Update

Today the price of gas was 14.01SEK/liter. That’s $2.35CAD or $2.33USD.
That makes me sicker than Chemo ever did!

At least the rain has abated and they are promising somewhat better weather in a few days….

June 24th

Not that I’m about to complain, but don’t you think this picture would be more appropriate if posted in about – oh, 6 months or so?
Roaring fire, cat snuggling up to the stove on top of my Indian blanket, me sitting in an easy chair with a mug of Glühwein…
It’s been raining more or less steadily since lunch yesterday, the temperature is going for a nose dive (+7 Celcius when I checked the last time) and that basket of wood came to use.

Pity The Rich

In 2006 a coalition of conservative and liberal parties won the election in Sweden. Since taking over January 1st 2007, they have made quite a few changes in various systems – most of them to do with the economy, some relating to other aspects of life.

Chief among the reasons for their reforms has been the mantra that “work should be worth your while.” Consequently they lowered the taxes on employment income, calculated as a percentage on your earnings. Sounds great – doesn’t it?
Yea – excepting that low income = small tax break, high income = big tax break, digustingly high income = obscene tax break.

• Was this reform a clever disguise to let the richest keep more of their earnings – or am I just being overly suspicious?

Admittedly, Swedish tax rates are high – but then we also have (had) a social welfare system which gave everyone a basic security, even when sick or unemployed. Yes, these things cost money and if you listen to our government, we can blame all ills in society on the sick and unemployed.

Over time they have introduced a mass of new regulations for all of the above – most of them along the lines of stringent time limits on entitlements to benefits. Please note: these are all benefits we pay for over our taxes.

Now, getting kicked out from sick benefits or unemployment insurance doesn’t make you healthier OR create new jobs – but it will greatly improve the statistics presented by the government… It will also increase the burden put upon the counties since they are the ones who pay out income supplements, housing allowance and the like.

• Are these measures designed to free up money for other reforms that will only benefit the rich, fully employed and healthy?

Formerly Real Estate Tax was calculated on the ratable value of the schack, house or mansion you owned. Size, location, standard and a few other things were factored in, but generally big and fancy meant higher taxes. Naturally, we couldn’t have it this way – so this tax was immediatly abolished to jubilant cheers from the ritzy suburbs around our capital. Instead there would be a Real Estate Fee levied by each county…

No! This. Is. Not. A. Tax. This only be tiny little fee…

Right! Suddenly close to 300,000 homeowners are paying more in Real Estate Fee than what they were when it was called a tax and was collected by the central government! What’s more – the absolute majority live in areas where the housing market is far from hot… Granted, those living in high-price areas and are owners of large, attractive investments are laughing all the way to the bank – but hey, we can’t all be winners, all the time!

• Is this a reversed Robin Hood-tax, or am I again too suspicious?

The government has also presented measures to cut down on under-the-table-economy. One such reform was a generous tax-deduction for household services. This would enable busy people to hire someone to do the cleaning, gardening, the picking up of kids from day-care as well as minor home improvements. Not only would it create thousands upon thousands of new jobs – just think how lovely it would be for all mothers who could now afford a Maid Service!

Well, apparently this last scheme hasn’t become quite the success they expected – the Tax Office has not drowned under applications for the deduction. I’m not about to analyse the why’s and what for’s behind this but an item on the evening news last night made me choke.

To encourage more people to use household services they are now proposing a slight change in the system. The Service Provider bills the customer a lesser amount and receives the difference between old and new price by reporting in his/her business to the Tax Office, who in their turn will reimburse the Service Provider.

Now why didn’t they think about that from the start????

Just imagine the amount of time it would have saved the 2,5% of the population who can afford to pay someone for picking up their kids at day-care or rake leaves off their lawn!

Never mind the slap in the face it is for everyone who saw their latest tax-break be eaten up by a new surcharge on the car insurance.

You ask what that was for?

Oh, to pay for more of the medical expenses relating to automotive accidents. Yes, the same medical expenses we already pay for over our taxes!

BTW – can you tell the cold has lost its iron grip on me?

Cold

Miserable, vile, mean, pathetic and wretched – I need some more words to describe what is afflicting both me and Richard since a few days!
Yesterday the doctor sent me home with an expectorant, since I showed no signs of a bacterial infection. Today my temperature is 38.3 C which means I will soon don military issue long underwear and crawl under the comforter.
Wouldn’t you know this would have to happen when I’m only one day away from summer holidays!

Not Good Bye but See You!

Looking back at my posts during the last week, I realise that I haven’t mentioned the graduation we were invited to on Thursday. Contrary to what you might think, it’s not because it was such a minor thing that I forgot about it… Quite the opposite, I’ve been dreading it for months!

