A Summer North of the Arctic Circle

After a few weeks back home, nice in many ways, but too much like it always been, it is time to get moving. Planning to travel up to Norway by bus tomorrow, just need to sort out the flat, laundry and a few other things.

Not really sure what I’m doing in Norway. Looking for something to do, a new job or a new life. Don’t have much money but enough to survive on for a while. Might head over to the UK at some point, and hope to visit my old school in Flekke as well. And hopefully earning some money along the way.

I need a new adventure, I need something to happen, I need to figure out what I really want.

/Pär Boman

and I’m back in the south. It has been great but now I have to figure out what to do next. Looking at some really cool jobs and hope that one of the will work out. Will keep you updated as things move along. Will probably be temping a bit again to make ends meet until something more exciting turns up. Might head over to Scotland soon.

Pär Boman

The end of this experience is coming closer. On the 30th of August I work my last shift, this time all the way down to Östersund.

An although the job is still great, living up here is having its toll. Cabin fever I will be great to get back to civilisation again.

This blog hasn’t really worked out the way I hoped, but the video entries have been fun to make. Haven’t been able to formulate my thoughts and experiences the way I wanted but there is always hope for the future.

Have baked bread every week all summer and now it is time for another batch.

Lots of love,

Pär Boman

Finally the video is done! For password email me@parboman.com

Sitting at an outside table at Jokkmokk station and pondering over the last week. Have quite been able to write until now, needed time to process the experience.

Arrived in Gällivare Thursday midday after a quite enjoyable but incredibly long train ride from Helsingborg. 22.5 hours all in all. Checked out the office at the station and tried to figure out what to do next. The day past fairly quickly, although the place is surprisingly quiet. Met Ulrika at the station when the train got in, she had plenty of stories to tell but I could feel the nervousness building about the following day.

Slept for a few hours and got dressed for work. I do really like the uniform, casual but still official looking. Slightly nervous still but less so than expected. Just a few passengers from Gällivare, but in Porjus we picked up 12 musicians taking part in Inlandsbane festival. A colorful bunch they made sure the trip got more interesting. The guiding part went quite well, no Germans on the train so could focus on getting the Swedish and English version working. Can’t do it without the manual but that should hopefully change soon. The day went well, slightly chaotic when changing train in Sorsele to head back up north, lots of passengers (well not really but more than on the trip down) and managed to mess up the food order for Vaikijaur but Maggan sorted it out when we arrived. Exhausted after the first day but feeling quite good about the experience, it was fun!

Second day was mostly good although I messed with seat reservations when we changed direction of the train in Arvidsjaur. Got a call from the office about a complaint on that, but I think that it will be better next time when the routing starts to work properly.

Got  a proper place to sleep on Sunday, so nice with a real bed! Spent most of monday in bed relaxing. On Tuesday Lena lent me her car so I got a good look at the area and got some shopping done.

And yeah, we also had a train derailment on Monday, nothing serious and no one was hurt, trains running again the next day. But Lena had to work on bus for her two shifts. Let’s hope that’s the only time this season!

Today was the start of my other project that I’m doing in my spare time. The plan is to write a new guidebook for Inlandsbanan that’s interesting to read and available in English and German. So headed down south to Porjus with the train. Arrived very early and everything was closed, but after a few hours of walking around the small town I got a guided tour of the old hydro electric power plant. It was the first day for the guide and I were the only customer, she was very nervous but all in all managed quite well. I do know how the first day feels like! There is not much to do in Porjus so walked up to the viewing spot and got a lovely view of the area. It is really beautiful up here, in particularly at the top of a mountain. Could see snow on the mountains at the horizon.

But Porjus is not fun enough for a full day so catched a bus to Jokkmokk where I am now. Been walking around town and checking the place out. Probably need to structure myself more if the guidebook is actually going to happen. But it is a start. Luckily since I started writing it hasn’t begun to rain, a wet laptop is not much fun. The train back to Gällivare is arriving in about half an hour. Life is good.

Early start with a good hotel breakfast and then a quick tour around Mora. Then back on the train, nice to not be on the bus. Stopped in Fågelsjö which is one of our food stops on the line. We take up orders earlier during the trip so that the caterers have time to prepare, and then the travellers pay and pick up their food at the stations. A good way to avoid appalling train food as many companies around the world see fit to serve on trains, although it would be hard to schedule in food stops on a regular train.

But we also got to visit Fågelsjö Gammelgård, which I really enjoyed. Basically a small country manor that upon the building a new house in 1910 the owners left everything as it was an locked the doors and left it. Like a museum but more real, no glass walls or elaborate exhibitions just the real thing. Also the coolest lock I ever seen on food shed, elaborate construction and some real neat thinking. A must see if you ever are in the area.

Got back to Östersund fairly early, nice after some really long days. Some relaxation and then on to socialising with the engine drivers and other staff. Bowling was the concept, and I can’t say that it went very well for me, but it was fun and I had the chance to get to know some of the drivers better. A nice taco buffet and got to hear plenty of great anecdotes, that it is probably wise not to publish.

Fairly late evening, at least in the standard of this week, but amazed how light the evening was. I’m setting myself up for some serious strangeness with the midnight sun during this summer in Gällivare.

-Pär Boman

Finally out on the trains! Early start, had to rush to get to the station but got there in good time. We headed south, first stop Åsarna. I’m not going to work this part of the line but it was nice to see it and to be aware what it is like. Some stops in the middle of the woods to look at blästerugn, enjoyed jumping out of the train in the forest.

End of the line was Mora. The track goes down to Kristinehamn but is in to bad shape to use most of it, so from here on the trip continued by bus. Stopped by a really cool museum in Lesjöfors with random old things from the area and the world in general mixed together in an interesting way, really hard to explain you really have too see it. The all the way down to Kristinehamn and then back to Mora.

Got to practice a bit of guiding with a microphone, think it went quite well but need to work on my phase, in particular in German and English. Stayed in a very nice Hotel in Mora, enjoyed the pool after a long day. And of course a beer afterwards, this time most of my co-workers joined in, and we had a good time. Getting to know them better, and it’s a really nice team. Most of them are new this year, just as I am.

And yeah it was my birthday today.