At the edge of the Arctic Circle

Today we travelled just 600 km. We are on the edge of the Arctic Circle in a nice camp at Overkalix on the river Kalix. We have left the coast and the Bay of Bothnia behind us and headed up inland towards Finland.

We left our last campsite at about 11am and visited a Swedish Lidl which had a helpful beggar outside who lent us a coin for our trolley. Then we drove for four hours and stopped for a Swedish MacDonald's at Umea as a late lunch and a chance to finally connect to wifi. But we didn't like our food which was not as good as the lunch yesterday and when we set off we all somehow felt dissatisfied with ourselves, and then the coast road had few views of the sea and there seemed to be only the same red farmhouses and endless forest to look at. We started to understand just what a huge country Sweden is - twice as big as the UK with only 10 mil people. If we had gone south from Banska Bystrica we could have reached Sicily in the same distance as going from south Sweden to Nordkapp. (Useful facts provided by Maros).

One success of the journey was that I finally managed to photograph the now familiar 'watch out for the moose' road sign.

But then we got to our camp and had warm soup and grilled sausages, which we ate outside in a bracing arctic breeze and we felt better. We turned the heating on in the caravan and went to bed to have a read and get warm. Apparently it is about 5°C colder than it normally is in the summer here.

Highlights of the day - reaching the Arctic Circle, seeing a fox in the forest, nice people in the Overkalix camp and the toasty warm kitchen and toilets there (I considered sleeping in the kitchen). I'm glad I have the reindeer blanket.

First half of Sweden

Today we travelled nearly 900 km from Markaryd to Sundsvall.

We woke to a beautiful morning and had a nice breakfast and a bit of exercise. I walked round the lake till I found a white boat with oars waiting for me. If I had taken it and rowed into the centre of the lake, an arm would have appeared with a sword and I would have become the Queen of Thule. Instead I chose another fate and returned to the caravan. Maros and Katka returned on the bikes from shopping in town too.

We set off around 11am and had a great lunch at a petrol station near the ruins of Brahahus overlooking lake Vanern. We passed planes at the roadside near the Saab factory where they made them in Linkoping. Then we drove on through Stockholm in the pouring rain and for the first time hit heavy traffic. It rained for the next couple of hours and we all got disheartened and wondered why we hadn't gone to Egypt instead. Then the blue skies returned and more lakes and at 9.30 I put on my sunglasses to stop the setting sun from getting in my eyes.

After tea we drove on another 170 km to an oil refinery by the sea and beyond it a crowded campsite. We arrived just before midnight. We had a beer or two and some cake and then at 1am saw the sunrise over another factory. We then had to wander into the woods as you needed a card to open the toilets which we didn't have. We can't quite work out why so many people are staying here.

We decided we will go on to Nordkapp. Next stop the Artic circle!

Ferry to Sweden

We woke up in the carpark and stuck our heads out of the sun-roof to look around. The Swedes had left early and it was bright and sunny, then it rained, then it was sunny again - all before breakfast. I got out my thermal sweatshirt and winter hat - we were going north. I discovered we had thermal mugs for our coffee just like proper Arctic explorers.

The people at the Meier campsite charged us the full amount for being in their carpark which was a bit mean. But we had our showers and a good breakfast in the sunshine and we set off in good spirits to catch our ferry.

We dressed warm for the ferry and sat outside drinking champagne and reading our books and watching the ferries coming from Sweden or going to Denmark. It was sunny and the sea was pretty calm but there was a stiff breeze and I was glad of my hat and jacket. We then looked across and saw a bloke in a t-shirt and sandals.

Once off the ferry it rained as we set off for Markaryd and a campsite which was about 150 km away. It was soon sunny again and we spotted a moose sign on the motorway.

The campsite was by a lovely little lake. I wanted to sleep in the tent but after we had put it up we had to take it down again as it was against safety rules and not in the designated tent area and we hadn't paid and we needed a special card in order to pay for the tent. The girl was very pleasant and very sorry but no tent was possible.

