We Run With A Rough Crowd

Ivar, our Scandinavian distribution guy, went on a skiing trip to Åre in the north of Sweden. People are pretty harsh up there, but there are a lot of tourists too. So he’s hanging out at an outdoors pub, and this old guy, dead drunk, stumbles up to him and starts talking. The pub owners are cool, so they let the drunk hang out as long as he doesn’t bother anyone too much. Swedes love to get potted, so this is not really a shocking tale yet. Ivar, of course, is drawn to this sort, and I suppose the same must be said of the drunk to Ivar. Anyway, they pal around a bit and end up getting their picture taken together between drinks and the singing of innumerable nationalistic songs.

So after he’s gone, a rumour starts at the pub about how the drunk guy has travelled to Åre specifically to kill the man who raped his sister. Ivar doesn't buy it, and chalks it all up to just another Viking fairy tale so prevelant in the northern latitudes, or perhaps another strange delusion resulting from the pub's seven year continuous screening of For A Few Dollars More. Like icy desolation? (Traveler's tip: leave your gold pocketwatch at home unless you're fond of nordic bar brawls) But people continue to talk about it, until word comes later in the evening that the guy has been arrested at another bar carrying a gun. Guns are a real no no in Sweden, and it turns out the old guy had just been released from prison when he immediately procured a gun and a bottle of booze before heading straight to Åre to murder the man who raped his sister. Whoa! Anyways, here’s Ivar and the killer with that crazy cigarette poking through his scarf and what I can only assume is an innocent man in a choke hold.