Gas station the lofoten way

Gas station according to Lofoten.

sse Göörman pump

sse Gööman Gas station. I like the idea of having a road map next to the gas pump.

Once upon a time there was a gas pump.

Once upon a time there was a gas pump here. The one-and-the-only in Hajom village. Last time I passed by it was gone. Devastatingly bad.

The La Marina way

That's the way we do it in La Marina.

Saturday morning in Spain

Welcome to Spain.

French Gas station by Night

French gas station by night.

We went by bus with a bunch of Swiss friends all the way down to Alicante.

Photo was taken by Anna Johansson.

Memories from my photo album

Speaking about gas stations: Father gas station has always been in the oil business. This is from 1976 when he still was doing the real stuff and not only papers, papers, papers - and putting my IKEA furniture together.

The photo was taken in Ucklum, Stenungsund. The comment under the photo in its original context is "what a style he has!" (Daddy's own judgement) I rather write: what a style this gas station has! I want to find it.

Another gas station observation

Just noticed a detail on one of my gas station pics; the written sign in the window covered with white paper says: please pay for gas at market. Hilarious.

Vote for turqoise gas stations!

Nowadays when daddy already has built enough gas stations in Sweden he should paint them all turqoise.

All liquids in the same box

Two-in-one: Liquor store and gas station. Let us put all liquids in one box, yes!

Finding Texaco

Lost again on my way to home group out in Kaxholmen. I was so lost, that Kalle Vingren had to come and pick me up. In my searching for the place I found this forgotten gas station. Note that is situated just next to a Preem station.

Tappen i Gripenberg (SWE)

Tappen i Gripenberg med tillhörande ICA-affär. På väg till Tranås från Gränna hittade jag denna mystiska ort, mest känd för det så kallade Trårullatåget. Så tokigt.

Finally

After discovering many continents in this world I never thought I would find the perfect gas station here. On Visingsö island. And never in this world I thought it was going to be a BP station. Interesting. Is this one unbeatable? I have to do some more research to figure that out.

Island petrol

Is this the only place on Visingsö Island where you can get gas? We don't know.

Omani oil

Omani oil.

Arabic gold

On the Arabic peninsula gas is ten times cheaper than elsewhere in Europe. This gas station I found south of Dubai.

The Arabic way

In the southern part of the Emirates, close to the Omani border we passed this gas station. Easily one of my top ten.

Post station

I don't get this one. Is this pump only for the yellow Post Autos, i.e. the Swiss buses?

Fotskäl vs Kungsgården (SWE)

Katrin och jag förberedde nästa veckas resa under en frukost i Stein am Rhein. I Idas splitter nya, inte trasiga pass läser vi "födelseort: Fotskäl". I Katrins: "Födelseort: Ovansjö." Nu är Ovansjö bara namnet på den socken* som i runda slängar utgör halva Gästrikland; byn Katrin växte upp i går egentligen under namnet Kungsgården. Fotskäl är en ort i Marks kommun, Västergötland. Kungsgården är en ort i Sandvikens kommun Gästrikland. Vi frågar oss: Vem vinner, vem försvinner?

Invånarantal
Fotskäl: 665 (år 2004). Kungsgården: 995 (år 2005).
Poäng till Kungsgården, om det nu är fördelaktigt att bo trångt på landet och under förutsättning att inget storslaget inträffade i Fotskäl under -05, men om storslagna ting i denna ort har vi inte hört sedan -81.

Avstånd till havet
Fotskäl: 33,5 km. Kungsgården: 36,2 km.
Poäng till Fotskäl.

Avstånd till närmaste större ort (det vill säga sådan med gatlyktor, övergångsställen, Lindex och systembolag)
Fotskäl: 17,6 km (till Kinna). Kungsgården: 13,2 km (till Sandviken).
Poäng till Kungsgården.

Skola

Fotskäl: 1-3 Grundskola. Kungsgården: 1-6 Grundskola.

Poäng till Kungsgården.

Antal sjöar

Fotskäl: bortsett från en tredjedel av lilla Ringsjön vilken är ett sumphål och ej badbar finns Kvarndammen, vilket inte är en sjö utan en damm. Kungsgården: 1 (Storsjön, men den lilla utan odjur).

Poäng till Kungsgården.

Vattendrag

Kungsgården: Borrsjöån. Fotskäl: Enån, Ringebäck och Surtan

Poäng till Fotskäl.

Kyrka

Fotskäl: Fotskäls kyrka, byggd 1864. Kungsgården: Ovansjö Kyrka, byggd på 1200-talet.

Poäng till Kungsgården.

Bensinstationer

Fotskäl: 1. Kungsgården: 2 (riktiga dessutom).

Poäng till Kungsgården.

Kända händelser

Fotskäl: Sten Sture den yngre blev skadad av danskarna och gömde krigskassan här, vilken upphittades av två drängar nån gång på 20-talet. Kungsgården: Gustav Wasa flydde hit undan danskarna och höll tal på den plats som idag heter Wasparken.

Minuspoäng till Danmark.

