Yesterday was the 8th of August 2008. In chinese this is a very auspicious number, which is why the Beijing Olympic Games had their ceremony kick off at 8pm on the 8th August 2008, not a coincidence. This particular year China wouldn’t be the only place to celebrate the triple lucky digits as Stockholm celebrated yesterday with a huge event all over the city. Stockholm happens to have 08 as their area code and therefore people from Stockholm are affectionately/infamously known as “O-eights”.
Some friends and I decided to go watch the events last night, and I had big expectations because of the DJ line-up. It started with the fireworks above the water at 10.30pm. I got there a bit late and only saw the last five minutes but from what I saw it was a great show. From there we headed to Stureplan (the centre of Stockholms nightlife), and it certainly took me by surprise. For anyone living in London or Brisbane, I’ll paint a little picture for you. Imagine holding a FREE event in Picadilly Circus in London or King George Square in Brisbane, then sealing off the closest streets to the area, bringing in music heavy-weights like Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Busy P, flooding the place with thousands and thousands of people, bigger than any normal new year’s eve or previous Stockholm water festival, and you’re standing smack in the middle of it. Sound like fun? There was a lot of pushing and shoving, people climbing buildings, poles, scaffolds and anything else they could find. We battled our way through it for about an hour to get closer to the centre but decided to give up just so we could go and enjoy the rest of the night in a bar or club. It would have been a security nightmare with all the entoxicated people. I’ve never found people to be too much trouble when they are out having a good time but the crowd was just unfriendly, so it was good to get out of there when we did.
After that little escapade we met up with some more friends and headed to Gamla Stan, with its narrow streets and Melbourne-sque alley bars/pubs. Is there such a word as Melbourne-sque? Well there is now. We had a very indecisive night with not being able to agree on where we should, and doing a bit of a pub crawl, but all in all I had an enjoyable night with some great friends.
So what do we learn from this? As the chinese would say: “To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish.”… no that was the start of the night… I meant: “It is better to be in chains with friends, than to be in a garden with strangers.”
So thanks to everyone who was there last night, even if it was just for a brief moment.
