Being the thoughts and writings of one Gustaf Erikson; father, homeowner, technologist.

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A visit to �land

Viking and I went to �land this weekend to visit Petter and Alva together with Bj�rn and Egil. We were a trio of dads with two-year olds traipsing around the bush having picnics. Thank god the kids didn't synchronise their bad moments -- there was generally only one child pissed off at a time.

�land is a beautiful place in a harsh kind of way. There are lots of fields and deciduous trees, but the dominant feature is rock scoured smooth by the latest ice age, thinly covered by moss and stunted pines.

Petter and Gis�la have a very nice place in Bj�rnhuvud, about 15 minutes from the harbour and 20 minutes from Mariehamn, the capital.

�land is closer to Sweden than to Finland, both geographically and culturally. The signposts are all in Swedish, none of the inhabitants have to serve in the Finnish army (the islands have been demilitarised since the 1920s), and only persons with citezenship can buy property there. Much of the income of the region comes from the sale of tax-free liqour to thirsty Swedes, although �land also provides more than 40% of Finland's onions.

Bj�rn had a digital camera with him, which we shamelessly borrowed, snapping away at our kids wandering around picking blueberries. We quickly realised his wisdom of investing in half a gigabyte of memory. As soon as he gets the pics to me I'll post some.

Update: pictures are now up at my album on MrX.no. Thanks Terje for giving me some space on his site!

Posted on Tuesday, 2024-08-17,
in the alt category.
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"The fate of this universe -- and others! -- is at stake!"

(Title shamelessly stolen from P.M. Agapow's review of a different novel.)

Space opera in the Iain M. Banks mould, with bold sweeping vistas and more or less dysfunctional characters. Unlike Banks, this is hard SF, which means that the speed of light is still an absolute limit. Other than this, anything goes.

Reading this prompted me to re-read Revelation Space, the first novel set in this universe, and after just a few pages I can say that this novel is not up to the standards set by that one. Despite this, it is an entertaining read and more well written than most.

Posted on Tuesday, 2024-08-17,
in the books » read category.
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