Writing inspired by history.
Not a saint but a boring and safe Volvo car. This beautiful sports model, P1800 was made from 1961 until 1973 and it gained cult status from the TV-series the Saint. The British TV-series with among others, Roger Moore, was made in impressive 118 episodes from 1962 to 1969 where the main character, Simon Templar, drove a California white P1800.
This could be the most beautiful car ever made, ever. What do you think? Ha de Gött!
Some photos from the old industrial belting factory in Göteborg, Sweden.
This historic factory, Göteborgs Remfabrik, was built using clay bricks in 1900 after the original wooden building was destroyed by fire. Most of the machinery, dating from around 1900, was imported from England and powered by a steam engine via belts. In 1916, the steam engine was replaced with an electric motor. Some modernisation took place in 1940s when fluorescent tube lighting was installed. Hardly anything has changed since then.
The factory remained in operation until 1977, when the employees and the owners shut down the machines, locked the doors, and went home – leaving everything as it was. This makes it one of the best-preserved industrial sites in Scandinavia from the early 1900s.
Today, it’s a museum, and most of the equipment can still run. An association of volunteers maintains and run the machines. You can find out more on their website, Göteborgs Remfabrik. These dedicated men and women deserve great respect for keeping history alive. If you ever find yourself in Göteborg, it’s worth a visit.
Never put your fingers in a running machine, ha de Gött!
Perhaps not the most famous church in Barcelona, but one I really wanted to see. The Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar plays a central role in the novel La Catedral del Mar (Cathedral of the Sea) by Ildefonso Falcones. It’s been many years since I read it, but it left a lasting impression on me. A powerful story of good and evil, justice and injustice, and how the Church, meant to stand for good, often—almost always—ends up on the side of evil.
The church was built between 1329 and 1383 in the Catalan Gothic style. It was constructed largely by unpaid labor from the common people, and is therefore sometimes referred to as the ‘workers’ cathedral’—a detail well described in Falcones’ book. The main character, Arnau Estanyol, finds work as a porter, carrying goods from the dock on his back. These porters were called bastaixos, and in the little spare time they had after work, they carried stones to help build the church.
The play of light inside is impressive, likely designed to suggest the presence of God. Whether divine or coincidental, I happened to be in the right spot at the right time as sunlight struck the cross—a beacon of hope, so needed today when dark forces and false prophets seem to be gaining more and more power.
Let the ray of hope shine, ha de Gött!
A sight rarely seen these days but common back in the day. The phone booth.
When I was in school back in the 80:ties when the cold war was at it’s coldest. We read a book about peace where the theme was that as the means of communication improved, peace and understanding would follow. Today it has never been easier to communicate all around the world. Yet we have never been so misinformed as today.
Picture is taken in Oslo. Just a few meters away from the Nobel Peace centre and the Oslo City hall where the award ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize are held December 10 every year.
I leave the red phone booth as a beacon of hope, ha de Gött!
Rubjerg Knude lighthouse outside Løkken in Denmark has a fantastic story. It was built in 1899 and was lit up in 1900. The tower is built by bricks and is 23 meters high and, at the time it was built the light was 67 meters over the ocean. It was built on wandering sand and was at the end of the last century almost buried in sand.
The lighthouse was taken out of commission already in 1968 due to low visibility from the surrounding sand dunes. A museum was opened in 1988 but was forced to close 2002 when all surrounding buildings were covered in sand. The wind moves the sand towards north-east and at the same time the shore line erodes up to 2 meters every year. The estimate was that the lighthouse would fall into the sea by 2023.
In august to October 2019 the 720 kilo tonnes tower was moved 70 meters inland. An amazing engineering achievement to lift and place the giant on rails and across over the sand. It took 4,5 hours to move the tower to the waiting new concrete foundation. The work was done by a local contractor company under the lead of master bricklayer Kjeld Pedersen, hats off and cheers. It is now estimated to last another 40 years.
I scouted this place with Google Earth and with the light it was everything I hoped for. Beautiful place and an amazing story.
Source: Wikipedia Swedish page
Walk into the light, ha de Gött!
The most northern point of Denmark where two oceans meet, Skagerack and Kattegatt. Not a castle but, built up by sand moving up along the west coast of the Jutland island. The sandy point is in constant change and moving towards northeast, growing 10m each year towards the Swedish west coast. The strong currents makes it so dangerous to swim so it’s forbidden. It is allowed to put one foot in each ocean. 7°C in the water, nope I did not!