Katka prepared a delicious evening meal - vegetable soup followed by turkey and rice for tea. The glamping has started. Then Maros and Katka went out on their bikes and then Katka and I tried to cycle round the lake but lost it in the deep forest so turned back.

Then we ate some liquorice and drank a wee dram and went to bed with light still in the sky even at nearly midnight. I slept under the reindeer blanket.

Hightlights of the day: the ferry journey over the Baltic and visiting the last German shop at the ferry terminal and finding it full of crates and crates of alcohol, the ducks at the campsite.

Setting off

An epic journey of four countries in one day,  1107 km and what felt at times like a journey straight into autumn. We arrived at 00.30 am in the pouring rain at a closed campsite and parked in front of the gates. Luckily the toilets were open though so we could slip through the gates in the dark like ninjas and use them.

We set off on a bright summer's morning from Banska Bystrica and headed north. We crossed into the Czech Republic and drove a short way down a closed motorway before having to turn back and then we made our way to Cesky Tesin and crossed into Poland and on to Germany where we travelled north to the Rugen Isel and the ferry at Sassnitz. In north Germany it began to rain heavily and we saw lightning ahead of us. We wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow when we go on the ferry.

Highlights of the day - seeing herons and storks and deer, having our evening meal, which tasted delicious, in a landscaped German carpark, every time we crossed a border, every time the satnav showed we'd travelled another 100km, lightning over the sea, finding the toilets in the dark.

Death of Cats

Here are the two poems we compared in class.

Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat,

Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes

                                          'Twas on a lofty vase's side,

Where China's gayest art had dyed

The azure flower~ that blow;

Demurest of the tabby kind,

The pensive Selima reclined,

Gazed on the lake below.

 

Her conscious tail her joy declared;

The fair round face, the snowy beard,

The velvet of her paws,

Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,

She saw; and purred applause.

 

Still had she gazed; but 'midst the tide

Two angel forms were seen to glide,

The genii of the stream:

Their sealy armour's Tyrian hue

Through richest purple to the view

Betrayed a golden gleam.

The hapless nymph with wonder saw:

A whisker first and then a claw,

With many an ardent wish,

She stretched in vain to reach the prize.

What female heart can gold despise ?

What cat's averse to fish?

 

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent

Again she stretched, again she bent,

Nor knew the gulf between.

Malignant Fate sat by and smiled

The slippery verge her feet beguiled,

She tumbled headlong in.

 

Eight times emerging from the flood

She mewed to every watery god,

Some speedy aid to send.

No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;

Nor cruel Tom nor Susan heard.

A favourite has no friend!

 

From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,

Know, one false step is ne'er retrieved,

And be with caution bold.

Not all that tempts your wandering eyes

And heedless hearts is lawful prize.

Nor all that glisters, gold

Death of a Cat

Always fastidious, it removed its dying 

From us, and lay down by it in the
dark 

As if death were a mouse, and a cat's role 

To deal with it, and not involve the house;

Chose a remote spot that, when I bent to help,

Shocked because it existed -I had thought 

The mind a complete map of home; left dust 

On my fingers when I had settled it

In front of the fire on an old blanket;

Insisted to the last on standing

And walking with frail dignity to its water

In its usual place in the kitchen, disdaining 

The saucer we had thoughtfully set near it.

 

And death was a wind that tested regularly

The strength the cat had left, and in its
walk 

Puffed on its flank and made it totter

Then courteously desisted. Death can
wait. 

Powerless, with crude tears, we watched the
cat 

Totter and reassert itself again and again

Its life the fuel for its will to live

Until the bones appeared, blood dried in
veins, 

The pelt was ragbag remnants, the eyes gone
out 

And the wind's task was easy and the cat
fell.

 

The Exhibition Natural Materials

The second year students visited the exhibition Natural Materials by the artists Richard Loskot and Michal Šimonfy. Here are the notes on the exhibition.

