Etikettarkiv: stockholm

Midnattsloppet / The Midnight Race

I finally did it!

I have now entered myself into the midnattsloppet race that will take place on Södermalm here in Stockholm on Saturday the 14th august this year. The race is 10 km on asphalt through the summer night in Stockholm. I have been to watch the race a couple of times but I have never even thought I would be in it one day.

Photograph by plindberg on Flickr!

I am in starting group 7 of course, the last people to start jogging and I hope to complete the full 10 km in about 75 minutes.

Entrance fee is 340 SEK.

What have I done? 167 days left to train for it… that’s about 23 weeks. And I will be needing them!

Underground Stalagmites

During tuesday night we took a test train out from Work to check the radio communications equipment in the tunnels of the blue line on the Stockholm metro. During these tests we found at one of the turning points these incredible stalagmites formed by water frozen to ice. This water drips from the ceiling of the tunnel and forms incredible shapes.

Today I believe they started melting again because the temperature has gone from sub-zero to just above now and just walking down the street is really a perilous business these days…

The photos below are not taken with my ordinary camera but with my work cam which is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3:

Pendeltågens underbara värld

Vedermödor till och från jobbet…

Den första dagen

2010-01-27

I morse så var det andra dagen i rad nu som det strulade ordentligt med pendeltågen bl.a. linje 35 Bålsta-Västerhaninge. Tåget var faktiskt i tid vid kallhäll station i morse och sedan rullade vi sakta mot stan. När tåget kommer till Spånga kommer första indikationen på att saker och ting inte fungerar som det är tänkt. Tåget blir stående lite för länge och till sist ropar man ut att man nog kommer bli stående rätt länge och man ställer dörrarna till fria. I övrigt har man ingen aning om vad som hade hänt.

Spånga är ett utomordentligt dumt ställe att vända åendeltåg på eftersom busstrafiken inte har en chans att ta mot antalet passagerare som kommer med tågen.

Om man åtminstone kört fram till Sundbyberg i stället där man kan lasta av mot tunnelbanan i stället där det finns en chans att taig vidare.

Det är samma sak när det har varit en olycka och man begär från räddningstjänstens håll det som kallas för ”räddningsfrånkoppling” och det medför också att man vänder tågen i Spånga.

Felet i dag var ett omfattande signalfel på Stockholm C. I går var det ett växelfel. Det blir mer och mer uppenbart att tidigare Banverket numera Transportverket har upphandlat drift och underhåll av banan som inte fungerar. Infrastruktur vinner aldrig på fragmentering och outsourcing, det visar hela historien om Railtrack i UK.

I dag blev det alltså taxi och resegarantin återigen…

Två resegarantier samma dag

2010-01-27

Hemväg nu. Det har visserligen börjat snöa men det var en olycka i närheten av karlberg som helt ställde till det på hemvägen för mig i dag. Återigen vändande tåg och strul.

De fick dock igång trafiken igen efter en stund från Sumpan så det räckte med att avvakta någon timma på jobbet kunde man åka hem sedan.

Utropen har dock tystnat i det stilla snöfallet och jag hörde att även Saltis hade problem med utropen.

Få se om jag bara hinner hem innan affären stänger så man dår sig lite kvällsvard. SMHI lovar massor med snö så då finns det risk för att morgondafen blir bortom allt förstånd ohygglig.

Tredje dagen i rad

2010-01-28

Pendeltågen på min linje 35 är just nu ca 30 minuter försenade, i dag är det ett växelfel men ospecificerat var, som är huvudrätten. Detta ät tredje dagen i rad som det kan bli intressant att ta sig till jobbet.

Det verkar också som om realtidsinformationen fungerar ”sådär” för det är precis innan ett tåg skall rulla in på en station som man får upp ”inställt” fast tåget måste ju ha tagits ur trafik tidigare (finns ingen direkt annan stans att göra av ett pendeltåg mellan Kungsängen och Kallhäll liksom).

