Life’s adventures

As you might remember, last week I explored the possibilities of swimming by the Ringhals nuclear powerplant. Today I planned to continue my exploration, and this time, bring a towel along.

I started the day by going to the german super-low-budget-grocery-store Lidl. Every week they sell small consignments of strange and not so grocery-related stuff. Yesterday I talked to my good friend Pål Hyldetoft and he had notised that they would sell scuba-related stuff starting today. We met up (together with Ulf Karlsson) and all made some good deals - for example a neoprene shorty wetsuit for 250 kr!

After this inspiring shopping it was easy to convince Pål to join me for a trip to Ringhals. After a quick visit in Varberg to pick up the exams we went to the powerplant. If you look at the satelite picure of the site you can see two wide canals going from the sea to the powerplant.

At my last visit I had assumed that water was taken in through one canal and send back through the other. Today we were surpised when we looked at the water - it seamed to flow towards the plant in both canals! My experience from last week of feeling warmer water could not be repeated. Had they reversed the flow? Was I that wrong when testing the water last week? Was there perhaps a hidden third canal that served as an outflow? These questions demanded further investigation.

As we were running back and forth searching for our tropical ocean bay time was flying. Even though this was my day off, there was a scheduled meeting that I needed to attend at work, so finally we decided to just pick a random spot and quickly test our newly aquired gear. The gear worked flawless, the water was crystal clear, but my head, arms and legs were feeling like blocks of ice.

I have one week to correct the exams. Next monday will be my last trip to Varberg (during this course). Hopefully I’ll have some more time and find the magic “+10°C zone”, something that is starting to seem more and more mythical. 

If anyone knows were to find the warm current - please let me know!

During yesterday’s visit with the family Per (Herrey) showed som video material, both completed and ongoing productions. Per is the attorney for the musicians union in sweden, and a year ago he, Sebastian and Daniel Nilsson produced a commercial for the organisation. 

I saw it for the first time yesterday, and had a good laugh. Please note that Fredrik (Ternström) plays one of the lead roles. We hope to see more of Fredrik on the movie-screen in the future!

Today we had a day full of fun at Birger and Kari’s place. Matilda and the children went early while I was catching up on some sleep (after working the night shift). I took my motorcycle and came with perfect timing as dinner was ready.

As always it’s fun to see the cousins gather together. Here’s a picture of the guys. I can’t help to think about the wild “lost boys” in the Peter Pan story when I see them sitting together.

After dinner we went to the Sauna. It sits just by the lake, and is heated with firewood in a small stove. Kari, myself and Per started, but soon the kids got interested and wanted to try as well. I think we had the youngest group in the sauna so far…

A big part of enjoying a sauna is being able to go for a cold swim afterwards. We didn’t have a thermometer, but I would guess the lake was about 10°C - plenty cold! The kids didn’t seem to mind too much though and jumped in and out a few times.

After the sauna we lit our annual but slightly delayed “easter bonfire”. This year it was one of the best fires ever, but for a brief moment there was some concern about the field of dry grass not so far away.

Kari brought marshmallow to everyones delight!

We finished the evening with cake and icecream to celebrate Marcus. He turned 34 the day before and was happy to open up a few presents:

 
 

I’ve had the chance to teach anatomy and physiology at the nursing program in Varberg. Today was my last lecture. The weather was perfect, so I hopped on my offroad-thumper and started the motorcycle season.

On my way home I took some detours on smaller roads, enjoyed the scenery and listened to Eros Ramazotti on my iPod. After a while I saw a sign to Ringhals - Sweden’s largest powerplant. Exciting. I wasn’t really in a hurry, so I stopped and had a look.

 
   Powerplant, powerbike.

Ringhals is powerplant with four nuclear reactors. The reactors are cooled with seawater - 160 000 liters each second! Apparently, the outgoing cooling-water is 10 degrees warmer than the incoming. This means there’s a small sea bay just outside the powerplant that is almost 10 degrees warmer than the “normal” sea temperature!

 
   Bay with coolingwater

Unfortunately I had no towel or swimmingpants, but my hands and feet can verify that the water really was warmer. Next monday I will go down to Varberg again (to pick up the exams) - this time with towel! 

Stay tuned for a report of what “Ringhals bathing” is like!

