So I got out of England safe, luckily we dipped out of the world cup before I had to put some cockney accent on to avoid confrontation, but it was somewhat pleasing to see them get pwned by the Springboks. London was better the second time around with all the touristy shit over and done with, work picked up momentum. I spent about 3 weeks there this last time around and the hotel was actually pretty good, other than the ₤5000 bill, thankfully picked up by the customer.
I did catch up with a few touristy things I missed the last time.. the tower bridge and London tower, and the British museum. The museum has probably more of Ancient Greece in it than Greece does, good for me. In true whiny English style there is a flyer explaining how the museum justifies having it all.. whatever.. least the Indigenous Australians had more luck getting their stuff out of the place. I did look but didn’t find any Indigenous Australian content in the museum. I guess the whiny poms are having a sulk.
The next best thing about London, Magners cider can be purchased in 1l and 50cl denominations, as well as the usual 568ml we see in Australia. The 1l variety can be purchased at a servo for around AUD$5.60. And people try to tell me London is expensive.. what a load of crap.
So enough about London, as with the last time, it’s really good while you are there, but when you leave you realise it is actually good to get out. Truth is you can earn more in other less screwed up cities, if you want to live there you really want to be making the most of London itself as the pollution and crap takes a toll on you. You can just go somewhere else in Europe (like Stockholm) and enjoy the travel benefits…
So I’m in Stockholm again.. in only 3 weeks it’s changed a fair bit.. it’s the worst part of the year as it’s in between cold/rain and snow. Snow is a lot nicer as you don’t get wet. If you have kids they are easier to dress (so I’m told by my expat friends) for the snow as it’s not muddy or wet.
A really good day today (3rd day of now live system) and it was event-free, no dramas. I got out early and had time to catch the company bus back into Karlaplan and walk back to Stureplan where I’m staying. I finally found 2 Systembolaget stores. Lets review this.. quote:
Systembolaget, the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly, exists for one reason only: To minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive.
So I guess monopolies are a good thing, saving us from the evils of alcohol-related problems and evil profit motives..
The evils of alcohol are easily tackled by closing bottle shops at 6pm weeknights (seems I managed to get out of the store at 18:04) and 2pm on Saturdays, and just don’t open on Sundays as we all know that’s when the majority of alcohol-related problems occur.
Profit motives are a funny thing, now back home, they have profit motives.. oh I think it’s actually called competition. I can pick up a bottle of whatever for around AUD$30. Luckily without the profit motives of this government owned business I only paid SEK279 for a bottle of Jamos. That’s because the government store does not make profits from the sale of alcohol, just the taxes :) The same stuff costs ₤14.99 in expensive London.. uhh.. right..
I guess Stockholm is OK… but I’m only here for another week when I head to Zagreb, Croatia for a couple of weeks.. rumour is I get to come home to Brisbane for a few days, then back to Sydney to settle..
Even the Swedes tell me Women in Croatia are really good (big call coming from Scandinavia) I challenged that comment and they say they are warmer.. I can believe that.. *cough* stuck up *cough* bitches *cough*.. I guess it’s just too much to have only a conversation in this place.
Stay tuned for a house warming/BBQ in Brisbane.. potential date is Sunday the 2nd of December.
