Built and tested in the mountains

Spotted this beauty as it was driving towards me in Krigslida yesterday so I decided to wave it down for a chat and a few photos. A Reading Standard motorcycle with a sidecar, from 1917. Made in Reading, Pennsylvania. Now living in Tungelsta since a quarter of a century. Once, during a holiday ride to Norway with the Reading Standard, Olle, the owner was stopped by the police. His wife and young daughter were riding in the sidecar, and he figured he must have broken a few traffic regulations and that there would be trouble. But it was just one of the cops who was really interested in the bike and wanted to know more. There used to be a club for people with this type of motorcycle but it died out as there were so few bikes still in circulation. Built and tested in the mountains was the company's slogan btw.

Morgan Roadster

The very warm weather is gone now, and we are back at 14C to 18C, but it sure was a nice week. On my way home on one of those warm days I met this car at Allevägen in Lida and I had to wave the guy down so that I could get a few photos.

Allévägen

If you follow this blog you have probably seen this road before. This is Allévägen. The trees were planted by the owner of the Hammar Estate two centuries ago. Some of the trees have been replaced but it looks good in mid-Spring don't you think? You will find the estate where the road turns.

Icy Road

I use this road on a daily basis (yes, it's that same road again Grace), and I have biked here many times when it has been snowy and icy, but as the Winter tires I bought recently didn't fit my Steel Horse, my bike has been parked for a while now. I told the guy that you can see here that he was the tough biker of the day, and he said something I couldn't hear. I took this earlier in the week and it has been a few warm day since so I will try to get out with the bike now. And I will bring the camera!

Winter Road

It started to snow yesterday morning. Everything turned white in no time at all. It was still snowing when I walked down this snow covered road at Lida in Tungelsta one hour later. You can't see it here of course but this road got a thick new layer of asphalt just a few days before Christmas.

House with key included

The property with the old brewery in Tungelsta changed owner earlier this year. The first thing they did was to remove the swimming pool, and now they are building a new home there. The new house is from Älvsbyhus. They make modular houses and have a slogan saying that if you buy a new home from them you get everything including a key! That means indoor and outdoor. So far they have built 38 000 houses so they must be doing something right.

Autumn Colors

Biking down the 200 year old tree lined avenue that is Allévägen in Tungelsta I spotted a bit of autumn color and combined with the blue sky I figured that would make for a fine photo.

A Winter Promenade

Blue and Red walking down Allévägen. I have a photo of their grand-kid on the blog somewhere.

Walking Away

So the day after Julafton you have a few options if you want to get away from those pesty lovely relatives. One is to hit the stores and try to get some money back for those unwanted Christmas gifts, and since the Christmas Sale is already on that is usually a win-win situation. Another way could be to just walk away from everything! I had planned a visit to the old tree during this walk but the weather was against me, so maybe tomorrow.

Autumn Avenue

Allevägen in Tungelsta a day or two ago. The avenue is two hundred years old. The trees were planted by the Upmark family, they bought the land here and built two estates, Hammar and Hammarbo.

Uteservering

Swedish word of the day: Uteservering. In English, Outdoor Café. The restaurant at Allévägen in Tungelsta looked a bit more inviting back in May when I took a photo for a New York Times project.

The Winter Saab

Remember that stolen Saab I showed you back in December? That had been badly dumped on the 200 year old tree lined avenue Allévägen at Hammar in Tungelsta? When I took that first photo it had already been there for two weeks. I emailed one photo to the municipality and they responded within a couple of hours, promising to deal with the matter. Two months later it is still there. It has snowed considerably since, and the snow ploughers have been forced to drive around it. Some of the local morons have of course been at the scene and vandalized the car, smashing a couple of windows. I have taken a few more photos of the wreck since, and figured it was time to make a flickr set and show you a slideshow. I will add more photos over time. I wonder if the Winter Saab will be here come Midsummer?

