I don’t know if you’ve heard that Sweden has been virtually shut down since Sunday because of snow and extremely cold weather. The subway (tunnelbana) in Stockholm was not running above ground until today. The trains throughout the country were at a standstill and a number of trains were stuck without working bathrooms nor food from Saturday night until Sunday morning.

It has taught me how dependent my family and I are on proper working infrastructure and a public transportation system (kommunal trafik). We don’t have a car.

The emergency situation has brought out some good in people, and some bad. I’ve waited hours to get to work in the freezing cold, seen frustration — people screaming, complaining (klaga), arguing — and goodness — people sharing, cooperating and cars stopping on the side of the road to help carpool to work (see video below of a long line of people waiting for replacement buses because the subway was closed down).

The breakdown has also moved Swedish politicians to cast blame (att skylla på andra) at each other. Also an ugly sight.

At the end of the video is an all too common sight during the winter in Stockholm — crews of workers battling day and night to get snow off roofs so they don’t collapse and people don’t get crushed by falling snow and ice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbCu3JuFAbA