Carter’s blog: Svenska dagen 2010-06-07

Blog 5

Dear loyal reader(s) I feel that I should begin with an apology. This blog is over two weeks late and for that I am most sincerely and humbly sorry. A lot has happened over the last four weeks one of which is that shockingly I now have my first follower and surprisingly it’s not my Mum or Dad so thanks go to Mr Spears, you get a big metaphorical gold star for being the first.

Kicking things off, it seems just like the British public at large you, my loyal reader(s) were unable to vote for a simple majority in the Stockholm project election. You voted for both option 4) and option 5) equally so no affirmative action has been taken at home. I will only be living at my current abode until the 6^th July so option 5) has been chosen by default. It also appears that my prediction about another general election was wrong as those pesky rich kids Cameron and Clegg look to be implementing policy that will insure we see 5 years of this coalition farce/government.

Elections and coalition government’s aside I’ve had a hectic few weeks in and out of work. I’ve been trying to analyse and write up data for the conference season which will see my research being presented in Salt Lake City at the Society for Nuclear Medicine (by my old boss) and Hawaii at the International Conference for Alzheimer's Disease (by yours truly). I also made my first trip back to England at the end of May. This trip was a whistle stop tour of England's northwest. Heading to Manchester first to see Sarah, then to Stoke for a wedding, then on to Liverpool to see family.

The wedding in Stoke was between two of my long-time friends James and Amy who I met in my first first year at university way back in 1998! It was a beautiful day all round. The weather was gloriously sunny and bloody hot! The wedding, meal and evening reception were all suitably fitting for such weather. The actual meal and reception took place in Keele Hall, an ideal location for a wedding. It was great to see some familiar and friendly faces from times gone by. The only downside is that Sarah somehow managed to lose my camera (now retrieved) so I don’t have any pictures of the day to post here.

Sticking to the topic of weather the conditions here in Stockholm have been excellent for about the last month, up in the high teens and low twenties for most days. Just before I went back to England I had my first proper walk around central Stockholm and the place is like a completely different country now compared to when I first arrived (the picture is of central Stockholm). It has changed from a sludgy icy grey mess to a beautiful bright green delight. Now that all the deciduous trees have regained their leaves and especially since I live out in the sticks it really is a pleasure to be here.

In news from back home Dan and Jess have had their baby 7 weeks early. They had a healthy baby boy, Jake Daniel, and from the information that’s filtered through to me other than being premature he is a ten fingered, ten toed, healthy “well ‘ard” young chap.

As one new soul enters the hearts and minds of my Manchester friends, Rafa Benitez has departed from the Liverpool FC family. As a Liverpool fan whether or not you still supported Rafa is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is we’ve now lost the captain and probably the only calm head on HMS Liverpool. We’re now a battleship lost at sea with no captain, no resources and no rudder. If the club get Roy Hodgson or Martin O’Neil to replace Benitez then I can almost guarantee that HMS Liverpool will be on the rocks before the banks forclose on our hopeless american owners. I won’t even discuss possible player departures. Grim times, grim times indeed.

Another blog is almost over. To end on a high there are plenty of exciting things on the horizon for me which will be reported in future bogs. I will be going back to England for a week at the end of June for Glastonbury (I’m praying for good weather, I don’t want a mud-bath nightmare), I’m moving house at the beginning of July, then going to Hawaii soon afterwards for “work”. In the meantime however there are a few weeks of mundane living to negotiate first, about which I should report upon in two weeks time, until then reader(s) be good.