Posts tagged w/ winter

Allt om reflexer

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
12
2009

If you don’t mind, I’d like to continue with our little road safety awareness message. Today’s topic – reflectors. The kind you wear on your clothing.

Now, don’t laugh! This is actually a serious matter. You think you’ve seen dark, but unless you’re from Alaska, you haven’t seen real dark. The kind of dark that comes at 2PM and wants to eat your soul by 5 in the afternoon. The kind of dark that requires an additional set of headlights for your car. (No, I am not joking.)

Yet even with all the headlights in the world, it still can be very difficult to see people, especially if said people wear dark clothing, or ride bikes in the dark.

You think I’m exaggerating? Nationalföreningen för Trafiksäkerhetens Främjande (The National Society for Road Safety) doesn’t think so. They agree that using proper personal reflectors is very important.

You will often see kids with shiny plastic gizmos hanging on their jackets, yet their parents are almost invisible in their dark winter coats. Or you will see an adult with a snap-on reflective band, yet the dog they are walking is invisible against the dark. Or you will see a woman with a reflective vest, but the baby carriage she’s pushing is black against black.


Baby carriage with a glow-in-the-dark cover and a little fella dressed for a safe evening walk.

I had never realized just how important personal reflectors were until I started driving in Norrland.

Did you know that:

Om du har mörka kläder upptäcker en bil med halvljus dig på 20-30 meters avstånd och om du har ljusa kläder syns du från 60 meter. Om du bär reflex ser bilen dig redan på 125 meters avstånd.

(If you wear dark clothes you are noticed by a driver from the distance of about 20-30 meters, with light clothes – from 60 meters, but when you have a reflector, you can be seen from 125 meters.)

Fortunately, the NTF webpage is a virtual goldmine of information. All you need to know about reflective items, vests and clothing can be found on their site.

And if you don’t know where to purchase a reflective snap-on band or a cute hangy-thingy for your child, head to your nearest Apoteket (pharmacy). They have a wide selection of all sorts of snazzy reflectors for kids and adults. And while you’re at it, don’t forget about your dog, especially if you’re using an extendable leash. Your puppy needs to be seen, too.

Walk safely!

Image: NTF

 
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Remember - hjärnan kan inte gipsas!

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
8
2009

The shortest day of the year is behind us, but that doesn’t mean that the days are getting all that much longer. While it’s not pitch black at 3PM anymore, it’s still dark. Add to this snow and ice, and driving can be very unpleasant. And dangerous.

I drive, and I can’t even imagine how people can survive here without a car. But that’s a topic for a whole another post. The fact is – some people don’t drive. Even though it’s snowy and slippery, some people still ride their bicycles. And no, riding a bike in the snow is not an extreme sport here but a necessity if you don’t own a car. You can even get special winter bicycle tires, which are studded just like normal winter car tires.

Studded tires notwithstanding, it still surprises me how many of those hardened winter cyclists don’t wear helmets. The law says that only kids under 15 need to wear helmets, and it seems that even though it’s the law, few of them actually follow it. I wonder what their parents think. Do they put their faith in the Swedish health system? Hmmm… I really would like to know.

According to Vägverket’s statistical information, only 65.5% of kids under 10 years of age wear a helmet. And only 43.6% in the 10 to 16 years of age group. For adults the results are embarrassing – 20 to 22% of adults under the age of 65 wear a helmet. The percentage is equally low for older people.

This is pathetic. I did not look for statistics about brain injuries, but a visit to any ER in winter will tell you all you need to know. Not wearing a helmet when riding a bike can be deadly.

Vägverket is being very gentle on their website when reminding people to wear bike helmets. Too gentle, if you ask me:

Varje dag skadas nära hundra cyklister i Sverige. Få av dem krockar med bilar eller andra trafikanter. Den vanligaste olyckan är en singelolycka. Så glöm inte hjälmen - hjärnan kan inte gipsas.

Why am I writing about it today?
I was driving from the store and on my way home witnesses a serious accident. A cyclist didn’t manage to stop in time at the intersection. He was going downhill from a bike path, but braking on snow and ice proved to be too difficult. A couple of somersaults later, he ended up with his head in the middle of a busy road. And oh yeah, he was not wearing a helmet.

So, even if you think you don’t look cool when wearing a helmet, just imagine how uncool you will look with a serious brain injury.
Remember – you can put an arm or a leg in a plaster cast, but not a brain.

Here is some info about choosing a proper bicycle helmet, courtesy of Vägverket.

Tips när du köper hjälm:


Hjälmar ska uppfylla grundkrav för hälsa och säkerhet för att få säljas. Bruksanvisningen ska vara på svenska och även förklara märkningen. Ett CE-märke på hjälmen visar att tillverkaren fått certifikat på att hjälmen uppfyller de krav som lagen ställer. Bara särskilt utsedda laboratorier kan utfärda certifikaten.


När du provar hjälm, tänk på följande:
• Hjälmen ska sitta perfekt så att den inte kan trilla av eller skjutas bakåt och lämna pannan fri. Den får inte glida ner i nacken!
• Om du köper till ett barn: köp inte en för stor hjälm som barnet ska växa i.
• Hjälmen ska täcka panna, bakhuvud och hjässa.
• Hjälmen ska vara lätt att ta på och av och lätt att fästa med hakbandet.
• Hjälmen ska vara så lätt och bekväm att den inte känns jobbig att använda. Se till att knäppningen i hakbandet inte nyper eller klämmer.
• Hakbandet brukar vara lagom spänt om du får ett finger mellan bandet och hakan. Det är viktigt att hjälmen sitter stadigt!
• Du ska trivas med hjälmen. Prova den framför spegeln innan du bestämmer dig. Det är inget fel om den är snygg.

