The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Tag Sweden

Park Lane 00:00 am

Music is pumping out of the speakers and red, blue and green lights are moving around up high, casting coloured cones through the dance floor smoke. The amount of people on the floor is just right so that one can distinguish individuals from the throng yet not so few that it gets embarrassing. A few people are living it up on the stage, dancing wildly and showing everyone else how to move. Out in the crowd there are some men with brash clothes making vivacious, rather feminine dance moves, setting themselves apart from the rest of the male population. Yes, … Read the rest

Over Göteborg 12:45 pm

The same familiar airplane surroundings, the screen now tells me I am over Göteborg, my home town. What bothers me is not the effort I spent the last two days to get to Stockholm via my parents house just to be back so suddenly; neither is it the rather soggy excuse of a sandwich they have provided me with. No, what bothers me is why they provided a packet of skimmed milk, some sugar and a small – in lack of a better word – spoon with my sandwich. What also bothers me is why they decided to make a … Read the rest

Over Örebro 12:28 pm.

In front of me, the blue leather back of a seat and a bland gray piece of plastic euphemistically called a table with the words “Fasten seatbelt while seated” and “Lifejacket under your seat” printed on it. To my left, an incredibly bright sky, white clouds and wing of an aircraft. Up and to the right is a small screen with a rather grainy graphic showing me that I am over Örebro, my parents home town. I left here for Stockholm a little over five hours ago and now I am back. Was it worth all that trouble? Wouldn’t it … Read the rest

Utlandagatan 4:30 am

I am walking home, tired from the exercise, the mild air is no longer cool enough and the street lights have been turned off. In just one hour the sky has turned from a deep blue to a bland light grey, but at the edge to the east, the band of yellow and orange has shifted to a dodgy shade of pink that gradually thickens to a powerful red. I can draw two conclusions at this moment. One is that there are few better ways to spend the early hours of the morning than skateboarding down traffic free roads and … Read the rest

Eklandagatan 3:36 am

The air is mild, the birds are chirping in the bushes, and the brightening sky is competing with the street lights. I have been here before on a similarly early morning with the same mission, to ride a skateboard down this marvelous hill. That time it was colder, so cold that my hands went numb, and darker, so dark i could barely see the dangerous bumps in the asphalt, but that time I stood on my board at the top of the hill and didn’t stop until I had reached the entrance to the big roundabout at the end of … Read the rest

Above Korsvägen 11:30 pm

The world in front of me is bathed in orange, where I stand, the shadow of a summer night prevails. The boundary: the sharp edge of the hills crest. Not ten meters above street level the sounds of passing trams and buses are somewhat muffled and from this rather small, secluded park one of Gothenburg’s most notorious crossroads seems almost peaceful. A series of streetlights and illuminated signs scattered about  seemingly at random and the slowly turning wings of the amusement park windmill even hint that this place has beauty. But the thought that strikes me is that I can … Read the rest

Götaplatsen 4:14 pm

It is a rainy and rather cold summer day. All around me are yellow brick buildings and the sky is grey, not a day of celebration at all. No, not a day of celebration, except for the 50 or so white caps bobbing around on the square. Boys in black suits and girls in pretty white dresses are celebrating with vigor, shouting, blowing whistles, dancing and swimming in the fountain. They are all overjoyed to have graduated from highschool and are partying like it is the most important day in their lives. Later on some of them they might realize … Read the rest

Park outside my house 11:35 pm

The grass is just a shady green and the trees are almost black, forming silhouettes against the night sky. A sky that, despite that it is almost midnight, is light blue. There is something fairy-taleish about that sky because that blue color is one that only appears on endless summer nights like this one. All around are darkened houses with a few yellow rectangles cutting holes in the dark facade. In the middle of the park, just visible through some low branches is the bright globe of a street light that illuminates a small playground. A sandbox with a red … Read the rest

Slottsskogen 7:30 pm

The world is being reborn, tiny little leaves sprouting at the end of some branches while other trees are barren still. The grass is getting greener by the day although dried leaves from last year still litter the ground. The sky is light blue but not clear, a thin film of clouds cover it. There is birdsong in the air and the sun creates an area of fuzzy brightness as it sinks behind some hills. I notice absolutely nothing of this as I zoom down the slope on a ribbon of asphalt. My mind is focused on keeping the balance … Read the rest

Silja Serenade 10:45 pm

The moon paints a streak of silver on the black sea. Just at the edge of it, where the sky meets the water, a series of lights mark out the shape of another ship. The wind is truly cold as it whips at my clothes and the pages of my notepad. The deck I’m sitting at is brightly lit but it is the blackness out there, perforated only by a big glowing disc, that catches my attention. The low humming drone of the ship’s engine and the rhythmic splashing of the waves fills my ears only to be pierced now … Read the rest

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