Swedish Bikini Team

It must be Summer already. I biked past these two bikini babes at Nedre Rudasjön in Handen yesterday. I was so surprised to see them there that I turned around and asked them if it was okay if I snapped a few photos of them from the next pier. I told them to wave to me, which they did, and then they had a long laugh, so I probably made their day! This was the warmest day of the year so far, but I don't want to tell you how warm it was because I don't want Grace to start laughing as well.

The Fashionistas

Summer is here and everywhere you look there's another pretty girl. This is Johanna, from Nynäshamn, and Malin who lives in Handen. They will graduate from secondary school in little over a week. They have studied nursing, but after the second year (of three), they realised that that was not what they wanted to work with in the future! The girls are mad about fashion and spends a lot of time styling their friends. They are big fans of Elin Kling, who you can learn more about here. In the near future Malin and Johanna are planning to get a job in the fashion industry, probably starting out in a boutique somewhere. But next up for the girls are a trip to the Mediterranean. They were thinking about Greece, and I suggested my favorite Greek Isles Ios.

Skull and Crossbones Tattoo

There were many dressed-up women at the cruiser meet, some of them hoping to win the title Best Dressed Raggarbrud, a contest that Annika (seen on this blog the other day), had won two years running. This is probably one of the more photogenic babes. Her name is Anna, and it's hard not to notice that skull tattoo on her leg, I certainly didn't. Anna lives in Handen and I have met her before. In case you are wondering, Anna drives a beautiful white Cadillac. There was a professional photographer at the meet. Per-Olof Sännås. He is currently working on a book about raggare, and he took a very cool photo of Anna where she is lying in the grass with a classic car in the background and this tattoo was the main focus. No name on Anna's friend, but I have a very cool photo of her at flickr.

Sunbathing at the amphitheatre

Talking with Rustan at the park in Handen the other day I spotted these two women over at the amphitheatre so I walked over for a chat. This is Anna and Anjelika. They were getting ready for some serious sunbathing and you can't miss such a photo-op! The girls have been friends for more than fifteen years, in fact they were in the same school class from day one, when they were seven years old until they graduated from secondary school 12 years later! Anna works as a personal assistant in Hökarängen and is a football fanatic. Her favorite teams are Man United and DIF (a Stockholm team). Anjelica holds two jobs. One at City Gross (grocery store), and one as a night time receptionist at a hotel in Älvsjö. She enjoys travelling and has visited quite a few interesting places including New York, Bali and Cuba. When the girls are not working they will often go for a pub round at Söder in Stockholm.

A shocking encounter :-)

I spotted these gals with their matching nail polish in Handen yesterday and decided to move in for a portrait. As I was about to explain what I wanted they cut me off and said "and now you want to take our portrait? That's right I said and that's when Emma (to the right),went into shock. When she came out of it her friend Matilda had already said yes to the photo shoot. But I don't have any make up on me Emma continued. I can't have my photo taken without make up! Can I hide my face? No, that doesn't make for a good portrait I said. But what if I hide my face behind my hair, that could work. Anyway, Emma (without the make up), works at a retirement home. Her friend Matilda works at an office. I asked if they had any fun hobbies and they told me, yes, we enjoy drinking wine! That's a hobby I am familiar with. What about anything crazy I asked and told them about Ego. And then they told me, we enjoy taking long walks. That doesn't really sound very crazy I said. But we do it differently they explained. First we make up a list with weird things we have to do during the promenade. Like what I asked? Like asking a guy if we can feel him up and grab his genitals! By now it was my turn to go into shock so that was that!

1950's all over again

Together with Jimmy I walked around the cruiser meet looking for some of the babes that had entered the hottest greaser girl contest. And here are two of them. The top photo shows Anna. One of my favourites to the title. I didn't get the name of the girl on the second photo, as Jimmy was the one asking for a photo here. You can see his version over here. He had never before asked anyone for a photo, but after a few hours in my company he seemed to have figured out how to do it!

At the Cruiser Meet

Here are a few more shots from the cruiser meet. The first photo shows Rebecka, Teddy and Madde, three of the people that I met and asked to pose for a portrait. As you already know by now there was a Greaser Girl contest, and I'm sure both Rebecka and Madde got a few votes. If you are wondering about Rebecka's tattoo, I believe that it depicts Hylonome who was a Kentauride (a female Centaur). The second photo proves that you can drive a Swedish car when you are a raggare. This is a customized Volvo Amazon, now a convertible with a very cool paint job. On the last photo you can see a beautiful 1958 Ford Fairlane parked across the road from the famous Vegabaren. Which is very fitting as it was in 1958 that Sweden's first ever Drive-In Kiosk opened here. And a few years later, in 1964 it became the country's first Hamburger Bar. The man behind it all was Erik Engström. After him the Italian Carlo Taccola took over and he has done a great job with the place. Today there is even a hotel here. For more than forty five years Vegabaren has been the place to be for the lovers of the Raggare culture, and anyone else hungry for a burger in the day or late a night. I started coming here when I was eighteen. Me and my friends would drive up to Handen for a meal and sure enough there would always be a few Raggare around. Later as we started visiting night clubs and bars in Stockholm we often took a taxi home, and a stop at Vegabaren was obligatory as it was also a favourite place among the taxi drivers.

Madde & Sandra

At the Cruiser Meet on Saturday there was a Greaser Girl contest. I decided to find one of the contestants and take a portrait for the 100 Strangers project. But that turned out to be tricky, I saw no one wearing the numbered page. I asked Kenny if he had spotted any good looking greaser girls, and he said that he was there when they picked the contestants but he had only seen one! That explained the situation, so I took another round with my eyes open for pretty girls, and I got lucky as I found not one, but two pretty girls! Meet Madde and Sandra. They are friends and were at the meet with their buddy Benny ,having arrived in style in his Ford. Madde (to the left), lives in Västerhaninge and works at a Supermarket in Handen. Sandra comes from Vendelsö, and works as a youth centre employee. They often travel to music festivals together. I asked them if they had done anything unusual and told them what Ego had done, as an example to what I wanted to hear. And they gave me two examples. But after thinking it over I have decided not to let you know what the girls told me. And in the end I'm sure they will be quite happy about that. Still, it was nice to meet them. If I see them again maybe I can get some other stories that I can tell you about.

This is my 80th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set

Golf Babes

There are 9 million Swedes. 500.000 of those can be seen and heard (Foooore!), on the 500 golf courses around the country this time of the year. Golf has become one of the biggest sports here over the last 20 years. With the help of Annika Sörenstam, Jesper Parnevik, Henrik Stenson and all the other Swedish golf pros. In Haninge you can choose from quite a few good courses. This is Fors golf club in Västerhaninge.