walters wunderbare welt

Andres Lavander, the only Swede who had never been to the moon or Mars, died on Sunday at the age of 132 at his home in Westersund from heart failure.

Lavander had successfully refused to take the mandatory trip to the moon. Like many of his generation, he fought against the introduction of compulsory moon travel 50 years ago and was the only one who refused to take the flight after it came into effect.

Lavander was not intimidated by threats from the authorities that they would not let him die. His determination not to leave the Earth’s atmosphere was reflected in various Swedish idioms. Phrases such as “and next Lavander will fly to the moon” (in response to an unlikely announcement) or “like moon dust in Lavander’s hair” (as an expression of amazement at something unexpected) have been part of everyday Swedish life for years and will long outlive Andres Lavander.

Lavander was born the son of a beekeeper in a family with four and a half children. His mother was a well-known comma collector. Her collection of superfluous commas from world literature comprised more than 3.5 trillion commas at the time of her retirement. His sister Klara was a pioneer of the Forest Dream Movement (FDM), and Sven, his half-brother, who was a quarter of a century older, had been secretary general of the National Centaur Association for many years.

His older sister Norje, whom Andres loved dearly, spent half her life in an institution because she had written and published a poem. She was finally released when the poem stopped rhyming. Today she lives in Norköping and sings when the fog lifts. After their mother’s death, his younger brother Lars became addicted to time travel. He is considered missing in the past (or the future).

Andres Lavander leaves behind four adult children, eleven grand children and an electric toy train set.

Translated from a blog entry (February 13, 2013) in “Walters Wunderbare Welt”, © Walter Haffner

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