nuzzaci - an online journal

Last time Ani Difranco visited the UK, Willow and I had tickets to the concert in Edinburgh but couldn’t go. So this time around i decided early on that only illness or death would be valid scenarios to prevent me from attending this concert. My character was put to the test when i realised that the F1 season finale in Brazil would collide with the concert. The question was never Ani DiFranco or the Formula One, the question was whether or not I would be able to watch the F1 first and then rush over to Shepherd’s Bush Empire for the concert. I decided it was too much of a gamble — even if it might be possible. I also decided that i didn’t want the outcome of the F1 to have an impact on how i would enjoy the concert.

Since i didn’t watch the race live, i knew i had to be careful with reading any text messages or answering any incoming calls to my mobile phone. So i only read text messages that arrived from people i knew weren’t interested in F1 or didn’t know i’m totally addicted to it. So when i got a text message from a Swedish mobile number that i hadn’t stored in my addressbook came through i thought it was safe. It read:

Vilken härlig tävling

Which means; What a wonderful competition

I didn’t know if i was being paranoid or not. A Formula One Grand Prix is not a competition — it’s a race. No, i thought, this must mean something else or it’s meant for someone else…. Then it hit me: Kari Kontro! I suspected (and later it turned out that i was right) that the text message from my ex girlfriend’s dad.

Kari and i had quite a few nice races together between the years 1999-2002. We were a bit like ying and yang when it came to Formula One; he being from Finland obviously liked McLaren with Mika Häkkinen from 1993 to 2001 and 2002 to 2006 with Kimi Räikkönen, me being half italian obviously loves Ferrari.

Anyone who knows people from Finland (or have seen press conferences with Mika or Kimi) now understand that the text message he sent to me has so much more weight and meaning than if it was sent from somebody with any other european cultural background. It could mean “YES!!!! KIMI WON!!!!“, it could mean, “It was really exiting. Kimi came close once again.“, it could mean, “Alonso and Hamilton were wheel to wheel during the end of the race.“. It’s now been a month and we all know what it meant (KIMI WON!!), but that’s now. A month ago i was sitting on the second balcony on Shepherd’s Bush Empire waiting for Ani Difranco to go on stage.

© Steve Asenjo 2007

Ani is special. A bit like special needs but without needs. Rather the opposite. She’s an extremely talented independent feminist solo artist measuring 157cm (5′ 2″) operating in a male dominated industry that focuses mainly on marketing female artists for their look and sex appeal; not their talent.

If you’ve read a few of my post (or know me in person) you might already know that i despise the modern music industry and am extremely pleased that they are down on their knees and covered in shit. Ani, to me, represents what music should be all about. I’m not tying it to the genre of music or that she has a political view or even that she is an extremely talented guitarist, lyricist and songwriter; she does what she does for the right reasons, and i adore her for it. Honesty before greed. Love and passion.

This was my first Ani concert, so i can’t compare it to any other Ani concert, but as far as concerts go — it was amazing. I went to the concert with Willow and Karl Ringman, and we all loved it.

I managed to capture a bit of footage with my mobile phone. It’s maybe not the best set up - a mobile phone on the second balcony - but small things can achieve great stuff. What i captured was Ani preforming a poem and a new song.

I’ve been a few places now, flown through vast empty spaces with stewardists who’s hands look much older than their faces.

My new mission is to write happy songs. Yeah i know — good luck — yeah i don’t know. Its like a fucking muscle i never used.

What doesn’t show in the footage (and that i haven’t mention yet) is how amazing the drummer was. Her name is Allison Miller and she was perfect.

Willow, wrote:

Leaving an Ani gig, you want to fill in the blanks of a conversation you started with her in your mind.

and i totally agree. I think Willow and I have to invite Ani over for bruschetta and a plate of freshly homemade spaghetti.

Q: WHY A Q&A?

A: Quite a few times during the Silverstone weekend I found myself thinking; “if i only knew this in advance”. Basically, as always with ‘The First Time of Anything’, there were a few things I would have done differently if I only had more information, more facts or more experience.

