on their tablets/phones, I am still testing out upgrades, skype calls and so on.

In short, I have better internet at home than most companies in Zim have at work. And I am not going to tell them..

Find me on skype, friends! Sinclairxp

Time to go offline a bit and do some IRL.

The legacy of a good life

What constitutes a good life? We can not all be Richard Branson or Nelson Mandela but we can all do our level best in the circumstances we find ourselves. And very few manage that, in my opinion.

Picture a small church in a somewhat rundown suburb of Harare on a hot Friday morning. It is a catholic church but with few decorations, a very far cry from the surroundings where a new Pope was announced some days ago. The benches are worn from every day use and age and could do with some maintenance.

The church is packed to capacity on this morning as we hold the funeral ceremony for André Adolfo, 86 years old at the time of his death. Father of 14, grandfather of over 60 and greatgrandfather of more than 20 and several in the making. A humble man, a carpenter, a devoted Christian, an honoured and respected member of the Sunningdale community.

To me, a dear friend. To my wife and children that he wholeheartedly accepted as if they were his own he was simply "Papa". As he was known to many many more than the actual members of his large family.

It is not often you see the priest cry, I can not remember ever having seen it before actually. But tears rolled down the face of the old priest as he and others praised the life of André. When his youngest son spoke about how he had communicated to them all not to grief as he was not only ready to go but perfectly at peace is when I started this train of thoughts in my head.

What greater gift is there than to die at peace with yourself, surrounded by children and grandchildren and simply out of old age?

Life will continue without him but he will be sorely missed.

The Next Day

The Chameleon of Rock strikes again.

Some time last year I wrote to friends over the, for me, sad fact that rock icon David Bowie clearly had retired himself. Aged 65 with nothing recorded except for some few charity or "support new bands" live acts since 2004 "Reality Tour".

I, at the time, acknowledged that he had contributed immensely to the world of music and well deserved to live a quiet life raising his relatively young daughter with his wife Iman and enjoying the growing success of his firstborn son Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code). For me he has been THE rock/music star since I started to get seriously interested in music at the age of 12-13 and I have nearly everything he has released and have seen him perform live as many times as I have had the chance to. Sweden is clearly not on top of his list as performing venues go.

Little did I know - as the saying goes.

A year later, on his 66th birthday, suddenly his rather dormant website (davidbowie.com) and equally quiet Facebook page comes to life to announce the up-and-coming release of a new album and the immediate release of a single track!

Obviously got the track "Where are we now" immediately and could barely wait for full album "The Next Day".

"Where are we now" turned out to be a slow, somewhat haunting lookback at the time spent in Berlin in the late 70s while recording the classic Low and Heroes albums. Good and one of those that eats its way slowly into your brain, you find yourself suddenly humming "where are we now, where are we now" after a while.

Between that and the release of the next track "The stars are out tonight" it became more than obvious that the best way of promoting yourself (at least if you are a superstar) is to say nothing, go into hiding, do nothing. Just the fact that it came out of the blue, no "plugging", no ads, no prereleases and actually 2 years of recording in absolute secrecy created much more publicity than any ever so clever media campaign could have done.

"The stars are out tonight" is rock head on, with wicked lyrics about how the stars (famous people that is) require us fans to survive, how they more and more penetrate our life and thinking. The video is brilliant!

Finally the whole thing was released on 11 March, that is last Monday. I was too busy to get it and then other things happened but on Wednesday I had it in full (not compressed) version and started listening. I could immediately hear 2 things: it is a strong statement and it is no "Let's Dance" full of easy listening.

However I have not really found time to really listen until now. But now I can say: this is one of his great albums! Not sure if it will be "classic", you can not know that until you find it is one of those you frequently pick out from his near 30 recordings.

I do not love all tracks, the opening "The Next Day" being one of them but others are just great. "Dirty Boys", "Heat", .. and actually most songs are not just "good" but really good.

And it is a ROCK album, not at all what "Where are we now" hinted at like some kind of slow nostalgic bunch of songs. There are riffs, drums and heavy guitars all over the place. And the man SINGS like I don't know what. One moment he sounds like he did on Aladdin Sane in 1973, next I get a feeling all the way back to "The Man Who Sold The World", then suddenly it is 1980-90 "Scary Monsters". Wow!

Never do you get any "ageing star drumming one up for the sake of it" feeling. I get a very hard to explain feeling of "echoes" of his whole career APART from the non-vocal pieces created with Brian Eno. I feel like "this would have earned a place on Ziggy, this on Aladdin Sane, this on Hunky Dory, this on Scary Monsters". Really strange.

