Blackout Week

Yes, it’s been “one of those weeks” – and not only on the political level (see Monday).

On Tuesday I had a dental appointment, with the outcome that I had to book another one for Thursday, for a bigger job… (Just as with the election, I had pretty much expected that to happen, though.)

On Tuesday evening, my TV screen froze. It happened rather late and I assumed it was some temporary transmission problem, so I just turned it off.

Wednesday was Laundry day. One of my projects for this month has been to wash curtains – something I don’t do very often, but after the extremely dry and dusty summer with the windows ajar most of the time, I thought it seemed like a good idea. This week, the turn had come to my blackout curtains from the bedroom. That turned out not to be a good idea. Let’s just say that I’ll be buying new blackout curtains before next spring…! In winter I don’t really need those, though. So for now I have put up a pair of old lace ones. (Not ancient, but definitely the very opposite of blackout.)

The TV, on the other hand, was still on blackout (now literally showing a black screen). I tried the classic “turn it off and turn it on again” trick with both the receiver and the TV itself, but all I got was the error message above: “Error 2: Could not get an IP address. Please check that your set-top box is correctly connected to the network. If the problem persists, please contact support.” Eh? The internet, also on the fibre cable, was working. So how could there not be an IP-address? My smart-TV was also working with the internet “play” apps; just not with the streaming channels. And “set-top box” – what’s that? What I call the “TV box” was obviously connected to the TV, as its name also came up wíth that cryptic error message. Checking the other end of the cable, there seemed to be nothing wrong there either. So what did they mean with not being “connected to the network”… What network? …

Okay. Problem obviously persisting, time to call support. But… What support?? … I read through various papers and websites again, and arrived at the conclusion that most logically it should be the company I’m paying to provide my TV channels. So I called them, and after the usual round of button-pressing and waiting and so on, at last I got through to a human being. But of course they denied this had anything to do with them; they said I had to call different company, whose role in the chain of technology I have to admit I still don’t get. However, this was about four minutes to six p.m., and that support closed at six… So I had to give up for the day.

On Thursday I had my second dental appointment – preparations for getting a crown on a tooth at the very back of my jaw; and having a rather small jaw + chronic neck problems, that’s a rather exhausting procedure. Almost had a “blackout” when I got back up on my feet (well – felt a bit dizzy, anyway)…

Back home, it took a few hours before I could speak properly again (half my tongue anesthesized along with my jaw). Again it wasn’t until the late afternoon that I felt up for another attempt to deal with the TV problem. But while rummaging through various old instruction papers and brochures, I found a  “TV emergency support” phone number to the housing corporation I’m renting my flat from. I thought that had probably just been a temporary thing in connection with the installation of the new cable, but decided to give it a try. To my surprise, it was still working, and I got immediate help: Besides restarting the TV-box, I should try restarting the main fibre cable box on the wall as well. This hadn’t occurred to me, as the internet (coming out of the same box) was working… The whys and hows are still beyond me, but the main thing is that it did work to follow the local tech guy’s step-by-step instructions: Unplug TV-box. Unplug wall-box. Wait a bit. Plug in wall-box. Plug in TV-box. And voilá!

It’s more for my own benefit than anyone else’s that I’m writing this down… Hoping that if it happens again, I will remember what to do!

As for the national Post-Election situation, that too is still as complicated as that Error message: What? Who?? How??? Re-count of votes still going on but even a slight adjustment of the numbers won’t really make a difference. It’s still a deadlock situation as to who will support whom, or just continue to blame everyone else.

It’s Complicated!

The Swedish Election 2018 – The Short Version:

Nobody won, everyone declared themselves the winner, and it’s going to take a good while to sort things out…

If anyone wants details, I suggest you go to:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45466174

Borgholm Castle Ruin, Öland

Road Trip 2018, Part 15

Borgholm Castle, originating from the 12th or 13th century, stands on the edge of a rocky precipice overlooking the strait of Kalmarsund. First mentionend in 1281, one of the oldest parts of the castle was a round defensive tower, from where lookouts could monitor the boat traffic. The city of Kalmar on the mainland also had its own fortifications. (We’ll be visiting Kalmar Castle in a later post.)

In the past, Öland was not an exclusively Swedish island. There were also Danish and German interests here, and from time to time the castle was under their control. When Gustav Vasa (Gustav I) was crowned king of Sweden in 1523, Borgholm castle lay in ruins. In the late 1500s, during the reign of king Johan III, it was transformed into a Renaissance castle. The old tower was restored; four wings were built around an inner courtyard; and facing inland, new defensive walls with huge bastions and platforms were added, from which every part of the castle could be protected.

In a war between Denmark and Sweden in the early 1600s, the castle again suffered serious damage. After the Peace of Roskilde in 1658, when Sweden’s border was moved further west, it lost its importance as a frontier fortress. There were plans to turn it into a baroque palace; but soon after this work was completed, it was left to again fall into decay; and in 1806 it was further destroyed by fire. In the 1880s, however, work was started to preserve the ruin and make it accessible to visitors.

What we see today is the ruins of the 17th century baroque palace; now owned and managed by the National Property Board of Sweden (Statens Fastighetsverk). It is open for visitors, and the inner courtyard is used for concerts, theater performances, and other events.

(Facts picked from a sign near the castle + Wikipedia.)

Courtyard with stage and audience gallery

“Upstairs”

Zooming in the church tower in the town (from up on top of the castle).