So, with that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to communicate to all the people who plan to go to a GP for the first time, the things that I would have liked to have known. Therefore i thought the Q&A format would be more suitable.

Q: WHAT WAS DIFFERENT THAN EXPECTED?

A: I would like to highlight three different things that caught me by surprise at my first ever Formula One Grand Prix.

1. The lack of glamour. I don’t know if this was due to the Silverstone circuit or just the glorification from the media. Surely the Monaco GP is a different saga than Silverstone, but I did imagine that the general organisation on any GP would be a bit more spectacular and special.

It was a bit more “just motor racing” than I thought it would be.

If you weren’t prepeared to pay £3.20 per beer; wanted cheesy fat food or weren’t interested in buying merchandise from the teams: you would have almost nothing to do besides waiting or sitting and watching the other events on the track.

2. The enormous presence of sponsors, and mainly Vodafone. Vodafone have literally bought Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The team merchandise is more Vodafone merchandise than it is a McLaren’s or Mercedes’s merchandise. It’s ridiculous.

They’ve also changed the color of Vodafone, it’s neon orange and not red. On TV it looks red, but in real life it’s neon orange. I’m not to sure that the color on TV is the main and only reason or not. I do find it a bit weird.

Since this was the home GP for Britain’s latest media revenue stream, Lewis Hamilton, the colors of Vodafone were obviously more present than any other, and that might have been why Vodafone felt so dominating. But it isn’t just that. It’s the amount of Vodafone on McLaren. It’s just sooo much. Mclaren has gone from being ‘Bruce McLaren Motor Racing’ to ‘Team McLaren Mercedes’ to ‘Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’. How much do you need to pay to change the initial name of a F1 team?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes new motor-home is three stories high and is called the “Brand Centre”. First floor is reception area and restaurant, second floor hierarchy; offices and rooms for the two drivers, the third floor belongs to Vodafone.

That’s a big slice of the cake.

3. The noise of a F1 engine. It’s damaging. I have heard they were loud, but I never imagine them being this loud. Especially the first couple of laps, when the gap between each car isn’t that big.

Q: BEST THING?

A: Well, the race (obviously). The atmosphere during the build up and during the race, the noise, the true phase of the cars — mind blowing and truly impressive.

But what added sugar on the cake of my first ever GP visit was the guided tour through the Super Auguri F1 garage and paddok area.

Cookie’s flat mate, Eleanor Roome’s brother, Alastair Roome (photo above), works as a hydraulic mechanic in the Super Aguri Team. So thanks to Eleanor, Alastair and Nick Farnhill (who acually asked Eleanor in the first place), Dez and I got a good insight of how a F1 team works and functions.

A Mega Super Duper thanks to the Roome’s & Farnhill and the Super Aguri Team!

This was the first time I have spent time with anyone within a F1 team, so i had sooooo many questions, and each answer Alistar gave lead to more questions. I wished Alistar and I had a lunch or something before the tour, so that I could have focused a bit more on the actual tour and less on the questions and answers.

Q: WORST THING?

The wait and the distances. It was a bit similar as recording an music album or a music video — you are there for one main reason, but the time spent on that reason is minimal in comparison to the time surrounding it.

Imagine if you are going on a holiday and the flight there will take longer then the time actually spent at the final destination.

I guess it’s a bit like flying short distance. The trip to the airport, the check-in procedure, security and passport control takes longer then the actual flight itself.

After you have been to a race you understand why Bernie Ecclestone realised in the late 1970s that television rights and F1 seemed a good idea.

Seeing a race live and watching it on TV is two completely different things. I would prefer a combination of both, but if I had to stick to one, I would probably choose the Television. But having said that, I will most probably attend another Grand Prix next year… and I’m thinking Monza.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY IF YOU KNEW BETTER?

A: 1. Radio. Friday’s free practice and Saturday’s qualifying was almost impossible to follow in detail. The big screen TV’s on site were too far away so you couldn’t read any times or standings. For the race we bought a radio and tuned in to the race commenting radio channel.