Yet the album holds together in all its different "voices" and expressions. I am not going to analyse every song, just listen to "I'd rather be high" or "The stars are out tonight" or "You feel so lonely you could die" or "Where are we now" or... or ...

Aaaah. The man is back. In full force.

A world in shock

No, this is not about war, crimes or politics. It is about music. And to be specific, rock music.

And to really nail it down, about David Bowie. 66 years old on 8 January and a music icon. After an enormously successful career he suffered a heart problem while performing in 2004. 

This, according to "sources", prompted him to reevaluate life and concluding that almost 30 years in the music industry including writing, recording, producing and performing as well as acting in several movies, nurturing a number of other artists, being an early starter in the music internet business (bowienet) and somehow also paint... was enough.

Time to retire and devote life to his wife Iman and daughter Alexandria (now 12) as well as son and movie director Duncan Jones.  He has since lived, for being a rock icon, a very quiet life outside the limelight. When he did not even make so much as a statement on his 65 birthday last year most of us fans as well as "those in the know" gave up and accepted the fact: he simply does not want.

And I think we accepted it with crace, so to speak. Rather than Rolling Stones churning out remakes of the same music over and over, Rod Stewart in Las Vegas singing "classics" or others from the same era that has gone more or less pathetic Bowie has always had the hallmark of being restless, more focused on next album than on the ones released. Better to go while still good (Heathen is really good, Reality not so - I think) than becoming irrelevant?

And then boom. Out of the blue. On his 66 birthday suddenly his dormant website davidbowie.com and his facebook page announces a newly released track and a coming album release! It went to iTunes UK nr.1 immediately and is doing well whereever iTunes are allowed (not here, needless to say).

The hype is huge and apparently at least 1 other artist was unlucky to announce a release on the same day... poor guy. "Why" you may ask if you are not interested in Bowie or what is loosely termed Rock music?

Well, it is a kind of "state of shock". Somehow a total icon, constantly being watched by journos, paparazzis and fans alike, managed to keep a complete lid on the fact that he for TWO YEARS has been recording new music. Few, if anyone, has managed anything even close to that media blackout.

And that is just so bastardly clever. Whatever your opinions on Bowie and his music there is no doubt that underneath it all lies the mind of a very clever businessman. He foresaw the whole digital or rather filesharing revolution, in an interview round 2000 predicted that music will be like "tap water". Went internet, sold email addresses (no I have no sinclair@bowienet.com) and made another fortune on top of the one he alreay made.

So a comeback after over TEN YEARS of mainly total quiet creates a hype like few others. Talk about huge expectations.

The other part has to do with his artistical persona. The Chamelon of Rock, Mr. Restless, Ch-ch-changes. The few times we fans and critics alike have been disappointed with any of his 30 or so albums were when he went predictable. The followup to "Let's Dance" in the 80's, "Tonight, was disaster apart from a few good songs though the worst (in my opinion) was "Never Let Me Down" and the whole Spider Tour thing. Brr, I still shudder. The 1 album I refuse to get.

Many many are the albums that did not get good reviews when released and left fans confused. But grew in sales and acclaims over time. "Diamond Dogs", "Young Americans", "Low" and "Heroes" were so shapeshifting that even core fans had problems taking them in. Then periods of silence, then the "1.Outside" and then "jungle" album "Earthling" and suddenly performing with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails!

Then sort of quiet again, "Hours" are in my opinion 1 of the "lesser" releases. He must have been, for once, nostalgic as he apparently recorded a full album of songs from his 1966-67 debut and then flushed it. Of course it got leaked on internet (tap water...) and even I admit it is not very good.

In 2002 I was on my way to Maputo Mozambique and managed to buy newly released "Heathen" at Joburg airport. Once arrived I had a rented Kia with a good soundsystem.. I have no idea how many times "Slow Burn" and "Everone says Hi" made me stay in the car rather than go to the place I lived - that had no sound system.

"Reality" and the recorded live tour where he suffered heart problems on stage is in my opinion "good but not amazing". I have the live album and for the first time ever I heard a "I have done this so many times I can do it in my sleep" David Bowie. Not the restless, "it can be done different" artist I had come to expect.

So again, when he sort of disappeared I thought like "cool, go while on top of things. Have a nice retirement, I have all your music to listen to".

And then the Shapeshifter himself comes back. As someone pointed out not at all ashamed of being 66, instead releasing a video and photos where he looks decidely old, and again with music that leaves fans and critics divided.

