hi guys.
maybe i should have posted this on the ex pats forum but i know more old colleagues read this site.after having done M.E.east and west europe,a bit of north africa.and a short time in canada[my wife was from quebec],and having lived in holland for a long time.i recently moved up to swedish lappland to live.compared to the rest of europe it seems quite good economicaly here.i work in the iron ore mine driving a 50ton tipper.on saturday we set the clocks forward to summer time and saturday night we had 25cm of snow with min15 so i’m not so sure about global warming here.as i know many old M.E. friends have lived,or are living abroad i was curious if any other english guys live in the north of sweden or norway.best mike sargent [30kms north of the arctic circle] 
Welcome to the site Mike,get srtuck in.
When did you do m/e and who for?
we do jobs now and again to LKAB in Kiruna and Boliden in Galivare, certainly an unusual choice of destination
good day gentlemen.bear with me as i am a computer illiterate so things go slowly.up here it’s more important to know how to shoot or mend a snowmobile than work a computer.plus i live in a village with 5houses so it’s not exactly full of bill gates types.
best booties.hi we probably have met at sometime but the only ones of b.e.that i ran with more than once were goldie and jimmy withers.if you go to astran me,simons,and mike sargents rogues gallery you can find things that ron davies was kind enough to post on my behalf over the last year.i worked for astran 74,75.simons 76.then i moved to holland and worked for i.t.holland\afghan int.later i worked for stolk int.on the rogues gallery there is a picture of me with ron davies,check it out and see if it brings anything to mind.
JJ72.hi i am curious what you transport to LKAB in gällivare.you don’t see many foreign trucks here.only one czech company on a regular basis.i work for LKAB,but for a contractor driving a 50 ton tipper 1km undergound transporting the iron ore from the seams to the crusher.the pay is ok and you work 5 days 2days free.then 7 days then 1 week free.so youget a good amount of free time.it is a strange destination but having spent many years driving in warm lands i felt it was time to cool off.also after having lived for a long time in holland it is so peaceful up here.i also lived for a short time in canada and it’s very similar.i think the main thing is that you can live as you want.status is not important so if you dress in rags and live in the forest and drive an old pick up thats your choise and nobody cares.also the ecomomy is quite good up here and you can pick up a good house for €20\40 thou.so the living costs are not prohibitive.
thanks for replying gentlemen.take care.mike 
Well done Mike. After all the varied driving you’ve done over the years, I knew you would be capable of working out how to become a member of Trucknet!! 
I’ll take the liberty of posting a photo that you sent me of the tipper you currently drive for the guys to see.
I suppose you’re still up to your neck in snow, eh? It’s red hot out here in Thailand at the present…do you want some of this heat, it would remind you of the old days on the middle east runs!!
rgds Ron
HIron.once again i thank you for bringing my stories and pictures to the site for the enjoyment of all over the last year while i was still figuring out how to turn on the damm computer.iv’e now got this far,who knows,maybe in another year i’ll be able to post my own photos. 
as to the temp here,it’s getting quite tropical,it nearly went up to 0c yesterday.iv’just got back from a 2 day scooter safari from gällivare to luleÃ¥ and back along the old reindeer herding trails.was good fun[only had to dig myself out twice]i’m getting better.i can send you some snow for the coctails,we’ve got a bit to spare.
take care mike.
hutpik:
who knows,maybe in another year i’ll be able to post my own photos
that took me years and i’m supposedly computer literate i certainly didn’t say strange destination mike, just unusual - much better than boring old spain or turkey 
lovely looking motor by the way
the stuff we’ve done for LKAB is all mineral sizers and gearboxes, the Boliden stuff was for the separation plant at their new Aitik 36 site outside gallivare, lot of stuff but it’s pretty much finished now unfortunately - next time we’re heading your way i’ll try remember to write ahead
HI JJ72. as you say unusual.the truck photo was from last year and it has since been replaced by an identical looking vehicle but an F16.660hp,automatic.so its quite stupendous in the mine coming up from 1km underground with about 40tons of iron ore.last summer i also did some work to aitik 36 with a 5axle cement mixer truck for my boss.that was the new crushing and seperating area where you were delivering.anyone coming up this way is always welcome to stop here.i have a small guest cottage also[very basic but free]ron davies has photos of the house and surrounding area which he may be prepared to share[this you have to ask privately]mike