My life

The first stumbling years

It began in the middle of 1973. The place was the birth centre in Nässjö, and I was in a hurry to get out to the world. My big brother, three years old at the time (a difference which has hung on over the years) was of the opinion that they should through me though in the garbage bin. Luckily my parents had other plans. We lived the first years of my life at Liljevägen 13 in Forserum.

My grandparents

Most of the weekends we used to go to my grannies (of my mom) at Vartofta-Åsaka or to my grannies (of my dad) at Rogberga. Each place had its advantages. Grandpa was a sexton and we used to play in the church community hall. Grandma was a master at cooking and her stuffed cabbage rolls (with cowberry jam and lots of molten butter) was something out of this world. Sometimes we went to Tenhult to do the necessary shopping in the Konsum shop and we used to get some sweets. Grandpa had a Volvo Amazon, a fantastic car with an original Volvo blanket in the boot. He later bought a Volvo 360 and unfortunately changed in the Amazon.

My grandparents on my mother's side had a farm with some forest, and when dad went hunting we used to come along. Bonnie acted as a hunting dog with only limited success. Grandpa died much too early, when I was six-seven years old. Grandpa was really strong and we used to wrestle with him. His double Nilsson was more that we could handle. Later we did some excursions to Mösseberg and to the Panzer museum in Axvall. We went up early in the mornings and had porridge and grandpa's home baked bread.

Cirkelgatan 28

At the age of seven, we moved to Cirkelgatan 28. The house had belonged to an older lady and was situated in a large garden with mature forest. The following years with renovation of the house, cutting of the trees and construction of the garage was a long adventure. I remember when Albert (with his handyman Albert) came into the kitchen, put the crowbar in the doorstep and said 'Well, let's get started'. Or when I got stuck hanging up side down from the stairs over the garage entry (which does not exist anymore). And my construction knowledge was impressing; at this time I know all the different types of nails by hand. Once I build a cabin and I locked one of the Augustsson brothers inside, he was one of my mother's pupils (several years older than I and inspiring fear, but he was actually quite nice).

In summer time we bathed in Danielsson's swimming pool. Yes, that was the name of our neighbours. Danielsson in his glory days had been the youngest municipal manager in Sweden. Many years later an embezzlement scandal was discovered and Danielsson would probably had been thrown in jail if he had not already been old and sick. He died some year later, and nowadays we have new neighbours that like to work with chainsaws on midsummer's eve, etc. Danielsson is also related to another memory, namely that of distributing honey jars on Christmas Eve. My brother and I always fear this every year (especially going to old Mrs Danielsson who always kept on talking forever), but I guess that at least we made some people happy.

Myself with our dog, Bonnie

We made several nice trips on vacation. One of the more memorable went to Denmark and Legoland. My brother and I were very nervous before riding the LEGO cars, since we had heard that if you broke the traffic laws you would be called to the control tower and get a ratting in Danish in front of your embarrassed parents. However, the ride went well, and with some true malicious pleasure we notice that some of the craziest drivers did actually get a reprimand.

I played a lot as a child. At that time the Playstation and video movies still did not exist, so either I was out playing around or inside playing with LEGO. I played a lot, and I still enjoy playing.

The UN house in LEGO (built by my brother and I)

The computers

When I was around 7 years old we bought our first personal computer, a VIC-20 with an amazing 8KB RAM memory. The machine had obvious limits to what could be done and the computer was never a great success. A couple of years later we changed to a C64, this classical computer (see my section of C64 games). Already at this early stage it was clear that my brother had a natural talent for programming these machines. As for me, I was content playing and collecting games. At this time the C64 scene was really big, and several of the Swedish groups were among the most famous (Triad, Northstar, WCC). Of course I had my own nick (Goblin) and an own group (Goblin Crew). The only remains of this time are a number of cassette cartridges, letters and a published letter to the editor in the Swedish computer magazine DatorMagazin (where I criticised a review made by Pekka Hedqvist).

Via a C128 we got an Amiga 500 and the Goblin Crew change name to Alligata (it was a stupid name really, because there was a British publisher of computer games called that). During this period I was quite active as a swapper and had a decent collection of games. During a shorter period of time I also used to connect to the various BBSs that existed, but the only thing I really achieved was a high telephone bill.

The mopeds

Some year before I turned 15 years old, I got myself my first moped, a two speed Crescent Compact. It stayed at my grandpa's place and each time we went there I spend hours on the moped. My second moped also was a Crescent Compact, which I bought in Kaxholmen. It had a four-speed engine and I guess I was one of the few having this. But its paint was really worn, so I blasted it and had it painted with a really nice blue metallic colour. That moped later made lots and lots of kilometres in and outside of Forserum.

Read more here: The school >