So there are my musings of the hype around the comeback of an ageing rockstar. I think we need to see Bowie more as a director than necessarily just a music performer. Like some directors of movies the focus changes as you age and we are still to see what is to come.

Finally: the new song and video "Where are we now". The video has already been analyzed to pieces on internet but it turns out that the odd room it is shot in is simply the director's studio.. and the woman the director's wife. No early life love, not Björk or whooever. The song itself is slow, somewhat eerie and haunting and has numerous references to his life in Berlin during the 70's when he shared a flat with Iggy Pop. Is it good? Yes. Is it a hit? I will be surprised, regardless of iTunes sales.

But then again, that is his strength. To always surprise. And that is where he totally outperforms other megastars and icons, regardless of age.

The connected world and its inhabitants

This is something I have been thinking about for some time and discussed with several persons, both online and "in real life".

From my somewhat "outback" point of view I often wonder if people living where mobile communication in the form of 3G mobile networks and free wireless internet access are not becoming more than a little bit addicted?

In Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries (Southafrica possible exemption) 3G usage is expensive and often of poor quality speed- and receptionwise. Free internet access basically do not exist, the odd café might give you like 10-15 minutes before you have to cough up. 

So yes, you can keep up with Facebook and such via 3G but that is really about it unless you have a really fat wallet. Among other things this means cellphones here are mainly used as - phones. For calling, sending and getting sms and such. Smartphone or not! 

There is some degree of generationgap here for sure. I rarely use the camera on mine and close to never listen to music via the phone - radio or mp3. While my wife definitely use the camera a lot and the oldest son (on an "old" SE W800) use his phone for almost everything he can think of. He takes photos, records videos of himself and us, plays music, makes music, plays games and so on. If he could afford internet.. phew.

So it is with mild fascination I hear that on public transport in Sweden (and am sure the same in other countries with cheap, fast access) passengers mainly sit glued to their mobile phones or pads during the ride to whereever. And as I check out Facebook regularly I see things like "si-and-so is at Workplace" or "si-and-so is at MacDonalds" and so on. Someone is having drinks with friends at "The Bar"... OK...

For me this is a bit weird. So if I would behave the same - "Orjan is at Office". Yes, that can sort of be expected most workdays, wow exciting? "Orjan is at Pizza Inn" - well he is really splashing out today... "Orjan is having a beer at the Maiden". And? 

I find it more than a little bit strange with this kind of obsession of telling everyone where you are or what you are up to. As to where I happen to be at a given moment the only one I can think might really be interested is my wife checking on me :-)

And I must admit - I find it rather uninteresting, a kind of "white noise" in this river of information we are trying to silt through every day. 

One of my favourites from Facebook: a female friend and her husband use their cellphones via Facebook to decide to hook up at a certain shop. In this case part of a retail chain so they go to different locations but correct shop, so to speak. And instead of using said phones to CALL each other they keep on commenting via Facebook until they figure out they are not in the same location...

To me the above example really shows the "addiction" I mentioned in the beginning. You are so caught up in this "constant conversation" that you actually forget that the device you are using has the primary function of putting you in direct contact with other persons - without passing any internet site first.

It has to be acknowledged that I am not "normal" in this context. I spend myworking hours most of the time in front of a computer and online. On top of that I often check things via my laptop from home in the evenings and mornings, update myself on news, mail etc. So the rest of the time I am quite fine with being reachable "only" via phone, thank you!

Even so - there is something weird going on.. I wonder if this will continue - or increase - or at some stage people will get fed up and start to "disconnect" themselves?

Your theory is as good as mine, friends!

The year that passed

Time to sort of start 2012 from a blog point of view. So I will try to sum up what 2011 was from my very personal point of view.

On the world stage almost too much happened, from the "Arab spring" revolutions to the Euro come crashing down on the back of debtridden countries. In the US the lawmakers and the president could basically not agree on anything but to disagree, thereby worsening an already ailing economy. In Europe non-elected "technocrats" took over, to me a sign that politics have become too much of a "promises promises" game where uncomfortable truths gets you nowhere.

As a general comment I find it fascinating that leaders of countries do not seem to understand the basic concept "you can not spend what you do not have" - a fundamental truth for every household. Forget that and sooner or later you suffer the consequences.

