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Mormor berättar om Andra Världskriget i Sverige

Mormor berättar om Andra Världskriget i Sverige | Ransonering, tyskar på Järnvägen & krigsbarn. Min mormor, 90 år gammal, berättar om hur det var att vara ungdom i Sverige under andra världskriget. Hur svårt det var med ransoneringen, ransoneringskort, hur dom inte fick ha lampor tända på kvällarna och om paniken då tyskarna invaderade Norge samtidigt som Ryssarna tog sig in i Finland.

Mormor var tonåring under Andra Världskriget och hon minns mycket. Speciellt hur rädda dom var att kriget skulle komma till Sverige och hur tyskarna använde järnvägen bara några mil ifrån dom för att ta sig till Norge.

Mormor berättar också hur hennes familj tog in krigsbarn från Lahtis i Finland. Barn som blev skickade till Sverige av sina föräldrar där dom kunde vara i säkerthet. Hon kommer även ihåg namnet på de barn som bodde hos dom och granngården.

Mormors pappa var ansvarig för att samla in post, inventering av mat, djur, spannmål osv från gårdar i området, samt att dela ut pengar och lön till soldater i området.

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Trolls walked among us and wrecked havoc on unsuspecting humans

Trolls used to walk among humans several hundreds, if not thousands of years ago!

This is the story about the Swedish trolls that wrecked havoc on unsuspecting humans, terrorising villages, destroying houses and leaving people in complete agony.

Cracked boulderOne day about 600 years ago there was a troll waking up in the deep dark forest of Järvsö, Hälsingland in Sweden. The troll had been sleeping for decades and minding his own business. The trolls being extremely dangerous if encountered, were actually pretty docile and slow creatures when not disturbed. This particular troll had been woken up by christian missionaries walking through the deep forest, singing, chanting and preaching their godly beliefs.

You need to understand that the trolls hated christianity, they where absolutely disgusted by it and wanted to destroy it by any means necessary. Trolls where extremely strong, big and terrifying. They where hairy deformed stinking beasts. No one were safe from the trolls, not even women and children who would be stripped of their flesh and eaten alive if they accidentally wandered into troll territory. Many humans lost their lives in gruesome manners. Arms and legs torn off in a single blow, heads crushed between troll fingers, nothing could stop them.

These beasts could grow up to 10 meters in height, weigh about as much as five fully grown elephants and stink like rotten skunk carcass.

Trolls threw thisAnyway, the trolls left proof of their existence for us to explore in this day and age, mostly things like we would never know to be done by those monsters. One of those things are a huge boulder broken in two, located at our Swedish shieling (which I wrote about yesterday). The troll who woke up where so infuriated by the christian missionaries, that he (or she) picked up a massive boulder, aimed for a church in Delsbo located about 40 kilometers away… a short distance for these insanely strong creatures. The reason for aiming at the church was that it hated the church bells, they rang constantly and the sound where like garlic to a vampire for the troll.

By a unlucky footing, the troll slipped when it threw the boulder, and it did not reach its destination… the church. Instead the boulder landed halfway there, at the shieling, where it cracked in two and still lay today as a reminder of when trolls where out to get all christians by any means necessary.

Thrown boulder

How do I know all this? Well, my grandmother used to tell us this story as kids every time we visited our shieling in the woods. It was one of my favourite stories and it brings back so many memories. I know we believed the story as kids, and I can’t help in some way hope that the story has some truth to it. How neat would it be with trolls.

Wanna see more of these beasts? Check out the Norwegian movie Troll Hunter, it’s really great!

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Swedish Shielings – A trip back in time and history

Swedish shielings, or “Fäbodvall” in Swedish is a pretty rare sight nowadays unfortunately.

Swedish Shielings

Our shieling cabin

Swedish shielings were commonly used to herd cows for summer pastures and making milk, cheese and butter in small huts. Shielings in Sweden date back all the way to the middle ages and have been up and running ever since, but they are decreasing rapidly. People would gather at these shielings/small villages in the summer months, herding the cows through woods and narrow paths just to get there.

The herding were mostly done by women and children over the age of five, five being the magic number to be able to walk the sometimes treacherous forest trails. The cows could easily find their own way through the forest just by memory and instinct, but the women and children did not just keep an eye out for the cows, but also they fended off bears, wolves and other predators. They usually had some kind of bell to makes loud noises with to scare the other predators.

So, why am I writing this?

