Linear view vs. Masonry View

Tag Archive for ‘Life’

The Bitch

The Bitch

With a cigarette in his mouth and one hand on the wheel he drove north. Cursing the never ending speed limit signs. The lump of discomfort cramping in his stomach would not go away. He took a big sip of the booze he had in a bottle at the passengers seat. As he drank he could see her in the rear view mirror. God, how much he loved her. Sometimes he thought he loved her more than his wife. She looked up at him with her wet pleading eyes. His beloved bitch.

He had her since she was just a little puppy. Trained her to become the best hunting dog he ever had. All his mates envied him for his star. She could track down any game and drive in to shooting distance. Find any bird even if it dropped in the water. She had stamina and could go on for hours even in deep snow. Now she lay there in the backseat of his old Opel convertible. Tongue half way to the floor, watching up in anticipation. She knew that when he took her alone in the car they would go hunting.

He cursed again at a speed limit sign and took another sip from the bottle of booze. Quickly wiped away the beginning of a tear in his eye. He thought of the rifle in the trunk. It was a really good but expensive rifle he bought just before his second son was born. He remembered the cold look he got from his wife that could freeze hell.

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He could barely manage the narrow road down to the cabin. There was nothing left in the bottle and the last kilometers he had to use up the entire road. In the backseat the dog was going wild and barking as she recognized dirt road to the cabin. Cabin meant hunting and running free. Not stuck with a leash she had to wear in the city. As soon as he opened the door she rushed out barking, jumping and waiving the tail. When he took the rifle out of the trunk he was crying like a baby.

The dog stood a few meters away and looked at him. Waiting for his command. She was a bit puzzled when he didn’t act like normal. He dried his eyes, lifted the rifle, aimed and squeezed the trigger.

This is based on a true story and is the continuation of the post Bite. Please let me know your thoughts, like and subscribe.

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Fast Food

Fast Food

Fast food restaurants, a love-hate relationship! Just from the headline people start to frown. Yet, some might start to feel hungry. Are the traditional fast food chains just a big evil trying to impose their fat dripping junk on us, or do they fill a real need? No, they are not paying me for this article!

Special needs

Me and my son both suffers from Celiac Disease, also known as Gluten Intolerance. This means we cannot eat anything made from wheat, Rye, Barley or Oats. This makes travelling a challenge. During his teens he was a promising sport dancer and we traveled all around Sweden and even Europe for competitions. Training hard he needed food and the big fast food restaurants offered Gluten Free dishes.

Fast food chains

Is it tasty? No, not really but it is fast and it is consistent. If we just put the health aspect aside we came up with pros and cons for the three major chains along the roads in Sweden.

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First the Swedish company Max who has the best fries. Actually tastes good and are not so greasy. A bit expensive but the serving speed is good. Best burgers, you will find at Burger King. Not really sure they qualify as fast food as the serving is quite slow. It is all in the sauce right. McDonalds, or the Donk, has the best Barbecue sauce. Very plain but the serving is generally fast.

Music and noise

Fast food restaurants is very noisy. Beeping cocking machines and loud guests. To top this of, loud music is also played. I do not know if this annoys me because I am from the country side. Are people in cities immune to background noise? The Donk plays modern music with somebody wailing away to a children’s chant. In BK it is similar while Max sticks out playing music from 70- and 80-ties, the decades when wailing was invented.

Why this stressful music? To get a fast flow of customers? Some may like this. Sit and listen to calmly digest their meal not build up to much flatulence? At any other restaurant you will probably hear some calm classical music. Check out my type of music, here.

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Environment

So fast food chains are very fast on picking up on trends, or even creates them, and it is not all bad. More and more dishes are plant based and there are more healthy alternatives. Efforts are made to reduce food waste by cocking to order. Offering charging for electric cars. Some adoptions to trends seems more dishonest like not offering plastic straws. Still the plastic cup cover is there and they still fill up half the cup with ice.

So I think there is a place for the fast food restaurants but we need be aware of the choices we make with our health and the environment just as when we go to the local restaurant. Like, Subscribe, share and Comment.

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Stone Beach reflections

Stone Beach reflections

Photo Ulle Haddock©

I’m the same as you, but not the same. On this spot by greater forces. We co-exist, united.

