How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons

The stomatol sign is back on.

I walk every day from the island of Södermalm where I live, to my office on the island that is Gamla Stan, the old town. I walk down a long set of steps from my favorite little square in all of Stockholm, Mosebacke Torg. These steps take me down to the sluice that lets the water of Lake Mälaren flow into the Baltic.

On the way back home, just to the right of the steps, on the top of a building, there is an old sign of white and red colored lights, a four-meter long tube of stomatol eternally squeezing glittering toothpaste onto a giant twinkling toothbrush.

The sign was dark for weeks, maybe even months, it seems. But last night I noticed it's blinking again.

I wonder how many other people see it as the beacon that I do.

(Hats off to Susie for the link above.)

The Swedish word for the day is gubbe. It means old fart, more or less. It is often a word of affection.

- by Francis S.