At 04:30 on Friday morning, the taxi was waiting for me (Helena) at the marina where we live. Then I had a long working day ahead of me. The journey from Stockholm to Elmia in Jönköping takes about four and a half hours by train and bus and I would be travelling back and forth throughout the day. In addition, I wanted to take part in the programme during the Human Rights Days in Jönköping.
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To get to Jönköping from Stockholm, you first have to go to Nässjö, and then change to Jönköpings länstrafik. The first train was twenty minutes late, which meant that I missed my connection in Nässjö and had to take the next train. I took the opportunity to buy a sandwich at Pressbyrån in Nässjö, but how slow everything went!
At first, people stood still in the escalator with your luggage around you so you couldn't pass, and then the clerk at Pressbyrå realised that she should bake buns instead of serving customers. I felt that it started to creep into my body, but I suspect that I am an annoyingly stressed out Stockholm resident ...
All the way to Elmia
The train journey continued (together with a cheerfully loud high school class from Lund) to Jönköping central station. Then there was a bus to get to Elmia. We are used to coming to the fair "Elmia Husvagn Husbil", but this time it was a completely different theme!
Human Rights Days in Jönköping
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins by stating that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights". In short, this is what the Human Rights Days, which are organised every year, are all about. I went to the conference because I work at the Stockholm County Council's sustainability department, as a strategist for disability issues.
Consequently, I chose to listen to several seminars on the rights of persons with disabilities. I also chose to listen to the Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke, who spoke about the government's strategy against racism and hate crimes, together with a panel of representatives from authorities and civil society. A very interesting day! If I was tired in the evening ...? Well, there was no problem falling asleep, so to speak ...
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Mr Bengt Lindkvist says:
MR is important in times of Trump and populism
12 November 2017 - 7:28
Helena says:
Absolutely true!
12 November 2017 - 10:23
Anette says:
I was a bit puzzled at first, as I have worked in laboratory diagnostics and for me MRI = magnetic resonance imaging.
It has a completely different meaning for you
I hope the days are fruitful.
12 November 2017 - 7:47
Helena says:
Haha, yes abbreviations have many different meanings in different worlds. I don't really like abbreviations (because they never make things easier but on the contrary), but it felt like the title would be so long otherwise ... 😉 .
12 November 2017 - 10:24
Husis blog says:
I hope the days were rewarding and that you can benefit in some way from this in your work.
Trains are always special and especially with connections, because it usually never works. I don't think it's just you as a Stockholm resident who feels a certain irritation regarding the description of Don at Pressbyrån.
12 November 2017 - 8:53
Helena says:
Difficult when you have changes, and when you're travelling back and forth during the day, you don't want to be too late either... 😉.
12 November 2017 - 10:25
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
Agree with an above comment. For me MRI = magnetic resonance imaging. Many new abbreviations can cause headaches even for the most familiar with the subject....
I think there may be something in your theory about "easily stressed Stockholmers". Instead, we can't understand why we have to half-jump up escalators when we arrive in Stockholm.
I hope you had a good and rewarding day at Elmia.
12 November 2017 - 9:43
Helena says:
I don't really like abbreviations, precisely because they complicate life, and usually avoid them in written text. But then I thought the title would be so long ... 😉 And haha, well then maybe I was right ... it's probably that the pace here is higher ...
12 November 2017 - 10:26
Lena in Wales says:
It's always an important topic, even if it feels like more and more talk about it is needed now. But things weren't better in the past with all the colonisation and other abuses.
12 November 2017 - 11:05
Helena says:
Not everything was better in the past... But we still have a lot of problems to deal with! And there are new challenges in the world all the time ...
12 November 2017 - 13:29
Goatfish says:
An important topic!
Now you got to see how we have it in Lidköping, when we go somewhere by train 😀 To Stockholm, for example, it's a bus to Skövde, then a train. I always have at least one change. I have even travelled regularly to Öland 😀 No, you must not be in a hurry.
Stockholmers may be stressed, but you are extremely friendly and helpful! We learnt this last time. By the way, I will be in Stockholm on 6 December.
Going to a team meeting.
Skyline Sunday hug!
12 November 2017 - 11:50
Helena says:
Now I understand how you feel! 😉 Yes, changing takes time ... and there is also the risk of missing your connection ... Nice to hear that you met helpful Stockholmers during your visit!
12 November 2017 - 13:31
Ruth in Virginia says:
Interesting. Human Rights are trampled on daily and everywhere.
Has been a member of Human Rights Watch for many years. The
only thing I feel, that I can do is to give money and, of course,
try to improve the local situation.
It is an overwhelming goal but necessary.
Your day would have completely destroyed me. Busy and stressful.
