Art of Stillness in a Noisy World by Magnus Fridh

Author:Magnus Fridh [Magnus Fridh and Ian Giles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hardie Grant (UK)
Published: 2020-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

The Fixed Point

KVARKEN AND SURROUNDING areas west three to eight, Landsort northwest two, Gulf of Finland southerly wind eight to 12, tonight changing to northwest around five. German Bight south seven, Southern Sea of Bothnia three to seven. From tonight south rising and good visibility.

The shipping forecast is emitted monotonously from the radio. My mother, father, sister and I are listening so attentively that we are staring into space and any unwanted sound receives a hush! in response. This is long before the ‘doing lots of things at once era’ and we are sitting completely still in the cabin of the boat. We are a long way out in the Stockholm archipelago, and will soon find out whether it will be possible to sail on in the morning or whether we will end up stuck in harbour for another couple of days.

Southern Utsire easterly wind seven, tomorrow increasing one to four with good visibility. The monotony of the voice makes me slip into daydreams. In my imagination, I am sailing to those beautiful names: The Archipelago Sea, German Bight and on northeast towards the cliffs of the Weather Islands. All these places feel like home territory. I am obviously maintaining a firm grip on the tiller, so as not to fall down into the cockpit as the waves strike. On my boat the Gypsy Moth, soaked to my skin, the taste of salt in my mouth. I stretch up in a practised movement to check the horizon, reefing the sail as a new wave attacks the boat’s bow.

The voice on the radio mentions Hanö and Utklippan and the wind figure is below the magical limit. Mum’s and Dad’s eyes meet. We have been given the information we need – a sigh of relief – yet we still remain there, listening to the mesmeric voice. We sway in time with the rhythm of the mantra: Harstena southwest five, poor visibility, Gotska Sandön southerly wind seven to nine, falling, Svenska Högarna and Söderarm two, Kemi lighthouse northwest five.

Four times daily for a period of 40 years, Peter Jefferson read the shipping forecast on BBC Radio. It is said that his departure from the role in 2009 was connected to his barely audible utterance of a profanity beginning with ‘f ’ while on air. However, it seems more likely that the reason was Jefferson’s recent cancer diagnosis, and that the decision to leave the role was his own. Listeners immediately missed his radio presence and the reaction didn’t take long to emerge. Many listeners described how his shipping forecast had lulled them to sleep at night. Almost none of the listeners had visited the places recited, but they had somehow become part of their lives. The feeling of belonging became a buoy to which all listeners could moor themselves when the wind picked up. A few years ago, Jefferson made a new recording of the shipping forecast after his lengthy absence. This time it was in an altogether different context – and during the introduction he promises ‘unusually calm weather conditions’.

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