Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

Archive for February 2026

MPH performance car show

After the Street Cars Fest at Kista Mässan we had high hopes for MPH. Sadly it seemed a little sparse, though A. rather liked the Atom. I discovered when I checked the photos that I’d mostly taken pictures of the classics corner.

Gullbron runestone

Upplands 239: “Inga had the stones cut … … husbandman … …”Somehow I had missed this runestone over road from Upplands 236

Gällsta runestones

Part of the Runriket“In Gällsta, there are three rune stones that mention four generations of the same clan. There is a fourth stone as well, but it has no inscription, only a cross. One of the stones has been signed by Öpir, one of the most common rune carvers of the later 11th century. On another stone, […]

Risbyle runestones

Part of the Runriket…there are two runestones at Risbyle.“The two runic stones here at Risbyle were raised att the beginning of the 11th centure and they are among Upplands oldest. Here we meet the Skålhamra family, one of the powerful dynastics which lived in the district around lake Vallentuna during the Viking Age. The test on the […]

Book review: The Book by Keith Houston

[Audiobook] The Book, a Cover to Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of our Time, by Keith Houston I was looking for an audiobook about marginalia but failed miserably (recommendations, anyone?). Instead, I found this. The history of the book is long and storied, this book goes into a lot of detail about the […]

Fällbro runestones

Part of the Runriket.“The two runic rock carvings south of the creek show that todays road coincides largely with the ancient route, which during the Iron Age ran to the west of the Vallentuna lake. At that time, the road went between these two runic carvings.100 metres northwards on the eastern side of the road, there […]

Gripsholms runestone

In the grounds of Gripsholms Slott are a pair of rune stones.Sö 179: “× tula : lit : raisa : stain : þinsa| |at : sun : sin : haralt : bruþur : inkuars : þaiR furu : trikila : fiari : at : kuli : auk : a:ustarla| |ar:ni : kafu : tuu : sunar:la : […]