On 29th June, Borås celebrated its 400th anniversary.
(Continuing from my previous post:)
After having been to see the new sculpture Devil Whirls, I went down to the park, where I discovered that the fountain in the river had been restored in honour of the jubilee. It's been out of order for a whole year or more, and I've been missing it, so was happy to see it again.
From there, I turned back home again, though (did not go into the city centre). While walking home, I heard an airplane in the air above me, but it wasn't until I was close to home that I looked up to check what was going on. (It's not all that uncommon to hear a plane passing, but more so to hear them circling around back and forth...)
At first I didn't get it.
Then I did.
Not sure I approve of the environmental aspect, but visually it was good day for it!
Back home, I watched the official digital celebration ceremony from the park on my tablet, while having lunch. Part of it was sent live from the park; other parts had been filmed in advance.
(During my weekend with a broken tooth, "mixed salad" took on a whole new meaning as I pretty much had to run all my food in the blender to be able to eat at all... And on Tuesday, my mouth was still sore...)
A fanfare was played from the top of the tower of the 17th century church.
A new tree was planted in the park
Every year on the town's birthday, they also appoint a new "ambassador" for the town for the next year - usually someone already nationally well-known. This time a former prime minister (Ingvar Carlsson) who was born and grew up here. (Follow the link to Wikipedia if you want to learn more about him.)
...
Speaking of former PMs, we're still in the midst of the national political crisis which I tried to explain here (21 June). After the parliament voted for no confidence in our PM (Stefan Löfven, leader of the Social Democrats), he had two options: Either to call a snap election himself, or leave it to the Speaker of the Parliament to try and seek another solution. The PM chose (on Monday this week) to step down and leave the process in the hands of the Speaker (while continuing to serve as interim PM, pretty much as before).
The Speaker then (quite according to practice) handed the 'ball' to the leader of the biggest opposition party, the Moderate Party. Meanwhile, one of the old government's support parties, the Liberals (at present a very small party) has declared a change of standpoint and joined the opposition. But at the same time, the Left (who kind of started the no-confidence thing) again declared they'd rather see the old PM back than the right-wing alternative. The balance hangs on one (1) vote in the parliament (175-174) but the leader of the Moderate party today declared that he does not seem likely to be able to win; and thus the 'ball' has now once again been handed back to the old PM to continue negotiations with those that still support him; and report back to the Speaker on Monday. They know how to keep the country in suspense...!
15 comments:
The fountain is wonderful. And what luck that you were out when the plane came by!
The environmental aspect aside, I think that 400 in the air is very cool!
Politics… never a dull moment, is there!
what a great way to celebrate your towns 400th birthday. eating in comfort of HOME and watching. i don't know if our town has a birthday. will have to check. no celebration that i know of. we do the usa birthday tomorrow though. good pilot to write that 400 in the sky... so glad the fountain is back, looks beautiful
You live in a nice place, the fountain looks inviting in a cool sort of way but politics, don't get me started on that.
I like the fountain and nice it is restored. That PM situation is very complicated.
I always find it interesting hearing about how other countries sort out their political differences.
Ginny, I suppose they timed the airplane art to be in place for the official ceremony at noon.
Meike, I do think they also often manage to make a big affair out of very little - while on the other hand ignoring things that might have deserved more attention...
Sandra, Sweden's national day (6 June) on the other hand is a rather low-key affair compared to that of many other countries, the US included.
Sorry Amy - feel free to skip the politics! ;)
Terra, yes. I think basically it's similar to many other countries though, i.e. the balance in the parliament unstable right now because of no party, or coalition of parties, holding a clear majority of the votes.
Graham, I know you do. I've never considered myself a very political person (not always sure about my own opinion, and not always having voted for the same party). So I don't usually write a lot about politics (I think). As the present situation is probably getting some attention in foreign media as well (even if not as much as for example US or UK politics) I decided it would feel a bit odd to just totally ignore it here, though. (A bit like pretending there is no pandemic going on either...)
PS. Since I wrote the above comment a couple of hours ago it has been made known that on Wednesday the parliament is going to vote about reinstating Stefan Löfven as prime minister. It's expected to go through, but who knows...
I always think fountains are so cheerful, it's lovely to see yours re-instated and bringing pleasure. Your political situation sounds very complicated but you did a great job of explaining it simply.
Thanks Pauline.
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