Happy new 2024

With Japan Airlines flight from Haneda to Helsinki passing above, the sky is all clear again with the temperature having fallen down to -24 degrees centigrade. Having flown over the North Pole as Russian airspace remains closed indefinitely, that flight is one of many signs of the perilous future that awaits as we head into 2024.

At the wedding yesterday, I was again surprised by how fast people have sort of accepted these new realities, and how deeply pessimistic they have become about everything from gang violence to the future of our school system. While I may share many of the same concerns, it appears more important than ever to not give up on idealism and the dream of what humanity can become in the future. So, with less than 11 hours left of 2023, I would like to wish you all the best for the year that lies ahead! I look forward to keep writing here on Rawls & Me and bringing you all around the world in 2024!

The One Percent

Every year, Strava is offering a summary of all the activities of the past year. Like in 2022, I have remained among the one percent of the most active users worldwide with 509 hours of exercise and a total of 4,687 kilometres of running, biking, skiing, and rowing – but, more importantly, memories that will stay with me as I gear up for 2024 and the 100k Ringkøbing Fjord.

Midwinter wedding

Yesterday, Anna and I got to be part of Anki and Mathias’ wedding in the old wooden church in Kiruna followed by an epic party in Kurravaara. 

Sitting at the Irish table (Anki has lived 10+ years in Ireland), I had a great evening with dancing and lots of good conversations about everything from Japan to the apparent deprofessionalization of teachers across the OECD.

Great Southern

From Western Australia, a bottle of l'orange made it across the world and all the way to “bolkki” here in Kiruna. Unlike the Arabian sunshine a decade ago, the polar night reigns uninterrupted as I make my signature bouillabaisse to match after one last day of Zoom thesis supervision this year.

Next week, the temperature is expected to drop below -30 degrees but hopefully I will find time for some more cross-country skiing before it gets too cold. Even now the temperature has been the limiting factor as the kids have started to protest already after a few kilometres but, all in all, Anna and I have still been able to do 60 kilometres since we got up here a week ago. And as for after ski, I can wholeheartedly recommend Blossa 23 “Old Town” white wine glögg (for the protocol, I should say that my former colleague Therese, who is a true glögg connoisseur, has a dissenting opinion on its qualities).

A decade ago today

Tuvessonskan

After skiing with Anna around Luossavaara for 80 minutes, another polar night was upon us, and I went down to El Giganto to pick up a new laptop for Anna’s dad and then make one of the dishes from Tuvessonskan's book “Plåtmat” for dinner.

Being here in Kiruna is really like stepping out of time, that the autumn rush with all the new courses is finally over and that everything is now covered in deep snow.

Icehotel x 3

Running break

Christmas Eve in Kiruna and, for once, I am not running. Once we got up here yesterday, I discovered that the two pair of running shoes that I had left in April were not to be found. With 3,567 kilometres in the bank so far in 2023, this means I will fall annoyingly short of my goal of running 10 km per day but, ultimately, I think that ten days of no running may be just what I need, especially as I just signed up for a 100k race around Ringkøbing Fjord in Denmark on 13 January! Running along the North Sea in winter conditions, this race promises salt, sand, and a white spot on my map to an extent that I simply could not say no but, then again, I have always been the curious kind.

As for maritime things, Anna’s brother Erik gifted us a coffee calendar with monsooned coffee. Like with Ringkøbing Fjord, there is something irresistible to the backstory of how coffee beans were transported in clipper hulls for weeks during the British Raj and how the sea air and rain led to a unique ageing process.

For now, however, I like to wish you all a merry Christmas!

Christmas Express

Like everyone else, we had way too much luggage so boarding in Gothenburg quickly became a blood sport but now we are safely aboard SJ high-speed service 434 to Stockholm. Once there, we have three hours until the Arctic Circle Train leaves at 6 pm. For the moment, the storm seems to have subsided with the sun shining on the most beautiful winter landscape, but I would still be surprised if we arrive in time to Kiruna tomorrow morning.