If you forgot the saga about Mr. Strauss-Kahn I am sure there is one man who will never forget 2011. What actually happened in the hotel only him and the lady knows for sure but it meant the end not only of his job as IMF head but also an the end to an almost certain future term as French President. We had our discussions here about it and the general feeling is that likely some sort of paid services had already taken place when he decided to get a free "bonus". And that certainly ended up very costly for him.

Another one who will not forget 2011 for some time is Julian Assange, sort-of rockstyle (he seemt to think at least) hacker and founder of Wikileaks. Another one who chose the wrong bedfellows and paid dearly for it. In my opinion he made a 100 % wrong assumption about the whole case, he should just have gone to Sweden and had it done and over with. I can not see that he would have been found guilty but now he sure looks like it. In the meantime his reputation is just getting more and more sullied but his antics. Like Sweden and not UK would hand him over to US authorities.. yeah right...

In Zimbabwe where I reside the so-called Government of National Unity, GNU, proved time and again that unity is absolutely not what it is about. Constant infighting, unilateral decisions and a neverending public nag about elections or no elections made us all more than a little fatigued. From my point of view every Zimbabwean would like to see elections "yesterday". But not flawed and rigged like last time so the necessary framework has to be in place first. And if I say that one part in this GNU does not want that at all then I state the obvious.

Personally I hope it will happen during this year but with the almost non-moving state of the reforms actually agreed upon to be done first I am not overly optimistic.

The likely most dramatic event locally last year was the as yet unexplained death of retired general Solomon Mujuru, a most influential man in local politics. A fire broke out at his farm and he was found dead inside the building after the fire was put out. There are as many theories to what happened as there are people in Zimbabwe and at the moment a judicial enquiry is taking place to try and establish what happened. What has so far come out is that the police on guard were asleep, had no working communication equipment and did not know the layout of the house they were set to guard. Not very impressive for police being stationed for almost 5 weeks at a house of a VIP.

In other local news our PM has, like a certain Strauss-Kahn, not quite understood that you should keep the fly zipped as much as possible. Especially when the lady in question is attached to the opposition party in politics... In a very strange saga he was first said to have paid lobola (bride pay, dowry) while not himself being present (but strangely State controlled media was all over the place...) then to have paid "damages" for impregnating the lady in question. Hostile state media had an early Christmas gift and reported daily on the whole embarrassment while Mr. Tsvangirai in the end had to come out and state that basically he had been framed.

On top of it this happened during month of November that is said to be "holy" traditionally and no marriages allowed to take place. So now a local chief/headman has fined him for this - again to much glee of hostile media. Go figure.

In neighbouring Zambia elections were held and the opposition not only won but power was peacefully handed over. Go Zambia go, that's the way we like it! In Malawi the president is more and more looking like a classical "noone can do this better than me" nutcase and the economy is being hard hit by a number of bad decisions. Civil unrest claimed a number of lives, shortages of forex and fuel are now regular. Let's hope it does not get as bad as it did here 2004 - 2008.

In Southafrica reality is starting to catch up with ANC, ruling party since the first free elections. The population is increasingly getting fed up with the still glaring gap between rich and poor, corrupt politicians and underperforming Government bodies. The report of opendoor toilets still being built in poor areas was a hard blow. I mean a toilet seat right in the open area between houses with no walls, door or anything to give you privacy, if you (likely) do not understand what I am talking about. The country is simmering with anger and I just hope it does not spiral out of control. Populistic politicians do not help.

I find that I am more and more disconnected from politics in Sweden, my birth country. However I have to comment on the implosion of the Social Democrat party who have now for the second time chosen a party leader with all the wrong qualities. I have no idea where he came from, not a well known person outside the party, but he started off on the wrong foot with a number of strange statements and then never really got it right. The party is at popularity figures not seen since 1917 and clearly something is wrong as the opposition (government leader Moderats, conservative liberals) party leader is so bland a boiled egg is more exciting. And how come all the persons that the party would really like to see as leaders are all declining? Weird and something is not right for sure.

Noone in their right minds can easily forget what happened in Norway when a racist lunatic went on a killing spree. I have always stated that we should be very wary of fanatics regardless of what they are fanatic about. Breivik certainly proved that point. My utmost admiration goes to how Norway as a nation reacted to this onslaught on democracy by NOT beefing up security  and immigration laws etc. but insisting rather on more openness.

So a year of ups and downs for the world so to speak but there is hope. I will not even mention climate change etc because then I will never finish this piece.

