Linear view vs. Masonry View

Tag Archive for ‘Stories’

Haze

Haze

You walk around in a haze. Trying hard not to bump into other people. Watch your step! Forget it, your feet are gone in a fog that makes the area around a chain smoker look clear. Should you by any change see through the mist, your sight will be blocked by something blue or white sticking out over your nose.

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You try to breathe. Like a steam train pulling to many wagons loaded with iron ore. Or high up in the mountains carrying your skis in deep snow for that offpist. You try, oh well not so difficult in the fog, to avoid the young peoples pitiful eyes. They look at you with “are you having a heart attack old man” written in the question mark over their heads.

Don’t try to speak. The stubble on your cheeks will pull it down. You try to adjust it. Only to get an angry look from the old lady in front of you. “No you should not touch it” she says with a high-pitched voice that makes the damp on your glasses freeze. At least the fog went away. Now everything looks much more psychedelic. What was it really in that coffee?

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You stumble of the train. As soon as you are alone you rip it of with a sigh of relief. Only to see your expensive glasses go to the ground. The spectacle sidepiece stuck in the lace of the FACE MASK! You put on your spare spectacles on only to see a lady in the next car get out and easily put the mask on. She wants to look good so she uses a car window as a mirror to adjust it. Four pair of eyes from inside looks up with a very surprised expressions.

No I will not take a stand for or against Face Masks but tomorrow I will get contact lenses. If I can find my way home! Hope you enjoyed. You know the drill, like, comment and subscribe.
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Stonewall

Stonewall

He took of his cap and dried the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The linnen cap was already soaking from sweat. He gazed towards the sun. Sun burning his eyes.

He called out to his son to bring him some water. His son hurried to bring him the water bottle that he handed over with his head bowed. With a trembling voice he told his father that the water was almost out. His father bent down. Held him hard around the neck and with his dark growling voice asked him; “Well why don’t run to the well and get some more”!

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He took the bottle and writhed out of his fathers grip. He could feel the slap in the air behind him. With a long harang of swearword the father resumed his struggle with a large stone in the dry soil. As he placed it with the others in the stonewall he looked at it. This would help keeping the neighbors sheep in their place. But the poor soil in the field he was clearing would not feed many mouths.

Was it this stonewall? Today hidden in the forest.

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Mulle Meck

Mulle Meck

The continued story of a black car with a soul.

One of my first blog posts was about a car me and my son bought for him to learn mechanics. Read it here. Now I had to sell it as my son is no longer with us. It was with mixed feelings. But I’m convinced that the VW Golf has a soul, or a ghost. So Mulle Meck provided me with some more stories.

Bilprovning

In Sweden all vehicles needs a safety check up every year by a government controlled station, “Bilprovningen”. I was convinced there would be some things to fix before it was OK for another year. I sat down in the car that we named “Mulle Meck” and turned the key. Nothing! Not a click or cough, nothing. The skilled mechanic, me, popped the hood and looked down in the engine room. Trying to look knowledgeable. Waste, it was only me there. Maybe the car would be scared and start!

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So without doing something else I tried to start again. Yes, you guess was correct, nothing. The German engineers back in 2000 had in their mind that a petrol car need electric power to start. Hidden like a treasure under a plastic cover I found the battery. Do you know how high you jump touching even a flat car battery? About a meter is my estimate, landing firmly on your posterior.

Engine kittens

My father-law had a battery charger and with some instructions from him I managed to charge the battery. Trying to avoid setting a new battery jump record I disconnected the cables. As I turned the key there was lights on the dashboard and after some very nice words, in german, to the car I turned to start. Ignition, Mulle Meck was spinning like a kitten! I could almost go on YouTube! Mjau!

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As I expected Mulle Meck did not pass the safety check. The threshold boxes was infested with corrosion, Covid-19 for cars. Parking brake was too weak and there was an oil leakage. My wallet screamed in fear, seeing all those kronor fly away to a greedy garage owner. It was time for me and Mulle to part by selling it of. I was crying tears and Mulle Meck dripped oil on the parking.

Lockdown

In Göteborg, a two hour drive away there is a company buying old cars after a checking it first. So I arranged a time last Friday. So the day before I started up the car. It started only after multiple attempts. To charge the battery I let it run while I put in the spare wheels in the back to go with sale. As I shut the booth I heard how the doors locking with a loud click!

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Car running and the only key was in the car! I tested all four doors without any luck. Last change was the booth. With trembling hands I reached for the handle and pulled. I think I heard Mulle Meck laughing when it had left it unlocked. Luckily I am very agile still even if I passed fifty years. Hoping nobody could see me I wiggled my way in and managed to open the back door. From there the front door was easily opened. Saved!

Last laugh on me

On the way to the dealer Mulle Meck was running like a Formula One car. Don’t worry, I did not drive that fast. A mechanic from Barcelona started to check the car by taking a short test drive. Came back and placed it in the garage with the engine running. Open the hood and got out of the car to check for vibrations in the engine room. He closed the door and the creepy sound of looking doors was heard! Mind you this Halloween season! The mechanic looked at me and asked if there was another key!

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You can now hear the music from Alfred Hitchcocks horror movies. You know when they abuse the violins. By now I was convinced that there would be no sale while crawling in from the booth. I’m not kidding, the car was laughing! There was a sale but as you can imagine I didn’t get much paid. Enough for a treat at Göteborgs best sausage place. Gourmet Korv in Nordstan shopping mall.

