Interrailing from above

Crossing the Apennines, snow is still visible on the higher peaks. Europe truly is our playground and, just like last night, I get that feeling of open-ended adventure: that somehow the story is far from over.

Yet, finishing the last pages of David Szalay’s Flesh, I am struck by an acute sense of physical vulnerability, a reminder of how quickly things can change, like when Anna fell on that cliff back in 2023. Though his life is so different from my own, following István around Europe has meant coming back to many places that I know, and to all their contingencies and memories. As much as I keep telling myself that I have more agency in my own life, the tiny and seemingly insignificant circumstances do have a tendency to add up over time. Looking down as we enter German airspace, I can almost see the trains criss-crossing below, like an Interrail pass holder still not knowing if the night will end in Brussels, Cologne or somewhere else entirely.

Upper Eden

On our way into the desert, Johanna and I stopped at a Trader Joe’s just off the I-15 to stock up on cheese and supplies. Among the shelves, a Pinot Noir with a blue label from the Santa Lucia Highlands proved irresistible (yes, embarrassing as it is, I sometimes buy wines based on the label alone). Packed with memories from the Central Coast, not far from Steinbeck country, it turned out to be just perfect for yesterday’s “Spargelzeit”, as duly celebrated in the interior of Halland with a Sunday steak and beurre noisette.

Based on all the feedback I received in California and through the internal review process, I have now resubmitted my book chapter to the editor in Singapore under its new title, “Surprisingly Green: Ecomodernism, Social Democracy, and the Limits of Eco-Centric Politics”. As always, having to cut words is painful, but I think the chapter is significantly stronger after these revisions. If the original timetable holds, the book may appear in print with Routledge sometime in early 2027.

Reviewing

Being part of a new Routledge volume on ideology and environmental politics, we are currently doing rounds of internal peer review before the manuscript is sent out for external review. In my case, this means that I have read two chapters so far, one on eco-authoritarianism and another, more conceptual, for the introduction. Soon, I will receive a third chapter on eco-feminism, and with the train ride between Halmstad and Gothenburg being just one hour, I need every caffeine fix I can get to stay on top of it all.

At least yesterday was a blast, as I kicked off the thesis supervision process for the 12 + 3 theses I am supervising this semester. I remember back in Lund in the aughts, when supervising half that number was considered an unusually heavy load. With Halmstad University currently laying off staff, I fear this trend will only continue.

And as for worrying trends, I cannot help but note that Germany is now considering ramping up coal power to substitute for expensive gas in the wake of the Iran war. A week ago, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Katherina Reiche, told an oil conference in Texas that the EU’s net-zero target should be relaxed. In that sense, the chickens may finally be coming home to roost with regard to the Energiewende. Rather than expressing any Schadenfreude, I can only hope that its supporters will be willing to draw the right conclusions from this.

Einsteined

Closed since 2022, my favourite sanctuary, Café Einstein on Kurfürstenstraße 58, now survives only as a chain of coffee shops scattered across the German capital. Nevertheless, I could not resist returning for a highly anachronistic flat white and a Brezel. Having started the morning with a steasy city run – taking me down every possible memory lane, including the final hundred metres of the Berlin Marathon (still on my bucket list) – a caffeine fix was just what I needed before heading over to the zoo with the kids.

Post-panda, the day continued with a visit to the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum of Contemporary Art for me, while the kids returned to Futurium, followed by a ride out to the Hurricane Factory in Waßmannsdorf – but that is a story of its own.

Pretzel

Ploughing through a decimetre of fresh snow, I circled the inner harbour bridges before ending my run at Lidl, where I picked up a pretzel in anticipation of the fact that I will be in Germany in three days’ time – assuming that no further bouts of black ice disturb Berlin Brandenburg Airport, as they have in recent weeks.

As for Berlin, I have a number of museums lined up, with indoor skydiving booked for Wednesday afternoon. Beyond that, all suggestions are welcome. As always, I plan to take Rawls & Me along.

Back to Berlin

My promise to stay on the ground until Easter did not last long. With the kids having their sportlov in mid-February, they both really wanted to return to Berlin after our visit in the fall – and thanks to a sale from Scandinavian Airlines, I was able to make it happen in an affordable way. Joined by one of their friends, we will also get a full day in Copenhagen on the way back.

In Berlin, I first considered an Airbnb but, with IHG having launched their new Garner brand, I found a family room for four with breakfast for the kind of price one only gets in the depths of winter. Located close to Nollendorfplatz, it is not far from the apartment in the Weimar-era classic Goodbye to Berlin, and I am hoping to take William along for a Schöneberg morning run or two.

Sourdough bakery

To my great joy, I stumbled upon a sourdough bakery called “Bärlin” just around the corner from my new apartment. Obviously, I had to stop for some bread and an extraordinarily tasty lussekatt–cinnamon bun crossover that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Potsdam

For our two days in Berlin, we decided to stay in Potsdam – about 25 minutes from the city centre by Regional Express – where accommodation is much more affordable. Staying in Potsdam also gave me the opportunity to go for a sunset run through the Sanssouci (or “Sorgenfri" as it is known from a Malmö horizon) World Heritage castle grounds and to show the kids what used to be the residence of the Prussian kings.

