The Quiet Picture

Every time you go walking outside here you can hear dogs yapping and howling incessantly. Hunting is popular in Sweden but around here it’s holy, so many people have elk and bear dogs and most of them are kept outside, where they naturally have to mark their territory by yapping as soon as you get within sight or hearing distance from their house. Jolly good I don’t have any of these dogs as a neighbour or I’d go crazy, just can’t understand how the people can put up with the constant barking.I guess it’s a bit ironic that I have ended up in a place filled with hunt worshippers. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t have anything against hunting as such. I’m a meat eater for sure so it would only be double standards to accept killing in a slaughterhouse but not in the forest. My problem with hunting stems from the insanely stupid arguments for defending the blood sport. It seems like there is not enough game for the human hunters and their animal counterparts - mainly wolves. As long as the hunters are concerned, the fewer the wolves, the better. Now that they can’t argue that wolves decimate the elk numbers (there was a recent article on the increase in elk), they argue that the wolves eat up their hunting dogs.

Personally, I think that is as good an argument for having more wolves as any! *

One thing I fail to understand no matter how many time it’s repeated to me, is that hunting is needed to keep the elk numbers in check. I’m sorry, but wasn’t that the job of the wolves? The wolves are guaranteed to be much better hunters than humans anyway. Wolves only kill the weakest animals, allowing the species as a whole to stay strong. Humans on the other hand, the bigger the bull, the better. Think about the lions in some parts of Africa. You won’t see a male lion with a big mane anymore… because the males with big manes were killed off first. So human activity forced survival of the fittest, that being a male lion with a small mane. But whatever, with the current predator numbers, hunting is genuinely needed in order to prevent the elk numbers to get too big. Since we have driven off the natural enemies of the elk, it is now left to us to hold the unnatural balance in nature. But then again, man stopped being part of the nature the moment he built his first city.

Instead of fighting over the number of wolves and bears we should have, why not try to concentrate the energy on finding out ways how to live in peace with the predators? I think that this is the measure of our ingenuity - are we able to share the world with the creatures that inhabited it before us, or are we going to exterminate every species that can compete with us?

* * *

* Let’s get this straight - I do like dogs in general. I just don’t like the barely domesticated ones kept outside 365 days a year, barking 24/7! Although… There are no problem dogs, there are only problem owners…[end of rant]

The Julbocken in Gävle was burned today. That was fast…The Julbocken (Christmas goat) is a giant straw goat that is put on display in Gävle every December. Then the bets are on - when will it be burned down? Naturally, it’s not really supposed to go up in flames but it should stand firm until Christmas. Apparently, this has actually happened a few times but not while I have been here (just a co-incidence!).

As usual, I’m slightly confused. If the tradition is not to burn it down but the pyromaniacs always get to it anyway, why not stop with the thing altogether? No straw goat, no bonfire.

But then again, I’m not Swedish. I don’t get the straw goat to start with. Oh and I also hate Christmas.

I just got a book called “Is it just me, or is everything shit?”. Sometimes I get a feeling that everything, really, is shit. Take radio for example. I listen to Rix FM in the car. The signal fades away often but that’s ok with me, I like the silence. The occasional good song makes it worth keeping it on. I just can’t believe how much crap I have to suffer to get to the good part.

• Bon Jovi - “Welcome to Wherever You Are”: You used to be tough, 80’s style. Now you sound like Robbie Williams.
• Robbie Williams - “Tripping”: Robbie seems to be under the illusion that blending three songs into one is genius. The opinion seems to be shared by his fans. Newsflash - three bad don’t make one good. If anything positive has to be said, the hook is catchy (ergo, I turn off the radio - and then forget to turn it on again until the next day).
• Robbie Williams - “Advertising Space”: So bad that it doesn’t even have a hook. If anything good has to be said, it’s that I don’t have to turn off the radio.
• Backstreet Boys comeback: It was enough the first time around.
• September - “Satellites”: Miss September probably thinks the lyrics are clever. They are not. I can forgive simple lyrics but pure nonsense wrapped in a Euro-disco beat is a criminal offense. This is a worst case example of non-native English speaker trying to make use of three syllable words.
• Mauro Scocco - “Kall stjärna”: Kent just called. They want their sound back.
• Daniel Powter - “Bad Day”: Apparently, Mr Powter had trouble getting a record contract. I regret to hear that some company finally did sign him.
• Nickelback - “Photograph”: Sorry, I thought you were a serious band.
• Westend Girls - “Domino Dancing”: Pet Shop Boys should sue you. Failing that, everyone not completely tone deaf should do it.
• James Blunt - “You’re Beautiful”: Can you say “one hit wonder”?

And what could possibly be worth all the shite? Well, maybe something like “Hung Up” by Madonna. I have never been a real Madonna fan, but now I am forever grateful that she went through all the trouble to get the permission to sample Abba. The greatest pop icon of our time sampling the all-time greatest pop band is an historical event of a magnitude never imagined before. It’s almost worth listening through a Robbie Williams song.