Antal träffar på Google

Fotskäl: 32'300. Kungsgården: 74'300

Poäng till Kungsgården (lite orättvist: det finns fler Kungsgården än Fotskäl.)

Fornlämningar

Fotskäl: Råda Sten, Vita sten och Fänagatan i Bönhult. Kungsgården: Katrins pappa, kanske?

Poäng till Fotskäl (den där pappan är nog inte äldre än min mor).

Historiska byggnader

Fotskäl: Sveriges äldsta mejeri (nedlagt) Kungsgården: Sveriges äldsta bank (nedlagd), herrgård, snickargård från 1500-talet, tryckerimuseum.

Poäng till Kungsgården.

Föreningsliv

Fotskäl: Hembygdsförening, bygdegård, jaktförening, islandshästförening, röda Korset, hockeyklubb, kyrkoråd. Kungsgården: hembygdsförening, jaktförening, ridklubb, folkdanslag, vävstugeförening, naturskyddsförening, sportklubb, hushållssällskap, flygklubb, rockklubb (?)

Poäng till Fotskäl (rockklubb slår inte hockeyklubb, sorry).

Highlights inom näringsliv

Fotskäl: antikhandel, två bilhandlare, Fotskäls bil, Däldehög AB Clois Serneberg

Kungsgården: antikhandel, två frisörer (varför ska det alltid finnas två av nånting och inget annat av allt annat?), Jannes Marin & Fritid.

Poäng till Fotskäl (AB Clois Serneberg is the hit!).

Friluftsaktiviteter

Fotskäl: Bada, cykla, kolla in vitsippor, plocka svamp och så vidare. Kungsgården: samma som i Fotskäl fast i sällskap med fler mygg.

Poäng till Fotskäl.

Aktiviteter för barn

Kungsgården: klappa kor och grisar i Slars-Ollas fäbodar i Mom. Fotskäl: tälta i Bosses hage och om man har tur, få tältet vält av en ko eller två.
Poäng till Fotskäl (lätt).

Kommande event
Kungsgården: Lindihopavslutning på Rockklubben. Fotskäl: Elvis uppträder i Fotskäls Kyrka (han lever, han leeever än!)
Minuspoäng till båda.

På Kungsgårdens webbplats kan man, under länken "Smått och gott" spela "häng dig"(?). Det kan man inte på Fotskäls byalags hemsida. Pluspoäng till Kungsgården (tror jag).

Vem vinner och vem försvinner? Tja du. Troligtvis försvinner båda. Eller var det Ida och Katrin som försvann. Kanske är det så att dessa två kommer att försvinna. Snart i ett Arabland. Fortsättning följer. Hoppas vi.

*Det där med socken grubblade vi på ett tag. Vad är en socken? Jag gissade på att socken är en samling byar som tillhör samma kyrka. Och tänk, jag hade rätt: Enligt Wikipedia är en socken "geografiskt avgränsat, numera icke-administrativt, område främst definierat genom att dess invånare hörde till samma kyrka". Var lär jag mig sådant här? Gissningsvis från min hedniske far. Till yttermera visso kommer ordet socken av sokn, som är bildat till verbet søkia (söka). Invånarna i en socken sökte sig till samma kyrka. Socknen var den första samhällsnivån över gården i det gamla bondesamhället och följdes av härad och landskap. Det ni.

Jungfrau Gas Station

At the foot of Jungfrau I found this agricultural gas station, combined with a plant store. Gee, from where do they get all their ideas?

Good old Milchbuck

Good old Milchbuck.

Glarner gas station

One of the things that makes Switzerland so unexciting to live in at the moment is the lack of interesting gas stations; I have seen them all by now. On top of a great ski weekend in Glarnerland we found this one on the way back to Zurich. First I thought the name was "Oili", which is false; the name is "Oil!". Do the inhabitants of Glarus actually understand English? I doubt it. Wouldn't one of the following names be better:

"URS!" (Dinner is ready, time to come home)
"HOI!" (mit einand'..)
"PFUI!" (not a tourist again)

Switzerland relocated

Latest news from Altstetten: Ida Maria Serneberg is an owner of a Swiss B Permit. That is: I can stay in Confederatio Helvetia for the next five years.

In December 2005 I made the decision to revisit Switzerland to overcome the impossible dialect, become a little bit more multi-cultural - and find the perfect gas station. The fruit of this move was the blog Switzerland revisited.

2 years later Swiss German isn't that impossible anymore and my lifestyle has reach its multi-cultural climax. But I still haven't found the perfect gas station.

In fact, I am not revisiting anymore. I am relocated.

The question remains: Is it time to rename my blog?

Reclaim the curtains

Every time I go to Julia and Christo's place I pass this cute little gas station; equipped with curtains and everything.

The photo was taken on Wehntalerstrasse, near Milchbuck.

Local gas station

Our own local gas station in Altstetten. Inside the house there is something that appears to be a normal office. I am perfectly convinced that there is no single gas station in the Swiss nation that would fulfil the Swedish requirements nor rules for gas stations.

