Tims Times

The ship happened to be passing Gothenburg just in time for my 4 week stint to finish, so I was able to get off in Sweden. What a relief to miss all the shite of airports, unfortunately the relief will be shortlived I have to head over to Ireland on Sunday for the final exam all going well. Mode of transport, airplane. Object to be passed through in order to reach mode of transport, airport.
I got a taxi to the train station when I paid off the ship, the senses were bombarded by input from everywhere people, cars, movement, noise and smell. I also got a good deal of staring applied to me. I can never figure it out but in Sweden, staring is acceptable as an activity. The phrase “you lookin’ at me” would be well wasted here because if you are in anyway outside the normal run of the mill you get stared at. Wheeling a large yellow suitcase on a Tuesday afternoon on a commuter train is abnormal, hence staring. Speaking English on the cellphone, abnormal more focused staring. Staring back irrelevant. Now if I had been speaking Serbo-croat, almost guaranteed no reaction. As the Americans say “go figure”.
The smell of perfume, cigarettes smoke, car exhaust fumes, fried fast food and a million other smells that have been absent on the ship now reappear to be registered up inside the brain like a test of remember that smell. I sat beside a lady on the train she gave off a soapy smell mixed with toffee, the soap smell was fairly easy to understand, the toffee was less easy, until I noticed her surreptitiously scoffing down sweets that appeared from under the cuff of her jacket sleeve at intervals not exceeding 5 minutes.
The train condutor punches two holes in the ticket in Sweden, to be sure, to be sure? I would say that the conductors at CIE would be most displeased if they had to do the same, it would be double the work.
If you want to avoid being stared at here in Sweden, carry a bunch of Big Issue magazines, guaranteed to get rid of people. Great to be home again.