Uppdaterad kl 19.33
Ja då var vi här igen. Sumpans station och stora förseningar på hemvägen på pendeltågen. Orsaken är ett trafikhinder i Älvsjö och växelfel i Sumpan och ytterligare ställen.

Förseningar på ca 55 minuter och många inställda avgångar. Det borde man kunnat räkna ut egentligen i och för sig. Det har ju faktiskt kommit några flingor snö i dag igen.

Uppdatering 19.54
Tåget med avgångstid 19.06 från Sumpan har ännu inte inkommit, 58 min efter planerad avgångstid.
Enligt utropen har det lagom lämnat Centralen. Det börjar bli kallt på plattformen här nu.

Uppdatering 20.02
Ingen chans att komma med det tåget, folk nästan ramlade ut när dörrarna öppnades. Som tur var kom ännu ett tåg bara någon minut efter.

Även om det nu kommer bli tågkö hem för de går så nära varandra så gissar jag att jag är hemma till 21 i alla fall inklusive handla lite på affären innan jag promenerar de sista stegen hem.

Det har ändå varit en produktiv dag på jobbet.

Den fjärde dagen

2010-01-29

Fortfarande växelfel på linjen som ger åtminstone 15 min förseningar på linje 35, Bålsta-Västerhaninge. Och då passade jag på att försova mig dessutom.

En härlig morgon

Kommer till stationen i morse, alla insatståg plus hälften av ordinarie tåg inställda. Med den belastning som är på pendeln sträckan Kungsängen-Centralen så betyder det omedelbart överfulla tåg, jag missade mitt morgonmöte och har egentligen ingen altetnativ vettig resväg till jobbet.

Sur och trött på Stockholmståg och banverket (numera Transportverket) som inte kan få vagnarna och växlar i skick. Kliver på i Kallhäll och sätter mig efter att ha väntat 30 min på en svinkall plattform innan det till sist kommer ett försenat tåg. I Jakan är det redan fullt och de stackarna i Spånga hade inte en chans, de blev lämnade kvar denna kalla vintermorgon. Just som stämningen är som sämst hör jag någon ropa:

”Pitt!”

Det är den härliga tjejen med tourettes som är i vagnen. Plötsligt tittar folk upp, lystrar och ser på varandra, en munterhet sprider sig i vagnen trots missade möten och försena ankomster till jobb, skolor och dagis.

När tåget kommer till Sumpan går jag av och byter till tuben som tar mig till Stadshagen och bara en liten promenad från jobbet. En riktigt trist tisdagsmorgon har genom ett trollslag förbytts i en härlig stämning.

Det borde finnas fler som ropar ”Pitt!” i trafiken, inte för att drivas gäck med eller skrattas åt utan för att påminna oss on att vi är individer även i kollektivtrafiken när den strular. Massan av ryggar, bakdelar, höfter, bröst, axlar och ansikten som först mest påminner om nötkreatur i intelligens, form och konsistens, blir plötsligt individer igen, får tankar, känslor blir personifierade, men ändå hör vi alla samman.

I dag behövdes det något extra för att lyfta stämningen på tåget. Det är jag glad för skedde!

A Walk in Djursholm

Djursholm is a rather fancy suburb to Stockholm and I had a good walk around there with my good friend Jenny yesterday! Here are some pictures from this walk!

 

Björn Ulvaeus House
This is Björn Ulvaeus' home, one of the four members of ABBA

Walking Road
Just a really beautiful winter day. Temperature around -17C.

Panorama
This is a panorama shot from two 50 mm photos.

Taking Flight
Taking flight

Tweet!
A small bird in the cold winter.

Panorama
A panorama over the frosen water. Click to enlarge.

Panorama
Another panoramal stitched from 10 images, click for maximum view!

 

Abiogenetic Petroleum Formation

A couple of days ago on Swedish television (channel 4) evening news was a kind of revelation to me. It turns out that KTH (the royal science academy in Stockholm) supports research of abiogenetic formation of petroleum.

