Midsummer 2007 - the Connection

“I am just a stranger, they call me Cuandome,
I am just a stranger who likes to dance,
The girls of Tumbalina call me Cuandome,
The girls of Tumbalina like to dance”


We are all on a brown and white blanket as Joi is playing the guitar in front of me. I had asked him to sing a song about a cowboy. With his soft, gentle and unaccented voice he came close enough. His girlfriend Katrin lies besides him without saying much, taking in the sunshine which has finally broken through. To my right Torge has struck up a conversation with my right foot – and alter-ego – Señor Pie (Mr. Foot). Like Carmen, Torge doesn’t get along with him very well. Also to my right Hubi is looking at the girl which has – according to him – “the most beautiful smile in the world”. She doesn’t notice. She is sitting on a decked surface where another group is just hanging around. Their attention is focussed on Henning, an impressive Swede who claims he can make a clapping sound whilst only using his right hand. His paltry and ridiculous attempt results in laughter, a kind of laughter which makes you smile even though you don’t know the reason of it. Another group is preparing the garage to my left. There will be another party tonight. The rattling of bottles reminds me of the check-in lounge at the airport. The Swedish always bring home a Duty-free bottle or two from abroad. As I flick through the photos with Hubi we try to remember the night before. A combination of Eurovision songs and Amy Whitehouse (...and I said, no, no, no) provided the soundtrack to a night which started with a Midsummer dinner for 36 and ended with Hubi failing to convince Moa’s little sister Maya to ‘go for a walk’. She denied and he got me instead. As we laughed at the funny incident I realize that I haven’t stopped being happy since I arrived.

"Please come for a walk...she is thinking about it"

"I really don't think I want to go for a walk""So then I will go with you Dutchie" Midsummer is something special, something else. In my last article I talked about Quality and that this is achieved by connecting with the things you do. The Swedes connect with Midsummer and get it right all the time. Example. On Midsummer Friday it had been raining solidly for 22 hours, but this didn’t stop the local band ‘The West Coast Boys’ playing their tunes for us as we danced around the Midsummer pole. The two men – well into their seventies – played all the classics on the local football field. The boys had placed themselves neatly between the goalposts. Midsummer songs celebrate the normal life. They sing about going to the market, washing and drying your clothes and something about frogs which I still haven’t figured out although this is my third year of celebration. There are about 100 songs and all are greeted with a swift clap in the hand and a “Yes, let’s do that one!”. That is connecting, that is Quality. In the end it is the people who make Midsummer. It is rare that such a bunch of good people – with an enormous social talent – come together. All of them make me smile and I can’t think of a better characteristic. We create three day relationships which feel like long-term friendships. You tend to get close to everybody you mean even though you have only met this person five minutes ago. I mean, only with a Midsummer crewmember can I have the following conversation:

Question: “So, how did you get that nasty cut on the sole of your foot?”
Answer: “Well last week I was in Cambodia...

(the girl could have stopped there, her answer was already perfect...but she continued)

“...and while I was running on the beach I was struck by a fishing harpoon.”

That was honestly the best answer she could have given. For this story, the are – like the Midsummer songs – about 100 more and we will continue creating them for years to come. Well done everybody, well done ‘The West Coast Boys’.