Image: pressbilder VV

 
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Vinterdepression

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Oct
29
2008

Returning to Sweden after we changed to winter time last weekend was a bit harsh. Suddenly it gets dark at 4PM here. And it will only get worse. That’s one of the joys of living in the North. I like winter, don’t get me wrong, it’s the darkness that kills me.

So, to make sure that I stay alive and keep blogging, I went in search of my favorite full-spectrum light bulbs today. And wouldn’t you know it, I was late – apparently the whole town had the same idea. Elkedjan was all sold out. They only had one “natural sunlight” light bulb left and told me to come back next week when a new shipment arrives.

This is my yearly ritual – replacing all normal light bulbs with those bluish “natural sunlight” ones and plugging in massive greenhouse-style lamps. And leaving them all on until springtime. Yes, I know I said that I’m big on saving energy and all that, but I make up for my ginormous winter electricity consumption during summers when I don’t turn on any lights at all. So it all evens out, I hope, and my carbon footprint should stay more or less the same.

This is not just an Anna quirk, or a goofy habit with no scientific background. Seasonal affective disorder is a serious thing. And I’d never known just how serious until I moved to Norrland. My first winter was dreadful. So dreadful in fact, that I ended up popping anti-depressants like Pez candy. I gained a ton of weight, had to go on medical leave and eventually ended up hospitalized. Winter in Norrland – 1: Anna – 0. It wasn’t pleasant. Fortunately, I don’t remember much of it now.

The following year I was much better prepared. I read up on SAD (vinterdepression eller årstidsbunden depression) and was ready. I turned my living room into a greenhouse and got serious about light therapy (ljusterapi). And just to make sure I got adequate sun exposure, I also went to Gran Canaria in December. Yes, I know it’s a cheesy cliché, but it did help.

These days I feel like a veteran of northern winters. I know the drill now - over the years I’ve learned what works for me and perfected it to fit my needs. Winter doesn’t bother me anymore – it’s nothing but a few annoying pages in my wall calendar and a brilliant excuse to go somewhere on vacation.

But first things first, I need to replace those light bulbs. And then book a week-long break somewhere warm. This year it needs to be somewhere cheap, too. I’m thinking Cyprus or Egypt. Any suggestions?

Here are some common symptoms of årstidsbunden depression:

  • en melankolisk sinnesstämning,
  • ökat sömnbehov
  • nedsatt social, fysisk och/eller sexuell aktivitet
  • ändrad (vanligtvis ökad) aptit med ändrat ätbeteende (sockerbehov) och viktökning
  • premenstruella spänningar
  • koncentrationssvårigheter
  • eller ofta en kombination av dessa.

And remember, if you feel like you just can’t take it any longer, seek medical attention. It’s been my experience that doctors in Sweden are familiar with those symptoms and treat them seriously.

 
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Winter Is Coming

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Sep
30
2008

Oh no!

Ceci made a comment about the weather and how wonderful the autumn colors are this time of the year. Yes, they indeed are. But I’m not a fan of autumn. Why? Winter comes next!

In fact tonight is the perfect time to begin writing about winter. It’s the first time this fall (winter?) that the temperature has dropped below zero Celsius. Or at least, it’s the first time that I’ve noticed how cold it gets at night. Soon, it will also be cold during the day. And then the snow will come.

Sometimes I feel, and I mean literally feel, that all this talk about global warming is just a talk.

Last year I attended a very interesting lecture given by a visiting professor at the university here. The guy, sorry, I don’t remember his name now, said some really interesting things about this part of Norrland. He said that we are at the very end of an ice age, and the changes we are seeing here in the north are due to the normal reaction of the land that had been covered with a thick layer of ice for several thousand years. He used the Ume river and the area around Umeå and Holmsund as an example.

Back in the olden days the river was much deeper and even sea going vessels could easily get to Umeå. This is no longer possible due to the river getting shallower and shallower each year.

He explained this phenomenon by using a mattress analogy. (Don’t worry, this is all very innocent.) When you sit or lie down, you’re pressing down on the mattress. Depending on how soft your bed is, the weight of your body compresses the mattress slightly. And then you get up. The indentation made by your weight will remain for a while and then the mattress will spring back to its original state. Well, the professor said that the same thing is happening with the area all over the Gulf of Bothnia. The ice sheet had retreated and now the ground is springing back. Of course, since northern Sweden is not exactly a mattress, we are talking about thousands of years of slow springing back here. But that’s why the Ume river is getting shallower and that’s why the whole Gulf of Bothnia will eventually disappear.

The professor tied it all very nicely with global warming, but I was so taken with the idea of being able to walk to Finland in a couple thousand years that I missed that point completely.

Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, winter. So, because we are at the tail end of an ice age, things are supposed to be warming up. I truly hope that this will be one of those “warm” winters. The last one wasn’t that bad. It was just long. And the one before wasn’t that bad either, except it was super-snowy. And the one before that was awful. But as far as I remember, it was awful everywhere. I went through three car batteries that year. Let’s hope that this year I can get away with only one!

 
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