Travel broadens the mind...

...or how to get complimentary cups of coffee.

Having left NW's place, after the fun that was the family holiday and the christening of FBS, at 5.30 am, by 9.30 we were ready for a coffee break. At this point in our travels we were passing through Karlstad in Sweden, and from the ringroad I spotted a Hotel Scandic. In we went, the ladies to visit the ladies (???) and yours truly to enquire about the possibility of coffee. I went into the restaurant, which was slowly emptying of families having enjoyed their breakfast. In the service area was a harassed but friendly looking waitress clearing up, whom I approached, with the conversation continuing thus:

Self: 'I'm sorry, do you mind if I speak English?'
Waitress (Strong British accent): 'Sure, no problem'
Self (to self): ' God, she speaks better English than me...'
Self: 'Would it be possible to have a couple of coffees?'
W: (Now leaning towards a London accent): 'Yeah, sure, just grab 'em'
(Gestures towards coffee machine)
Self takes coffees, returns to waitress.
S: 'How much for these, then?'
W: 'Oh, they're a freebie'
S (Polite English in a foreign country manner not recognising that it's better not to push it...): 'Are you sure?'
W: 'Tch, yeah, I haven't opened up the till yet this morning, and it's too much hassle right now'
S (Always on the lookout for a good chat-up line): 'Wow, thanks very much! By the way, you speak incredibly good English!'
W (Looking unphased) 'Oh yeah, I lived in London for 6 years'

It turned out that she was indeed Swedish, her husband was English, and they'd lived in various parts of London north and south. It was odd to hear somebody speaking such an English accent, as Scandinavians, and also the Dutch in my experience speak perfect (gramatically etc.) English, but with an American accent. I'm still wondering whether it was my manly charm (come on, it was 9.30 in the morning, I'm not charming even then) or down to the fact that she spotted a tired and worn looking English (Irish???) bloke from a mile away, who looked like a free coffee would make him grateful for life. We discussed the issues of being married to a foreigner, and how Swedish and Finnish towns tend to be a little quieter than London until the ladies returned from the ladies. The coffee tasted great and we continued our journey to Örebrö, where we found this rather interesting looking building, situated on an anonymous industrial estate between the ring road and the town. Inside it looked like this, and was indeed a children's playpark. Örebrö is home (according to the www) to the largest kiddie's playpark in Sweden, (This wasn't it!) and one got the impression that this was a locals only place, using stuff the big one had chucked out. Still, everything was in good working order, and the kids had a great time. I found old arcade games (and I mean old), and spent a happy 2 mins playing a space invader game (for free!). We found it because of my dearest's ability to speak and read Swedish. There was nothing on the web in English about this, and that's probably how they want it. Having found my inner teenager, and with two rather more tired and relaxed kids, we went to eat in the centre. This was on the well established principal of park in a multistorey, and dive into the nearest half decent restaurant available. This was in the shopping centre next to the multistorey. Nothing major, fairly standard menu, decentish food, until I realised what was really interesting about the place. For background music they were playing Beethoven! We got pretty well the entire Pastoral symphony while we ate, and I ruminated on what kind of manager or head waiter they had (the menu leant towards eastern, and the waitresses looked Turkish, although after my Experiences in karlstad they probably grew up in Basingstoke). It was only when we walked out into the shopping arcade, and I realised that there we were listening to Sibelius's 'Andante Festivo', did it dawn that possibly the whole shopping centre had the same feed. Either they had a very classically clued in general manager (Andante Festivo being a bit out of the mainstream), or he'd ticked the wrong box when ordering up the Muzak. I didn't have time to go into any of the other shops to check their offerings, but long may it continue!

At the very end of our long journey, 'only' 1½ hours from home, is a service station that I stop in almost always on the road from Kuopio to Jyväskylä. This is the first time I have had a camera along, to take pictures of their roadside display.

Here's an early version of the snow plough: This Valmet 20 is Finnish made and dates from between 1955 and 1962, judging by the newish battery, starter switch and clean fuel filter, it looks like it's still in use.
This is an interesting use of an old oil drum for balance (Or is it the reserve tank for the hydraulics?). Not sure if this one runs... For those of you that want to know, it's a Fordson power major.