First Week in Sweden

I've been pretty quiet, mainly because there hasn't been a lot happening. There have been a few things, spread over a few days, so I'd like to write about them now.

Mostly I've just been focused on work. There's a lot to get done before we flick the switch next week, so I've spent the vast majority of each day and night on getting ready for that.

The weather finally broke on Wednesday, and I saw the sky for the first time since landing. The bright light in my window in the morning I eventually identified as the sun and not an extra bright street lamp. With the rising sun came the revelation that it had snowed overnight! I had breakfast looking out at the nearby snow-capped mountain.

The dry weather though showed something I hadn't expected, though in hindsight I should have. All that mud around the mine site? When it dries, it becomes dust... and strong winds whip it up but good.

The people I've been working with have been good, the non-adversarial approach they take is refreshing. So many times working with clients in the past they act hostile from the outset, which means you can't make a lot of progress on the real issues. So we've been able to bypass all of that and get stuck into the work. Every morning I have an hour long conference call with Australia, reviewing the issues I'd raised from the previous day, and it is quite an extensive list each time, which is good, we're making progress.

On Thursday evening they blew up a section of rock at the mine. I was standing up to leave my little server room, when the earth started shaking. I'm familiar with the sensation, it happened nearly weekly in Japan, but didn't think they had seismic activity in this region. As I left the building, I saw a large group of people heading back to my building, and realised they must have been in a bunker for the blast. Oops.

At each car parking space, they have a little stand. I thought at first it was a parking meter, but there was nowhere to put money in, and closer inspection showed it had a power point in it. Odd. I asked someone about this, and they explained it is something they only have in Northern Sweden: Power points to run engine heaters for the car. That way your car engine doesn't get frozen in the -30 degrees Celsius temperatures. To me, it shows they have all the infrastructure they need to introduce electric cars. I was told that about 20% of their electricity comes from hydroelectric, 10% from aeroelectric, and the remainder from nuclear power. I'd need to check those figures to be confident of them though.

If you've seen the documentary, "Who Killed The Electric Car", you'll be familiar with the vehicles they introduced in California. Something I've been wondering about: On those vehicles they had special attachments to provide electric power. These required special recharging stations with the attachments fitted. What would be the problem with using a normal electrical connection? It would almost remove entirely the need for any dedicated infrastructure for the introduction of electric cars... anywhere connected to main electricity could offer recharging services. Specialised stations could offer instant recharges: Swapping the flat batteries of a vehicle out for a freshly charged set. Drive in, swap batteries, and off you go again. Faster than filling up on petrol.

Electric motorbikes are my secret passion though. Ok, not so secret, and not a burning passion, but it's still something I keep an eye on. That would be such a lot of fun to ride, hoping to get the opportunity some day.