With over 1 million visitors each year I guess it is one of Denmark’s most photographed places. Even on a cold day in March there was a even flow of people walking along the sandy beach to the edge. It’s heavy to walk in the loose sand and I understand why when I emptied 1 kilo of sand from my shoes when getting back to the car.
Don’t be foolish and build your house on loose sand, ha de Gött!
My absolute favourite Swedish poet is Gustaf Fröding (1860 – 1911). This brilliant poet and author’s short life was darkened with mental illness. Both his own and his parents. Perhaps this is evidence that brilliance and folly dances on a razor sharp edge.
He is still a popular poet in Sweden. The poems are highly musical and lends itself to musical setting. He is one the poets with the highest number of his poems that have been set to music. Many of them topping the charts for weeks on.
Many of his brilliant poems are written in the melodic dialect from his home province Värmland. In my mind the most beautiful Swedish dialect. Even if a person with this dialect is really angry with you it sounds like a declaration of love. The dialect is often a challenge to understand by Swedish speakers and then to translate to English!
Even so an Englishman named Mike McArthur took on the task with Frödings most loved poems. He did an excellent job and to that I’m glad to be able to share one of the poems in English. This poem was a great comfort to me when I lost my son four years ago.
Solace
When comes deep sorrow, as when night descending
in wildest forests, where man goes astray,
who trusts the glimmer, which ahead is wending,
the light that peeps out, flickers, hides away?
In fun it flickered, in fun fled this caper,
who takes a Jack o'lantern for a taper?
No, grieve till in the brain the numbness creeping
in weary torpor, is the solace found
- just like the wanderer, who was lost and sleeping
of soft and mossy down, a sleep so sound.
And when from misty depths he wakes from dreaming,
sees in the wooded hide the morn sun gleaming.
There is a Fröding society that published this as a year book in 2023. You can find them on the web here. Only in Swedish, but Google translate or Chat GPT can help. Seems this is the only way to get a copy of this book. You can also find out more on Wikipedia where there are some links to more of his works in English.
Ha de Gött!
Once brand new and shining, a farmers pride
now abandoned, left in the forest to fade
for a while a marvel of engineering, to adore
to be put aside the field, a thing of before
Såmaskinen
En gång skinande ny, en bondes stolthet
övergiven, lämnad till skogens förgänglighet
för en stund ingenjörskonst, värt beundrande
satt till åkerns sida, sak från annat århundrande
I just felt this old farming equipment was worth a poem, ha de Gött!
I could not find anything on the web of the manufacturer. I’ve reached out to the local historical society in Gävle hoping they have some information. In that case there will be a new post. The spelling of the city Gävle was changed from Gefle in 1880 just as an indication of the age.
I live close to one of the UNESCO listed World Heritage sites. Rock Carvings in Tanum and Vitlycke Museum. This area has the highest concentration of rock carvings in Europe. Rock carvings, also called petroglyphs, are knocked with small stones, knocking stones, into the rock during pre historic times. They can be found all over the world but the highest concentration are found in Africa, Scandinavia, Siberia, and Australia. New carvings are discovered daily by archaeologists and the public. As the with all art, interpretation is in the eyes of the beholder even if there is a scientific approach to what the carvings mean. Even so the images triggers the imagination to what made the people to make the effort. Faith or just a wish to be immortalised.
If you want to take a step back in time, to the bronze age when most of the carvings were made. The Vitlycke museum has a reconstructed bronze age village built up with two long houses, storage huts and work sheds. The village is next to the rock carvings in the Tanum World heritage area. You can visit all year around but in summer high season there are guides to explain and let you try craftmanship from that time. The Nordic Bronze age is considered to have lasted from 1700 to 500 BC.
Fun fact. The museum building was inaugurated on the same day my oldest son was born. In a blizzard on April 4 1998 and he also worked there for three summers. Do check out his YouTube channel Hemläxa where he made a series on the Swedish farmers history where episode one has section from Vitlycke. In Swedish but you can use the auto subtitle function in a language you prefer. https://youtu.be/6ff1wRQMwM8?si=MsxFVjlZJu0_Nbdm
Find out more from the museum website https://www.vitlyckemuseum.se/en/.
You have to look back to understand the future, ha de Gött!
Hard as a rock
he stands all exposed
with his spear ready
for all to see
he blushes, goes all red
The Two Meter Man at Listeby rock carving site is one of the most famous bronze age rock carvings at the Tanumshede World Heritage site. Similar image can be found elsewhere but this is unique in size. Why they were carved 3000 years ago is a bit of a mystery but the area is full of them and still today new discoveries are made.
Don’t ever be ashamed of your appearance, ha de Gött!
UlleHaddock 