2. Earplugs. Even if we had a radio for the race, when the line-up was streched out so that a car was almost always in the corner we were sitting; you couldn’t hear the radio. I had brought my earplugs, but what would have been good is proper earmuffs, so you could listen to the radio without the noise.

3. Do your homework. It’s not enough knowing how each team’s cars look like and who drives for them; you need to know what color the drivers have on their helmet or you won’t know who’s driving past. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, since you only need to know the color of one of the drivers, e.g; if a Ferrari drives past and the helmet is NOT yellow it’s Räikkönen, otherwise it’s Massa.

4. Camera. Unless you really want to, don’t bring a large camera. I brought Willow’s Canon EOS 400D and Tom Hostler had lent me his EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Zoom lens. Absolutely brilliant. But the photo opportunity isn’t that great on site. The cars are extremlly fast (as you might imagine) and the fences are high. Tom gave me tips and instruction on where to go to take good shots — Luffield corner is a slow speed corner with low fences — but I never made it to there. Early on, due to the discovery of the bad photo opportunities in combination with a huge turnout in audience, I decided to let my head store the photos for this one. I did try every now and again to capture the moments but failed.
I’m quite sure you can go to a GP and take loads of really nice photos of the circuits, the people etc, but not without compromising your focus. So, maybe if I go again and again and again to Silverstone, I might bring a camera, again, and compromise some of the focus towards capturing memories.

5. Other destination. I think a change of scenery would allow for a greater experience. Living in the UK and going the the UK GP gives less opportunity for new experiences. It might be that the trip to another country would cost more money, but I have a hard time believing that they would charge me £3.20 for a can of beer. As well, It’s not that easy to get to Silverstone, so a trip to another country where the circuit is close to where you’re staying, might even become cheaper.

6. Food. We, Derek McKenna and I, stayed at Nilesh Ashra’s house in Milton Keynes. On Saturday night Nilesh made a tasty curry. Now, I wouldn’t suggest you eat spicy curry the night before race day. Silverstone had good toilet facilities, but I wouldn’t take the risk again. The curry tasted lovely, but came out as fast and spicy as it had got in.

So this weekend the Formula 1 circus is coming to the Silverstone circuit north of London, United Kingdom. What makes this weekend a special one is that this weekend i am entering the Formula 1 record books. Oh, yes. It will be the first ever Grand Prix in the history of Formula 1 with a Nicolas Nuzzaci among the audience. Lewis Hamilton is also entering a new record; the youngest British Formula 1 driver seen live by Nicolas Nuzzaci. Yeah, he is re-writing the history books…

So, enough sarcasm. Yes, tomorrow is the first day of three historic days and I’m looking forward to it. But, what I haven’t manage to do is to be in top trim. I’ve had a cough for 2 weeks, and as soon as it started to wear off I caught a nasty cold from Willow. So yeah; I’m ill. Hopefully it won’t be unbearable.

I’m going up there tomorrow morning with Derek McKenna. Nick Farnhill is also joining in on the race day, but Nick is not sitting with Dezza and me at Woodcote corner, he have manage to get a special pit lane ticket trough, and to, the Super Aguri team… Yeah, he’s lucky. But he is sharing some of the love; Dezza and I will (most probably) get a guided tour through their pit lane garage on Saturday!

In between all the racing, we gonna reside at Nilesh Ashra and Jo’s house in Milton Keynes. The weather is suppose to be shit, but I’m hoping we’ll have the luck on our side.

Of cause I will hand in a full report after this historic weekend. It will probably take a few days until I’m ready to write down all my thoughts reflections.

It’s getting late and It’s time i pack my bag… do i need to bring anything? I can just buy a red outfit there…

I’m actually just sitting around waiting for my trimmer to charge enough power so I can finish the shave I started an hour ago. Thinks it about time. Think it has enough battery now to do the final lap. Let’s find out.

November 5, 1997 Formula One tobacco sponsorship ban scrapped

The Department of Health spokesman said: “We faced the very real prospect that a European ban would encourage Formula One to go to eastern Europe or the Far East or other places where there are no tobacco controls.

