117

117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117

117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117

117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117

113

Object of desire XV

Go to the ICON 4X4 homepage and experience that special thrill you can only have when seeing an true object of desire and where you just know that "I really, really...really want one of those". Sure it's a truck and not a car. Sure it's unnecessarily big for your everyday commute. And quite surely there are zillions of cars more suited to city life. But look at it... Look at the paintwork. The suspension. The rapt attention given to even the minutest detail...

I'm actually finding myself trying to work out an equation including my carbon footprint where at the end, I can have one. So, if I ride my electric bike five of seven weekdays thus saving loads of environment, can I drive it to work one day and go on a little weekend trip, then? Oh, they don't sell them in Sweden? Well, suppose I sell my house and move to California, live in the hills and work in a vineyard...then can I have one? Please? Pretty please, with ecologic fairtrade sugar on top?

An island of joy

Click on the picture and you will be swept away to one of my favourite places in Göteborg, the Röhsska Design Museum.

133

Object of desire XIV

This is the DeLonghi kMix collection espresso-maker. Apparently, it's not available in Sweden yet, so I will have to
a) order it from broadwaypanhandler.com
b) ask someone to bring it back for me, or
c) fly over there and get it myself

alternative d) (not having this piece of art) is not an option.

Telling tiles

My new hobby is creating three-dimensional objects of a datamatrix. I make them out of those small pieces of plastic tube the kids use at Kindergarten, where you first assemble the plastic tubes on a grid, then iron the whole thing with a waxed paper in between.

My next project is to re-tile my bathroom with mosaic...

Time for a new ride?

So, I finally did something I never thought I would do. I've put my Honda Zoomer up for sale, and on top of that I'm offering to sell it for half of what I paid for it, just to make sure that band-aid comes off really quickly. Why? Because I want to have the new Ecoride Trend electric-bicycle!

Why? Because I love the concept of cruising into and around town in my tweed jacket, while reading a book...on the way to my favourite café... Or riding it to meetings with my clients, who seem to think it utterly and endlessly important to have the latest Range Rover/Ferrari/Mercedes or whatever. So much for that.

It will also be fun to figure out alternative ways to charge it. A miniature-wind farm? A solar panel on my roof? I wonder how long it will take until I have a Brammo, too...

UPDATE: It's been almost two weeks since sold the Zoomer and aquired the bike. So far, it has lived up to my expectations excellently. My next mod on it will be to replace the mudguards with recycled wooden blinds.

Olympus PEN 2

This is my latest object of desire.

Scarpa shoes

Travel

OK, I wanna go home. To Oz. Miss the surf!

Object of desire XIII

I still yearn for this car! It's so cool... I think I'd go for the diesel version, as it has more torque. Air-con, leather seats and gear-shift paddles on the steering wheel. Oh, a decent radio with bluetooth for my Spotify playlists...
That's it! What more do you need?

Black watch

This is the Seiko SKX007K2 WR200 automatic
Diver's watch. I bought it on auction at Tradera.se for SEK 810, which I think is a bargain. (On e-Bay it can be found for GBP 145 or US $230).My very first watch was a Seiko. A handwound 17 jewel which was presented to me upon starting the first grade at school. So, this is some kind of blast from the past.

Joss

Art @ Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Objects of desire XII

I have desired these desert boots from Clarks for about a year.
They have been sitting in the window at Lester's shoe-shop on Södra Larmgatan in Göteborg, Sweden. Every time I've passed the window, I've had to avert my eyes.
No more! As of yesterday, I am the happy owner of this very fine pair.

Wheelin' an' dealin'

It turned out the Durian 86a were all out of stock, everywhere. So what else is there to do but reassess the situation and just go for it anyway? So, a set of purple 4 prez 83a it is. I tried them out yesterday and I must say they feel cool, very cool! I've had to redesign my deck, which is now 101cm. It's been re-christened Purple Haze.

Now boarding

As you may have seen in my earlier posts, I now have a pair of Holey trucks and made a decision about the Orangatang Durian 86A wheels. For the completion of my summer project I started introspection on the ultimate koan: Which deck ?

Just as I did so, the stars, by some obscure happenstance, aligned themselves in a metaphysical manner, resulting in a Facebook message from my friend Kim. To make a long and rather elaborate story essentially shorter, he sent me these designs and we're off building a batch together in my carport this summer along with the teenagers in my tribe.

A case for Magrette

I never thought I would desire a hybrid watch with a japanese movement, but this watch (and the whole concept -great storytelling there! -of this New Zealand watch company is so cool!) is suave. I will feel cool wearing this. Not only because it reminds me of "home" and looks fantastic -it's only made in 500 pieces. Good enough for me.

My next set of wheels

So, as you may have seen in an earlier post, I've already aquired a pair of Holey trucks. My next object(s) of desire are a set of 75mm Orangatang Durian with a 45mm tread and 86a hardness.
Why? Because I've tasked myself with learning how to slide my longboard this summer, and I'm hoping they'll be perfect for the job...