…

Aerial view of the Borgholm castle ruins from 2013 ( Wikimedia Commons )

Borgholm Harbour, Öland

Road Trip 2018, Part 14

Borgholm is the main city on the island of Öland. It has only around 3000 inhabitants but attracts a lot of tourists in summer. The huge grey monstrosity of a building hovering in the background of the last photos here is the ruins of Borgholm Castle; first built in the second half of the 13th century, but destroyed in a fire in 1806. (We’ll be going there for a closer look in my next road trip post.)

Read in August 2018

Ruth Robinson’s Year of Miracles
by Frances Garrood
(Kindle, 2018)

A new book by Frances Garrood; also author of Dead Earnest, Women Behaving Badly*  and Cassandra’s Secret**, all of which I read a few years ago.
(*previously published as Basic Theology for Fallen Women)
(**previously published as The Birds, the Bees and Other Secrets)

Ruth Robinson  is about to  take a sabbatical year from work and go travelling around the world with a friend, when an unexpected pregnancy turns all her plans upside-down. Already having let out her flat, she has nowhere to go but to go and stay with her twin uncles in their house out in the countryside. She knows who the father of her baby-to-be is, but they were not in a relationship, and as he is off travelling to unknown destinations as well, Ruth has no way of getting in touch with him. Her parents aren’t being helpful either, as they still regard it as a disgrace to have a child out of wedlock. Lucky for Ruth, her two eccentric uncles take a different attitude. While staying with them, she also makes a few other new friends and acquaintances; each with their own individual quirks. And as if life wasn’t complicated enough already, one day there is the mystic appearance of a perfect image of the Virgin Mary on the wall of the hen house, attracting a growing stream of pilgrims…

All in all an enjoyable romantic comedy with some memorable characters, details and turns of events. ‘Light’ reading in one way; but at the same time, in the midst of hilarious absurdities it also offers some “food for thought” about relationships, values and beliefs (or, in short – life!).

Out of Africa
by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)
(1937 / Audible – Abridged, 1999)

By: Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)

Narrated by: Julie Harris

Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins (abridged)

Out of Africa is a classic novel from 1937 which I only knew from the 1985 film version (with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford - I first watched it at the cinema when new). The Audible title turned up for me recently as a cheap offer and I thought it might be interesting to read/listen to the “original” book… Soon found myself feeling a bit confused, though - and surprised at how short it was?? Then I realised that it was an abridged version (having missed the small print stating that when I bought it)… Duh! Instead of this short audio version, I suggest watching the movie! :-)

Karen Blixen, 1882-1965, born Dinesen (and using the pen name Isak Dinesen), was a Danish author. In 1914 she married Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, and they moved to Kenya to start a coffee farm. Out of Africa tells the story of her life there. Her husband was unfaithful and as a result of this Karen got syphilis toward the end of their first year of marriage. She returned to Denmark for treatment which proved successful; and afterwards returned to Africa again. But in 1921 the couple separated, and in 1925 got officially divorced, and Karen took over the management of the farm. Already in 1918, she had met the English big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton (1887–1931), an English army officer from an upper-class background who often travelled back and forth between Africa and England. After her separation from her husband, Karen and Finch Hatton developed a close friendship and a long-term love affair. Finch Hatton died in a plane crash in 1931. In connection with the world-wide economic depression, the farm also had to be sold. Karen returned to Denmark, and devoted herself to her writing.

Leaving Time
by Jodi Picoult
(Audible)

By: Jodi Picoult

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman, Abigail Revasch, Kathe Mazur, Mark Deakins

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 10-14-14

Funny how one sometimes happens to come across books/films with themes in common, one straight after the other…

I’d never heard of this book (nor of the author), but it came up at a 2-for-1 sale at Audible, and the title caught my interest. From the title I could not have guessed, but (just having finished the abridged Out of Africa, see above) this book also turned out to relate to Africa – although mostly to one specific African animal: the elephant.

A young woman, Jenna, cannot stop thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared back in Jenna’s early childhood. Jenna’s memories of the events back then are vague; but not wanting to believe that her mother would have simply abandoned her, she keeps reading Alice's old journals and tries searching for her online. Alice was a scientist within in a very specific field: Grief among elephants. Her journal was also mostly about this research.

Trying to find her mother, Jenna turns to two very different people for help. One is a psychic who got famous for finding missing persons, but later came to seriously doubt her own gift. The other is a detective who originally investigated Alice’s case and possible links between her disappearance and the death of one of her colleagues.

I found it a hard-to-put-down kind of story (or hard-to-turn-off!) Besides introducing me to a fascinating field of science I knew very little about, the unusual background combined with an equally unusual mix of characters made the outcome rather unpredictable.

Another of those strange coincidences was that while I was still reading this book, I happened quite by chance to also come across a TV documentary that touched on the same topic – “rehabilitation” of elephants that were trained and used as circus animals in the past. From this I understood that many of the details in the book that I was reading were obviously founded on real research. Of which I think Jodi Picoult made pretty good use in her novel.

Camino Island by John Grisham (Audible)

Camino Island

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 06-06-17

Language: English

Publisher: Random House Audio

Original and priceless F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts get mysteriously stolen from a secure vault at Princeton University in a daring heist, and a young female novelist gets recruited to recover them… Not quite a typical Grisham novel (several reviews seem to agree); but an interesting idea. Also enjoyable to listen to, but at the same time I have to admit I found it a bit hard to follow all the twists and turns. However, it reminded me that the only book by Scott Fitzgerald that I ever read so far is The Great Gatsby. I might end up doing a bit of further research myself - even if not as far as the original manuscripts…