“Because we have no powers to stop television transmission of races abroad, the end result could perversely be that we see more tobacco advertising on our television screens rather than less.

13 of December, 2002, Europe’s F1 future on the brink

Max Mosley, president of motorsport’s governing body, has warned the European Commission that the sport will leave the EU if it refuses to back down on plans to ban tobacco sponsorship in 2005.

25th of June 2003, Formula One’s world governing body is scrapping plans to ban tobacco advertising in 2006

He said F1 teams had contracts to 2006 and an EU ban from 2005 would force teams to limit the number of European Grand Prix they raced in.

Mosley has said there might be only six races in the EU by 2005.

11th of January 2007 Silverstone future

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone recently proposed Silverstone share its place on the calendar with the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours, with the two venues alternating each season - a suggestion that was rejected.

3rd of February 2007, Bernie Eccleston’s Formula One management company signed a seven-year deal for a race in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. For those of you who follows F1 know that we already have a Grand Prix in United Arab Emirates - Bahrain.

“I am sure that Bahrain and Abu Dhabi will work closely together to make sure Formula One is very successful in this part of the world, which is very important,” said Ecclestone

“At the moment we have got five countries waiting to see if we can put a race there.

“We are aiming for 20 races. I think we are now well served in this part of the world.”

So, we are now a few weeks into 2007 and it’s about time to look back at 2006 and see what actually happened. Since I have had this digital online journal for almost a year (1st of May), 80% of what I’m mentioning here have already been documented earlier.

2006 for me started with coming back from San Francisco (where I had celebrated Christmas (in Lake Tahoe) and New Years (San Francisco) with my girlfriend Willow and her family) and began moving in with Willow to her flat.

During 2006 we had done quite a few improvements to this flat. First we extended the loft so the bedroom got a bit bigger, then we changed the flooring and built a loft bed in one of the bedrooms. But 2006 has just been the beginning… If everything goes as planed, during 2007 I will tell you all about the new kitchen, the new bathroom and the new staircase up to the loft.

 

Work

I don’t talk much about work on this journal. And that’s not because I don’t do any work or that nothing exiting happens at work. No, the main reasons is when i’m not working, and sitting by the computer, I prefer not to talk, reflect or spend time on work related stuff.

I have been at POKE for over three years now, and during these three years a lot has happened e.g. we have grown 462.5% in size, changed offices twice, rolled out a lot of really nice work and won more awards than I can remember. So, as a big reward for our great achievements, about a month ago, we moved into 10000 sq. ft. of dedicated private space.

So 2007 surely kicks off big.
It’s a bit of a fresh start.
A new start.

Two of the bigger pieces of work I been involved in during 2006 was the new topshop.com and the GoodFood magazine website. Thanks to a brilliant team and exceptionally brilliant client, I can look at them both and be extremely satisfied.

 

Sport (F1 basically)

2006 brought me back to Formula One, and the 2006 season was amazing and it definitely made way for an exciting 2007!! The biggest news was of cause the creation of the new 10th of September tradition of German beer and spaghetti tomato sauce, a new tradition to salute and remember the announcement by Scuteria Ferrari of Micheal Schumacher’s retirement as a race driver.

 

Music

So what’s the best album 2006… well it turns out being quite hard… all the ones I’d thought of, turned out being released in 2005! Such as With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails, Go Down! by David Sandstrom and Potemkin City Limits by Propagandhi.

Don’t know, was 2006 a dry year for people with my kind of music taste? What have I missed…

Born In The U.K. by Badly Drawn Boy, 9 by Damien Rice and Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of The Mountain by Sparklehorse are OK, wouldn’t go so far and give them the title ‘Best Album of 2006. (they have done better).

The one album that took me by surprise was Comfort Of Strangers by Beth Orton. So, until further notice Comfort of Strangers can wear the crown of Album of the Year 2006.

 
During the end of 2005 i decided to ‘grab myself in the collar’ and take care of the concert opportunities that comes with living in London. So I ended 2005 strongly with seeing Anthony and the Johnsons, Eels, Unseen, Randy, Flogging Molly, Millencolin and Jeff Tweedy, and have followed through into 2006. Some concert reviews pre this blog can be found on my last.fm journal.