Making full use of our ABC travel card with the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), we of course also explored Berlin proper – from the obligatory Brandenburger Tor photo-op to the GDR Museum for some Trabi simulator driving. As for the old East, few things remain the same, and the postmodern irony only deepens.

Instead of a Starbucks, an Espresso House (sic!) has opened in the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz, while the Disneyfied rebuilding of the Berliner Schloss is now complete – with three sides reconstructed as exact replicas of the original Baroque castle and the fourth side (as well as the interior) designed in a starkly modern style as part of the new Humboldt Forum art museum – all replacing what was once the Palast der Republik.

Stena Scandinavica

On my many Gothenburg harbour runs, I have often passed the ferries bound for Kiel, thinking that one day I would sail away with them and show the kids a country that has meant so much to me over the years.

After an intense day on Zoom, organizing a joint social policy workshop with 75 students from Halmstad and the University of Worcester, I took the tram with the kids and my parents to the ferry terminal around 5 pm, sensing their joy and anticipation. Before leaving, I managed one last morning run in Skatås, wrapping up 300 kilometres for October, and picked up a final piece of spelt bread from Lilla Sur.

Ahead of us lies an autumn break in Hamburg and Berlin. Since Eddie has been learning German for two years, it feels especially meaningful to give him a sense of the country. Taking Rawls & Me along, I hope to share a few moments from the road before returning to Halmstad next week.

Sayur

Today, I had lunch with my colleague Tomas at the Indonesian vegetarian restaurant Sayur on Olivedalsgatan. The food immediately brought me back half a decade to the streets of Jakarta so I would give the restaurant a 10 out of 10 for authenticity.

Otherwise, with all running on pause after pulling my calf yesterday, I started the day with 1,000 meters in the pool at Valhallabadet before returning to Powerpoint. While I am coming up with new slides on research methodology, Germany is busy burning yet more coal, with record imports of thermal coal from Colombia now used to replace Russian gas, and the electricity carbon intensity still more than tenfold that of nuclear-powered Sweden. As if the irony of the Energiewende was not enough, the creativity of the anti-nuclear crowd reached a new peak when Arne Kaijser, in a recent article in Svenska Dagbladet, argued that building new nuclear in Sweden may risk causing an “enormous overproduction” of low-carbon electricity and that it would therefore be better to wait 10-15 years until any decisions are made… funny, last time I checked, we had increasingly interconnected Europeans grid and a climate emergency to deal with... 

On a marché sur la Lune

It is early Monday morning, William is reading Destination Moon with Tintin while I am once again catching a train to Halmstad. If I keep doing this until my retirement, I will have travelled the distance to the Moon and back along these tracks.

Meanwhile, on the theme of saying the right things for the wrong reasons, the Sweden Democrat Charlie Weimer has pointed out the obvious, that “Fit for 55” is not going to happen. To any long-time reader of Rawls & Me, this should not come as a surprise. Though emissions did go down in Germany last year, mostly thanks to a stagnating industry and greater imports of nuclear electricity from France, the massive cuts envisaged in the EU deal would require hundreds of new nuclear reactors on the continent or a complete deindustrialization, neither of which appear particularly likely.

Babylon Berlin

With my mind thrown back to the neo-noir world of Provocateur in Wilmersdorf, it is the third season and police inspector Gereon Rath is seeing the Weimar Republic crumble from within. Though I do not often watch television series, it is worth making exceptions sometimes (be it StarTrek or Buffy). Or, in this case, Babylon Berlin which is now available for free on SVT Play for those with an IP-number residing in Sweden.

The last time I dived into the Weimar years was during the pandemic when I read Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin. Just like tonight, I remember feeling uncertain about whether or not I even want to return to Berlin again, as if my memories are already enough for a lifetime and nothing more can possibly be added, at least not in a meaningful way. It is funny, because I do not think I feel like that for any other city, with the possible exception for Hong Kong where I suspect I would feel so sad about all that has been lost. On the other hand, that would also be interesting in itself, although in some horrifying Black Mirrorish way.

Tea or wine

Having written in the past about train rides and the centrality of Stockholm in Sweden, I was reminded of a how, in the mornings, people on the train to Stockholm would drink coffee while typing away on their laptops in preparation for their respective meetings in the capital. Then, in the evening on the return leg, one could immediately tell how the meetings went based on what people would drink, with a clear divide between shell-shocked tea drinkers and joyful wine drinkers.

Today is definitely a wine day so I picked up some Chilean chardonnay in the bistro as my high-speed train makes its way back to Gothenburg. Having discovered that the 1938 edition of Ernst Jünger’s “Das abenteuerliche Herz” has just been translated into Swedish, I of course had to order a copy as I was beginning to run low on magic realism, not to mention, Prussian anarchism ;-)

Cold season

With both kids exhibiting cold symptoms, this week has hit somewhat of a roadblock as I am starting a new course with 120 students tomorrow and still have to pack up the house. Luckily, I invested in some biscotti to go with my morning Americano as I am reading the news of the Nord Stream explosions. In the commentaries, it is common to hear that the German dependency on Russian gas was caused by insufficient commitment to its “energy transition” when, in fact, it is that very transition that is the reason behind the dependency. After all, as I have pointed out in the past, the proper way to think of wind and solar power is as fuel-saving devices for gas plants. As such, when moving away from coal and nuclear baseload, deepening gas dependency is precisely what you would expect for those cold days when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.

