We all just had a lönehelg (löne = salary, helg = weekend).
Lönehelg refers to the weekend directly after the 25th of the month when most people get paid. It results in a measurable phenomenon in which high numbers of people who are really fucking bad at planning their household economy rush out and buy copious amounts of shit. This probably happens even in other countries, because hey, people are the same everywhere really; but Sweden has nearly double the amount of retail space per person than the rest of western Europe. They really outdo themselves in shopping as a hobby, and in morosely wandering around the bland shopping centres with their entire families pretending to enjoy the same 4 chain stores repeating ad infinitum. And for the love of Odin, DON'T GO TO IKEA ON A LÖNEHELG.
It's not just physical items either; restaurants, bars and clubs make more income on a lönehelg than at any other time of the month (except maybe at Christmas, Valentine's day ... you get the point). An important cultural facet of Swedish life consists of knowing the song Kung för en dag (king for a day) by the holy saint of pop music Magnus Uggla who is known hysterically and exclusively by Swedish people and absolutely nobody else, anywhere, ever. The song satirically explains exactly what happens to the average dumbo every 25th of the month, who spends all their money in an orgasm of stupidity and then goes back to eating instant noodles on the 26th.
Fortunately I survived my lönehelg with most of my wallet intact. No noodles for me! Break out the champagne everybody!
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