Elsewhere

Notes from six weeks in Stockholm, 2018

A map view of the city reveals a land mass that registers nothing, but looks a bit like a human skull. What’s the difference between Vasastan and Vasastaden? Save all places of interest to a map, and admire the constellation of possibility. Tag every saved place with a multitude of labels for easy discovery: heritage, overlook, hideout.

Plan your descent into the unknown around a location of interest - whatever feels attractive, achievable, and will account for a few hours of the day. Locate the nearest green space in case of emergency. Observe the local pace, then adopt it. Resign yourself to the nearest Wayne’s Coffee, a neutral zone situated on every next city block, where one can disappear when the cracks begin to show.

Make plans, and then abandon them. For alleys, dots of light on the pavement leading to somewhere, languorous wanders through the local clock shop, soul mates…

When panic or idleness strike, refer to your map. With the look of someone that knows what they’re doing, stride purposefully toward your next destination. Or strike up a conversation with a character of your choosing in the nearest park. Launch into a concerted study of the city’s preferred trousers (cut, color, and wash) and make notes.

Ask yourself ‘What would Hamid do?’, Hamid being the coolest person you know.

Twice a week, give yourself a free pass to do nothing. In turn, anything you do will feel the grandest of achievements. Switch sides in your borrowed bed after binge-watching a BBC romantic dramedy front to back, now strewn in the crumbs of a million biscuits. Even nothing is something, elsewhere.