you and how many of your friends...?

Con un saludo especial a Nuria!

Townsville, North Queensland, Australia

state of art

origin of state of origin.

a big game was played in Oz tonight, a game of rugby. And not any rugby.

the game is a mix of football and fight club, and when it's played between the states of Australia, they call it state of origin. the players play for the state they started to play in. Hence the name. state of origin.

it's a huge thing over here. more than 50.000 aussies saw it in the stadium, and at least as many in my local pub. Queensland beat New South Wales (the state we're in) (didn't chemical brothers use this phrase already?) but beer in just the right ratios makes people happy anyhow. there's a lot of franziskaner in yours truly at the moment.

and he's got to work at nine. see you tomorrow! cheers!

Fredrik and Martin, try to get his cola!

stockholm abroad

since i am leaving this country in a few days and the weather is exceptionally wunderschön, it felt like a sweet thing to do: a roadtrip.

a small one.

fill up the ford with gasoline - cheaper than anywhere else. half an euro per liter. sick! we don't want this, bush.

anyway.

i decided to go to wisconsin. driving to another state and all that you know, a very cool thing to do. right.

i had a big map of minnesota and wisconsin, with all the roads and bigger towns indicated. not the small ones. i headed south-east to cross the mississippi and visited such fun places as hastings, cannon falls and something i wanted to see: vasa. nothing much, just a couple of roads. many farms. and cows. like in småland.

the pioneers in minnesota were mostly german, scandinavian and irish. it is also what you can find in this towns: irish pubs and items of infrastructure called bavaria and småland road.

i got an icecream in one of the towns. the size was medium. the price was $2,12 - with tax - and the european size was xxxxl. it could feed a whole family on a sunday walk.

driving along the mississippi is not a boring thing to do in the springtime. the view is great.

i went on to wisconsin. it was dark already, 8pm, but still warm, 15 degrees C.

empty roads.

45, 50, 60 miles per hour.

then i see the sign.

Stockholm
Population 97

20 miles per hour. an open bar. park the car.

i walk into the pub. it is not difficult for people to recognize a stranger. i must smell alien from as many yards as visibility allows.

everybody says hi. very much like in the song of dawid bowie.

cool.

i get a beer. weissbier from munich. hehe, i'm home.

there is a band playing blues. a local band. the best f***ing band i've seen during the five months in this Godforgotten country. and they are playing in stockholm, wisconsin. population 97.

they are really f***ing great. they just need a producer. or not. i don't tell them.

i talk to two of the guys at the bar, they are both of german descent. we are laughing when i say that i am from sweden. the original one.

i get to look in the photo album that the bar has compiled. there are photos from all the special occasions of the last year. st. patricks, midsummer and all others. there is a cometogether on every midsommer when people come from far away. cool. interesting pictures. if you know the people on them. i watch anyway, turning two pages at once to make it go quicker.

one of the guys is drinking beck's light. Prost! -he says - we are both having german beer.

i drink up, shake hands and say goodbye. they say goodbye too. everyone is looking at me as i walk to the car. the whole town. everyone in stockholm. population 97. i hurry to the car.

in another hour something i am back in eden prairie. it takes only one hour from stockholm to eden prairie.

stockholm, population ninetyf***ingseven.

with some speeding of course.