Piconico

With Argentina being the big adventure that awaits in 2024, I picked up a bottle of “Piconico” chardonnay from Mendoza to go with my new cheddar and rosemary risotto. Right now, things are beyond busy but, this far, it seems as if my immunity response has been sufficient to stave off a second bout of Covid. Meanwhile, Anna has almost fully recovered so there is good hope for our train ride to the North Pole on Friday even as a derailed iron ore train in Vassijaure, emergency check-ups for the high-speed trains and an impending snowstorm are all adding a bit of excitement.

2023 Gold List

Superficial as it may be, the time has come for my annual Gold List, summing up the best of travel in the year that has passed. All in all, I flew 26,303 miles this year (which is about 3,000 less than last year), visited seven countries of which one was new (Estonia), and got to try one new carrier (Brussels Airlines). With that out of the way, let’s turn to the list:

Best Airport Lounge: The Loft, Brussels-Zaventem

Best B&B: The Ship at Dunwich, East Anglia

Best Inflight Glassware: Swiss International Air Lines AG  

Best Design Hotel: Hotel Hotel, Lisbon

Best Countryside Escape: Casas de Lupa, Alentejo

Covid revisited

Once Liv Viking had climbed out of Umeå and cleared the snowy clouds, I was treated to northern lights on my flight down to Arlanda, together with some of the best and most structured feedback that I have ever seen, written by one of the internal examiners of my PhD student’s work.

When I eventually got home to Gothenburg after midnight, I was beyond tired but, a good night’s sleep later, I was again ready to lace up my shoes and go for a run between the washing machines. Sadly, Anna was feeling really under the weather and a rapid antigen test confirmed that she has Covid (which probably also explains while William has been so sick for the past week). So, fun times ahead considering everything that we both need to finish before Christmas.

Bodega

48 mad hours in Umeå later and I am waiting to board Liv Viking for my return flight south. While still too early to sum up, I got to experience the best and worst of academia, run all my favourite routes, swim at Navet, and eat a most sumptuous dinner at “Bodegan” which is probably the best restaurant in Umeå right now.

With rain and plus eight degrees expected for the coming days in Gothenburg, it feels a bit sad to leave the winter behind but, already in a week from today, I will be back in the High North as all of the family is heading up to Kiruna for Christmas.

Wild shore

Taking a morning high-speed train to Stockholm, the winter quickly caught up with me as I submitted the last revisions to my forthcoming book chapter with Edward Elgar and finally made some progress on my conference paper for WPSA. With ongoing train disruptions in Northern Sweden, I was still happy to leave the tracks behind and check in at Arlanda Airport for an evening flight up to Umeå with Scandinavian Airlines. 

In the lounge, SAS is serving a shiraz from South Africa which, despite the mixed online reviews, I wish Systembolaget would be retailing. Meanwhile in Dubai, COP28 ended with a watered-down commitment to move away from fossil fuels which should excite exactly no one. Still, I guess it is better than nothing, even if moving away from renewable energy and the burning of biomass seems just as urgent when considering its global impact on habitats and how it keeps people locked into poverty.

Electric sheep

Back in Gothenburg, I have a day at home before travelling north to take part in my PhD student Kalle’s final seminar, fourteen years after my own. Supervising Kalle has been a deeply rewarding journey and his work could not be any timelier, as the debate about artificial intelligence is heating up big time, most recently with Effective Accelerationists arguing for a no-holds-barred approach to the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence.

After spending all morning in front of my laptop, I went for a longer lunch run around Skatås.

 

To my surprise, the trails were super slippery but, luckily, I did not fall despite not having studs. When packing for Umeå, I will definitely bring my Salming iSpikes along so I can fully appreciate winter running, including a River Run with Elin on Thursday (all assuming I do not catch William’s cold).

Smørrebrød

This has been one long Monday, starting with a run through sleet and snow at 4 am, followed by six hours of thesis guidance, some speed grading of exams and then an evening at the theatre in Halmstad to listen to the new university outreach event called “Two researchers, a drink and a smørrebrød”.

Tonight, my colleague Linda talked about her research on bureaucratization and the apparent paradox, why despite decades of ostensibly free-market reforms, our society has become more bureaucratic than ever before.

