Death Wish and More

The temperature dipped again. Good thing I have a jacket that has some warm lining in it.

On the topic of cold weather, although it’s not as frigid as a few months ago, last night’s temperature still dipped to 0C for a while. So it can still be considered cold. Why then, did the apartment management turn off all the heaters in the entire building? The heaters in my room and the bathroom don’t work anymore. I thought that they were spoilt. But the heaters in the common kitchen are cold as well. So are the heaters of my neighbours. I don’t know much about how things work here, but it can get really cold at times. That means I have to keep my windows closed. While my room certainly doesn’t smell, I’d still like to open the windows for fresh air and some circulation. Not possible when it’s cold and the heaters don’t work. SO, why did they turn off the heating in the apartments? To save money? Or do they want to kill us me? Or is it a natural thing to do when it’s spring regardless of the outside temperature? Pray, enlighten me if you know the answer.

Edit: Now, I feel a little warmth from the heaters. Odd. Why did the heaters stop working for the past days?

And so… I had my presentation today. It was excellent, I tell you, excellent. If I presented the very same results to Boss, he would have been very angry and I betcha he’d say, “I expected a lot more from you.” But here, the Prof was extremely excited about the results (or non-results) and she was very encouraging. It really made my day to hear her say that it was good work! And it gave me the motivation to continue with the work despite being frustrated by the lack of progress. After the meeting even PCM clone told me it was a good piece of detective work and another said the presentation was excellent.

Goodness gracious me. One piece of result, and two totally different reactions. If I actually showed that work to Boss, I must have a death wish of sorts. I love being here. I get to explore, and fail on my own accord. I learn much more this way and instead of being focused on the results all the time, who knows I may end up finding out much more.

We went for a picnic lunch this afternoon. It was in a place called Kungsängsleden, a nature reserve where a type of flower grows. This flower only grows wild on this field in the whole of Sweden, I was told. And it was brought there by the father of botany, Carl Linneaus. Coincidently, the field is also the battle site between the Danes and the Swedes some 700 more years ago. And the red/purples represent the Danes who died there, while the white ones represent the Swedes. Needless to say, there are much fewer white ones than there are red.

The green leaves. Beautiful scene, isn't it? The light green leaves slowly turn a darker shade in time and then to the autumn colours. After which they fall and the process begins over again. You'll never see this in the Little Red Dot.

Field of flowers (Kungsäng)

In memory of a fallen Dane

In memory of a fallen Swede.

I’m told that once spring is here, the weather will turn warmer. Hmm... Most parts of the day were below 10C and the wind, which brings about the shear factor, was rather strong. I’m also told that once spring is here, the Swedes, regardless of the weather, will dress for spring. That means thinner clothes, short sleeves, shorts, and so on. “We bought all the nice clothes for spring, so we have to wear them.”

Er… death wish?

It is beautiful. When dressed appropriately, I don’t feel the bitterness of the cold that badly. And I really enjoy being out in the open, enjoying the fresh air (and the smell of dung fertiliser) like I did today. This is one thing I would never do back in the Little Red Dot. We have to beat the heat, by staying indoors in air-conditioned comfort. And fresh air? You must be joking. Although our air quality is rated good, it’s just clean, not pure nor fresh. Have a whiff at the air here, and you’ll know the difference. Good thing I’m not allergic to pollen.

Ah… Fresh air smells so good.