Basically this means an alternate theory about how the planet’s oil reserves came to be. The generally accepted theory is that biomatter have transformed over time in the bedrock with heat and pressure into petrochemical compounds that we today are pumping (crude oil) and then refining into gasoline, diesel, kerosene, grease and so on.

But the alternate theroy says that there are coal deposists down in the earth that in the lower parts of the mantle are subjected to high temperature and pressure in the absence of oxygene and that all the necessary compounds are there to form oil in large quantities that are then pressed upwards through cracks in the earths crust to the oil deposists we today are tapping in to.

The interesting with this theory is that if it is true then we will probably not have much problem finding and using oil in the future. We may however not chose to do so for other reasons.

Looking around on the internet it seems that this abiogenetic theory of petroleum formation is not so new after all, it has been popular among certain scientists in the Soviet union from the fifties and the scientists here att KTH who do this reasearch are also of russian heritage.

Frontal figure here is professor Vladimir Kutcherov som tillsammans med Anton Kolesnikov och Alexander Goncharov that have shown a process in a laboratory where oil may form without the biomatter compounds that most mainstream scientist believe must be present.

Grand

Today I needed to get out a bit from the apartment, been ill and in bed too much and I am going to work tomorrow again so I ventured in town with camera ready to take some pictures. I went off the train at Centralen the city central station and then walked Sveavägen down. On the way I passed old Grand which is one of the well kept old cinemas that does a bit different films, not just the ordinary run of the mill action movies and dramas from the big Hollywood circus but also does more narrow French and Belgian movies as well as low budgets and Swedish movies you may or may not see again.

Ladies outside Grand
Grand in Stockholm and two ladies walking past
Grand
Waiting for the show to start at Grand


Public Records Office II

I had the grand fortune to be able to re-visit the old public records building. I found when I came home from the first time that I had unfortunately missed many details that I remembered and I also did not find the basement with the elevator machine room and the attic where I think some nice pictures could be made.

Therefore – here is my re-visit to the Public Records Office here in Stockholm. If you have not seen the first article then you should read that one first.

Now you are welcome to follow me into this fantastic place. The building is bein re-made into a place for children, which I think will be really great – very Harry Potter-ish in many ways. So welcome into the magic world of designed offices from the 1880:s.

