May Blog

On Good Friday we had dinner with friends in Säljemar, just north of Gävle. Sitting in their glassed-in verandah overlooking the still frozen Baltic Sea in the hazy light of dusk, we could not have asked for a more picture-perfect setting.

Suddenly our host pointed out to the ice and we all turned to look.

"It's a wolf," I cried. The big and squarish animal that was walking across the ice along the horizon could not have been anything else. We were not all in agreement about what we had seen. There were more people around the table who believed what we had seen was a fox. But this animal was too big and did not seem to have the nimbleness of a fox.

It all happened so quickly that we unfortunately had no time to take a closer look at the animal through binoculars.

There are more wolves in Sweden now than there have been for almost a hundred years. 27 wolves or about ten percent of the population was culled in the winter in the first (sanctioned) wolf-hunt in more than fifty years (SwPress Mar10).

Wolves have been spotted in the south of Sweden, in Stockholm suburbs and on the ice close to where we were near Gävle. Three wolves were recently killed by a train in Dalarna. The police even followed one lone wolf that crossed right through the center of Stockholm one night.

Still it is a privilege to actually see one.

April Blog

Just got a letter from TV3 in Sweden asking me if I could recommend some Swedish women in North America for the popular Swedish Hollywood Wives series. I have never seen it, but have, of course, heard lots about it. The docu-show, that is now in its third season (SwPr Oct09), has, above all, really exposed the difference in values between Sweden and Beverly Hills.

The outspoken Swedish wife of crooner Paul Anka created a big controversy when she listed the number of people working in her household and talked about the advantages of "the service-minded US society" compared to Sweden where people “come home and sulk and have to clean and iron".

"Swedish dads are tragic with all their diaper-changing and equality nonsense ... Sexually it is the woman's responsibility to ensure that the man is satisfied, if she does not then she only has herself to blame if he is unfaithful," were some of the other words of wisdom from Anna Anka, who has since been separated from her husband.

This kind of political incorrectness did not go over well with Swedes but the ensuing debate rendered the television programme even more publicity.

Meter Film & Television, that produces Svenska Hollywoodfruar, now wants to find "thrilling and inspiring women with strong personalities" beyond Hollywood. They want to "widen their scope".

I can come up with a lot of admirable Swedish women in North America with "that get go spirit", that the producers are looking for, and who "grab opportunities and are willing to share”. But when I take a look at the current crop I wonder if my candidates would make it, as the programme is so clearly just looking for rich, beautiful and glamorous women.

I just don’t know any women who have two identical Rolls Royces (in case one needs to go for repairs), live next door to Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino or in a mansion that seats 500 at dinner, have their drinks mixed by Bill Clinton and sing snaps songs with Prince Charles.

My choices are different and would probably not cause the same level of "royal Swedish envy," which perhaps is the secret behind the success of Svenska Hollywoodfruar.