Our Senior High School has a very specialized automotive program geared towards the car testing industry, which has been established here for more than 20 years. Audi, BMW, Bosch and a number of other companies have their own testing facilities around town -most of them tucked away out of sight. The students hail from all parts of Sweden and some of them had barely been away from home when they started here at the age of 15-16 years. The first year they are required to live in dorms but after that some of them find their own accomodations around town.
About 1½ year ago, Richard got to know a few of them who needed parts for their old cars. Pretty soon we had a bunch of teenagers who would spend time in the garage here, have supper with us every now and then, crash on the couch and on mattresses after tinkering with engines all night.
Some would probably say I’m a bit strange, but that pile of sneakers inside the door looked OK…
Making meat sauce on 2 kgs of meat and ending up with enough leftovers for only one lunch was fine by me…

Seeing them graduate on Thursday was the happy-saddest occasion in a long time.

We’ve borrowed these guys from their parents this winter but I can’t say who has benefitted the most.
Whenever they’ve descended on us, I’ve become a stand-in mother to teenagers, loving every minute of it.
Richard has had the opportunity to share his impressive knowledge of all things automotive.
We’ve shared many laughs and conversations about a number of things and truly enjoyed each others company.

We all kept a stiff upper lip during graduation dinner, until it was time for us to leave… I don’t do Good Byes very well!

Sad News

Last November, when I first got the idea to start a blog to keep family and friends informed about what ewas going on, I started looking for others who were writing about the same thing. I soon found that blogs about lung cancer were few and far inbetween – mainly because so few survive lung cancer.

One of the few I found was Stig in Germany. A man about the same age as my son who had been diagnosed about 4 months before me. His wasn’t due to smoking and it wasn’t the same type as mine – but it was lung cancer. I’ve kept up with his blog all along and was very sad to read in mid-april that he had taken a turn for the worse.
I don’t think he even knew of my existence – we hadn’t established a “commenting relationship” to each others blogs, I was just a lurker on his… but today when I found out that he died this past Saturday, I felt as if I have lost a close friend.

January or June 10th?

I’m not sure how much rain we’ve had in the last 24 hrs – but it’s more than a shower! Right now the temperature is hovering around +4 Celcius (just a tad over freezing) and the wind is whipping up white-crested waves on the lake. We have a fire in the wood stove and the dogs are curled up on the rug….
It could be worse – cities north of us (Gallivare and Kiruna) had snow yesterday – but that doesn’t exactly lessen my misery! The hike we planned for tomorrow is not going to be and I don’t even want to think about the rest of the week.

Wrap-up

Last week of school – the grades are entered and there is an awful lot of marking time…
Tomorrow will see our students partake in various activities and crafts to be displayed during Open House tomorrow evening. On Wednesday we clean out classrooms and lockers before we go for a hike in the afternoon. Thursday is devoted to the annual softball tournament – and on Friday graduation!
I am already beginning to dread the saying Good Bye to “my” Grade 9 students…

In other news – they are predicting snow flurries in the mountains in the next 24 hours.

National Holiday

June 6th has been the Swedish National Holiday since 1983 but it didn’t become a red day until in 2005. When I returned to Sweden in -92 I had celebrated Canada Day during 18 years and I thought it was really nice to see the Swedish flags on all buses this day for the first time in 1993. I also appreciated the free ride to the open air mueseum in town. By the way, it’s called Jamtli and well worth a visit!
However, I was very surprised at hearing the comments from some of my fellow busriders. Most people were appreciative, but some almost seemed offended at the thought of celebrating a National Holiday! That speaks volumes about the ambivalent feelings held by Swedes when it comes to anything that alludes to pride in your own country, the waving of flags or (gasp!) patriotism…
In 2005 it was decided that June 6th would become a red day but Whitsun Monday would no longer be a holiday. Personally, I thought this made a lot of sense, since a majority of us Swedes hardly even remember the religious background to Whitsuntide. Judging from the news coverage in the papers and on TV, the celebrations are getting bigger and more organised every year and are attended by more people. That’s great and I guess I should “put my money where my mouth is” and drive to town today….
However, with the price of gas being what it is, I’ll do my celebrating at home!

Attitude Adjustment, Please!

My own – that is. A couple of incidents at work this afternoon put me in a really foul mood – and I was still upset by the time I came home. Normally, that 50 km-drive gives me enough time to sort things out for myself, not so today.

After supper, I took Tjorro on a lead and headed towards the marshland just above our house. He needed to get out a bit, and I thought a walk in the woods would help me simmer down.I was also going to check out the water level in the marsh and the adjoining lake – and take a picture to compare with this one.

Well, guess where the camera was? Righto – at home on the desk! In any event – the marsh where I pick almost all of the cloudberries we need, now has a new landmark. This tree fell over during the latter part of spring, probably from a combination of heavy, wet snow on the branches and almost no frost in the ground.

My walk, you ask? Well, Tjorro began a major excavating-job not even 500 meters from the house, so I just sat down on a tree trunk and watched while he worked himself tired. In the meantime I also did some sorting out and came to the conclusion that I’m not going to work myself into a lather over someone else’s poor decisions.

Nuff said!