Like reflections. Depending of light created eight minutes ago. In ancient H2O.

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The house

The house

This was the latest he said. Everything was prepared and just shipped to the site on a truck, even the doors and windows. The salesman put up a dental commercial smile. They were actually a bit surprised when he didn’t pull up that toothpaste tube. Instead he pushed the contract forward on the table for them to sign. To make sure they didn’t read to close he offered more coffee. Again with that perfect smile he spent a full week perfecting at the sales training.

Photo by Ulle Haddock©

The couple looked at each other as to seek confirmation. He had been promoted to manager and with that he earned more money. Now was the time for that dream house on the west coast. Everything was prepared. A piece of land and a permit to build was granted from the county. The only problem was that the road was not able to carry a loaded lorry. They solved that by delivering the parts to the small village across the fjord. Then they simply loaded into rowboats and rowed across to the small beach. It was put there in a perfect order just waiting to be assembled.

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But it was never built. Nobody came to put it together. Days turned into weeks. Then into months and into years. A storm took the tarpaulin to the sea. Now nature had free access. Rain, snow and wind. Somebody did move in, but not humans. The tidy pile of building material became home to insects. Insects that started feast of the trusses and the window frames. Finally ants found a perfect spot for their empire. A tree grew next to the pile, higher and higher until a storm tilted it over the pile. Sounds of shattered glas was drowned by the howling wind.

Photo by Ulle Haddock©

Slowly nature wins and soon only the roofing tiles and the shattered glas remains. Remains of somebody’s dream. Why was it not built? What happened with the couple in front of the smiling salesman? There is a true story and I’m sure my father-law knows it. I would like you to use your imagination and fill in the missing piece in the story. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section.

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Foundation

Foundation

He held his arm around his shoulder. It was strong and heavy over his small shoulders. It was an unusual closeness he showed him. As he stood there he realized that it was the closest to a hug he could remember. A cool breeze came from the southwest on this late summers day. The smell of sweat as they stood there looking. He looked up at his fathers face. He was pleased, proud even. How many times had he not felt the pain from his open hand hitting him in the neck. Accused of showing pride. A mortal sin for his strictly religious father.

You know son, his father said while pulling him even closer. This will stand a hundred years from now. Long after both you and me are gone. Our great grand children will live here. This foundation is as solid as the Lord. As if that statement got him to realize what sin he was committing, he let go of his embrace by pushing his son hard forward. The boy could barely keep the balance when he landed two meters away. Now let us start with the floor frame, he said in a harsh voice.

Little did he know that day that the foundation would stand almost completely intact hundred fifty years later. Even if it was unprotected by a house for over a hundred years.

The foundation and food cellar. Photo by Ulle Haddock ©

Weakened by the fever he tried to pray. Pray for forgiveness for his and his fathers pride that day. That blessed and cursed day when the foundation was completed and again when the house was done. Together with his father they built a house stronger and higher than the neighbors. Now God was punishing them by taking his entire family in this flu. This terrible flu they said came from Spain.

Trough foggy eyes he saw them take away his wife and two daughters to be buried on that island. He hoped that the priest had consecrated the ground so they could go to heaven. He was convinced to go the other direction even if he tried to convince the Lord to accept him in his prayers. After all he had worked hard from dusk to dawn. He had never missed a Church day and spent the evenings in prayer together with his family.

A few days later the two poor peasants tossed him over the other bodies in the boat. They rowed with tired strokes the short distance to the island. He was dropped with the others in the large grave. While some other poor boys covered the bodies with the sandy soil they drank their Scandinavian vodka and smoked their pipes. Where is the priest, one of them asked with a faint smile. The other frowned and looked at him with misstrust. He has bolted himself inside the chapel. Some say has gone mad. They can hear him scream inside. You’ll see, soon we will toss him in the same pit as these.

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This story is inspired by the foundation you see in the pictures. We don’t really know what happened to the family but the house construction made of wood was dimanteled and moved fifty kilometer inland for almost hundred years ago. The Churches in this area had a very strict interpretation of the bible in this period around 1900. This trend in the Church was called Schartauanism after the priest Henric Schartau.

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