Welcome to Luleåland

Välkommen till Luleåland!

This is me trying a blog format to show you some my pics of Luleå and surrounds, and maybe talk a bit about what I’m getting up to up here. I'm covering a wide audience, so apologies if you feel there is too much info / not enough info about something. If you want to know more, or have any feedback about anything at all, please leave comments or send me an email. So here we go (Så här vi gå):

Unrepresentative pic #1

And you thought Luleå at 65 degrees north would be a cold, icy wasteland. Well, it's not. There's a beach, and this is it. All of it.

Actually today (Sunday 16th) was the first day that I experienced waking up to 0 degrees outside – the pic was taken at 10am. Notice that the thermometer goes down to -50oC ! The coldest recent winter was in 1999 when there was over a week below –35, with a few days below –40oC.



I guess it’s indicative of how serious the weather is up here that most stores have a dedicated thermometer section. I installed the one above so that I get both indoor and outdoor temperatures. I live in an apartment (lägenhet) No. 12 Lingonstigen, and am going to have a "Lingonstigen lägenhetsdagjämningfest" (apartment’s equinox party), on the day, or first weekend after the day, that the termperature inside and outside is the same but opposite, ie +22 inside, -22 outside. Not sure if the idea really excites anyone else but me.

So where am I living?

I live in Kalkällan, a suburb of Luleå, which is basically a series of about 20 or so apartment buildings which all share a 60’s communist-era look about them. This is considered to be one of uglier suburbs of the town. People seem to put in a fair bit of effort into making their front windows look good though, especially on those facing the coutyard. I guess this is a way to show-off a bit and put a stamp of individuality in an area where everything else is quite uniform. I am on the first floor, have an outfacing window, and a “French” (enclosed) balcony. All that is on display is a curtain, and what was supposed to be a hardy potplant but is shedding its leaves, dropping them one by one as they go from green to yellow to brown as my innate plant-killing ability flexes its muscles. Sorry Sachiyo! Unfortunately the plant was a housewarming present from Sven to his son Olle, from who’m I’m renting the flat. Out of respect for the dying, I won’t show a pic here.












The flat is fully furnished, with widescreen tv, a very long, comfy, couch, and most kitchen implements and accoutrements. The bed is only a single, and is in a nook formed by the blue bookcase. Heating is central, with some water-filled radiators along the outer wall under the window. The hot water is a byproduct generated by the local SSAB steelworks a couple of kms away, and piped into town providing very cheap heating and hot water. This is a big help when I’ve been told a typical household’s electricity bill can easily reach 30,000 SEK a year, which is over $5000 AUD, without heating!

My rent is 3600 SEK a month ( 1AUD = 5.6 SEK), so about $700 a month. I think I am doing pretty well, as others are in basic student accomodation, one room the width of my kitchen an not much longer, minimally furnished, and not much cheaper.

The other very good thing about buildings here is the insulation, or “isolation” in Swedish. I have hardly ever heard my neighbours, and perhaps more fortunately, they have hardly heard me. The soundproofing is so good I can even practice trombone inside my flat, something I would never have thought possible if I was back home. I have only practiced a couple of times, and I try not to blast anything too loud. I even did a doorknock after my first session, partly just to introduce myself to the neighbours one-on-one, just in case they were going to form an angry mob. But that sort of confrontation wouldn’t be the Swedish way. Anyhow, only one of the neighbours was home, and she said she didn’t hear anything. One of the others came home just as I was ringing his doorbell, and his first response was either “I didn’t order anyone” or “I didn’t order anything”. I hope it was the latter.

Here is a pic of retrofitting some foam to a building. Wall thickness is often around a foot in these parts, with double glazing standard, and no gaps under doors.


Some other houses nearby. Pastel colours, especially yellow, pink, white, and a bright shade of red are very common.




It is about a 25 minute walk to work, or in the opposite direction, to the center of town. I am smack bang in the middle. By bike it is about 10 mins each way. There is a small hill and forest just behind me on my way to work. Here’s a pic of it when I arrived.


The day I took a wrong turn, I was glad I had a mountain bike.


Autumn came and went pretty quickly, but spectularly. Birch is the dominant tree in this pic.



Now the birch have lost their leaves, and just the fir pines remain.



I actually think the hill is man-made, built up from a foundation of Saabs and Volvos (pl. = Volvi?) that dont' pass the annual roadworthy inspections. See, it's not all forests, moose, and Norsca fresh waterfalls here!