1996 was the year Patti Smith returned, when  R.E.M. did their last good album and Unbunny released their first. It was also the year I graduated from gymnasiet, turned 19, and became loathed in the local parts of the business I’ve spent three years in school for. (Printing press operator!)

I had a summer job at Ljungby Grafiska and later in the autumn I jumped in whenever they needed to. One day I was really sick, high fever and all. No way I could drive in and operate machinery, I told them this and they seemed to accept this. It was also the last time I heard from them directly. In 1997 I bumped into one of the people who studied the same things but in a younger class. I got spat on and called a traitor. It was odd and I was as you might imagine very perplexed and asked why. Apparently, being sick is a crime against the community.

The joys of an industrial small town filled to the brim with pettiness… I swear, had this been in the US it would have been trailer park county.

(Beth Orton — Live as You Dream from the 1996 album Trailer Park.)