Ooh. Another anecdote. After technicians grumbled about "Søren never really taking an interest: he decides everything on his own or with the client" he was convinced to be more involved with technicians when visiting one of the workshops.
Within a week technicians started complaining Søren came in with lots of solutions, changes to procedures and other shit that all, as they agreed, made sense but wasn't truly needed: they just wanted small talk and "an interest".
Swedish road signs are interesting as they divert from most northern European countries. Even recent ones (the one in the photo has a production date in 2011) often seem to ignore modern safety standards & guidelines.
The "don't drive over the children" sign is difficult to understand from 20 meters away, and even up-close looks like it could be a the graphics in a morbid game of 1980s Frogger.
Note: we're on holiday in Sweden. I'll use this as a thread for random holiday stuff.
Here's a nice thing. Along rural bus routes there's an immense variety in bus stop infrastructure.
It ranges from just the sign to fully equipped well maintained little sheds with lights and phone chargers. Nice way to liven up the landscape.
As Swedes appear to have a desire to casually block access by "strangers" to any place other than the physical road in many rural areas these are often also the only places where one can sit / chill for a bit.
OH FÖR HELVETE! I'm now accused of "dunking on Sverige" by two self-proclaimed Swedes*.
Let me be very clear: I LOVE being on holiday* here. I love the nature, the weather, famous songs like Boten Anna, that pee-iii-uun chair everyone has and I especially love how the majority of Swedish road signs are blue and yellow in HONOR of the countries best loved cultural icon, IKEA.
*holiday, for about a week. Max.
**but without ID checks, do we really know they're not Danish agitators?
Some people asked whether one really sees those Swedish A-tractors* in the wild.
The answer is yes, absolutely. And many can be heard from a long distance away and smelled long after they passed. Here's one from an hour ago. There's also a train. It was less noisy.
*shitty car mods limited to 30kph driven by young people who, at best, should be on a moped. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-trac…
The little wheels of a #Brompton are not always the perfect match for the road surface.. I did just comfortably do ~50kph down hill on asphalt though.
If wonder if those #birdy foldable bikes do better on gravel.
As to route planning: I've been at literal sea level (touching water) three times now. And also twice at 100+ elevation. It's not easy being Dutch and constantly forgetting vertical distance is a thing. #FlatlandIsBestLand
In contrast to yesterdays bus stop. Not all Swedish bus stops are created equal. Thoughts and prayers to the poor teenager who has to freeze here at six am in January.
When in Rome.. Köttbullar i brunsås. Classic meatballs with brown sauce "Swedish style". It was excellent.
edit: no need to point out there's better photos of food. This one's just taken a bit late in the dinner process as I had to try it first. Honest reporting etc.
The X52 train in #Sweden has ONE entry fit for people in wheelchairs, large strollers etc.
Just after the entrance there's stairs (on both sides). The extremely slow elevator lifts the entire floor and then swivels.
It's an awesome technical solution (for a created problem) but only fits one item. If two wheelchair users enter together they're stuck. If one enters and one leaves it's chaos.
The lift stays up between stations, blocking access for all others.
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Somehow this reminds me of my old office mate Søren Sørensen, very senior project manager. Random anecdote of the good times we had:
Context: He just came in. I had not seen him in eight weeks:
[soft voice] "hej"
[goes through his stuff for twenty minutes, organizing stuff]
[is done, walks out] [returns a minute later] "oh, cya"
[walks out not to be seen again for weeks]
We had great synergy.
A client once reviewed him as: "Excellent. He saved the project. Was he raised by wolves though?"
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Ooh. Another anecdote. After technicians grumbled about "Søren never really taking an interest: he decides everything on his own or with the client" he was convinced to be more involved with technicians when visiting one of the workshops.
Within a week technicians started complaining Søren came in with lots of solutions, changes to procedures and other shit that all, as they agreed, made sense but wasn't truly needed: they just wanted small talk and "an interest".
He just went quiet again.
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Swedish road signs are interesting as they divert from most northern European countries. Even recent ones (the one in the photo has a production date in 2011) often seem to ignore modern safety standards & guidelines.
The "don't drive over the children" sign is difficult to understand from 20 meters away, and even up-close looks like it could be a the graphics in a morbid game of 1980s Frogger.
Note: we're on holiday in Sweden. I'll use this as a thread for random holiday stuff.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Rough translation: "warning: leaking children"
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •"Warning: large cats attacking adults in hoodies and baggy pants. Thanks for slowing down."
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Here's a nice thing. Along rural bus routes there's an immense variety in bus stop infrastructure.
It ranges from just the sign to fully equipped well maintained little sheds with lights and phone chargers. Nice way to liven up the landscape.
As Swedes appear to have a desire to casually block access by "strangers" to any place other than the physical road in many rural areas these are often also the only places where one can sit / chill for a bit.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •More leaking children. Everything in this bit of Sweden is at a non straight angle to earths surface.
