Today, it is the last of the Christmas public holidays in Sweden for Trettondedag jul (The Thirteenth Day of Christmas). As I've written before, nobody has been able to tell me quite why they need a public holiday for this. But as it is to their advantage, nobody questions the logic of having a day off for a Catholic feast day in a predominantly secular, Lutheran country. And neither do I. All I know is that next Monday it is back to work day after the silly season.

I will miss Christmas when it is over, though the lights will stay up until next Friday - the official day for taking down the tree. I love Christmas. Much to Lars-Göran's amusement, I absolutely relish in celebrating it-- I love the baking, the family traditions, the lights, the gift-giving, the caroling, the quiet worship... (As a matter of fact, it doesn't feel like Christmas to me until I sing Angels We Have Heard On High in church!)

So after today, all of the holidays are over and we can all go back to normal. No more fireworks - though I feel that two days of fireworks is more than enough. No more shopping frenzies and stocking up as though it's the siege of Leningrad (although I've managed to escape them this year by doing my grocery shopping long before the actual days). And best of all, no more Jingle Bells on the radio or tv. But, more importantly, it is the start of a new cycle with the days becoming longer and less dark. Even if it's only at the speed of a minute or two a day, it's the psychological effect that counts.

The next thing I look forward to is the arrival of the delicious, decadent cream and almond filled delight that is Semlor. This traditional bun used to be eaten on what we call Shrove Tuesday, but as with many things these days they have been sold earlier and earlier in the season.

What I wasn't prepared for was seeing them in a café in Haninge this week! I looked inside as we passed and I pointed and said excitedly to Lars-Göran "Look! Semlor!" (which translated into Marie-speak meant "Oh please, can we get one now!") However, Lars-Göran said with a horrified look on his face "Semlor? Men, va då? It's still Christmas...", which I knew meant that he would absolutely, never, under any circumstances even dream of allowing me to have one in January.

Which means I'll have to sneak one in secret next week. Don't tell him, it will only hurt his feelings. I guess I can see his point. I know that there has been a kerfuffle in Adelaide over the sale of hot cross buns this week. I had to smile when I saw the shops there defending the ultra-early start to flogging off of Easter crap as being "in keeping with previous years" and "a service to customers". How kind of Woolies to be so altruistic and only doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. [*inset a heavy dose of sarcasm*] I suppose I'm getting old and grumpy now, but I find it sad to see commercial interests hijack these special times. When I was young, we only had Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday - and they were special because we only had them that one time of the year. It just seems to erode away anything that was special if you can avail yourself of them twelve months of the year.

Even though most workplaces and schools resume next week, the highly controversial seven month trial of a congestion tax (trängselskatt) began in Stockholm this week. I guess the idea was to iron out any teething problems before the crush started again.



When you look at a map of Stockholm like the one above, you can see why there are so many traffic problems, even though we are talking about a place the size of Adelaide. Stockholm is made up of fourteen islands and these are connected with a series of bridges and tunnels and it is here at these points that traffic builds up. In addition, given the location and geography of the city, it is not possible to have a by-pass or ring route around the city, so all traffic has to pass through the city - and there is a huge amount of freight trucks that traverse Sweden. And many of the narrow, hilly and tightly built up streets were never intended for car traffic at all. I think that most of us who have sat in endless queues in Stockholm traffic know that something really has to be done about it.

But this remains a complicated issue and the political infighting and general bickering about who should pay and what do to has been raging for years. Now it has been decided to trial a congestion charge, not unlike the one introduced in London in 2003. Motorists coming into and leaving the city will pay a variable charge as they pass a a series of points across the city. This will continue until the 31st of July and then people in Stockholm will vote on whether it should stay.

As you can imagine, it is not a popular move at all. While people moan about the constant queues and daily delays and make noises about the deteriorating air quality and general impact on the environment, most people hope for a solution that involves someone else, not them. What has also angered people is that the vote has been confined to Stockholm city (think Adelaide City Council area only) rather than the whole county of Stockholm. The majority of people forced to pay the congestion charge are those who live in the suburbs and commute to the city for work. So the people most affected will not be allowed to vote on the issue.

After the first day of charges last Tuesday, there were far fewer cars reported on the main roads, though quite a few more on the feeder roads. Certainly the pictures published in Metro of Klarastrandsleden at 4.30pm on Monday and Tuesday were impressive. I've sat in many a queue on this particular bottleneck so the "after" shot was very gratifying. It looks like 4.30am!




It will be interesting to see what happens next week and indeed how Stockholmers react to the charge in the long term. At the moment the publicity is very much highlighting the negatives and while many locals are opposed, the experience of congestion charges in London suggests that the population will come around to the project once they experience its benefits.

“There was lots of apocalyptic talk before it was introduced,” said Richard Dodd, spokesman for the Transport for London congestion charging body. “People said things like public transport will not cope, London will become a ghost town, businesses will be driven out and nobody will come to central London to shop any more. None of that has turned out to be true,” said Dodd.

The government has a bit of ground to catch up on as a recent opinion poll showed nearly 60 percent of Stockholm's residents were opposed to the charge, while less than 30 percent were in favour. We'll just have to wait and see what the Swedes make of it all come September voting day.