1. In my last blog, I spoke briefly of good government (giving land for the workers to have summer homes, to get away from the pollution of the city), which assumes that everyone is part of a common endeavor and therefore does what is best for ALL, not just for the elite few. Another example of this here was the taking of a lot of land from the aristocracy, land that had been royal hunting grounds, and turning it into public parks that surround the city and run through it. The king actually himself donated much of the land for this effort long ago, as well as the land for the project I am about to describe. Walking in a very, vary large local park, we came upon a HUGE area of community gardens.
Having been involved, over 30 years ago, in the struggle to get vacant lots in NY City turned into community gardens, I have an ongoing interest in this cause, and was excited to see that this one park alone had acres upon acres set aside for public use in this way. The land had been divided up into over 100 individual plots, each of them about 40 by 30 feet (bigger than our big vegetable garden out back at home). Many of them had a small shed on the land, and some even had small decks built.
Many people had planted fruit trees, and many had berry bushes. By far the most common use of the land was a combination of vegetable garden and flower garden. They were SO beautiful.
I thought of the Polish homes Anna and I saw in Southeastern Poland and how so many of them had fruit trees and gardens in their small front yards, and I thought again about my grandpa Tomaskovic and how much pleasure this would have brought him. If he had had such a garden plot in Yonkers, he would never have gone home. I can see him working in the garden, and then sitting in a chair (in his sleeveless undershirt and baggy pants), staying there until it became dark, and even then having a hard time going home. He would have had a card table there, with some beers, and would have played pinochle with Uncle George and Mr. Kelbel. Those of you who knew him: can’t you just see him? And can’t you just feel the pleasure it would have given him to have his own garden plot like that, to grow fruit trees and flowers and vegetables? What angers me is how hard it was, and still is, in the States, to get cities to set aside land for this purpose, especially such large size plots. City land can make money, so it has to be used for commercial purposes or for rental property, etc. Land, in the States, like everything else, is a commodity. Here, it was decided LONG ago, that SOME land should be used to make money, and other land—a goodly amount of it—should be used for PUBLIC good, to make people healthier and happier. This urban public garden program began, as I think I said in an earlier blog about Skansen, during WW I, when the king decided that, given food shortages and workers’ wages that couldn’t keep up with the rising cost of food, he would give land that had been his to any workers who wanted a plot of land to grow their own fruits and vegetables. The first of these programs was on another island, and I don’t know when the one in this park began. But it makes me incredibly happy to see it, and to see the bees and butterflies busy at their work, in the city, pollinating all those beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables. I wondered if anyone had put bee hives on their plot. It would be a great idea.
2. Oddly enough, this area of the city that is so busy, busy during the week, and late at night on weekends, is quite seriously dead during weekend days. I understand the whole thing about central business districts and how they get less use on the weekends, but a high proportion of those people dressed up nicely and lunching in the local cafes and restaurants midweek are women with babies in strollers (there are a few daddies with strollers, as befits a society that allows men to take the same generous full-pay parental leave as women) but it is mostly women). Where do they go on weekends? If the people who are out on the streets and in the cafes and restaurants on Thursday at 2:00 include business people and mommies, don’t those mommies what to go to cafes on weekends, too? Where do they and their partners go (in northern Europe, most of the couples marry once they decide to have a child) on Saturdays? Maybe they go to another part of the city. Because not only are the people not here, but almost every single café and restaurant is closed. Even in the tourist districts, many of the restaurants and cafes are closed on Sundays, and many close right after lunch on Saturday if they open at all. I walked blocks and blocks in numerous directions Sunday afternoon, and I could not find a cup of coffee!! On Saturdays, most of the shops are closed (unless they are in the heart of the tourist areas). Those that open, close early. I am talking about shops that sell clothing, fabric (there are LOT of fabric stores in Stockholm. A LOT), furnishings, paper goods, lamps, plants, etc. The grocery stores are open, and so are some the bigger restaurants, but on a few blocks near here, the majority of the commercial establishments were not open Saturday, and I THINK that even most of the hair salons were closed. Which leads me to two other observations:
3. There are more hair salons here than can possibly be justified by the population. I have been in many big cities: New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Paris, Chicago…; and many smaller cities: Raleigh, Brisbane, Florence, Krakow…, and I have NEVER seen such a density of hair salons. It is baffling. I’m talking one on each block, at least. I mean it. Sometimes there is an additional one that is for men, making it two, or even sometimes three, per block. I don’t know what this says about Stockholmers or Swedes. Do they all get their hair done weekly? Do they not wash their hair themselves, leaving it to the hairdressers to do so? Do they all actually have dark hair, and keep it that icy blond only by constant visits to a salon? I have no idea. They do not seem to be filled with customers, so maybe there is some sort of odd governmental subsidy for hair salons, making it impossible to fail, even without customers (I hope you realize I am joking).
4. The other thing is how busy the place is mid-day, mid-week. I mean that the cafes, coffeehouses, salons, shops, are FILLED with people, mostly women, but FILLED with people whom one would think would be working. It’s a city, so this is always true, but both Don and I have been struck by how busy the sidewalks, parks, and cafes are at, say, 2:00 pm (14:00 locally) on a Thursday. And there are so many babies in strollers, it looks as if Sweden—or at least Stockholm—is having a baby boom! I know that Sweden has very low fertility, but you would never know it from being here. Of course, most people have only one baby with them, or at most, a baby and a toddler, compared with Ireland, where it was not unusual to see families with four children or even more. But these are, just like Ireland, YOUNG women with babies; they do not look like 30-somethings, but like 20-somethings, and that was NOT expected, either. The place is CRAWLING with babies, in strollers, carriages, snugglies, playing on the park grass, on laps, sharing mama’s food, being walked by grandma and grandpa, crying down the street. It’s wonderful, but totally unexpected in a large, modern, Scandinavian, low-fertility city.
5. There are no face-cloths in the city. Seriously. I cannot find any in any store: department store, swanky shop, discount store (there are one or two of those around). I guess Swedes don’t use them for any purpose. I personally use them mostly in the summer, when I start feeling grungy from the heat and humidity. It’s nice, under those conditions, to wet a cold washcloth and wipe one’s face and neck, isn’t it? I don’t know what Swedes do when that happens. Perhaps they stick their entire head under the kitchen faucet.
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