The driver probably thought they were in the UK. There was a last minute jerk on the wheel.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •OH FÖR HELVETE! I'm now accused of "dunking on Sverige" by two self-proclaimed Swedes*.
Let me be very clear: I LOVE being on holiday* here. I love the nature, the weather, famous songs like Boten Anna, that pee-iii-uun chair everyone has and I especially love how the majority of Swedish road signs are blue and yellow in HONOR of the countries best loved cultural icon, IKEA.
*holiday, for about a week. Max.
**but without ID checks, do we really know they're not Danish agitators?
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Some people asked whether one really sees those Swedish A-tractors* in the wild.
The answer is yes, absolutely. And many can be heard from a long distance away and smelled long after they passed. Here's one from an hour ago. There's also a train. It was less noisy.
*shitty car mods limited to 30kph driven by young people who, at best, should be on a moped. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-trac…
#sweden #train
vehicle legally recogniced as a tractor (often a rebuilt car)
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Svenshőgen Central Station. Not bad!
#sweden #train
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Sweden has excellent bicycle parking. And stone beaches. Which objectively are the only good beaches.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Hah. Another fun road sign. Girl with four fingers and a boy with five. And surely pre-AI so maybe just fireworks?
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •The little wheels of a #Brompton are not always the perfect match for the road surface.. I did just comfortably do ~50kph down hill on asphalt though.
If wonder if those #birdy foldable bikes do better on gravel.
As to route planning: I've been at literal sea level (touching water) three times now. And also twice at 100+ elevation. It's not easy being Dutch and constantly forgetting vertical distance is a thing. #FlatlandIsBestLand
#sweden #cycling
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Five minutes later on asphalt:
#sweden #cycling
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •In contrast to yesterdays bus stop. Not all Swedish bus stops are created equal. Thoughts and prayers to the poor teenager who has to freeze here at six am in January.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Just had a nice lunch & swim
Forgot to post this roadsign photo earlier: on #Swedish rail Stephenson's Rocket is apparently still in service..
#train
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •EXTRA EXTRA: DARK CLOUDS LOOM OVER MCDONALD'S
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Gotenburg has very sharp buildings.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •In the train. The Västtrafik ToGo digital train ticket app is designed to be pleasing. And it works 🙂
#sweden #train
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •When in Rome.. Köttbullar i brunsås. Classic meatballs with brown sauce "Swedish style". It was excellent.
edit: no need to point out there's better photos of food. This one's just taken a bit late in the dinner process as I had to try it first. Honest reporting etc.
#ikea #food #foodPorn
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Anyway. Here we are in the middle of Sweden. Let's use Google Maps to find a local shopping center.
[types in 'shopping center', hits top result]
"Ah.."
Wtf.
(I am aware other mapping services exist)
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •More locally we found some sheep to pet though. So that's fine.
#sheep #sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Another sign. Leaking children, drive careful. On a road angled like a ski-jump.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Nice view though! Our beloved toddler found a bit of granite. We'll cherish it forever.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •The X52 train in #Sweden has ONE entry fit for people in wheelchairs, large strollers etc.
Just after the entrance there's stairs (on both sides). The extremely slow elevator lifts the entire floor and then swivels.
It's an awesome technical solution (for a created problem) but only fits one item. If two wheelchair users enter together they're stuck. If one enters and one leaves it's chaos.
The lift stays up between stations, blocking access for all others.
#accessibility #rail #toddlerRail
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Here's a video of the "accessibility" contraption. It surely is the most complicated solution I've ever seen in trains.
And yes. Vertical video. I'm cool like that.
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Gothenburg today. The large Slotttssskogen city park has a petting zoo with goats, penguins, sheep, squirrels and a super nice #cat
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Went to a hobby shop. Amazing
They have all the sticks.
#sweden
reshared this
Dr. Anna Latour reshared this.
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •1990, my dad: "If you're quiet we might see a wild animal!"
2025, me "why do wild animals always run away?
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Yet again the Dutch approach of "if it is a path it is a CYCLE-path" has failed me.
This does answer the question about "why didn't the Hobbits take some small foldable bikes on their holiday to Mordor?"
#sweden #biketooter
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •There we are, back again on my merry way from sampling both the bits above and under the hill. Pippin out.
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Bohus Fortress. A castle with a very clear "fuck off, go away" attitude
edit: "This, Madame, is not Versailles"
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Cat. Same vibe.
#SuperNiceCat
#sweden
Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Ferry back to Denmark. It has this deck labeled as "sun deck"! Better make sure the sleeping toddler doesn't overheat.
#sweden
Ciara
in reply to Pepijn • • •Pepijn
in reply to Pepijn • • •Anyone familiar with this #windturbine?
Is this a custom construction or some small 1980/1990s manufacturer? It's like modernity pasted upon a year 1700 design.
#sweden #wind