GETTING OUT OF THE WAY

The other day, I was driving from Lund to the new Costco, which is on the outskirts of Malmö. Normally this drive would take me about 15 minutes, but due to the fact that E22 which is the “highway” that runs between the two cities is under construction most of the way through Lund, and that there was apparently an accident somewhere, plus just CRAZY rush hour traffic, it took me more than twice that. The growth explosion of both of them has also not been compensated for in the infrastructure of the roadways at all. Malmö is the fastest growing city in Sweden, and over the second half of the 20th century the population of Lund has more than doubled. We used to joke that rush hour here was rush minute, but that hasn’t been the case for years now.

So, it’s quite often dead-stop traffic or crawling during the rush hour both ways and both morning and evening and there have been accidents on E22 nearly every day for years. The construction through Lund is meant to increase the amount of lanes through the city but right now, the 3 year project just means it’s a giant mess. Anyway, as I was crawling along, twice, ambulances came speeding up behind me. I could see the traffic behind me in the rear view mirror getting out of the way. It was like a giant zipper opening up slowly, with everyone on the left side moving as far to the left as they could and everyone on the right doing the same to the right side. The ambulances came speeding up the middle, though they probably weren’t even going the actual usual speed limit for the road. I feel sorry for the paramedics whenever I see them trying to get past through traffic jams and rush hour traffic. But at least every driver on the road knows exactly what they are supposed to do to get out of the way, and they do it. There were ambulances and an fire emergency vehicle of some sort trying to get through on the northbound side as well, during the same time period, so a lot going on for emergency services that day.

In the US, I remember everyone moving to the right, stopping, and staying on the shoulder until emergency vehicles had passed. Here in Sweden, you must “clear a path” for them to get through if they have lights and sirens on, but without breaking any traffic rules. It hasn’t happened that often in traffic jams here, but it was fascinating to watch the orderly process both times in the space of about 10 minutes as drivers moved to each side of the highway and created a corridor for the ambulance to pass through.

I have the day off today, but even without an alarm set, I was awake by 7:30 and up at 8 am. I woke when Anders’ alarm went off, disoriented, and thinking it was mine, but fell back asleep for about an hour. Today, I’ve already been to both Malmö and Lund (no ambulances!), running errands. I picked up another turban that I had ordered, and had a quick lunch in Malmö, as well as getting a couple of items for my Halloween costume for the AIC party next weekend. Then I dropped my watch off (AGAIN. THIRD TIME.) in Lund to have them check the supposedly brand new battery, which is not keeping time, and then stopped at the grocery store. Now I’m doing laundry, and considering working on a new crossword puzzle. Anders and I are going back to Lund tonight (he’s there for work today) for dinner with Martin at his restaurant (his in the sense that he works there, not that he owns it, haha).

Tomorrow, we’re going to Åben in Copenhagen with Debbie and Ola, and Camilla, for dinner. Karin had let us know that their chef is leaving at the end of the month, so we decided to go one last time before he’s gone, as his food is amazing. Karin is working so she’ll be serving us. 🙂 Essie told us that one of my favorite appetizers is no longer on the menu already, though, which is a bummer.

The sun just came out! Yay!

Mood: productive and relaxed
Music: Carissa Summer Rose—Scatterbrain