Teenage Wasteland

The house was empty (except for me). I worked on my computer and was in a meditative state of mind. The sounds from water boiling in the teapot woke me up. I started preparing goat cheese sandwiches and swifts where hunting outside the open kitchen window; I felt fine. My stomach churned. The door bell rang and I swore loudly.

“Hi!” It was not one but three teenagers. Two guys in heavy metal outfits and a girl. I had totally forgotten that I had promised my friend’s son to lend him a copy of Master and Margarita. I did not know where the book was and asked them to come inside while I looked for it. They swarmed around the house until I asked them if they wanted something to eat. They agreed.

I felt like a sodden uncle while I provided the teenagers with goat cheese sandwiches. They told me how they really wanted to get out of this town. “No one here gets out alive,” the girl laughed. I asked them where they wanted to live; "Berlin!" most of them answered. My friend’s son asked me if I had any advice on how to be rich and famous. “Why do you ask me? I am not famous.” I laughed.
“Yeah, but not just, like, a star, but any type of celebrity. You must have picked up something. You are twice as old as we are,” the teenager said, implying I would be a total looser if I did not know anything.

Allright. I tried to think of someone... I had a lecturer as an undergraduate student who fitted. He had an attitude and a joy of living which was rare (for a scientist). The guy loved talking about when he worked at California Institute of Technology, drove a motorcycle and had an old fashioned Gothenburg accent. At the time I thought he was a bit over the top; anyway, it was nice that an important academic had not lost his Lawrence-ness.

I told the guys about him and added something about how unusual it is with people who combine radically opposite character traits. The guys lost interest, which was fine with me as I could go book hunting. The girl went along and asked if I wanted any help and I suggested she could look in the other shelf. More and more excited voices came from the kitchen, where the computer was. The girl stopped looking when she found Carolyn Cassidy’s Off the Road and began reading it. Finally I found Bulgakov´s novel. The black cat Behemot gazed at me. I have seldom been so glad to see him.

”You can have it,” I told the guy.
“Thanks! Are you sure?”
“Yes. It is just a cheap paperback. I’ll buy a new one.”

The teenagers left. The girl did not seem to have Off the Road with her when she left. Later, I found it in bathroom. It was all quiet again. I noticed that the swifts had stopped hunting outside the windows. I went into the kitchen to do the dishes and remembered why I decided not to have kids.

Jackdows and Goats

It is high summer and I meet all kinds of fauna fellows on my way home.



Lots of Jackdaws on lofty construction works in town...



And a very curious goat quite near home. :)

A Folkloristic Iggy Pop in the Woods

“We need not feel ashamed of flirting with the zodiac. The zodiac is well worth flirting with.” (D. H. Lawrence)

A friend of mine asked me to come with him on a picnic in a nearby wood a while ago, to escape the heat of the town centre where he lives. I was surprised when his fifteen year old son came with him. He had never seemed very interested in this sort of things before, as far as I knew. His hard rock attributes and straight long hair made him look like a folkloristic Iggy Pop in the woods.

The clouds were gathering over us as we made it to the hill. Fresh air cooled me; I had goose bumps, which felt fine. We unpacked our picnic on a grand spot. My friend’s son had a lot to talk about, so I had to listen to him with one ear.

My friend surprised us when he suddenly started to unpack some wine. “Can’t go this far without something to drink,” he said. He had to give some of it to his son, after a great deal of persuasion. The guy drank it up immediately.

In the valley far below there were some sheep grazing; I followed them with my eyes. “You look like you are somewhere else,” my friend’s son told me. I explained about my work and the youngster at once gave me the advice to drink some more wine. ”It helps,” he said, like an expert on this subject.

He was right; it helped to gradually shift my attention. I began to listen to what the fifteen year old guy was talking about. Star signs. His dad was a Capricorn, while he himself was a Leo. According to him, star signs were not only nonsense because he and his dad were the living personifications of these.

“You must be a Pisces,” he suddenly told me. I protested. ”I’m an Aquarius!” I am actually a bit proud of this. “Yeah, figured. You have all the characteristics of a Pisces or an Aquarius. Both kind of have their heads in the clouds.” I said grumpily: “I thought Aquarius were visionary people.” The guy answered: “Yeah, a bit.”

The teenager soon wanted another glass of wine; his father disagreed. I helped myself with some more while they quarrelled and felt at ease in the cool of the evening. The hour was getting late; the sun was setting and the woodland started to look dark. As we began our decent downhill, my friend told us that there had been wild boars in these parts in the past. His son claimed that, in fact, there were plenty left today as well and they even attacked people. His dad did not believe him. They started to argue again. I had also heard that large numbers of wild boars thrived here, but did not mention this.

Yellowhammer

Last weeks' hot weather changed recently and my head started functioning again. My wife and I hurried out to a nearby lake to get some fresh air; all sorts of animals seemed to have the same idea as us.

We saw a beautiful Yellowhammer, who at first looked happy in the wind, but fled a short while after. Probably because of a Great Eagle that was circulating far above us. Other happy animals included small flies and similar flying bastards, who insisted on heading towards our eyes.