CCPI

As we all know, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. As leaders in the last category, we again find the German-led team behind the “Climate Change Performance Index” that keeps undermining meaningful progress on climate change. In their most recent report, Denmark has jumped ahead of Sweden (despite that its per capita carbon emissions are about 30% higher), and there is still absolutely no understanding of issues such as global scalability. 

Like in previous reports, the CCPI experts keep criticizing countries for investing in nuclear energy, including putting the United Arab Emirates among the world’s “worst performing countries” despite that the UAE is now bringing 5,600 MW of clean energy onto its grid thanks to the four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power plant.

Mendocino

While Justin gets to go to London, I am back to race planning for 2024. As always, the Coastal Trail Series in the UK has its unique pull on me, with both Pembrokeshire and the North York Moors standing out as particularly alluring. For now, however, I am thrown back to the Mendocino Coast with some pinot noir #småparti as I am making a warming risotto for dinner.

501 citations

This morning, my Google Scholar sailed past 500 citations while I was out running with Anna around Delsjön in the most beautiful winter weather. Though I posted when passing 300 citations up in Kiruna just before the pandemic, I guess it will be a while until the next milestone even as it seems that ecomodernist ideas are finally taking off in many countries, not the least through organizations like RePlanet, Mothers for Nuclear and Generation Atomic.

Once at home, I made pancakes and now it is back to writing my conference paper for WPSA in Vancouver. After a crazy teaching load this semester, it feels so good to once again have some time to write and think.

Mitochondria Monday

Once back on the West Coast last night, I made salmon with kale for dinner, served with Mikkeller’s non-alcoholic “Drink'in the snow” winter ale which I can wholeheartedly recommend for the festivities that lie ahead. 

And as for colder temperatures, walking back and forth to the station in Halmstad in minus ten degrees this morning, one could tell that the winter has truly come to Northern Europe with renewable-heavy Germany again seeing its emissions climb above 500 g/kWh electricity (compared to 25 g/kWh in Sweden). At least German journalists attending COP28 in Dubai appear honest when admitting that they “have no idea” about Sweden. Luckily, our current government is slightly better informed as it has been endorsing the new declaration to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 (which, obviously, is still far below what would be needed to have a meaningful impact on climate change).

Taking a longer afternoon break away from my computer, I ran my first ever half marathon on the treadmill today, an experience that was just as brutal as one would expect, but the good news is that I am now firmly back on pace with regard to my goal of running 10k per day throughout 2023. Hopefully, I will finish with a few days to spare so that I can afford some rest if the winter temperatures in Kiruna get too extreme. Taking the Arctic Circle Train with the kids on 22 December, I am also very much looking forward to doing some cross-country skiing now when my shoulder has fully healed.

Surprise trip

Throughout the autumn, Eddie has been asking me about going to Umeå so he could see his old friends. When one of them turned eleven and said that all he wished for his birthday was that Eddie would visit, it felt like the right time to book a surprise trip over the weekend.

Taking the train through the winter night, Eddie and I got up to Umeå around 8 am yesterday, ready for a full day of gaming, swimming at Navet, and some heartfelt reunions. For my part, I got to see Petra, run 5k around Bölesholmarna in true winter wonderland fashion, and hear all about Maj's mother's trip with a five-year old to Tokyo. Now aboard SK27, we have about 30 minutes to go until landing in Stockholm, and though I will be flying in the opposite direction already in ten days' time, this trip truly meant the world for Eddie.

Rambo Mosse

After waking up on the floor in Örebro next to a flat-coated retriever, I spent all day yesterday working on an article before taking the train down to Mölndal for my final race this year. Though I had wished for it to be the Valencia Marathon, Rambo Mosse Night Trail surely did not disappoint with hundreds of participants, many wearing jackets from different orienteering clubs, and pitch torches everywhere.

Running almost 12 km on frozen and gnarly trails, I was happy to have taken my Salming iSpike shoes with steel studs even if the grip was not always perfect on the slippery rock slabs. Running with a group of other runners, I was again reminded of how much it helps to be used to running ultra distances as people started running out of energy after 8-9 kilometres. Still, I was careful not to fall or injure my feet, accepting that it cost me a few positions, ultimately finishing as number 56 of 167 people completing the race.