P.S. Photos today are taken with a simple SonyEricsson mobile phone.

P.S. 2 I realize I’m getting older Five years ago a lack of towel certainly wouldn’t stop me from a short swim…

Tonight we had Fredrik & Malena with children and Samuel & Emily Palm over for dinner. The weather was simply wonderful, so we decided to go for our weekly stroll at Gunnebo. Magnus & Emma-Karin with kids joined us. 

We forgot Gustav’s hat, so the blanked had to do. A miniature “mother Theresa”-look:

The kids gathered for a group picture and just couldn’t stop laughing…

…at Samuel… 

I wonder why…

Clara has never been known for sitting still. Today she left as usual for day-care with some friends. 15 minutes later Matilda got a call. Clara had fallen from a wagon (again), and was now bleeding quite a bit.

Well, one of the few advantages of being married to a doctor is sometimes not having to wait for emergency visits. Matilda, Clara and Gustav got an unplanned visit to daddy’s work, were Clara was really brave when daddy came with a shot of local anaesthetics. Four sutures and two kisses later they took off to buy a small present - a shining red umbrella.

So when daddy comes home, does he find a quiet resting little girl? Oh no, she was hanging upside down in the playroom’s rope ladder, just as usual…

Living so close to Sweden’s most beautful nature area - the fabulous west coast archipelago - we’ve talked about getting a boat for many years. About five years ago we bought two sea kayaks which we’ve really enjoyed, but now that the family has grown going kayaking is not as easy as it used to be. Going back even further, we also miss Birger’s old sailboat that we enjoyed for a few summers, but realize that right now a sailboat is just too much work. Hopefully, when the kids get a little bigger, we can revive our dreams of a family sailboat again.

If we are to get any kind of boat within the next years it’ll probably be a medium sized motorboat. We’ve toyed with the idea of buying one, but as soon as we’ve looked at the pricetags our enthusiasm has been somewhat dampened. But the other day I found an interesting advertisement. A medium size motorboat- Örnvik 580 pilothouse - could be rented for substantial, but not outrageous, fee.

Tonight we brought the kids to the dock and had a closer look. Of course, it’s not the sportiest of boats, but for small daytrips, overnight camping, fishing, swimming, waterskiing and scubadiving, I think it’s a pretty good compromise. Together with Ulf & Sofia and Espen & Johanna we booked 4 weeks this summer.

Filip can hardly wait. He already found a new favorite spot - sitting in the very front directing were we should go…

A few weeks ago we made an important family investment. We bought a 400 SEK ice-cream-machine. It’s really nothing more than a cooling block and a simple mixing rotator. But with some cream, eggs, sugar and fresh berrys you get the best icecream. Ever. Today we had promised the kids a treat after dinner. Well, that is if they behaved… Clara past the test with flying colors. 

Clara was very helpful in both preparation and sampling…

Of course, icecream must be experienced not only by the tastebuds, but also in ones face and on your PJ’s. And it’s so much more fun to play silly girl than to wash your face after dinner.

P.S.

Today’s pictures were taken with the new Nikon D300 camera! This week is really busy, but after this I will have more time to put it through some serious testing. First impressions are only positive but I’ll be back with a more detailed “review”…

After over five years of faithful service, i’ve decided to upgrade my trusty old Nikon D100 digital camera. I’m expecting my new D300 tomorrow, so I put an ad up for the D100. I probably requested too little (SEK 2500, approx USD 400), because I’ve had tons of people calling. After arranging the sales I had to take it outside for a few “departing” photos. It really feels like an old friend is leaving - I’ve brought the camera on all my trips and many small “adventures”. But I trust the new D300 will be a worthy replacement.

Outside, spring was definitly in the air. Filip and Clara helped me find a few flowers in our lawn:

My last picture with the D100 was of a smiling Gustav, who’s happy almost all of the time:

Filip turned four this week. Daddy had to work on his birthday so we decided on a small (march 31) and a large (april 5) celebration. In addition to some presents, what Filip was really longing for was a get-together pirate party with most of his cousins…

As you can see, the group also included one viking (Hannah - price for best hat!), one knight (Hannes) and one princess (Clara).

Big thanks to grandma Kari and granpa Birger who helped with the ballons, cake and treasure hunt!