Alrighty! We went
to Knoppe on the first day of August. Knoppe is a little, little, tiny
place just outside Bergsjö (which is a tiny, tiny place between Sundsvall
and Hudiksvall ((which is tw osmall fucking towns in the little, fuckin
tiny country of Sweden))). Anyway, it is really great to be in Knoppe!!
We always have some fun there. Actually the name of the place isn't Knoppe
but Gränsfors. It's just that right before you leave the bigger road
and drive down to the little summerhouse by the lake, there's a sign at
the crossroad which reads Knop. And the sign points in the direction that
Knoppe is. It's just that he or she who wrote the sign couldn't make the
whole word fit onto the sign. But still they hang it up!! Farmers... So
we thought that was so cool that we started calling the place Knoppe instead.
And when we got there this year they had removed the sign that we loved,
so we decided to make a new one. And so we did! We found a perfect sign
in one of the shackles around the summerhouse - it was like an empty sign,
just ready to be written on. A clean slate sort of. So Daniel took some
old white paint and drew the letters; KNOP. Then we all got into the car
and raced away to the crossroad (while having the headlights on and playing
F.Y.P. really loud on the carstereo!). So now there's a new Knop-sign hanging
at the crossroad!!
Why we started to go to Knoppe was because we needed somewhere to rehearse intensively. Actually the tradition doesn't go that wasy back. It started last year when we were gonna play the Saidiwas show at Pipeline with our former band Plainville. And now we thought it would be cool to do this every year. So we rehearsed with theioneband this year, and it worked out fine. We made some new songs and generally just practiced. And we bathed, kayaked, ate good vegan food etc.
We also went to the Bergsjö-Day, which was joyful happening. There were all these booths and tent where they sold stuff; everything from clothes to things you can eat (and things you don't wanna eat, like sausages...) to jewelry to stickers (I bought some Turtles-stickers and traded them for a Twisted Sister-patch with Antes girlfriends little brother). So we walked around, had a good time. Said hello to some Bergsjö-fellas. Bought some candy. But then!!! Then we saw this tent which read; Nordanstig Christian Center. So we went there and talked about homosexuality and vegetarianism with them. It got pretty rough during the discussion. Ante forced one of the ladies who stood in the tent to put down one of the Christian books that she kept reffering to; "Put it away! Put it down! You've read that so many times already, can't you think for yourself?!?!?" He kinda yelled to her, angrily. It was almost horrifying! Anyway, I and Pat had a more understanding and kinder discussion with this man and woman. Anyway, after some time they invited us to come to their Sunday-meeting. We even got 50SKR for gasmoney! So we went next day and sat and listened to the speeches. The priest was really americanish; big, cousy and had this soft but dark voice. After the meeting we went to this restaurant that some members of the community owned and had some salad. And we discussed the same topics as yesterday, but with some more church-members. We thought that vegetarianism should be obligatory in the Bible since it embraces kindess and love. That it says thou shalt not kill. And that you should try to avoid bad things, fight evils things etc. But they reasoned that the Bible also says that we're allowed to eat meat, that we are set to prevail over the animals. Anyway, they agreed that to not eat animals is respectful and they thought that animals-factiories are horrible and some of them had thought about becoming vegetarians. What we were upset with was their lack of free thinking. They kinda reffered to the Bible all the time. About homosexuality they thought it was like a disease that you can be cured of. They said they would accept anyone to come to their church-meetings but that you could not be salvaged if you were homosexual cause God has said that it is wrong. That it is blasphemy. They said that they were willing to help anyone who was homosexual. So that was like a dead end to us. We're kinda glad that perversities like homosexuality is spreading... No but, we have nothing against someone's sexual preferences as long as they do not inflict upon someone else. As long as there's consent. But it was great to talk to those people. We came to the conclusion that we, me and my pals (and maybe you too, what do I know?) try to do what's right cause we know it's right by feeling, by reasoning. And that they, the Christians do it cause they want eternal life, cause the Bible tells them what's right. So that was the happenings in Knoppe. Hopefully we'll got back their next summer!