From a more personal angle it was great to get visitors from Sweden for the first time in many years. In all honestly I have not been able to recommend people to come visit during a few years but since 2010 I feel it is once more that Zimbabwe is a good place to come visit. So when I via Facebook reconnected with old childhood friend Peter Falkenberg it was great to see him and his son Viktor on a visit. We went canoeing on Zambesi river, something I have not done since the late 90's so that was just great! See some photos here: http://tinyurl.com/6z7s2t5

There are more photos on Facebook for those who are connected to us there.


We also decided to get married - having lived as married for 9 years... so in a very small and private function on 25 April we did get married. Peter took on the responsibility of being Best Man. This also happened to be the same day Mia turned 30 so we combined the 2 events. Now I have no excuse for forgetting anniversary or birthday... some photos here: http://tinyurl.com/6ssuvpx


The second visit during the year took place in September when I turned 50. My brother Tony with wife Rene and their 2 young daughters came to visit for a rather intense visit. Intense as we travelled to Lake Kariba and the mountains of Nyanga and they also managed to see the Great Zimbabwe ruins. That covers 3 corners of this country in a few weeks.

On the very day I turned 50 I was awoken at 6 am by 2 very sleepy young boys who had decided that Pappa needed singing for. We then headed home from Nyanga. As we arrived in Harare I suddenly noticed that Tony's car disappeared out of sight behind me. Turned back to find they had stopped because "something fell off the car and the brakes stopped working". Fair enough. Only problem being that they had stopped near the residence of late VP Joshua Nkomo's house. And that is a "security area" no matter how dead he happens to be. After some explaining the soldiers grudgingly accepted he had valid reason to stop where he did.

Once at the house (luckily not far from the missing brakes) we found that our other car had started overheating and Mia had to drop it at the garage. Not the best way to celebrate a birthday but what to do? After some logistical challenges we all gathered later for a nice dinner with some bubbly drink to it.

And my very much wished for and longed for new CD-drive/player was delivered! I am quite serious about music and when my long time faithful drive Proceed CDD more or less stopped working due to a stuck CD I was not amused. Looking around Harare there is basically one shop that might be called "high-end" audio, otherwise it is cheap Sonix boom-boom-bass equipment all over. Checking with the owner of said shop it was quickly confirmed that repairing was pointlessly expensive and complicated and buying a replacement here very costly compared to Sweden. So after some looking around I found this http://tinyurl.com/6cd8akz on a web shopping site and started "operation persuade" on my family. Eventually Tony had to pack a well over 10 kg secondhand CD-drive/player as my 50 gift. And much appreciated it is, I still fully enjoy listening to the much improved sound. On which I think I have to write separately or this will never end.

What else? Well almost too much for one very delayed blog post. Mia "graduated" as gym Personal Trainer and is more fit than ever. I am not. Eric had a very tough year in school with lots of problems between him and his teacher. The new year already looks better and we are much relieved actually. Bradley did well and is growing at an alarming rate - as should boys his age.

The year ended with a whole bunch of friends and relatives of the Adolfo clan coming from all corners of the globe for Christmas and New Year. We had a lot of nice gatherings, spent Xmas Day here at home with a family lunch to then continue to Sunningdale for a looong night. New Year's we were so wasted we stayed at home for a quiet family evening.

And then ushered in the New Year with another gathering in Sunningdale. But that is another story as it is not about 2011.

And with that I hope I find you all in good health and that 2012 will be a good one. I promise to be more active here!

Suddenly they are so weak and in poor health...

So they finally "found" Ratko Mladic, also known as "the butcher of Srebenica", after 16 years. It pleases me to see that the world increasingly offers less and less safe hideouts to warcriminals, terrorists and fallen dictators!

One thing that fascinates me when these persons are either brought to court, questioned or in house arrest or whatever is - they all suddenly are very ill, frail persons who can not possibly face justice.. Mladic being one example. Egypt's former president Mubarak suddenly develops heartproblems as does his wife(!) when questioned over illegally begotten money and other crimes. Yeah, right...

Should they happen to be too obviously young and healthy to try that route the alternative seems to be a sudden "born again" faith, be it Christian, Islam or what. "I put my faith and trust in God, he will prove my innocence" bla bla bla. Yeah, right...

In Southafrica a certain Schabir Shaik did both - first it was the allmighty Allah that would prove his innocence. When said Allah did not and he was sent to jail it was instead down the "heart problems and poor health" route. And for sure he was given medical parole.. and was spotted on golfcourses etc, heartproblems seemingly gone as indicated in this article. The latest is that his reason for breaking his parole conditions a number of times would be "mental illness" according to this article. Yeah, right...