Well, last weekend I visited our family shieling in Hälsingland, one of the few Swedish shielings that actually have people come stay during the summers, although there are no animals there anymore, people still come to tend their houses and keep it nice and cozy there. I spent many summers at our little house and grew up learning how to go on with daily life without running water or electricity. Me, my two brothers and our cousins used to spend a week now and then at the shieling with our grandparents.

When we were young, the farm was actually producing milk, butter and cheese, but it has stopped in later years.

Swedish Shieling

Moss has grown on the fences.

This trip, me, my girlfriend, mother and grandmother went there for the first time this year. My grandparents always used to visit the cabin in May of every year, just to check up on it and rakes some old dried grass, fix broken things that the snow destroyed during the winter, and to relax. My grandfather suddenly passed away about a month ago, so this was the first time after his passing that my grandmother went to their cabin. Many memories came up.

I took some pictures and shot som video when we where there, just to show you the peacefulness and serenity we got to experience. Please watch them and let me know if you have ever visited Swedish shielings, or any shieling what so ever. There are actually some shielings in Sweden that are open to tourists in the summer, so if you are planning on visiting one… do it!

Shieling in Swedish is called “Fäbod”, “Fäbodvall” or “Vall”, and for more information you can visit the Wikipedia page for shielings, although it’s only in Swedish.

 

Edit: The videos blow don’t seem to be working as they should, will try to fix that asap!

Don’t forget to read my other posts in the blog!

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Technology – how it changed my way of living – Part 1

It’s funny when you think about it, technology, how we once upon a time lived without it and nowadays you go ballistic when internet is down or the tv isn’t working.

I’m sitting here in our living room, in our couch with my phone, writing this. Technology. I usually dislike writing and doing “serious” things on my phone, mostly because of the size of it and the limited possibilities when it comes to editing etc. However, I kinda like it right now. I’m writing this post on my iPhone, sitting in our couch watching tv.

Isn’t that kind of neat? And after I post this, millions of people all over the world can read it (although in my case I’m happy if my girlfriend and my mom reads this). The possibilities are endless when it comes to technology.

TechnologyThe thing that made me write this post was mostly coincidence, technological coincidence if you will. When I sat down in the couch the room was pretty dark, the tv was off and it felt kind of gloomy in here. But with the push of a button I started both the tv and Apple TV, with another press of a button I turned on the Philips Hue (<— affiliate link) lights in the apartment, set them to my desired color and strength. With the Apple TV remote I checked Netflix, Viaplay, the news, played some games and checked tomorrows weather, all from a laying down position in our couch, how neat is that?

I know, this is not breakthrough tech or even that futuristic, but that’s not what this post is about. It is about how these simple things changed my daily life, for the better of course, and how these things have made life easier in my last 34 years.

Sure, I’m still young enough to have grown up with a color tv, tv remotes, and dial up internet. I was born in 1983, and back then there were no internet, no Apple TV, no Philips Hue light, no cellphones, no texting and no writing blog posts from your phone laying in the couch.

I do not remember my age when we first got internet tho, but I do remember it was 9,6k or 14k dial up modem, the sound it made when connecting to the internet, how no one could call us when someone was online or how if someone picked up the phone, the internet connection would break. After awhile the “splitters” came, which made it possible at least maintain a connection when someone picked up the phone or called.

Listen to the sound of a dial up modem here!

 

And the speeds…

The speed of a dial up modem was so slow, it could take minutes literally to load a single image, and if you where unlucky the unstable internet connection would break and you had to do it all over again. In that time we also downloaded MP3 songs from programs like DC++, Napster and Limewire. Songs we played in heavily modified WinAmp players. I remember when you got together with friends for a LAN and you competed who had the best WinAmp skins and equalizer. ONE song at 5-6 MB could take upwards of 20 minutes to download, put that into perspective when you play your games or listen to music on Spotify.

TechnologyAnother thing I’m taking for granted today is channels on the tv. We get them mostly from fiber connections, cable tv or something else, but back then there were no cable tv, specially not here where I grew up. I remember when one of the (now) biggest channels started, TV4, and my father worked as a cameraman at the local station. To be able to get that channel we had to have a huuuuuge 2×2 meter satellite dish, and that was only for that channel. We had at least 2 or 3 more satellite dishes for other channel providers, and they worked like shit.

A common error was “weak signal”, which could freeze the picture and you’d miss half your show. That happened frequently on windy days and in the winter when the snow interfered with the signals. Oh how I do not miss those days.

I’m rounding this up now before I write a short novel. But I will write part 2 soon enough, where I will write about cameras, phones and shopping and how they have changed my life. Stay tuned!

Do you have any memories of technology that changed your life? Leave a comment!