You have my admiration for your stamina. 🙂
12 November 2017 - 12:48
Helena says:
What a great effort to be part of Human Rights Watch! My colleagues and I work for social sustainability in the county council, including for the rights of people with disabilities, national minorities and children, and for equality and gender equality in general. There is a lot to do if you say so! (And I took quite an end, the rest of the weekend we have hardly gone outside the door;))
12 November 2017 - 14:37
BP says:
Considering what you did the night before, I assume you slept on the train there and back, probably even during the conference;-).
Human Rights is a very important topic of course!!!!
The pace is slightly slower "in the country" than here in Stockholm. It is even "worse" in northern Sweden;-)
12 November 2017 - 13:16
Helena says:
Haha, yes you remember what I did the night before I hear! I nodded off a few times on the train... but luckily all the seminars I chose were both good and engaging 🙂.
12 November 2017 - 14:39
åsa in åsele says:
Interesting and important.
I'm sorry that the journey was long(ish),
You travelled for 8 hours to get from home to home again? Crazy.
By comparison, my journey to Hudiksvall is 34 kilometres one way,
by car in 4 hours.
Saw BP's comment and would say that it is both true and false,
I don't think that northerners are more slow-witted than southerners 😉.
it probably depends on the location... if we take Umeå/Sundsvall/Gävle, it's probably relatively the same as 08a country 😀.
Have a nice Sunday, hugs
12 November 2017 - 13:48
Helena says:
Yes, it was probably nine hours in total, i.e. 4 and a half hours there and then the same time back home ... Someone asked why I didn't fly, but we have strict guidelines in the county council, which take into account both taxpayers' money and environmental impact ... It might have been faster by car, but (apart from the fact that I don't have a driving licence) the advantage of the train is that you can both sleep and work. Personally, I have to say that I find it hard to believe that the pace is as high in Gävle as it is in Stockholm, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad! Sometimes you stress too much unnecessarily ...
12 November 2017 - 14:43
Ditte says:
I was also thinking about MRI scans when I read it. And a fair where Human Rights are in focus is good. A subject that is so important and on many levels.
I also hope that these rights can be practised more in practice. I saw an example the other day that I wished didn't exist. A wheelchair-bound man couldn't get on/off the Uppsala train even though he showed papers in his order that he needed assistance. And one might think that travelling by train is a human right.
Then there are other things that work well. But Human Rights is a topic that needs to be constantly discussed and it encompasses so much.
I'm sure you brought a lot of stuff home with you and
understands that you fell asleep unawakened.
12 November 2017 - 14:23
Helena says:
You should definitely be able to travel by train even if you have a disability! We have a discrimination law in Sweden that states that lack of accessibility is discrimination! One of the issues raised at the fair was that more complaints and more precedent-setting cases are needed. Legal support for accessibility actually already exists, but it still does not always work. It feels good that the Transport Administration in Stockholm County Council has two full-time accessibility strategists who work actively with accessibility and here they have come a long way (which of course does not mean that everything is good or that even more development is not needed!)
12 November 2017 - 14:48
Matts Torebring says:
I see your travelling route in front of me, like an open book. We who always drive to Stockholm, in just over two and a half hours, don't realise how easy it is.
12 November 2017 - 17:47
Helena says:
A car would probably be faster, but the advantage of a train is that you can work... or sleep 😉.
12 November 2017 - 18:23
Across the board says:
Long day but a very interesting topic. It is just a pity that the LASS reform has now been so eroded that it just feels cold and hard 🙁 .
12 November 2017 - 19:37
Helena says:
Of course, I follow the media about LSS and LASS and it certainly feels like things have become much more difficult. In a welfare society, it is precisely this kind of thing that must work, otherwise it is not a welfare society. On a day-to-day basis, however, I work with the issues in the county council (i.e. healthcare, public transport, culture and regional planning), and it can be, for example, accessibility (both physical and communicative) but also how we meet people with disabilities, forms of cooperation with organisations and how it is made possible for people with disabilities to work in the county council.
13 November 2017 - 7:13
annar aas says:
Today it became clear why I follow you day in and day out. Your report from the Elmia fair on human rights gives a picture of you that is very fine and important. Never get so caught up in your own interests that you forget that we live in a world where all the obviously good things we have are not everyone's life and opportunity. You have to be able to enjoy a nice goose dinner on Mårten's Saturday, but be aware that the Lent that awaits most people is not a fast of their own choosing (Mårten introduces the Christmas fast).
12 November 2017 - 20:31
Helena says:
Thanks for the nice words, and good description Annar! Of course we should appreciate what is good, but be aware that it is far from self-evident that everyone has the rights or opportunities they should. Even within our country, there are many groups that still have to fight for things that should be self-evident for everyone.
13 November 2017 - 7:16
Anja says:
Go Helena!
12 November 2017 - 22:11
Helena says:
🙂
13 November 2017 - 7:16