three (wo)men in black

Tonight as I was on my way home on the tram from class something amusing happened in the usually uneventful Gothenburg life. At one stop two men and one lady boarded and stood near the door, decked out in black attire - black jacket and black pants. At first they looked normal, since many locals dress the way they do - black windbreaker and trackpants with beanies. But the lady was so tall she drew my attention, then I started to focus on her height, then the brand of her jacket. There was something strange about the three of them. I don't know if it was the age combination - one man was in his mid-40 to 50s? The lady was mid-20s, and the other guy was mid-30s --- Or the fact that they dressed so similarly, or something. For a while they just stood there chatting (dunno about what of course) and the lady was looking at her cellphone, then I saw something bulging out of her pocket - at that time I just dismissed it as some kind of gadget --- a very fleeting thought. Then when the tram started moving, the three of them suddenly



Pulled out their guns and pointed at the passengers.



Yeah right, you think what, drama ah. Heehee. Anyway, they pulled out their Vastraffik (Gothenburg equivalent of SBS Transit) IDs and flashed them at us and proceeded to check our cards. I was stunned a bit --- dunno why also hahaha, thinking to myself, no wonder that gadget that was bulging in the lady's pocket look somewhat familiar, like those handheld devices conductors always use, but then that thought was just fleeting. Yeah then I was thinking, 9.10pm on a Wednesday night?! And when my monthly pass just expired two days ago and I had it renewed just yesterday when originally I wanted to cheat and not pay for a few days hahaha. "Heng ga lao sai" was the first thought that came to my mind. Of course there were a few who didn't pay, and they couldn't run anywhere because the three of them were so discreet about it and the tram had started moving already! So they hovered over them and the tall lady spread her arms and "cordoned" the seats by putting her hands on the handles (if you can imagine, I'm bad at describing) and she looked rather intimidating, with her height and attire and all.

Yeah so after the fiasco I notice that the guy in his mid-20s to 30s actually looked quite cute, like some Swedish ah beng, and when all of them alighted, (they will nod to the others in the other carriage when they're done), I saw that there are like 7-8 of them! On one tram. At 9.10pm. On a Wednesday night.

Moral of the story is:

1. never let down your guard, because they could be terrorists carrying guns, because contrary to popular belief, Swedes actually do work beyond 4pm (I'm serious, 3plus 4pm is like their rush hour, and school administrative offices are only open from 9am-12noon) so don't think conductors don't come flashing their IDs at you when night falls.

2. they are always wearing black, not all of them are old men, and they never carry bags.