Snowbows and marmalade

Waiting for the bus at Redbergsplatsen, I was surprised to see snow in the air, and even more surprised to then see a full rainbow forming across the sky. Feeling slightly magical, I opened a small jar of orange marmalade taken from the breakfast at “The Ship at Dunwich” for my afternoon balcony snack, again feeling so grateful for how this year turned out and my ultra finale in East Anglia, especially as the storm “Babet” continues to wreak havoc across the UK.

As for the weather, the recent cold spell has not been good news for Germany and its fabled “Energiewende” with emissions reaching the kind of fantasy levels normally only reserved for Poland of up to 800 gram per kWh (as a reference, Swedish emissions tend to be around 20 gram per kWh). With another 500 MW unit at the lignite-fired power station in Jänschwalde now starting as well, reality should be sinking in. Considering that a fraction of the hundreds of billions of euros that Germany is spending on its Energiewende would have been sufficient to completely decarbonize the grid with nuclear, there is of course a certain irony to all of this.