02/01/2025
Is living in Sweden a pleasure or a torment?
A pleasure, if ever I’ve had the privilege of living somewhere - and I’ve lived in nine different countries, including really decent ones such as Germany, Austria, France, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, and the US. I have come to Sweden after 20 years of pondering it very carefully, and believe you me, if there was a place I’d rather be, I would have moved there instead.
Of course it helps that I speak the language fluently, and adore the culture. These two things are pivotal. If you can’t get into those, better stay away. But it’s a beautiful language, and the culture is probably the most open, liberal, western ideology you can find on this planet - and they live totally in the future here. No cash, religions out the window, full equality for all… they are trying to be Utopia here like nobody else on this planet. Gene Roddenberry would re-write Star Trek to be set here if he knew. Everybody else is pretty much busy merely“reacting” and looking backwards, if you ask me.
My Canadian friends are like, “why on earth didn’t you just stay in Canada and chose Quebec? That place you’re in seems just like it!” True, but the difference is, here in Sweden, I can hop on a plane for a hundred dollars and fly to Rome in two hours. Or Paris. Or London. Or Berlin. Or Spain. Etc.
I work a normal 9–5 job and earn average money. So I’m no film star, and some may say I have a hillbilly life - oh well. I usually get this from people who are renting apartments in places like London or Berlin, living the big city rat race dream. Fine by me. My life is very different from that - not glorious, but enjoyable. My village has a sawmill and a supermarket, a marina and a camp site, plus a petrol station. That suffices me. Everything else is in reach by car or public transport.
Here’s my life, in pictures. I don’t suppose I need to elaborate much. A picture says more than a thousand words:
My village:
Yes, you can swim in it in summer; here’s proof of 23 degrees Celsius water temperature:
So, for what it’s worth, I like this Swedish life. I would not trade it for anything.