Staff day

Today, the autumn semester got off to a flying start as the whole department gathered down at the river at P5. On my way there, I was able to pick up Monocle’s special “Mediterraneo” edition which is somewhat of a summer classic here at Rawls & Me and the perfect distraction for any escapist.

Otherwise, today was surprisingly hot with 26 humid degrees, reminding me of how extreme this summer has been for much of continental Europe, with many rivers drying up and parts of Germany turning into a savannah of sorts. Coming full circle, the coal shipments are now unable to make it up the Rhine to the power stations as the water level is at a historical low. With Sweden’s emergency oil-fired power station in Karlshamn starting up due to the lack of firm capacity, I am back wondering what kind of feedback that it would actually take to make the 100% renewable crowd reconsider their views? Sadly, I fear, as with other wicked problems, that learning will remain extremely difficult and that neither record high electricity prices nor outright blackouts will be sufficient to make people question the received dogma.

Guilty Pleasures

With Petra and others having recommended it for quite some time, Umeå’s new brunch spot “Guilty Pleasures” seemed like the obvious place to take Carsten while he was visiting for a few days from Hamburg. While more than ten years had passed since we last had breakfast together at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul, it was great to resume my German masterclass with the concept of „bornierte Bräsigkeit” over some well-executed “Eggs Royale” and the house Cava.

Before meeting Carsten, I managed to swing by the gym for a first post-Covid session consisting of rowing and weight training. Though feeling good, I have decided to stay away from treadmill tempo runs for now. In any case, speedwork is not really something I need to practise ahead of Thursday anyway, so I am happy taking it slow for the time being

Nordistik

After three days in the UK, we picked up the kids and took the night train south to Hamburg together with my parents. While we originally had tickets booked for the spring of 2020, the pandemic obviously had other plans, but today we finally got to see Miniatur Wunderland with its incredibly detailed landscapes from all over the world, including the Grand Canyon, the Kiruna iron ore mine and the Copacabana.

As an avgeek, my own favourite was of course Knuffingen Airport where I could watch ANA depart for Nagoya and an Airbus BelugaXL delivering parts for new airplanes. Now already on the train north again, we will spend the whole day tomorrow at Legoland.

Altes Land

Today, William completed his first ever race. In an incredible 4 minutes and 22 seconds, he raced 1,000 meters in true River Run fashion, starting and finishing at Skeppsbron. For being seven years old, I must say that this is really impressive, and I very much look forward to running together through the summer as he already has his eyes set on “Lilla Umemilen” in early September.

Back home, I made one of my signature Thai beef salads while Elin is busy running the 5k version of Blodomloppet. With Umåker coming up already on Thursday, and having not fully recovered from my cold, I felt that it was the right decision to focus completely on William tonight and skip any racing of my own. And finding Dörte Hansen’s “Altes Land” in the mail, I look forward to reading a bit in German again once this busy week has come to an end. But first, lots of meetings and responsibilities, starting with the faculty hiring committee tomorrow morning.

Wandel durch Handel

Sticking to my astronaut-early schedule, I went for a run around the lake shortly after 5 am this morning, in time to see the ice breaking up and giving way to blue waves. In similar fashion, I still believe that a world in which we trade and interact with each other is better than one of isolation and nationalism. While buying hydrocarbons from kleptocratic elites may not have transformed Russia, and no scorn seems to be spared on Germany for trying, I am confident that broad economic integration will, over time, make peace more valuable and conflict less likely.

As such, I could not help but create some pins that say “Buy Global”. Considering how fervently the “local” is fetishized in late cultural capitalism, these pins have already sparked several interesting conversations. Often, as with food security, few people seem to have ever challenged the assumption that local is better, and only when one prompts them to think about for instance extreme weather events, do they realize that being dependent solely on local agriculture may not be that smart after all. Still, the main reason why we should “buy global” is to facilitate human development abroad, in particular in Africa, while maintaining competitive pressure at home so that we continue to automatize manufacturing processes and do not tie up sparse human capital.

Walpurgis

For once, it is not snowing on the last day of April here in Umeå. Not that the magnolia is blooming either as we are still 1,240 km away from Lund, not to mention another thousand kilometres from Niederösterreich. But William has made the loveliest card and, running through the forest this morning, the cranes set the scene for Walpurgis Night as in Faust:

“Und über Flächen, über Seen

Der Kranich nach der Heimat strebt”

For the occasion I am making shrimp toasts followed by pasta with asparagus, olives, and almonds together with a glass of Grüner Veltliner. 

Completely unrelated, I realize that I forgot to mention that the article that I have written with my PhD student Kalle is now online and freely available to download thanks to the university’s open access agreement.