Well a great title I admit. The point is, well there is no point actually.
Last weekend we were in a very snowy/slushy/shitty Stockholm but for good reason. Firstly we went to Monks 'Cafe' as it's called. Don't let the name deceive you as this place is in my opinion a true mecca for beer. The original place is in Gamla stan or 'old town' in the capitals centre and it has something like 1500 kinds of beer....I kid you not.
We couldn't sample all of them, although Johanna tried her best (kidding). They have (at least) 46 Swedish microbrewery choices on tap, with many many more weird and wacky bottles from any and everywhere. Quite a price range too, as a lot of the higher percentage stouts (15 % and upwards say) were somewhere in the region of 500 kr and beyond (so let's just say around 50 quid, although you must remember people earn relatively more over here, but you can understand it's fairly expensive). We stuck with somewhat more appropriately priced (shall we say) beer, but great stuff.
Not that I advocate getting hammered, we didn't anyway, but this setting is like a classy pub. I'm not an alcholic and don't look forward to getting wasted like some pre-pubescent teen, but it's pretty cool to see and taste so many beers. It's not like going to the local Tesco, picking up a chav-tastic 6 pack of wife-beater, then wince in pain as the taste of that piss water runs down your throat. Oh no, it really isn't anything of the sort. My favourite of the bunch was some Dutch wheat beer with a banana hint, have no idea of the name but it went down well.
This whole event was really the warm up for the real reason for our Stockholm trip. For the first time in my life I went to a music award show. Now no, it's not like the Brit awards or anything remotely recognized internationally. It's name is based on the regional rock radio station called Bandit, hence the Bandit rock awards. Basically it's a pretty cool station that plays only rock (mostly modern) and none of this pop talentless crap. Mixed in with some awards, the important thing was the live music from a few of Swedens (apparently) finest and somewhat bigger groups, Seether and 3 Doors Down (from South Africa and the States, repectively).
Having no idea if anyone outside Sweden have heard of the bands that won awards etc, one band who are worth listening to, at least for a slightly different approach of long-haired 80's rockers, that sing melodically (both male and female.....not shemale, but separately) and scream a little.....are a band who played a few songs called Amaranthe. They have released a few songs so far, check this out for an idea. The 'headline' acts as said were Seether (who were much better than I thought they would be) who have a song called 'broken', which is my personal favourite of theirs (without Amy Lee of course). They have much newer stuff that's always on the radio, but can't be arsed to tell you all about that.
3 Doors Down shouldn't need much introduction, although I'm sure many have no clue what good music is, so are probably thinking 'who?'. Let's just say they aren't like Justin Bleeder, Blabber, Bloody, Bum something, I don't know, that little sellout talentless kid who the 10 year olds just go mental over. Once again (think I've seen them 4 or 5 times now) they were amazing, playing some songs off their new album and many many 'classics'. Although me and Johanna both agree we've never seen the lead singer, Brad Arnold so engaged in the crowd- basically he must have been hammered or high or something......but could still sing and kind of talk (I mean he's from the deep south in the US, so already slightly retarded). We figured they were on late and were just waiting around so what better else to do than drink......That's what the snow does to you over here.....or something like that. Not that I would want my kids to engage in that side of life, but as I said, a great sound and great entertainment. Johanna will fly to England to see them again, so she will get to see how they behave next time (I sound like a parent lecturing there 'deaf' kids....)
Some good and bad news about my back problems, that I've had for close to a year now. Wow, where did this topic from? Anyway, I saw a decent physio and she reckons I have 'diskbuktning' or a protruded disc in my lower vertebrate. Considering I can't put my socks or shoes on without wincing in agony, it all kind of makes sense. I've been doing 'the cobra' (look it up) many a times a day and it's been getting better. It's all about my crap posture when sitting too. Mentally it's feeling better as your brain is a huge hurdle in overcoming such injuries too.
The good news I can still run. The bad news I can't run outside right now as it's slipperier (that can't be a real word) than the proverbial eel.
I have dipped back into my childhood in some aspects as I've just bought a new trials bike. Again, probably not many people understand what this is all about, but let's just say, it's like riding a bike, just erm, differently. Just watch any Danny MacAskill (wow, to have the word 'skill' in your name must be a great omen, oh yeah there is also 'kill', hmmm......) video, like this one. Now you can't really class it as true 'trials' but all the static hoppy type stuff is as good as. Who would have thought you could ride a bike like that?!
Loads more to talk about but I have to take the dog out then go for a quick 5km run before the 3 S's, you know showering, shaving, shi.........
Oh yeah, it's a long post so don't expect the grammar etc to be so great.