2005 I also left The Above. Which means that during 2006 I have been ‘bandless’. Think that’s one of the main reasons I have managed to get up to so much stuff. I do miss playing though, and might just pick it up again in 2007…

Below is a list of the gig’s I went to during 2006. The absolute highlights was the acoustic Foo Fighters concert and the Tindersticks concert.

1. Jason Mraz, warm up by Raul Midon

   The Mraz gig was probably this years biggest disappointment. Saw him preform an ‘absolute masterpiece’ two years prior, and this time he just managed to reach ‘average commercial ass-selling and record label selling shite’. He didn’t even get close to his potential and wasn’t even near to meet my expectations.

2. Nizlopi

   Willow almost passed out on this gig.

3. Iron & Wine and Calexico

   Saw Calexico back in 1998 in a small pub in Stockholm, Sweden. Calexico 2006 is definitely another band on stage (in a good way). For Iron & Wine the venue was a bit to big.

4. The Shins

   Read more here.

5. Foo Fighters

   One of the best concerts I’ve been to. Read more here.

6. Foo Fighters, warm up by Juliette & the Licks, Angels & Airwaves, Queens of the Stone Age, Motörhead

   The biggest concert I have ever been to. 85.000 people in Hyde Park. It was HUGE. Read more here.

7. Death Cab for Cutie

   Saw DCFC twice in 2006, first in March and then in June. Tom Hostler took me along to the March gig, and since they were so damn good, we booked tickets for June gig as well. Read more about the June concert here.

8. The Cult

   As Billy Duffy changed guitar a few songs into the set, I told Willow, “That’s probably the nicest guitar in the world”. Then, on my 28th birthday, Miss W gave me Miss G.

9. The Rolling Stones

   Read more here

10. The Veils

    Another suggestion by The Hoss, and again, another band I saw twice in 2006. Read more on Willows blog.

11. Tindersticks

    Tindersticks preforming their album Tindersticks II. Totally amazing. Read more here.

12. Hello Saferide

    The most common ’search keyword’ that brings traffic to this site is ‘songs about ocd‘. The search brings me on place nr 8 on Google and points to the post I wrote about this concert. Read the post here.

13. Tom Mcrae, Joe Purdy, Steve Reynolds, Jim Bianco

    Read more here.

14. Robyn

    A weird 5 song mini gig at a small bar in Shoreditch.

15. David & the Citizens

    See photos from this gig on Willow’s flickr

 

Travels

I have never travelled as much during a year as I have done during 2006. The weird bit is that even if I have been around a bit, I manage to have 6 holidays left towards the end of the year, which leed to an extra week off in London. To prevent this from happaning in 2007 I have already booked off 15 days of my holidays, all 15 to be spend before the second week in March.

1. San Francisco, United States of America

   Even though the year stared in San Francisco: The Lake Tahoe and San Francisco trip belongs in an non-existing 2005 review and not in this. But it [the trip] was very very nice.

2. Paris, France

   We spent Easter in Paris. Which was a bit of a disappointment. Paris was not even close to what I expected it to be…

3. Rome, Italy

   In May we went down to Rome, Italy, to celebrate my dad and his 60th birthday. It was lovely. Think the Paris trip made me realise how much i like Rome. You can read more about the Rome trip here and here.

4. Rosili Bay, Whales

   In June we went to Rhossili Bay, Swansea, Wales, with David Marks. Read more here.

5. Skelleftea, Sweden

   As a tradition done every year since I moved to London, Middsummer was spent in Skelleftea. Read more about the trip here and here.

6. Hel, Poland

   Read more about the amazing week in Hel, Poland, here

7. Skelleftea, Sweden

   Went back to Skelleftea in the end of October to celebrate my sisters 30th birthday. Read more here.

8. Newcastle, United Kingdom

   Similar to the midsummer tradition in Skelleftea, Thanksgiving is a trip to Newcastle. This year I made something special.

