Since my friends have started having beautiful, squishy babies we don’t get to catch up as often as we used to so today when I met up with my friend Catherine we were able to kill two birds with one stone. As the nights begin to draw in earlier we are determined to at least try and stay healthy this Winter. With this in mind we ventured to Tommy Patton Park in the heart of East Belfast for a run around and a natter.
I’ve been scratching my head a lot today wondering what I was going to write for day 2 of my self-imposed blog challenge. It’s bad news when you’re stumped and you’re only a few hops from the starting blocks. I scanned my Facebook and Twitter feeds for a bit of inspiration to get my creative juices flowing. I met up with a friend and put the world to rights over a cuppa but still nothing got me going. One last log in to Facebook and there it was. Another Upworthy video. I clicked on it anyway.
I encounter this website on an almost daily basis when I log in to my various social media accounts. There it is on my newsfeeds in between pictures of what my friends did at the weekend, what their children ate for lunch and the daily countdown until they can leave the office and head home to their loved ones. I never really paid all that much attention to it before but something told me to click on the link anyway today so I did.
It took me to a video of an American war veteran who had been having a pretty dreadful time of things. A hairdresser gave him a haircut and trimmed his beard and a man gave him a suit to wear. It sounds really superficial and daft but the premise was to make him see himself differently and change how others saw him. It was interesting enough to make me click on a few other videos to see what all the fuss was about this website.
I clicked and I cried and I clicked some more. I laughed. I came across one of the site’s contributors, a man named Joseph Lamour. You can find his page on the site here.
As I watched video after video I began to ask questions, of myself and the world of which I am part. The content of the videos was brave. It dealt with sensitive subject matters like casual racism, homophobia and everyday sexism but it did so through humour. No shouting and screaming or waving placards in your face. It struck me that the site and its contributors have really hit home on something very important. Our generation responds to humour. We use it to break the ice; we use it to disarm. It can help us have honest, frank conversations about real issues affecting our society and how we can make a positive change to the way we live.
I realised that bravery isn’t a warrior on a white horse. It’s having the courage to speak up with only your words in your armoury. To step away from the pack and do your own thing, even if it leads you to unchartered territory. To challenge societal norms and demand a better way of living, for everyone. After all, great discoveries were never made by following the herd.
…or something along those lines. I’ve been a pretty irregular blogger up until now so I thought I would set myself a wee challenge to post every day for a week. I’ll kick it off with a video I stumbled upon about a week ago.
I mentioned in a previous post that I have family in the Faroe Islands. My grandmother was born and grew up there. During the war she met my grandfather who tempted her with his Belfast brogue to cross over the ocean and set up home in Northern Ireland. She’s lived here ever since but she’s never forgotten her home. A few years ago we discovered she has dementia and it’s slowly eaten away at her memories as time has progressed. But one place she never forgets is the Faroes.
This video features the grandmother of a man named Heiðrik á Heygum. He directed the True Love video I posted a couple of weeks ago. Following the birth of her daughter, Runa, Maria felt herself becoming very weak. I think nowadays she’d probably be diagnosed with post partum depression but back then these things didn’t exist. Or rather they did but weren’t diagnosed. Maria’s husband recommended she swim in the ocean to try and heal herself. She did and she’s been swimming in the Atlantic ocean daily ever since.
When I first saw this video I was filled with admiration for Maria but I also felt a pang of sadness. My nanny used to love the ocean. When she was still able to go out in the car her favourite thing to do was enjoy an ice cream or a bun and watch the boats sail across the Lough. I remember her telling me stories of how she used to row from Torshavn to Nolsoy as a young girl and how she loved the freedom of moving through the open water. How she and her friends were scolded by angry fishermen for rowing in rough tides. She still remembers some of those stories in her more lucid moments but those are fewer and farther between each day.
I hope you enjoy the video. It’s in Faroese but has English subtitles. It’s under ten minutes long, give it a watch. It might just uplift you like it did me. If you fancy watching more of Heiðrik’s work check out his vimeo channel. My particular favourite is a short film called Sigarett. It’s pretty brilliant. Enjoy.
Cast your minds back a couple of weeks if you will and you’ll recall I was getting ready to make my merry way to Stockholm for a real life adventure with some dear friends. We came, we saw, we ate cake, we danced.
