Kolbjörn Skarsgård is joining the family tradition of playing a vampire! He’s playing Walter in Färjan (The Ferry) on SVT coming September 26th, 2025. Based on Mats Strandberg's novel of the same name from 2015.
MWW Artwork of the Day (7/16/21)
E. Phillips Fox (Australian, 1865–1915)
The Ferry (c. 1910-11)
Oil on canvas, 141.5 x 179.2 cm.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
E Phillips Fox, one of a generation of late 19th-century Australian expatriates in Europe, is renowned for his cosmopolitan and superbly coloured images painted in Paris. "The Ferry" is the artist’s masterpiece. It was developed from rapid sketches that Fox painted outdoors at Trouville, a favourite beach resort in the north of France, and was completed in his Paris studio the following winter. Fox positions the viewer as if peering down to the elegant boating party and immerses us in a sumptuous, genteel world of vibrant colours, luscious fabric textures and warm summer atmosphere. (from the Gallery catalog)
The ferry seems normal, at first glance, a small ship with a ramp at one end captained by a single individual. It looks big enough for a couple cars or maybe two small campus buses at a time, and I guess it runs on a pretty consistent schedule because it’s always there in under five minutes from when I get to the dock.
However, I’ve noticed a couple discrepancies.
It’s always the same person. They look human, as far as I can tell: their voice and gender presentation changes day to day but also they gave me a thumbs up and a wink when they noticed my “they/them/their” pronoun pin so I think that’s probably not indicative of anything supernatural. Might explain why no-one else seems to have noticed it’s just them though. I’ve also never seen them leave or step off the ferry, not even to tie it up to the dock.
I was writing a local history essay and researching the river (which is really hard to get info on?). There are pictures of a ferry on it going back as far as the university’s existed, and as far as I can tell it’s the same person every time, the same age and everything. I asked them once how long they’d been on the river and they said all rivers were the same for them if they were needed? Then they ran over to yell at a truck for not putting their parking brake on correctly before I got a chance to ask them what they meant.
The ferry technology is always about twenty years behind the times, consistently, but I can’t find any records of upgrades or boat purchases or even evidence that it’s run or owned by anyone other than the captain. Or acknowledged by municipal transit systems. Which is a bit sketchy, but also it’s the fastest way to get to my 0800 bio class from my off campus housing because going around to the bridge adds like 40 minutes to my commute so eh
Speaking of commutes, it’s kinda odd bc no matter how late I think I’m running, I always get off the ferry with minutes to spare? Like I used to always go around to the bridge because it looks way shorter on the map, but my commute’s like an hour that way and that’s way too far to bike before 0800. The ferry’s only like twenty minutes of biking and another ten on the water, which is much more manageable. And they accept my campus bus pass, so it’s not like it costs me anything.
I’ve never seen the ferry fill up? There’s always room for me and my bike anyway, but I thought it was only big enough for maybe a couple cars or a bus. Except I was running to class and I saw like ten cars and four big greyhound buses (probably for a campus tour or something) come up the road from the ferry dock and the ferry pushing away, and there’s no other way to get on that road.
Also this one time I was on my way to an early class after an all-nighter (I baaaarely finished that essay on time) and I might have been hallucinating from sleep deprivation but I’m pretty sure this happened. About halfway across the river, the ship was suddenly a really old fashioned wooden ferry, as though it had been the whole time and I just hadn’t noticed. The captain was the same, but they were rowing with a wooden oar, looking off into the water as though they’d seen it a million times.
They looked up and asked me for my payment and I realized that I’d forgotten my transit pass, but I had an energy bar in my pocket so I offered that instead. They laughed and accepted it, but kinda struggled with opening the wrapper one-handed because they were holding the oar in their other hand, so I offered to hold it for a sec so they could open the bar. They laughed again, wryly, ruefully, undercut with tiredness.
“Thank you, but I’m not ready to put this oar down yet and I don’t think you understand what you’re offering. I must row back and forth, taking any and all who come to the banks of the river. But there’s a power that comes with being in between, the passage between one side and another: I’ve borne it for a long time, long enough for the world to change around me, and I don’t think I could live without it. Just know that it’s safe here, and all who wish no harm may come and cross. Thanks for the granola bar though! I also accept payment in sandwiches and stories.”
I mean, I’d just offered to hold the oar for a sec, not take over their job? but they seemed serious and I’ve seen enough at this school to laugh it off awkwardly and back away. The ferry was the normal modern ship next I noticed, all corrugated metal and rusty rivets and sun-yellowed paneling, and I headed off to class. Made it with two minutes to spare!
Anyway, yeah. Does anyone else use the ferry? I know my roommate does sometimes and a couple other people I’ve talked to, but most people just look at me strangely and say they didn’t know there was even a river, so I guess they don’t go down to that end of campus that often. Just seems a bit weird and it’s been bugging me.