9. Dover, United Kingdom

   This was just a one day trip down to the white rocks in Dover. I didn’t know that it was just an hours boat trip between Dover and Calais. The Freestyle song Dover-Calais make it seem like it is at least a few hours; since in the song they meet ’somewhere between’. Read misleading lyrics here.

10. Rome, Italy

    Anyone who ever meet or knew my uncle Antonio Nuzzaci will remember the end of 2006 as a very sad moment. During the early hours of Thursday 21st of December he passed away. This cast a shadow over the ending of 2006. Willow and I flew down to Rome to attend the funeral on the 22nd of December, and then we stayed in Rome over Christmas.

11. Taranto, Italy

    Last week of the year was spent in my parents house in the south of Italy. This might have been the last time we visited Viale Die Pini 18, since a few weeks back they sold the house and are planing to move up to Tuscany. Photos from the Italy trip can be found on Willow’s flickr.

Except for every other weekend during the Formula 1 season — I don’t watch TV. And as far as I can remember that’s how it’s always been. I just don’t find TV shows interesting/good enough and I don’t like the hook-in methods used to force people back ‘next week’ just so they can expose you to more advertising.

Guess that Formula One is the only type of entertainment that stimulate my brain enough to overcome all the negative part and cynicism I have towards ‘The Stupid Black Box the Furniture in the Living Room Should Point Towards and Our Lives Should Adjust To.’

So, until today, I have never even considered purchasing a TV.

So what changed my mind?

Well it sure as hell wasn’t the on going talk about HD [high definition] screens or the Sony Bravia adverts. No, it was a combination of a beautiful piece of italian design called Algol by Brionvega on sale at Aria.

…will drive for McLaren in Formula One next season.

quite surprisingly:

The 21-year-old, who is the current GP2 champion, will be the first black driver to race in Formula One.

But… I would have listed to Scotsman David Coulthard advice:

“I would advise him not to rush in, because if it doesn’t quite work out then his could be a very short career.”

When I’m away I tend to read more then if I’m at home. I always have one or two books next to my bed that I’m currently reading, and they seem to take ages to finish; doing 5-10 pages every now and again before going to or falling to sleep.
When I’m away, these never-ending books often reach an end and new ones get started. Guess it has to do with distractions and priority.

During my week in Sweden, I brought (and finished) the book Stumbling on happiness by Daniel Gilbert. I think it is my first book in the Psychology gender, so my reference point is probably not the widest.
The book in general is a bit of a mind-fuck - a big catch 22 psych game on your brain.

An contextual example:

apparently, the describers’ verbal description of their experience ‘overwrote’ their memories of the experience themselves, and they ended up remembering not what they had experienced but what they had said about what they experienced.

So what you are reading here and now is not necessarily what happened, or how I experienced it while it happened, more what I now think I experienced when looking back on what happened. And therefor what I’m saying here is not as related to what actually happened as we might want to think.
I found the book to be very interesting, well written and funny. But this is all I will say about it. I will not post a long review of how I liked it while reading it.

This post suffered from a similar syndrome as the books next to my bed. I started writing down notes on this post when I was still in Sweden, and since then (end of october) I have written a bit here and a bit there.
The post ended up being so long and in such detail that I decided to start all over and summarise the original post, and spare you details, such as, what the population of the village my dentist comes from.

Let’s jump back to Sunday the 22nd of October. It’s 2am and the Formula 1 qualifying ends with Michael Schumacher 10th on the grid due to an unknown error during the last stint in qualifying. With a nose full of mucus (also known as snot), I go to bed.
5 hours later, 7am, I wake up, pack my bags and take bus 48 to Liverpool street and then the underground to Heathrow.

That was how the journey began (might not be the best beginning, but all journeys need a beginning). And that set the tone of the whole week in Skelleftea - rapid, quick and a bit stressful.

