Sunday Update

We are a wee bit tired today, MrS and I.
Last night we were invited to a small dinner party, at friends'. Small in the sense that we were only three couples, including the host and hostess. If you have read my previous blogs you know that's just right for me! So what did we have to eat? Well, for starters we had an absolutely deliciously devine Chanterelle soup and for the main course a great big hunk of a Lobster. Lots and lots of food on these ones. Then for afters they treated us to some apple tarte with custard. All too good to describe. Yum. We were back home again just before 2 am - so that's why we are tired. That is one of the reasons anyway!

Earlier this morning MrS had a phone call about a water leak at a big manufacturing company here in T town. Alot of water. MrS told him to call the fire brigade, the "normal" way, by calling 112. After a while we heard the beeper going off. Actually both our beepers. They think it was probably a culvert of sorts underneath the factory that has either collapsed or in some way doesn't lead the water onwards away from the factory. So in a little while MrS is going there to do a 6-hour shift. I am glad they figured they only needed one of us. I am all too happy just relaxing at home on a Sunday night. I'm a bit lazy like that. This is getting worse by age too!

For right now I am planning on entereing a few posts/people into my genealogy program instead. I had every intention to update my homepage this weekend, but as it takes a couple of hours, I will wait until I have a little more time on my hands. I know from experience that something always goes wrong transferring those files. So I need some extra time for those tiresome eventualities. I am entering some Björkman families right now. From Årsunda, Gävleborg (X). The current one is my "farmors farmors mosters dotterdotters dotter" - I have no idea how to translate that in English - anyway it's my "gg grandmother's aunt's g niece's daughter". Any suggestions you bilinguals out there?

So, I'll just get on with it, ok. Happy Sunday Evening!

Saved By A Telephone Call

Last afternoon I was saved by a telephone call.

A ton of freshly washed laundry to be folded and put away in the closets was the chore of the day. It smelled really good. Some of it had been left out to dry and had that nice smell of fresh air. Alot of laundry. I had put it off for the entire weekend. So I am not kidding about the magnitude of the task at hand. Then work called. One of the ff didn't show up for practice and they wondered if I could come. "Ja!" - of course. This was no regular practice APU. This summer the fire department has decided that we are going to campings and harbors to give information and to show off the trucks. Surprisingly quite alot of people showed up. First came the kids and then the adults. Quite alot of Norwegians. We get alot of them here as it is only about an hours ride to the boarder. It's always a bit awkward to be in the center of things, getting all the attention. But all went well and we returned to the fire station for some coffee.
Just imagine when the fire trucks looked like this picture.
"Swedens first motor fire-engine. Purchased by the town of Eskilstuna in 1902 from Justus Christian Braun in Nürnberg, Germany. It was driven by an electrical engine that had an operating range of about tvelwe miles at a top speed of 12 mph. Presented to the Museum of Eskilstuna in 1935, repainted in 1979 using the original colour scheme.Today it can be seen at Faktorimuseet in Eskilstuna, where this photo was taken by Zaphod on Februari 6, 2005. " (Text and Picture from Wikipedia)

This is me!!!!

Just wanted to give you an idea of who I am.

Well, this is pretty much me...
Much of my time is spent in my "blues", or like in this picture, in a wetsuit; either practicing or on call.

On call one week a month

Being a fire fighter on call every fourth week doesn't seem to be that hard, does it now? Especially when you live in a smaller community with about 250 calls every year. Some weeks go without any calls - some weeks you have your share of work cut out for you - maybe a call every day or even several calls during the course of one day. That excluding the full time work you have "on the side". Or rather - you have the part time ff duties on the side. Can be quite tiresome at times. Especially if your "beeper" goes off at 3 o'clock at night and you don't get home till early dawn, just to have a nice shower real quick and then off to your "normal" duties...

What makes you want to continue with this? Some (most men..) say it is for the comeradeship, male bonding, getting together in the sauna - "talking the talk" and of course to help your fellow man/woman. Well, how about women/girls? What is in it for them? Mostly the same things - IF you are allowed to participate. Being a part time ff/woman today is mostly ok, at least if you are working in smaller communities. The full time ff organizations can still be very MALE domineering and some seem to want to keep it that way.. It is their loss.. I am thinking/hoping it is getting better day by day!