What can we learn from this? Well, that unless you want to become extremely religious, terribly sick or mentally ill - do not commit serious crimes or opt for dictatorship in your life!

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Zimbabwe among the top 5 countries on Earth

Yes - actually. And not in any "bad" way either (like when we broke the world record for inflation...) but, at least as I see it, in a positive way.

According to Pingdom, a web monitoring company, who got their figures from StatCounter (as you may understand is a "hit counter system" for internet) Zimbabwe is the 4th largest linux desktop user country!? I will admit that I am more than a little surprised as the ongoing discussions in the "open source community" in Zimbabwe rather give the feeling that we are not getting through with our message of a legally free system for computers and computer systems.

You will find this information by clicking here.

The flipside of the coin is that Zimbabwe is also rated as one of the worst offenders in software piracy, according to some sites we are number 5... according to others not among the top ten but definitely "up there". I find the "number 5" difficult to accept as that would mean over 90% of software would be pirate copies. And that is not the reality I see on the ground.

Either way - nice to be among the good guys and interesting. I/we think increased linux usage here would mean huge cost cuts for eg schools, hospitals, government and so on. But to get the message through is another story and there is an attitude towards software of "it can not possibly cost that much let me find it cheaper or for free" - meaning piracy.

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The Hippo Slalom Canoe trip and our marriage

Over 10 years ago I did a 4 day, 3 nights canoe trip down Zambesi river that I still remember as awesome. Last month an old friend from Sweden, Peter, and his son Victor arrived and I had again booked for this experience.


They arrived Sunday 17 April and did not really have much time to settle in as next morning we were off to Makuti turnoff up in Kariba to meet up with Natureways.


I can not say that it started too well... for some reason I could not start the 4*4 so instead chose our trusty Corolla, picked up the guys and off we went. Some time later start noticing that the engine temperature is climbing... oh no! Stopped and added water to cooling system (it NEVER needs this and I had checked it 2 days earlier). That only helps a short while.


What to do? Called Mia and asked her to work on the 4*4, call Natureways and alert them we will be late and return home to change cars. Have no idea why Isuzu did not start in morning but now works fine. Leave Mia with all problems and off we go again!


That was however our last glitch, once we were on our way again all went well. Arrived in Makuti only to find we are the only going for this canoe trip, happy that noone had to wait for us. Off to Chirundu bridge (border Zimbabwe/Zambia), quick lunch, pack canoes and off we paddle.


As we were late we had to catch up some lost "distance" and due to this actually pitched our tents using torches this first day. The last hour or so felt a bit like going slalom between hippos who to varying degrees let us know they were not amused. They are quite territorial and pose by far the biggest risk and challenge on these trips.


After dinner we admired the starry sky, shared stories and relaxed. That is when the distinct sound of blaring music comes travelling from the Zambia side of the river.. what the?? Turns out that on their side there is a large banana plantation and what we heard was the bar serving the workers. "But it is Monday", I argued. To which the guide replied that in Zambia bars never close, they just change staff now and then. Oh oh... around 1 am they finally stopped and I could sleep peacefully.


Then followed some peaceful days with good weather, gameviewing, some very close encounters with hippos, elephants, waterbuck and so on. We arrived at Nyamepi Camp in Mana Pools on the morning of the 4th day, had a well deserved shower (you do not swim/bath in Zambesi due to crocodiles and hippos) and a relaxed breakfast. Then the nearly 80 km "tse-tse fly drive" out of the park. There are few insects more irritating and stubborn than tse-tse and they give you wonderfully itchy bites!


Apart from ending up behind a brick-carrying truck doing around 20 km/h the last kilometres on our return to Harare the return was otherwise uneventful.
Here some photos, more will come: http://tinyurl.com/42v3fle


Next day was Good Friday and I took the guys and our sons to Ngoma Kurira where I managed to twist a knee so bad I got stuck on the sofa at home.. and how much fun is that on a Friday when you have visiting friends? Hellen and sisters had to show Peter and Victor nightlife Harare.


The rest of Easter Saturday and Sunday I spent mostly preparing the last details for our marriage. After 8 years "living in sin" we decided it felt like a good thing to do the deed and get married. This took place on Easter Monday 25 April in our garden at home and I have put up some photos on the link below. Again, more might come.
http://tinyurl.com/6zk9xhk


After that it has been HIFA (www.hifa.co.zw) and we saw some good performances and had fun though this year did not really feel like any artist/show was a "must see". Our friends left on 1 May and are already planning the next visit!


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