Author Archives: jon

When I were a lad, we ate rocks

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I turned vegan when I was around seventeen, which is now some twenty-six years ago. During that time I have been witness to the comings and goings of different foodstuffs, from pork pies, to quorn (originally thought to be vegan when it first came out), to the relatively new addition of tzay. One thing that has not changed over the years is the availability of fast food. Not that we eat it a great deal, but it is a bit limiting when we go to town and desire something to keep us going.

We are currently in the middle of a trail period here in Stockholm. Two of the biggest chain newsagents (for want of a better word), Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven are, at selective outlets, offering vegan hot dogs to those inclined.

Yesterday, the ladies of the house went to Pressbyrån and tried one sort. Both Freya and Zelda ate a whole hot dog each, something which does not happen so often at home. And today the whole family went to 7-Eleven and purchased a different kind. Freya managed two this time.

Although it will not be such a regular occurrence, it was nice to be able to be “normal”. The main reason for the visits is to support the introduction of vegan food in newsagents. Whether it continues to be so depends, of course, on sales.

Vegan food has definitely changed. For the better.

Hotel Life

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One of the benefits of Jo’s work is that she can get discounts on hotel stays. We have not been so good at exploiting this, though yesterday was an exception. Yesterday, the whole family stayed at the Clarion Hotel Sign.

A normal booking costs about 1500 crowns, though we paid a far more respectable 200. As if this were not good enough, we think we may have got an upgrade, living in a very cool triangular shaped room, which made it more luxurious.

Needless to say, the children loved it, exploring every nook and cranny, taking baths, using the hairdryer and showing a sudden thirst when they saw the minibar. They aslo enjoyed a trip to the fabulous restaurant, Kyoko, where we indulged in home made tofu and vegan meatballs.

This morning we talked about a visit to another Clarion hotel. I (we) cannot wait.

Goodbye Car

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For a few years we had the use of an old Volvo 740, given to us by Jo’s brother. Throughout that time we made good use of it, even though it required necessary fixing now and again, which put a dent in our non-existent savings.

We recently said enough is enough after troubles with starting a day before we were to go to the north of Sweden for our Christmas holidays. The solution to the problem may have been easy and cheap to fix – we never enquired – but it was one outlay of money too many for us to contemplate taking it in to a garage. Instead we found a free service to take care of our (un)trusty automobile.

So it with a modicum of happiness that we live without a car. Apart from the never knowing when it would break down or something would break, it means I do not have to worry about receiving parking tickets. Irritatingly, we live in an area just outside the city limits, and there are no tennant parking spaces available. Instead, the only “safe” way to park is to pay a ridiculous amount a month for the garages below the flats: something which we are loathe to do, since we could get three parking tickets a month and still be paying less than a proper parking space would cost.

So, thank you, car, for shuttling us and our goods around. We appreciate all you have helped us with.

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Lucia 2011

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Not the most successful of Lucia celebrations this year. Zelda had been vomiting a few days previous to the big event, so we decided to keep her away from school, lest she infect anyone there. Freya was also at home, as a precautionary measure, but showed no real signs of becoming ill. Yesterday, she was so upset that she was not able to a part of the Lucia celebrations at her school, so we thought it would be low risk to let her go.

Forty minutes before she was to perform, while I was on the train to her school, Jo rang me to tell me that Freya had thrown up.

Freya was not as devastated as I thought when I met her. In fact, she has not even mentioned it. But the end result is still that neither of our daughters got the Lucia experience this year, which is a little bit sad.