Last weekend we were in a very snowy/slushy/shitty Stockholm but for good reason. Firstly we went to Monks 'Cafe' as it's called. Don't let the name deceive you as this place is in my opinion a true mecca for beer. The original place is in Gamla stan or 'old town' in the capitals centre and it has something like 1500 kinds of beer....I kid you not.
We couldn't sample all of them, although Johanna tried her best (kidding). They have (at least) 46 Swedish microbrewery choices on tap, with many many more weird and wacky bottles from any and everywhere. Quite a price range too, as a lot of the higher percentage stouts (15 % and upwards say) were somewhere in the region of 500 kr and beyond (so let's just say around 50 quid, although you must remember people earn relatively more over here, but you can understand it's fairly expensive). We stuck with somewhat more appropriately priced (shall we say) beer, but great stuff.
Not that I advocate getting hammered, we didn't anyway, but this setting is like a classy pub. I'm not an alcholic and don't look forward to getting wasted like some pre-pubescent teen, but it's pretty cool to see and taste so many beers. It's not like going to the local Tesco, picking up a chav-tastic 6 pack of wife-beater, then wince in pain as the taste of that piss water runs down your throat. Oh no, it really isn't anything of the sort. My favourite of the bunch was some Dutch wheat beer with a banana hint, have no idea of the name but it went down well.
This whole event was really the warm up for the real reason for our Stockholm trip. For the first time in my life I went to a music award show. Now no, it's not like the Brit awards or anything remotely recognized internationally. It's name is based on the regional rock radio station called Bandit, hence the Bandit rock awards. Basically it's a pretty cool station that plays only rock (mostly modern) and none of this pop talentless crap. Mixed in with some awards, the important thing was the live music from a few of Swedens (apparently) finest and somewhat bigger groups, Seether and 3 Doors Down (from South Africa and the States, repectively).
Having no idea if anyone outside Sweden have heard of the bands that won awards etc, one band who are worth listening to, at least for a slightly different approach of long-haired 80's rockers, that sing melodically (both male and female.....not shemale, but separately) and scream a little.....are a band who played a few songs called Amaranthe. They have released a few songs so far, check this out for an idea. The 'headline' acts as said were Seether (who were much better than I thought they would be) who have a song called 'broken', which is my personal favourite of theirs (without Amy Lee of course). They have much newer stuff that's always on the radio, but can't be arsed to tell you all about that.
3 Doors Down shouldn't need much introduction, although I'm sure many have no clue what good music is, so are probably thinking 'who?'. Let's just say they aren't like Justin Bleeder, Blabber, Bloody, Bum something, I don't know, that little sellout talentless kid who the 10 year olds just go mental over. Once again (think I've seen them 4 or 5 times now) they were amazing, playing some songs off their new album and many many 'classics'. Although me and Johanna both agree we've never seen the lead singer, Brad Arnold so engaged in the crowd- basically he must have been hammered or high or something......but could still sing and kind of talk (I mean he's from the deep south in the US, so already slightly retarded). We figured they were on late and were just waiting around so what better else to do than drink......That's what the snow does to you over here.....or something like that. Not that I would want my kids to engage in that side of life, but as I said, a great sound and great entertainment. Johanna will fly to England to see them again, so she will get to see how they behave next time (I sound like a parent lecturing there 'deaf' kids....)
Some good and bad news about my back problems, that I've had for close to a year now. Wow, where did this topic from? Anyway, I saw a decent physio and she reckons I have 'diskbuktning' or a protruded disc in my lower vertebrate. Considering I can't put my socks or shoes on without wincing in agony, it all kind of makes sense. I've been doing 'the cobra' (look it up) many a times a day and it's been getting better. It's all about my crap posture when sitting too. Mentally it's feeling better as your brain is a huge hurdle in overcoming such injuries too.
The good news I can still run. The bad news I can't run outside right now as it's slipperier (that can't be a real word) than the proverbial eel.
I have dipped back into my childhood in some aspects as I've just bought a new trials bike. Again, probably not many people understand what this is all about, but let's just say, it's like riding a bike, just erm, differently. Just watch any Danny MacAskill (wow, to have the word 'skill' in your name must be a great omen, oh yeah there is also 'kill', hmmm......) video, like this one. Now you can't really class it as true 'trials' but all the static hoppy type stuff is as good as. Who would have thought you could ride a bike like that?!
Loads more to talk about but I have to take the dog out then go for a quick 5km run before the 3 S's, you know showering, shaving, shi.........
Oh yeah, it's a long post so don't expect the grammar etc to be so great.