The Corner Stairs
Corner stairs again. This time the sun was shining right outside and I wanted to get a special effect from the light to show the relative strength of the sunlight. I think I got it where I wanted to. It looks like an H-bomb just went off outside...
Door handle
This is the lock and handle on the doors that separates the different archive rooms from eachother. They are built in very sturdy boiler plate stell to provide safety from fire. Most doors also have signs telling people to keep them closed to make it harder for a fire to spread through the archives.
Atlas Window
This is a detail from a window frame where the Swedish compandy ATLAS here in Stockholm can be made out.
The ventilator
An adjusteable ventilator. There are ventilation shafts within the walls of the building in some room to provide for fresh air to circulate.
Cartons
Some of the old binders and collectors remain, but they are empty. I wonder why they have been left here when everything has been removed from all of the other shelves. Perhaps as a reminder of what it might have once looked like when the shelves where full of these things...
Stairy Case II
A stair case leading down into the basement. We found this when we went exploring the darker and more dungeon-like parts of the archive and had to go back and get the camera and tripod. Was looking for the engine room for the elevator.
Single Light
This is the last level of the archive before we actually get to the attic of the building and it has a different design. Here there are no big windows letting light in and there is a large wooden cupboard at the end that used to hold some special volumes. I am guessing that not everyone had access to this part of the archive. Maybe here is where the dark secret magic books where kept?
Attic Wall and Roof
This is a part of the attic, the wall and the roof and concrete supports. I just liked the various textures here. It was really hot up here even if the temperature outside was not so high but the sunshine on the roof made it easy 30-35 degrees in here. Hot and dusty.
Water Expansion Cistern
I believe this is part of the heating system in the building, the expansion tank. As you can see it is designed in such a way that a small leak here would lead the water away over the floor to an outlet that would let it drain through the wall without harm. I don't think this part is being used any more, the wood looks old and cracked and not in use.
The Atomic Radiator
This radiator looks like something out of a Russian movie. Perhaps somethingt from the battleship "Potemkin" but in fact it is another type of radiator used to heat the building. This one is located in the attic of the public records building and the design is modular. It is apparently so that you can put more of these modules together if you need more heating power.
Attic
This place looks like something out of a computer game such as "Unreal" or similar. I am just expecting someone to enter with a rocket gun, circle strafing around me firing rockets high and low. A really strange feeling. Imagine what fun you might have with some paint ball gear around here... :-)
Attic Skylight
Here is another shot from the same room as in the previous picture.
Light play on the floor
Some nice patterns of light and shadow on the floor of one of the upper levels here.
ATLAS STOCKHOLM
This is the details on the base of one of the column radiators. Again it is the ATLAS company here in Stockholm that delivered these.
Decoration Detail
Details of the iron support pillars. These pillars are very nice and you find them pretty much everywhere in the third floor with the offices.
The Archivist's Room
The state archivist's office. This is the grand office in the building with doorways to the left and right to study rooms and secretary rooms. Two huge windows for letting the light in and a very nicely decorated ceiling designed in a way to provide a natural attenuation of sounds in the room. The electrical light is not typical for the times but added later, perhaps in the 1940s or so. The same for the radiators which is a much more modern type of radiators compared to the ones found in other places in the building. I really like this photograph myself, one of those I will always remember shooting. I have corrected lens distortion in photoshop and used three different exposures at 14 bit RAW before combining them to this image.
State Archivist's Office
The entrance to the archivists office. The offset in colour temperatures between the outside and the indoor lamp light is rather obvious here.
Archivator's Ceiling
The ceiling in the archivist's room. I was laid flat on my back when taking this photograph.
Staircase
I love these stairs that are build in several places in this building. They are also made by the ATLAS company and actually I saw one exactly like this in a coffee shop on Ringvägen close to Skanstull metro station when I went in there for a cup of coffee a couple of days ago. I did not ask if they had put their stair case in or where they got it from but the design was exactly like this one although the rail was a little bit different I think.
ATLAS-STOCKHOLM
A close-up shot of the stairs of the stair case in the previous picture. Complete with the company name.
RIKSARKIVET - TEVIKRASKIR
This is the window above the entrance to the building with that yellow light that seems to be always shining. You can see the letters RIKSARKIVET but mirrored.
Arch
A painted arch above the doorway on the third floor of the building. These paintings are pretty much everywhere in the "nicer" part of the building.
Elevator Machine Room
This is the entrance to the machine room for the elevator in the building. Originally the building had no electricity but then it also seems to be proud over that it was the first public bulding in Sweden that did have an electrical elevator. I am not sure when it was installed but they installed it in a separate room with a boiler plate steel door in order to be able to contain any electrical fire that might result from it.
Elevator Machine
The elevator engine, drum and controller. I believe the engine was modernized in the 1950s, it does not by far look as old as the rest of the machinery and probably the wire has been replaced as well. However the controlling mechanism seems to be original.
Elevator Machine
All these three pictures from the elevator machine room was taken in darkness shot with a hand-held flash light used to light paint the room into the right mood. I really like this technique.
The Corridor
Corridor in the basement.
Toilet Stalls
Three toilet stalls. On the middle one it says "Tryckeri" which means printing but there is also a second more litteral meaning in Swedish and it means "a place where something is pushed". Suiteable for a toilet. Lit by a key chain diode lamp and long exposure.
Courtyard Looking Out
Part of the court yard and gate into the back side of the public records building.
Gate
Just look at the iron works of this gate...
Window Drain
An interesting solution here. Especially in the winter time condensation on the windows was a common problem and the solution here was to catch the water before it could drip onto the floor and instead lead it onto the radiator where it would be evaporated. Nice solution!