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Collecting random stuff – Cute or a hoarder in training?

Collecting random stuff have alway been my vice!

collecting random stuffBut even tho the “random” stuff have been pretty innocent and “normal”, like old comic books, beard products, nice rocks etc, I think my last find takes the prize. Collecting random stuff really hits the spot when we recently moved to a bigger place, and with that came a few extra boxes that I had stored in my mothers garage since I was a kid. Going through those boxes really brought back memories, but also a lot of laughs, thinking to myself – “Why the hell did I save this!?”.

Most things was normal childhood savings, like old lyrics, cheat sheets for video games, comic books, rocks, hockey cards and Magic the Gathering cards for example. Nothing weird here, because thats normal, right!?

Spruce needles 1996The next thing I found really made me smile at my childhood me, and somewhat began to question what my thoughts was back then. In a moving box, in a small “slime” container shaped as a ghost I saw it. Those small brown rice shaped things. What where they doing in a empty toy slime container? Upon close inspection I found some writing on the side, it said (in Swedish) “Barr från julgranen -96”, which mean “Spruce needles from the Christmas tree -96″….. Yes, you read that right, I saved Spruce needles from our Christmas tree in 1996. Who does that?

I opened the can, and you should’ve seen my facial expression.. the needles smelled wonderful, they really smelled like a Christmas tree. How is it that the container, air tight but still, could preserve the smell for 21 one years?! Wow, I was amazed. I just found 21 year old Spruce needles in a air tight toy slime container, and the smell was as fresh as the day we cut that tree down. I don’t need to explain that I took a trip down memory lane that day, seeing how life has passed and changed. Family lost along the way, me growing up and starting my own family and so on. My eye got a bit watery.

I plan on saving this container, hopefully for another 21 years…

Do you have any weird stuff you collected through the years?

Oh, on a side note, I found another container from 1997, also from the Christmas tree that year, but hey, who wants 20 year old spruce needles when you have 21 year olds… right?! 😀

Hoarder?

Check out the other posts in the blog here!

 

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The Barber Pole – Origin of the red, white and blue barber’s pole

Why is the barber pole red, white and blue?

The barber pole, or barber’s pole is a more and more common sight today all over the world. The well renowned craftsmanship of the barbers are coming back after falling out of style during the eighties. Much due to the aids/HIV hysteria going on back then, barbers lost customers who where afraid to get infected by poorly cleaned razors and equipment. That is however a thing of the past, and much have changed since then, both in sanitation and precautions, but also equipment is much better nowadays, especially shavettes, or disposable blade razors which almost completely eradicate any chance of some kind of disease spreading through blood. But, that’s not why we are here, no, we are talking about the barber pole, or barber’s pole, and why is it red, white and blue?

Red, White and Blue

Some say that the red, white and blue stands for the American flag, but there are no proof thats the case. In some countries the barber’s pole is only red and white or blue and white. Archaeologists have found evidence of razors dating back to around 3500 BC in ancient Egypt, which also suggests that there were some kind of barber profession back then. However, barbers back in the old days was a little bit different from our modern time barber who only cut hair, trim beards etc. Barbers were actually a kind of surgeon in the beginning, besides cutting hair and beards, they also performed dentistry in the form of pulling teeth, blood letting* and other surgical things. This however was banned in the 1160’s, which separated the surgeon and barber profession into two different professions.

George Klipp Spånga barber

 

The barber pole, or barber’s pole dates back to the middle ages, back when barbers performed all kinds of things on patients, which may seem gruesome today. The barber pole with it’s red, white and blue stripes, where originally BLUE, WHITE and RED at the bottom. Blue symbolizing a vessel filled with leaches used in bloodletting, where the leaches sucked the “infected” blood from patients, thinking it would help cleanse the blood. The red stripe at the bottom then symbolized the vessel where the blood was caught or stored, and the white was the pole itself, where the patient would grab on to increase blood flow of the veins, draining the blood faster or bandages.

Pretty gruesome right?!

Yes, it was, but there are also other theories about the barber pole, in which where the blue stands for the venous blood, the red for arterial blood and the white stands for bandages, which could make sense as well. In England around the 1300’s the United Barber Surgeon’s Company was formed, and they enforced a law where barbers where required to use a blue and white pole, while surgeons was required to use a red and white pole.

There you have it, even tho these are just historical and archaeological findings and we may not be a 100% certain, these explanations actually make sense.

Barber Pole - George Klipp Spånga barber

 

Visit Bloodletting on Wikipedia to read more about it!