Winter Collision

A common sight this winter. A car collision. Luckily no one was injured here. The grey van came down the very icy Hammarbergsvägen in Tungelsta and the driver told me that he couldn't stop. The woman in the blue Audi was driving uphill along Allévägen, apparently talking on her cell phone. Result, a busy day for the tow truck driver, because as you can see both car had to be towed away. It took everyone involved a while to work everything out with insurance papers and phone calls. The police arrived after thirty minutes and they left when the tow truck arrived.

You Can't Park Here

This Saab has been parked on the road at Allévägen for nearly two weeks now. I informed the municipality a few days ago when I emailed them the top photo which I took earlier this week. I suggested that they really should move it as it blocks traffic, and that the snow plougher has to drive around it. Also, two cars can't meet here now, and there's the risk for an accident, when I walked past it the other day the car behind me had to wait. The municipality replied three times that same day. Which was nice. Three days later this was the result. Police have used an ice scraper to see if there were some dead guy in the front seat! When that result was negative they decided to leave the car as they found it.

That Fall Feeling

This is the tree lined avenue in Lida. As Autumn is approaching the leaves are slowling changing their color. The trees along this road were planted 200 years ago by the owner of the Hammar Estate. I have shown you this road a few times before.

Skywatch Friday.

Explosion in Tungelsta

Suddenly we heard some kind of explosion. A few minutes later we could hear the police sirens closing in. I decided to see what was going on. It turned out to be a scary accident at an industrial estate here in Tungelsta. As I arrived to the building at Allévägen there was a lot of smoke and flames. Something like fourteen fire trucks arrived along with a lot of police and ambulances. An ambulance helicopter circled the area, but couldn't land, probably because the building housed several acetylene tanks that might explode. I had a very brief conversation with the owner of the company as he was talking to a police officer(third photo), and he told me that three people had been injured. One man who had been badly injured was taken away with the ambulance helicopter that managed to land at the soccer pitch. Police then decided to evacuate 100 homes, but later I heard that only five houses needed to be evacuated. The industrial hotel is most likely totally destroyed. Around 15 companies work from that building. Last year I met and photographed Frida Forshed who at the time was based there.

Winter Avenue

The cold winter isn't giving up, but there has been two days now with a blue sky (at least for a few hours, and every minute counts). This is Allévägen at Hammar in Tungelsta. I can normally be seen here almost every day of the year on my bike, but not this winter. It's been way too icy. I don't mind biking in cold weather, it's just a matter of dressing correctly, but the roads are to slippery and the side-walks and bike paths haven't been cleared from all the snow so my bike has been in the cellar since Lucia. Oh, and if you want to see how this road will look in a few months time, check out this post from May 2009.

Skywatch Friday.

Autumn Avenue

Sometimes it's good to be at the right place at the right time. You have seen it here before. It's one of the avenues that Frans G Upmark planted after he built the Hammar Estate 200 years ago. This was the scene on Thursday. The sun was shining when suddenly the sky turned very dark blue, and you knew that a storm was quickly approaching. It started to rain a couple of minutes after I took this photo, and as I arrived home I could hear thunder not far away. I like how the rowan tree with it's red berries adds some extra color to this my first real autumn photo of the year. For Skywatch Friday.

The Old Avenue

One of two tree lined avenues at Lida in Tungelsta. Two hundred years ago Frans G Upmark bought the land here and built the Hammar residence. He also planted the trees for the two avenues. Today I often meet the current owner, Charlotte (an ancestor to Frans), when she comes walking down the road. The avenue, made of Populus trees is seven hundred meters long and ends near the residence. If you read this blog regularly (and who doesn't?), you will have seen the other avenue a few times by now.

Tearing down the house

This was once a yellow cottage at Allevägen in Tungelsta. The cottage a few weeks ago, seen from the commuter station. Bigger photo. The railway line, Nynäsbanan between Västerhaninge and Nynäshamn was closed for a few weeks this summer. Stone crushing machines were blasting a hill nearby to extract crude rock for a new road and make room for a second rail track. The platform at the station will be 240 meters long when the work is done here sometimes next year.