Hope you liked the story of Mulle Meck. Find more from me here. Like, subscribe and comment.

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Invisible

Invisible

He was grunting to himself as he poked through the waste basket. Without looking up he moved to the next. Now mumbling louder he started to poke this one also. He looked up triumphant as he found a returnable bottle. A half eaten hamburger was also collected after he taken a bite.

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People walked passed him as if he was not there. Amazingly nobody bumped into him even if the railroad station mall was really crowded at rush hour. Even the mobile phone zombies managed to avoid him. It was like there was some kind of advanced radar system keeping the two worlds apart.

I wondered why this man ended up here. Dirty and worn down clothes. Hair that was a long time away from Head & Shoulders. I recalled the commercial with that hockey player telling the team. “First shampoo, then balsam”. I didn’t think he would care if he only was allowed a shower.

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I was disturbed by the waitress that came with my coffee. When I looked out for the man again he was gone. Suddenly I saw him between two security guards leading him out from the station mall. Out in the cold. Strange that the only ones saw him was the security guards. What was the risk? Probably that he dampen the shopping spirit by reminding us what can happen if we stop fitting in.

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Bite

Bite

The dog barked aggressively. Showing her teeth and growled deep down in the throat. But this boy showed no fear. Smiling at his friends with confidence. They had dared him to approach the baby carriage that the dog was protecting. After all it was his baby brother in the carriage. His three year younger and five months old brother.

Their mother used to put his brother on the courtyard and leave the dog to watch him. The dog would bark when the boy made noise in the baby carriage. His mother came down from the second floor in the apartment building to feed the baby or change diaper. No one else were allowed near the baby. The bitch was really a hunting dog and not a family pet. For some reason she had taken the newborn under her protection. She barely allowed her master to pick the boy up. The master that she would obey blindly when they were out hunting.

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Today everything would change as the older brother continued to approach the baby carriage. When he reached over to pick the baby up she attacked. She attacked with her strongest and sharpest tool. Her teeth. The bite tore a large part of the cheek of and the boy screamed in pain and terror. The boys mother that just came down to see what was going on froze for a few seconds to the scene.

Her oldest boy bathing in blood. The baby on the ground, also covered in blood. The dog growling and barking with blood dripping from her teeth. Not knowing where she got the courage from she gave the dog a hard punch on the nose and picked up her oldest son. A large skin flap was hanging from the cheek and she placed it back the best she could and tried to stop the blood with her kitchen towel.

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Now the neighbors started to come to aid but the dog had now recovered from the surprise from the punch. She was now standing over the baby with bloody teeth and a dark dark growling. An ambulance was called for the boy and police to take care of the dog. The two policemen was not able to get hold of the dog until the boys father came home from work. He managed to contain the raging dog and the boys grandmother could finally pick up the baby from the ground.

This is based on a true story taking place in Göteborg, Sweden in the mid sixties. The doctors managed to save the older brothers cheek with only minor scars. The dog had to be put to death as it could not be trusted anymore. Please like, subscribe, share and comment. Check out more from me here.

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Pontoon

Pontoon

This past winter was one of the mildest ever. There was very little snow and the bay where we have the boat only froze once in early December. It was like a prolonged autumn. Not uncommon in the west coast of Sweden. This is due to the Gulf Stream that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to Scandinavia. This stream also brings mild and rainy weather over the British isles and then continues to Scandinavia. The winter comes from the north east. Normally we have a few weeks in January and February with temperatures below Zero degrees Celsius. Then the bays in the fjord freezes and with the wind and stream ice will press on any pontoons or bridges until they break.

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So to save our bridge pontoon we towed it across the bay and pulled it up on shore where the ice will not reach. Normally but not this year. Some heavy storms and low pressure weather systems made the water raise far over the normal level. At some point, even if we attached the pontoon well it came loose and floated away. So in the spring when we put the boat in the water we went to get the pontoon just to find it GONE! The first trip with the boat was to slowly seek out the shores in the fjord to find the pontoon. Hoping that it did no damage to something or floated out to the sea.

Far up on the rocky beach.
Salvaging

After about one hour we found it far up on a rocky beach. It was intact and not far from the anchoring point but on an island. It was too far up on the beach to be pulled into the water by boat. Me and my son started to try jerk and snitch with ropes and planks to move it into the water. We tried using planks and stones to create a lever to move the almost 200 kilo pontoon. We got it to move but some large stones stopped us and finally my back said. “Stop, you foolish old man” with a snap. We had to surrender for now. And it took more than a week for my back to heal.

After the second storm.

Before we could try again a new storm hit, moving the pontoon back up on the shore. So now we had lost all meters we managed last attempt. Fortunately it moved sideways away from the large stones. This time we came more prepared with more planks to use as lever and with more manpower. In the future I might write a blog on all Swedish swearwords because I think we used them all before we got the pontoon into the water. But we did it, YEAH!

Success
Strong men on a pontoon.

Now the wind had picked up and we got a strong head wind as we towed the pontoon to its anchoring point at the bridge. It is quite hard to steer a small boat alone in strong winds. So you can imagine the challenge towing a rectangular pontoon bridge. Now the challenge is to get the pontoon to the anchoring point without running into the rock or run the propeller into the seabed as the water is quite shallow. But with skill and MUCH luck we managed to steer clear and maneuver the pontoon to its anchoring point at the first attempt. Next year we will secure the pontoon better.

Do you like more stories from me Ulle Haddock? Like, subscribe and please comment!

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