1 Richard Loskot, Cesta svetlom, priestorová svetelná inštalácia, 2013
            Úvodná subtílna inštalácia výstavy je postavená na jedinom svetelnom zdroji, ktorý vychádza z reflektora. Sústava zrkadlových platní umiestnených na stenách galérie slúži ako nástroj vizualizujúci pohyb svetelných lúčov  po priestore výstavnej miestnosti. Autor jednoduchými technickými prostriedkami, ktoré sú založené na poznatkoch optiky naznačuje divákovi naraz viacero metaforických rozprávaní o svetle, čase, priestore a videní. 
2 Michal Šimonfy, Life of your words, simulácia jednoduchého života, umelecký softvér, 2011
            Life of Your Words je inštalácia založená na umeleckom softvéri. Ten je zložený  z dvoch samostatných častí – analytickej, ktorá nepretržite vyhodnocuje diskusiu na sociálnej sieti a vizuálnej časti, ktorá predstavuje simuláciu primitívnej formy života. Program medzi príspevkami miliónov užívateľov sociálnej siete vyhľadáva také, ktoré obsahujú kľúčové slová súvisiace so vznikom, respektíve zánikom života. Na základe ich výskytu ovplyvňuje podmienky života v simulovanom mikrosvete – vizuálnej časti inštalácie. Vizuálna časť inštalácie – kruhový zelený obraz pohybujúcich sa „buniek“  je neustále ovplyvňovaná výstupom analytickej časti. K ovplyvneniu simulovaného života nedochádza priamo, jeho podoba je závislá na zmenách ktoré prebiehajú v “globálnej diskusii” a následne sa prejavia prostredníctvom malých zmien v prostredí žiariaceho (vitálne bunky) alebo vyhasínajúceho (umierajúce bunky) obrazu. Dielo tak funguje ako jednoduchý, ale autonómny a dynamický model života, pričom možnosť vzniku života a schopnosť prežitia je z dlhodobého hľadiska  podmienená existenciou “diskusie o živote samotnom”.
3 Richard Loskot, Aj človek je systém, multimediálna priestorová inštalácia, 2013
            Dielo komentuje pozíciu človeka v súčasnom technicistickom svete, no nestavia sa proti nemu. Prostredníctvom elektrického obvodu a využitia rôznych technických  zariadení komponuje a oživuje systém v ktorom postupne odhaľujeme všetky základné elementy prírodných procesov a javov, ako aj prejavov života: slnko, svetlo, čas, pohyb, vodu, vzduch, zvuk... .
4 Michal Šimonfy, Pre dvoch, interaktívna inštalácia, umelecký softvér, 2013
            Môžete sa posadiť za stôl a na bruško prsta si nasadiť senzor, dielo začne fungovať. Interaktívna inštalácia je určená pre dvoch ľudí sediacich oproti sebe. Senzor, ktorý si natiahnete na prst začne snímať tep vášho srdca, ktorý je vizualizovaný farebnými grafmi. V momente keď dvom ľuďom udrie srdce naraz z centrálneho kruhu sa uvoľní kružnica a rozrastie sa po obvode stola.
5 Richard Loskot, Všetko má svoj čas, svetelná inštalácia, 2013
            Inštalácia prostredníctvom jednoduchého technického zariadenia, ktorý je založený na frekvenciách a pohybe svetelných zdrojov vytvára iluzívny pohyb tieňa ruže. Poeticky a sureálne pôsobiaca projekcia vyvoláva viacero asociácii, odkazujúcich k času ako relatívnej konvencii, ktorú môžeme chápať a vnímať individuálne v prípade každého živého organizmu, alebo prírodného procesu.  
6 Michal Šimonfy, Fruit map, internetový projekt, 2010
Fruitmap.sk je otvorená mapa na ktorej môžu ľudia zaznamenávať verejne dostupné ovocné stromy. Funguje ako samostatný internetový projekt na www.fruitmap.sk. Môžte sa pripojiť.

Mata Hari

Last week we went to see the new Slovak musical 'Mata Hari' at the Nova Scena theatre in Bratislava. It starred Sisa Sklovska in the role of the exotic dancer and spy.

There was great use made of three dancers who represented different aspects of Mata Hari's fate - listed in the programme as Black, White and Gold Dancer.