Palaver in Gothenburg

Man, it’s been itching in my fingers to write again! Last week, I really wanted to post a couple of posts, but didn’t, since I wanted maximum attention on the previous post, the letter to WaSP. But here I go again!

Friday last week, I took the train down to Gothenburg for a meeting. And not the fast train, no, I went on the one that takes five hours from Stockholm. My Project Manager calls it the Orient Express, and with all rights; you get to see every part of Sweden before you reach Gothenburg. All different kinds of people will get on the train, you’ll pass through parts that stink of manure and through “towns” you didn’t even know existed. But actually, five hours isn’t as bad as it sounds. One gets the time to read a book and other things, listen to some music and generally just chill.

Trains are really my preferred way of traveling, if not going by car is an option. It’s usually pretty comfortable, one can walk around, there’s a restaurant where one can get some food and drink and the toilets aren’t as cramped as on an airplane (however, I’ve never heard about any 2-metres high club for getting it on in a train bathroom…). However, doing number two isn’t really a walk in the park when the train lurches, take it from me…

The reason I went to Gothenburg was for a meet-up with a company to discuss web standards and accessibility in their product. Also present at the meeting where Roger Johansson and Kalle Wibeck (Kalle, get your blog going now, here’s your first link :-)) and a representative from another Swedish company. It was great sitting down with Roger and Kalle since they’re really into what they’re doing and they definitely know what they’re talking about.

The product developing company we had the meeting with had asked for us specifically, and I really want to applaud this company for taking such a measure, that they care so much about their product that they make sure that the web standards, CSS and accessibility aspects are also as focused on and equally important as the product’s other areas. After sitting down for a number of hours with these guys it was pretty clear to me that this company is most likely going places. It was a long time since I met such ambitious people, and hearing them talk about their product with such love and dedication was truly inspiring.

Afterwards, we went for pizzas and beer at a restaurant called Mezza luna (what else kind of place would IT people go to calm down? :-)) and had a good time. Thank you to the company paying for beer, and thank you to the one paying for the pizzas. The ever-friendly Roger and his lovely girlfriend Pernilla was kind enough to put me up for the night, and Saturday morning I got on the train to go back home again. On the train there was this really talkative guy drinking beer and talking to his friends about different concerts, how drunk you should be to get the most out of a gig, and about other things. He seemed like a harmless and nice guy, but the sheer volume he was talking with got a little bit overwhelming after five hours…

Finally back home, I played around with my daughter. It’s always hard to be away from her and with her seeming to have actually missed me, it felt even better to be back! Sunday, my friend Veljko arrived from Serbia (thanks for the beautiful gifts!) and he spent the afternoon together with me and my family. Great having him here again!

What company we met up with? That’s a story for another day… πŸ™‚

4 Comments

  • Tommy Olsson says:

    you get to see every part of Sweden before you reach Gothenburg.

    Typical Stockholmer. πŸ™

    There's quite a large part of the country north of your little village, too, you know. πŸ˜‰

  • Maarten Leewis says:

    I took the train up to UmeÃ¥ once… 12 hours of hell, especially because it was a nighttrain. Nothing to see. Too uncomfortable to sleep. The worst part was knowing i would have to take the same route back.

  • Jorkas says:

    Nice to see Tommy, i was going to write the same as you πŸ˜‰

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Tommy,

    I know! And with the risk of stepping of someone's toes here, I generally prefer the north of Sweden over the south parts. πŸ™‚

    Maarten, Jorkas,

    Well, it really takes some time to get to UmeÃ¥. But I've been there a number of times and I really like the nature up there. Long time since last visit, though…

Leave a Reply to Maarten Leewis Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.