Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Swedish Miscellany

  • My mother came from a Swedish family.  I took her back here for a brief visit when she was in her 70s--younger than am now, actually.  She kept remarking on how poor the Swedes were.  I can testify that this is a view that needs revision.
  • Based on my experience with my mothers' family, I had thought that Swedes lived on coffee.   But I've seen more instant here this week than any place I've been in years.
  • Best Swedish beer so far is from Prague, but I'm open to correction.
  • I'm not tall but this week I feel short.
  • Do Swedes own cars?  If so, where do they keep them?  If not, how do they get to their beloved country cottages?
  • Almost the only Swedes I see smoking are women.  Coincidence?
  • This really is a place where you see men doing solo care of small children. And apparently with success.
  • Do Swedes commute by bikes in the winter?  If not, where are the car parking lots near the train station?    And where do they store the bikes?
  • Why are there no Swedish laundromats?  Is it because they wear nothing but shorts and pullovers?  But then, what do they wear in the winter?
Followup note to the New York Crank: Grand Central is not a train station.  It is a high end food court with commuter service.  Penn is a train station.  And as the poet says, Lead us Not into Penn Station.

4 comments:

bhyde said...

Omnipollo is said to be excellent. Evil Twin, a brewer in denmark, is amazing. But yes, the Czech's make amazing beer; and they drink a lot of too.

The New York Crank said...

"Followup note to the New York Crank: Grand Central is not a train station. It is a high end food court with commuter service. "

Nice line for those who like snark, Buce, but any building that gets trains from New Haven, or Dover Plains, or Wassaic is not just an accommodation for commuter service.

Besides, it was built as a train station. Trains come in. Trains come out. It's not my business where they go. Or to quote the late (is he late) Tom Lehrer in a song about sending up V-2 Rockets, "It's not my business where they come down, says Werner Von, Werner Von Braun."

And I'm not talking about the food court in the basement. I'm talking about the gourmet supermarket on the ground floor. Wonderful meats, produce and imported cheese. Sell the farm and buy something there.

Very crankily yours,
The New York Crank

Ebenezer Scrooge said...

The Grand Central of Buce & Crank's disputation is Grand Central Terminal. It is not a station. A terminal is the end of the line. Trains go in. Trains go out. Trains do not go through a terminal. A mere station, like Penn, is just a waypoint.

Grand Central Station is a post office.

Bah, humbug!

Buce said...

Why is Joe Biden like the Indiana & Vincennes Railroad? The utter absence of terminal facilities.

Tee hee. Not snark, just my winsome Celtic charm.