Fortune cookie

As the morning sunshine gave way to the first snowfall of the season, I was happy that I had found the time to go for a tempo trail run in Skatås earlier in the day, adding another 232 meters of elevation gain and earning the following fortune cookie praise from Strava’s recently added generative AI:

With a new Cuban missile crisis potentially brewing in the waters just outside Gothenburg as the Danish navy now considers boarding the Chinese ship that (most likely) cut the Internet cables a few days ago, I again felt like retreating from the outer world with some comfort food, in this case a risotto with Västerbotten cheese. In other and happier news, I should perhaps also mention that I just accepted being on the committee for a PhD dissertation at a Spanish university, a task that I am really looking forward to, especially as the dissertation is on ecomodernism.

Absolutes

Waking up to slippery roads and stranded trams, it took me forever to get to the railway station this morning but, with two minutes to spare, I made it aboard train 481 which delivered me in time to my quantitative methodology class in Halmstad. Now on the train back home, I am eating another “lussekatt” and pondering the very normality around me. The Dutch tourists taking in the scenery along the coast, the kids asking how much longer the ride will take, and the many tasks on my list of things to do before the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, it has been a thousand days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, two internet cables have just been cut in the Baltic Sea, and everyone seems to think that the only way to defeat nationalism abroad is by becoming equally nationalistic at home. Whereas the Cold War was about defeating an undemocratic ideology, today’s conflicts seem to be about absolute identities, with no serious conversation about how it will all end. In today’s discourse, the mere thought of regime change is made fun of, as if the only thing certain is that Russia (or China for that matter) will remain an enemy for decades to come.

Silverfloretten

Today, I took the train to Trollhättan with Eddie and William where the latter had his first ever foil competition. Winning two games and losing two, William certainly impressed me with his laser-sharp focus, and it was incredible to see how much he has learnt in such a short time.

And now it is Sunday night, and I just topped up this week’s running with a headlamp run through the forest for a total of 60 kilometres this week, or about 90 kilometres less than last week.

Train 422

Writing comments on a new round of thesis drafts, I am on SJ high-speed train 422 this morning with William as we head up to Stockholm to see my sister and her family. Unlike in July last year when we took the same morning train, it was dark and rainy when we boarded in Gothenburg but, fortunately, the weather forecast promises abundant sunshine once we get to Stockholm.

Catch and release

Though perhaps cynical to pair with a bouillabaisse of all dishes, the “Catch and release” white wine from Languedoc still proved the adage true that less is often more. In any case, with snow around the corner, a culinary escape to the south of France seemed like the best way to start a busy weekend which will include both Tekniska Museet in Stockholm and William’s first fencing competition, “Silverfloretten”.

As observant readers may already have noticed, I recently invested in Lonely Planet’s “Best in Travel 2025” which features so many travel dreams, from Launceston in Tasmania to the national parks of Kazakhstan. Having promised myself to visit at least one new country every year, I am hopeful that at least something from its pages will pop up here on Rawls & Me in 2025.

Two years ago today at Copacabana

Post-marking

Before attending to more intellectual tasks, I felt like I needed a break, so I went out for 16 kilometres around Delsjön, passing my favourite swimming spot and the long wooden bridge across the bogland that always reminds me of Norrland.

Unfortunately, my heart rate was a bit higher than usual, and I suspect that I have yet to fully recover from last week’s half marathon festival. As such, it is probably for the better that I will have a natural break from the running as I am going to Stockholm with William on Saturday to see his cousin.

Light at the end of tunnel

Though I took a moment off to compile this year’s Gold List, the last three days have otherwise been one long marking marathon. With more than 150 handwritten exams to go through, I could hear Jon’s joke “this is how we defeat AI” in the back of my head, but hopefully this is the last time that I will have to do this as Halmstad is finally transitioning to Inspera, the same digital assessment software that we had in Umeå and, with that, I will be able to focus fully on the content rather than on deciphering handwriting.

2024 Gold List

With no more international travel planned for 2024, I am ready to sum up this year in travel even if it is only mid-November. Having flown a total of 46,585 miles (about 20k more than last year), I have visited two new countries, Argentina and Uruguay, which both were fascinating in their own right, and flown one new airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas. However, this being the Gold List, there is little doubt that the return flight from South America on the upper deck of the Queen of the Skies stands out as the most memorable experience. As for the rest of the list, here we go:

Best coffee, hands-down: Lot61, Amsterdam

Best views after take-off: Vancouver International Airport, BC  

Best speakeasy: Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires

Best revenue-ticket value: KLM economy light (which still gives you one free checked bag as a Skyteam Elite member)

Best award-ticket value: Gothenburg – Buenos Aires round-trip in business class with Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa for 80,000 points per person using one American Express 2-4-1 voucher 

Running is life

Two weeks ago, William ran his first 10k along the Vltava River in Prague. Running on cobblestones and over the 16th century Charles Bridge, we stopped for a brief photo-op before completing this major milestone for William. And today, I finally finished my challenge of running a half marathon every day for seven days straight.

I have been fortunate enough to not feel any pain when running those 150 kilometres, maybe a slightly tight left calf but that has really been all. Obviously, I am most grateful for having a body that lets me do these things and for the sense of freedom that it brings. Nevertheless, I will try to finish the 361 kilometres that remain of my annual goal before taking the train to Kiruna on 20 December. This will allow me to take some time off from the running to prevent injury and instead focus on cross-country skiing and swimming over the Christmas holidays.