Flying… Flying… Flying… I have said before: “Flying feels less glamorous then eating a egg and mayo sandwich.”, and the fact that it’s bad for the environment, unpleasant, and this time (again) anything else than a smooth procedure (checking didn’t work since my electronic ticket didn’t exist, and on top of that extremely long queues due to extra security etc etc), just makes flying the most unpleasant, stupid and uncomfortable way to travel.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in 15 years time or so airplanes will be voted to wear the crown of the worst invention ever invented, and looked upon as something as stupid as the atom bomb. According to Sir Nicholas Stern report, it actually seems like it is a commercialised atom bomb in disguise.

Snow!! My family picks me up at an airport that was covered in snow (note: the photo above is not taken at the airport). And it was cold. But since they no longer serve food on the plane - I was dead hungry at this point, and the only worry I had was whether I would have time to get some food in my stomach before the last F1 race of the season.
It was one of those moments when I am extremely pleased over the fact that Skelleftea (pop approx. 35397) has the same ratio on pizzerias as an English village has on pubs.
The first pizzeria we went to was rammed with people. So we went to another one further down the road. At first it looked perfect, with only a few people inside, but it took ages. Turns out that the guy in front of us had ordered 31 pizzas for a junior hockey team… can’t put my finger on it, but there must be something to learn from that experience.

When the last F1 race of the season began, and the last race ever for the great Michael Schumacher, I was sitting comfortably and digesting a very tasty sandwich kebab pizza, on the sofa in the warm house of the Kontro family in Ursviken (pop approx 4060) just outside Skelleftea.

After the race, that didn’t really end the way I had hoped, I went to Skelleftehamn (pop approx. 3123), which is the small village 16km outside of Skelleftea were I was born and raised.

I slept like a soft toy.

As in every city, there’s always a local current trend; a bag, a way of wearing something, an artist, a way of life. As an “outsider” visiting you notice these trends quite quickly, since there is an abnormal and unnatural amount of something that, where you come from, is not seen as special or trendy. This time it’s: baby carrier, big bellies soon to deliver baby and the Crocs beach sandal.

The whole baby boom, big belly and Crocs invasion reminded me a bit of the white headphones and iPod era two years ago.

During the following 5 days I manage to (among other thing):

• Visit the dentist twice
• Have a lovely wine and cheese evening with friends
• Two schedule lunches
• Four evening dinner parties (one in Umea)
• An afternoon at my old job as a Lifeguard
• A bowling competition
• and of cause my sisters 30th birthday party

It’s not often that you find yourself coming back to London, from the north of Sweden, looking forward to get some rest.

Even though the last two weeks include some of the very best moments this year (like an amazing present and a lovely dinner on my birthday, an interesting F1 exhibition at the Design Museum and a three hour long breakfast with a very good friend I hadn’t seen in a long time - Adam Frankel), it has been cursed with the mighty shadow of Mr Bad Luck.

I think it all started with Michael Schumacher’s engine failure at the Japanese GP in Suzuka, for which I had bought the X-530 Logitech surround sound system from Amazon that didn’t work, since my Mac Mini didn’t support 5.1 dolby surround, which I “solved” by buying FireWave from Griffin, which also decided not to work…

Yeah.

The clogs I ordered about three weeks ago from Northerner.com decided to arrive last week. They do work (jey!), they don’t need a special sound card or anything… but I ordered four pairs and got three (and one pair turned out to be to small)…

Willow almost flew into the canal last week after the bicycle chain on her Hutch BMX decided to lock the wheel. She’s ok. Her dad, thank god, is also ok after having fallen down an escalator - head first - at Hyde Park Corner Tube Station, which led to a one hour delay of my very lovely birthday dinner.

On Saturday we went to the vue cinema in Islington to see Children of Men - it was fully booked.

On Sunday, after having gone to the lovely F1 exhibition, we had a local handy man round the flat to set up some blinds. After about 90 minutes of preparation we found out that it was impossible to drill (iron beams)… so 3 “holes”, no blinds and £30… to patch that up we pre-booked (HA!) seats for The Departed, the new Martin Scorsese film. It rocked!

It seems like Mr Good and Mr Bad have calmed themselves down a bit. No trace of them yesterday or today.
And hopefully, in the long run - the bad deeds by Mr Bad will be forgotten, while the good deeds by Mr Good will forever be remembered.