Sherlock the Shitsu
A few hours of Zoe's and my Christmas Day were spent rescuing a Shitsu named Sherlock who had somehow escaped from the care of his owner. We found him crossing the busy main road that runs through Llandaff North, and Zoe, who has a running history of dog-rescue immediately wooed him with a combination of stroking and dog-talk.
We couldn't care for him in our home because of Oscar and his territorial nature, so put him in our garden while we tried to locate the owners, who, it seems, had gone out for the afternoon. Then we called the police and were told that we should go to the police station, get a form, and then drop him off at the local Dog Pound (which, we were assured, was open).
Zoe and I drove to the police station, collected the form and drove down to the shelter only to find it closed. We drove back hopelessly pondering our options (Drop him off at the park/police station/local pub?) By the time we got back and contacted the police it turned out that Sherlock's owners had also contacted them and we were given an address (2 minutes walk from our house) where they could be found...

"What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?"

Farmer Seeks Wife
Of all the strange things you find on Swedish television this has to be the funniest concept. It's a classic reality TV formula, with a twist...
Basically a farmer writes in to the producers saying "I'm looking for a lady," they find a few girls who fancy their chances with this flannel-clad batchelor, he dates each of them and decides who he likes best. I've only seen it once, but I enjoyed the fact that, it being in Swedish, I could make up what they were saying to eachother ("so, are you any good with a hand-drawn plough?")

In summary...
Highlights of the past week and a half.

Crowning of the Lucia, Glögg & Pepparkakor
Christmas festivities have well and truly arrived. It seems like everywhere you go people are drinking glögg (like mulled wine only nicer, and commonly served with raisins, almonds and a spoon) and eating pepparkakor (ginger biscuits). Wednesday is Lucia - my favourite (pseudo) Swedish tradition. Last Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Crowning of the Lucia, which is kind of like a beauty/personality contest, where someone is chosen to be the Lucia for a particular town (in this case Malmö). The Lucia doesn't have to sing, but usually has to wear candles on her head, which has got to be tricky. I say usually because the Malmö Lucia is wearing plexi-glass this year...

Calaisa
Last Sunday evening Christoffer introduced me to this Swedish equivalent of the Corrs or the Dixie Chicks. They have a great story, which goes something like: went to Nashville; played at a party; were asked to play at someone's brothers' party; agreed; turned out that the 'someone's brother' was the head of Universal Records in Nashville; got signed...

They are a great bunch of musicians and clearly very talented. I wouldn't buy their record, but then the same goes for The Corrs or Dixie Chicks. The Nashville Music Industry has certainly left its mark on them, bringing words like 'pre-packaged' to mind. That said it was really nice to hear them live.

Niklas Hegfalk and Band
On Saturday we witnessed Niklas Hegfalk and Band at Vinylbaren (part of KB). Niklas' songs really grew with the full band, at times drifting from straight-up folk to a kind of thrashy post-rock. It was standing room only in this jammed bar with steamy windows. Click here for photos.

Work work work
This has been my first year of running my own business, and it's been a really interesting adventure. Right now it seems like things are beginning to gain momentum. Check out Looks Can Kill for more...

What does it mean?
There have been some great moments recently where I've been with friends and our conversations have become centered around the questions "what does it really mean to follow Jesus?" I think this is one of those questions that is so healthy to keep asking, especially for those of us who have chosen to make it our life's work.

and beyond...

Home for Christmas
Next Monday, the 18th December I fly home for Christmas. This time round I get to celebrate my birthday (which is on the 19th) with my family, which will be really nice. I'm really looking forward to tasting a 'decent' curry. I'll be back in Malmö on the 4th January.

Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen (an essay on the wonders of cultural difference)
A fortnight (or so) ago we had Luke over for a meal and after the usual superficial chit chat about the ingredients of the non-alcoholic cider we were drinking (fläder/elderflower if you're interested), and how cold it is in Sweden, we began an interesting dialogue (or more a quadologue) on the feminist reading of mine and Luke's "manners". Luke is Southafrican and has grown up holding doors for women, standing when they enter a room, giving up his seat on a bus etc. All things that I've also been used to.

In Sweden, or so Ellen would have us believe, women see this as utterly patronising. It is a cultural statement that means the same as "I don't believe you should be allowed to vote, or earn as much as I do." Before I go on, I have to say that I strongly and agressively disagree with the idea that women should be paid less or be denied voting rights. At the same time I don't wholeheartedly buy into equality - i.e. everyone is the same and that besides the obvious physical differences there is no difference between the way that a man and a woman looks at the world (of course people are more complex than just the gender distinction).

Anyway, a few days later I was at a party in Rosengård, and revisited this conversation in an even more multicultural setting. I explained my reason for being more comfortable walking on the road-side of the pavement (because, in the event of there being puddles in the road, you would protect the person you are walking with from getting splashed). This time Heber, who is from Venezuela, chimes in "it's the same in my country, except that if the woman walks on the road-side then it means that she is for sale!"

In truth chivalry is a dying art, even in the UK ("the home of the gentleman"). I learned its value because I listened to old people (in their 80s upwards) when I was younger, and because of a fascination I once had with musicals from the 1950s. I think that there is a huge amount of value in caring for members of the opposite sex, in treating them well (as 'ladies'). It is wonderfully romantic and side-steps our cultural obsession with objectification.

I do not believe the being a feminist means you have to give up on romance.

Faithful reader, apologies that these next two posts have been in the pipeline for a little while...I seem to have a bit of a backlog in my Draft Posts...

The Mark, founder of iBlog (the first South African Blogging site), and Fotix (a photoblogging service) has just launched Riter, "the first fairly-traded, ethical blog hosting website. In the world."

Basically,
1. you set up a blog for free.
2. Ads on your blog generate profit.
3. 50% of those profits go straight to charitable organisations.

Click here for a great, and easy way of helping the poor.
Oh, and spread the world...

I've been a bit quiet here because I've been working long days preparing to launch www.htlorg.com. When I've been off-duty the last thing I've wanted to do is look at a screen. After looking at code for so long it's hard to string a sentence together, so I thought I'd spare you...

In my lunch breaks I've been taking walks in Malmö harbour, which overlooks the Oresund Bridge (that takes you from Malmö to Copenhagen). There is something really special about being close to the sea, especially when you are not native to the place where you live. It feels like home is that much closer. For the past two days the bridge has vanished behind a thick cloud of mist, but on Tuesday night, when I was out running, the sky was dappled with all the blues and reds of a proper late-autumn evening. Those evenings it feels like God has truly gone to work preparing a masterpiece for the eyes.