The first thing that struck me about Stockholm was the high percentage of beautiful people just wandering about the place with the rest of us mere mortals. There’s definitely something in the air in this city that makes its inhabitants glow from the inside out. Everyone seems totally chilled out and content. In contrast to most of the major cities I have visited folk here seem willing to give you the benefit of the doubt in most circumstances. For example, we ended up somehow getting the wrong tram ticket on Sunday morning but rather than throw us off in the middle of nowhere the conductor just told us to look out for the right ticket next time and with a smile he was on his way. No snide remarks, no furrowed brow, just a small gesture of human kindness.
The second thing to note is the food. The Swedish take food very seriously and rightly so. It, like everything else in Sweden, costs a bloody fortune so if you are planning to lose some weight I suggest you head there for a detox. At the beginning of our trip, when we were still feeling flush, we treated ourselves to some cake in the Old Town. If you like your cream with a side of cake I recommend you try some colourful Princess Cake – a delightfully heady mix of sponge, raspberry jam, crème patissiere and cream held together by a thin layer of green marzipan. If spice is more your thing try a cardamom bun for something a little different. The coffee shop we visited was amazing, it’s pictured below and you can find it in the square close the Nobel Museum.
While taking a boat tour of the archipelago we were wowed by the breathtaking scenery en route to the various islands. Bordering the water, in between the homes of the super rich and embassies, were trees in every shade of autumn bursting with life. Nordic walkers and runners pounded the manmade pavements fuelling the theory that nature in the city adds to the wellbeing of the people who live there. Our trip to Skansen, (Sweden’s outdoor museum), certainly made us feel pretty good.
If you are making a trip to the city I would whole heartedly recommend you pencil in a visit to Skansen. It was among the cheaper days out we enjoyed with admission costing around £10 each (amazingly, this is cheap for Stockholm!) and is a popular spot with families and locals. We missed a bit of a trick here as those in the know brought food to cook over the fire pits so bear it in mind if you are planning a future visit! We only spent a short while there but you could easily spend a full day wandering about and enjoying the fresh air. You can buy coffee and food there but service is very slow so best to start queuing up before the hunger pangs hit! It’s a brilliant spot for big kids like us as well as wee ones and is an ideal place to introduce them to the natural world and the importance of its preservation.
Next up we went to the ABBA museum. Feel free to judge us for we care not. They say you walk in and dance out and this was definitely true in our case. It’s on the pricey side at around £19.50 per person but my advice is to go along and get stuck in with all the interactive opportunities on offer. I wouldn’t class myself as an überfan or anything but I’m not ashamed to admit I had the time of my life as I bopped my way round the exhibition. It’s only been open for a few months and is very popular so, if you can, book your tickets online in advance. We tried to go on Saturday only to discover they were sold out for the rest of the afternoon and had to book for Sunday morning. And don’t bother bringing cash to the museum. You won’t be able to spend it. It’s the first cashless museum of its kind with ideas of starting a cashless revolution. The band members explain that cash is the root of so many of the world’s problems – theft, drug addiction etc. They believe that without cash the world will be a better place and I have to say, although initially sceptical, I bought into the idea by the end of my visit. Pardon the dreadfully placed pun.
As you can see we embraced the interactive elements on offer and tried our hand at pretty much everything from making a music video to karaoke to disco dancing and even taking to the stage. It was hilarious and we came out grinning and on a high. If you are a serious fan then the museum is a must see. There is a costume exhibition, a studio, lots of videos and quizzes if you don’t fancy unleashing your inner Agnetha. If you do fancy yourself as a star make sure you keep hold of your ticket as you’ll need this to retrieve footage of your performances from the website. These will be stored for 30 days online but you can download them if you want to hold onto them for longer. We couldn’t resist the chance to ‘perform’ with the band. Presenting the 5th, 6th and, partially hidden behind a hologram of Anni Frid, 7th members of ABBA…
All in all our trip was full of laughter and putting the world to rights over a few drinks. Only a few mind you. Alcohol is even more extortionately priced than food. If you haven’t been to beautiful Stockholm it’s definitely worth a trip – start saving!
Tales of adventure 