Hippie ambulance and other strange summer traditions

Soon it’s time for some long-awaited summer vacation. A privilege that we as Swedes takes for granted as it is so heavily ingrained into our culture to almost feel natural. To have four to five weeks off work during the few months we actually have sunshine is well deserved treat in our dark and gloomy corner of the globe.

As part of this tradition me and my family have our own and that is to go completely off grid for at least a couple of days as a starting digital detox. This tradition has been given a name based on a melodious punk song, Hippie ambulance, by the obscure and forgotten Punk band UBBA (not to be confused with Swedens national treasure ABBA).

This forgotten gem from 2002, sung in the guttural tongue of the north, resonates with me since I first heard it fifteen or so years back. In essence it’s about seeking refuge from the stress, confusion and complexities of our modern world and find relaxation and comfort in nature.

When I first heard it, we were working constant overtime to get a project finished and the team was on the verge of breaking up. We created a motivating playlist to keep moral up and among the myriads of songs added there it was. Rebellious but without the calls for arms, a strong message against the system but not one of crushing it but calling for an alternative.

Something just clicked. And since then, me and my wife (and later on kids) have sought a reset each and every year with nature as the main event. And just like every other year this year is no different.

As a start for this year’s vacation, we going to forgo cabins and tents and up the ante just a little bit more. This year we will start by sleeping directly under the stars in hammocks. And maybe a tarp if the weather gods are not on our side. It’s going to be something different for sure and I just can’t wait.

Another tradition, this time not inspired by melodious punk but by the physicist Richard Feynman, is to take a break from what I normally do to study a completely new field. The inspiration of this tradition is loose at best. There are similarities but only at a glance.

Feynman was forced to take vacation; I embrace mine gladly. Feynman worked in a lab but not with physics, I mainly read up on things outside my field. Feynman was a brilliant physicist and one of the brightest minds of his generation; I’m just myself.

Still, this tradition remains one of my favorites. I can’t shut of my brain, partly in fear that it will never turn on again, and partly because it’s built that way. I have a tendency to bring work home with me and everywhere I go. So, by forcing myself, like Feynman, out of my comfort zone I can still learn and read up on thing just as they are not directly related to my day-to-day work.

Over the years this has brought me to read up on things that wasn’t directly in my work description. I have learned new programming languages that I then never used, read countless books about project management and system theory and steeped myself in the surprisingly interesting history and technical implication related to the hearing aid.

I read a lot when I’m off duty and this year will be no different. I have plans for two books a week and a couple of extras just in case. From classics like “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson and “Modernity and The Holocaust” by Zygmunt Bauman to rereading some other gems like “The Heat Will Kill You First” by Jeff Goodell. This year’s theme been selected by my wife and so a deeper dive in sociology is the main focus for this summer. Followed by some lighter reading about the climate and sustainability in general. And lastly there is a book that I have owned for years, always wanted to read but never took my time to do so, “Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World” by Mark Kurlansky. It will round of this reading list just as the vacation comes to an abrupt end.

Now, why do I do this? Well, synergy! I find that the more I learn and the more I read the more I understand about everything else. Everything is connected and to understand it all we must broaden our horizon. But that whole subject is a completely separate post.

But before I round of, back to the song.

The song is also about something more, the ambulance itself, a fleet of Volkswagen Microbuses saving people from the city and its hustle to the calm and relaxing countryside. For years I have wanted to get my hands on a Microbus of my own and finally my dreams have come true.

This year’s vacation starts in style as I pick up my electric microbuses and then go off the grid. For weeks of relaxing reads, sociology, sustainability and more knowledge of cod than a non-fisherman can handle. It is going to be great!