Schadenfreude

[Ann]

As a person who lives in Sweden, but not in Stockholm, I sometimes get tired of how inordinately fond the Stockholmians are of themselves and their city. Recently Norway and Denmark have become angry at all of Sweden because the people of Stockholm have named their city the capital of Scandinavia. They accuse us Swedes of boasting and lying, since Scandinavia isn't a country and doesn't have a capital. As if we in, say, Malmö, had anything to do with that slogan!

(Well, twenty years ago was even worse - Stockholm had been voted the city that would be the "capital of culture of Europe" that year, and the Stockholmians were bursting at the seams with pride. Swedish public service televison - by far the most popular channel in Sweden at that time - brought us a nine o'clock live show from Stockholm every night the whole summer, and every show started like this: There must be a place somewhere which is the center of the world. Perhaps that place is Stockholm, the capital of culture of all of Europe!)

And the Stockholm people love telling the rest of us in Sweden how great and beautiful their city is and how great and beautiful they are themselves. So I get kind of tired of them, and I sympathized with the Norwegians and Danes who disliked the "Capital of Scandinavia" stunt.

Source: http://www.wix.com/edingtonh/wix

Anyway, today I felt some real schadenfreude. (Good word, that - thanks, Germans!) We in Malmö had lovely weather and lots of sunshine, but what about the people in Stockholm? They got snow! The snow picture is from today.



Ann

[Chris Peterson]

We in Malmö had lovely weather and lots of sunshine, but what about the people in Stockholm? They got snow! The snow picture is from today.

Why, that's beautiful! With the discomfort of summer looming near, a bit of snow must be appreciated. It really does emphasize what a truly wonderful place Stockholm is. <g>

[Ann]

Believe me, Chris, 99% of the people in Stockholm hated the snow they got today!

As for the "discomforts of summer", in Sweden it's almost a patriotic duty to love the Swedish summer. You can't trust the Swedish summer, because it might well turn out wet and too cold. But when it's nice, it is very nice. And absolutely no one talks about "the discomforts of summer".

However, in the 1960s a man called Bengt Sändh made a song called "Nu är den förbannade sommarn här", "Now the Damned Summer Is Here". He sings about how everything is uncomfortable during the summer, he gets sunburned, stung by wasps and bitten by mosquitoes, and even the beloved summer flowers make him feel ill. And he is tortured by the Sun, so everything is an unspeakable torment! Swedes were shocked when they first heard that song! Here Bengt Sändh's song is sung by Stefan Ström:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Believe me, Chris, 99% of the people in Stockholm hated the snow they got today!

I know... just pulling your leg <g>.

As for the "discomforts of summer", in Sweden it's almost a patriotic duty to love the Swedish summer. You can't trust the Swedish summer, because it might well turn out wet and too cold.

Which, of course, explains the vast number of Swedes I've met on vacation in places with more reliable summers... Greece, Italy, Tenerife, Spain...