Glimpses of a Pineapple Summer in the North

I just read about a guy who had rescued a girl from the ocean when he was a teenager, and a decade later they had met and gotten married. Then one day, much later, they’d realised that they had already met.

Imagine that – rescuing the person you are going to meet and marry one day far away in the future. Not only changing the destiny of the person who was about to meet their fate, but also changing the path your own life would take. Doing something your future self would be very grateful for. Creating those exact kids who wouldn’t exist otherwise.

In general, the very fact that we were born is very random. That you happen to be you, and not a version somewhere between you and your sibling. That you were conceived this month and not that month means you happened to get these genes and not those genes, that you have this type of personality and not another kind.

At work today, we were talking about how differently everyone perceives temperatures. For one of my colleagues, the ideal is 15-20 °C, for another it’s over 25 °C. I side with the over 25 girl, as most of you would know. It’s already summer here – spring came and went – and 20 °C is considered warm weather. I’m not complaining – I’ll take it.

I also recently read that the Baltic Sea has, for a long time, been the most polluted sea in the world. And so my suspicions were confirmed. My colleague at work suggested I go swim in it, not realising it’s polluted because that’s the image we like to give ourselves of the country we live in: it’s the cleanest in the world.

Yes, it is very clean and green, but the sea is still polluted, no matter how much you ignore it. Most people here own two houses, the second being a lakeside summer house where they retreat during summer. No wonder they don’t even notice the sea is polluted when they can swim in a nice lake. For those of us who own zero homes and just rent one, there is no escape into serenity. We see the pollution all year round. And we also see people swimming and fishing in it. Letting their kids do so.

This city has never been a good place to spend the summer, since it’s mostly closed and there isn’t much to do except go to a bar. Inventiveness used for creating summer events and venues: nil. This place comes alive in the winter. It wasn’t designed for summer use since people have flocked to their lakeside homes. Maybe this summer will change things? Maybe the city will slowly grow and embrace summer? Maybe in five years’ time it’ll be different? Maybe there’ll be more outdoors pools? Now we only have 3 outdoors pools for over half a million residents.

Having said that, no, I don’t have the summer blues, not at all. Corona has actually made me appreciate this little Nordic country I live in, finally. Things have been handled in a very civilized manner. Also, working from home combined with some sunshine have both lifted my mood enormously. I feel grateful.

They are saying there aren’t enough berry pickers this year, due to border restrictions. Locals are too slow and expensive, they would rather use imported labor. Berries have always been super expensive over here in the city, but this year I suspect their prices will rocket. Ironically, those fortunate enough to own a summer house will very likely also have free berries they can pick.

Like those workers, imported pineapple is way cheaper than local strawberries, and I just had some today. Here’s to a pineapple summer then, cin cin!