Confusing

But this sign I don't understand. Open until 24; when do they open? At 23? This is what I would call 24-hours hot water communication. As we had been backpacking in China for 3 weeks and we were dirtier than a dirt road in Mellby, we found a hotel with "24 hours hot water". And they sure had. The only small concern was that they didn't have anything else than hot and boiling water. Why ever mention that you don't have cold water?

Watch and learn

This gas station was made by dad. Watch and learn.

The photo was taken in Kinna.

Watch and repress

This gas station was not made by dad.

The photo was taken in Sjötorp.

Granddad's pump

At Granddad's place. On my travels to gas stations all over the world I still haven't found anyone with more authority.

This is were it started

People frequently ask me why I always blog about gas stations. I would say that 9 out of 10 people who mention my blog would comment the gas station thing.

That is remarkable. Since December 2005 I have written 275 post on Switzerland revisited. Only 13 of them mention gas stations. However these 13 post seem to be what people remember.

I am sure there are a lot of people blogging about relocating to Switzerland, a lot of people blogging about nice hikes in the world and all these things I write about on this blog too. But I still haven't found any other blog about gas stations. If you happen to find some, please let me know.

I have gradually realized that my gas station fanaticism is what distinguishes my blog from the rest of the digital porridge, it helps me to get listed on the top if you google on things such as "Montenegro AND gas stations", do not ask me who ever would search for something like that. But anyway. As we all know: Internet is all about being found.

But this does not explain the origin of my gas station documentation. Let me once for all tell the gas station story. Actually it all started in 1969. Four gentlemen; no, one gentleman and his three sons came travelling by boat on Göta Älv, sailed all the way to Surtan river where they run aground and eventually, on the river banks in Fotskäl, got stucked with the boots in the clay soil, and none of them has until today been able to come loose from the Fotskäl mud.

Anyway. This isn't quite true - but fact is: This Gentleman and his three sons; my grandfather, father and uncles settled down in Fotskäl in 1969 and started a company, which will go down in the Westswedish history as the most important, respected and fantastic gas station construction company (or at least according to me).

This gas station business, my dad's business, has not, in any case, been of any significance in my childhood. Not at all. But once when my parents came to see me as I was working in the Swiss Alpes a couple of years ago, my dad was amazed by a gas station that was sandwiched between two other houses, one of them a grocery store. This would have been impossible and against all legal instructions in Sweden. He made a photo of the station and eventually put it on his notice-board in his office. After this event I started to make photos of weird gas stations, wherever I happened to travel in the world. At the time I moved to Switzerland and started this blog, back then when my dad was basically the only one reading this blog, it was natural to dedicate him a photo of a gas station once in a while.

And the rest is history.

Keep it simple

The one and the only gas pump. Outside Hajoms Kooperativa. Keep it simple.

Pump on fire

I had to return 3 times to Republika Srpska (i.e. Serbian Republic, the Serbian part of Bosnia - never try to understand Balkan geography) to make this shot; The first time I could not find it and the second time my camera was out of battery.

Reclaim more gas station creativity. Now.

Old school pump

Somewhere in Montenegro: Old school pump.

Montenegrin gas station

Montenegro offers various gas stations; This is the oldest one in Ulcinj.

Welcome to Gojan village

We found a village where everything seemed to be owned by someone named Gojan. Everything was called Gojan shop, Gojan spedition, Gojan hotel etc. Even the gas station belonged to this fellow.

And the winner is:

The Newcomer Award goes to: Mr Rain Barrel Inclusive Station. The circle shaped shop was very high tech. At least they had the biggest selection of chocolate bars.

More gas stations

EP is the only brand I have found more than once. Dad complained that the photos are taken too far away - he hasn't realized that it is quite embarrassing for me to make photos like this. I have bought several chocolate bars to justify my photo shooting. You may actually click on the photos to enlarge them.

Gas station sightseeing

On the way back from my Wednesday meeting at BH Mine Action Centre in Ilidža, a suburb southwest of Sarajevo, I designed my own Gas Station Sightseeing. Within 1 Kilometre I found not less than 6 stations. Corporate Identity hasn't reached Bosnia - or maybe they just have as many brands as stations. Who knows.

Bosnian gas station

Bosnian gas stations have names. This one is called Hasanal. If I were in the gas station business I would give my gas stations names too; maybe after the owner? Like Ruth and Einar.

Styrian gas station

On the way down to Bosnia, in Steiermark (Styria), southern Austria, I found following gas station with Wash- und Pflegecenter inclusive. On the left side of the car wash there is another car wash, assumably for bigger trucks. Above the arrow on the left it says "Geldwechsler". Scary to put a money changer in a car wash.

Bündner-station

Long time no gas station. Here is another ordinary one. A slight combination between an old school Bündner-house and an an old school shell station. Too ugly to be allowed. The photo was taken in Churwalden, Graubünden (eastern Switzerland).

Finding the perfect petrol station (to be continued)

On my dad's commision I am always on the hunt for the perfect petrol station. This one was found in Egg, Kanton Zurich. Note that the pumps are situated next to an apartment building.

Zurich last weekend: Just another stupid photo for my dad. He and I have the random hobby to take pictures of weird gas stations from all over the world; this is downtown Zurich, just right on the street and a grocery store next door.