Stockholm 2

At the height of the back & joint crisis, possibly a side effect of medication as much as a recurrence of some pre-existing problem, I acquired the rollator first noticed at reference 1 getting on for a month ago, which has seen quite heavy use since. At about the same time, given that the need to sit down was as much an issue as the need for support walking, I thought that one of those folding seats you sometimes see in the better museums might be handy. Something not quite as intrusive as a full on trolley and a step on the way to not needing anything at all.

Google knew all about these things, invented by the Swedes, used by many of the bigger museums around the world and known as the Stockholm 2. I may have seen some at the British Museum. While some New York museum has commissioned its own variant, with a wider seat, perhaps reflecting their wider size. But what Google was not so good at was where I might buy such a thing from. Amazon failed too for once. I think Sweden was offered, but that all looked a bit difficult. And various places would sell me them by the dozen or by the score, complete with a rack to keep them on. Eventually I ran down a place in Germany which would sell me one.

About a 100km north of Cologne and about the same distance to the east of Arnhem (of the bridge). On a rather tasteful, well treed industrial estate, possibly in a modest shed tucked in next to a much larger shed for Wang. Not like own Longmead Industrial Estate at all. DesignLager, 26 Wierlings Busch, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Money changed hands by international transfer, something that I have not done for a while but which was not, in the event, difficult, and in due course the large package snapped above turned up. On a very hot day as I recall - and BH tells me that although the package was not that heavy, the delivery man had an impressive sweat on.

Helped by BH, I get inside to find, as expected, a Stockholm 2 folding stool. A sturdy, well made affair, rather like the trolley as far as that goes. And comfortable to sit on, although best against a wall or something if one is going to be there for a while, it not coming with a back.

First thought was that I might get involved with security if I carried one into a museum which happened to use the same things, so I have personalised mine with a boot lace. The first attempt was with a rather more conspicuous red boot lace, but I thought that rather detracted from the careful design. In any event, while a thief could carry boot laces around for the purpose, I thought it would be enough to convince a security guard that I was not a thief.

What would be really good, would be some kind of strap so that I could carry the thing on my back when riding a Bullingdon, but I have not quite worked out how to do that neatly and comfortably. Furthermore, the seat has yet to be used in anger. Further report in due course.

PS 1: I might add that while I don't really need the rollator for walking any more, having one's own seat to hand is a comfortable thing, particularly on public transport, and having a small shopping trolley is another plus. Better than carrying a bag. Although one has to unload the shopping for folding - in which connection BH's special collapsible bag is spot on. We shall see what the future holds.

PS 2: after posting this, I remembered about the rather different trolleys, or rather hand carts, widely used by the German refugees, relocated into what is now Germany from various other places further east after the Second World War. Hand carts with a long history, stretching back hundreds of years. Less than five minutes each sufficed to recover both reference 3 and the book in question. The carts are to be found in chapter 26, 'The Germans are expelled', which starts on page 477. They don't get many pages, but they stuck for some reason, despite the no more than passing mention at reference 3.

PS 3: given the 'Bibby Stockholm' fiasco, the outgoing Tory government must have been pretty alarmed by the overcrowding in prisons to have even thought of towing the dilapidated barge snapped above across the Atlantic. See reference 4. We will see if the new lot manage any better.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/trolleys.html.

Reference 2: http://www.designlager.de/.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/01/history-by-enumeration.html. 

Reference 4: How ‘sentencing inflation’ fuelled England’s prisons crisis: UK officials considered Rikers Island prison barge to ease capacity crisis before early release of inmates - Rafe Uddin, Clara Murray, Financial Times - 2024. '... England and Wales already have the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe with about 141 prisoners per 100,000 of population, according to the Prison Reform Trust. This compares with 106 in France and 67 in Germany...'.