An Island in a Stream of People

Same place, same time, year after year. To many who pass by Clemenstorget, the flower vendor by the red van is a familiar face. But few people know who he actually is.

Some things change over time while other things stay the same. Change is particularly noticeable in a town where a large part of the inhabitants are students who move once they are done studying. A constant transience.

In the middle of it all is a flower vendor at Clemenstorget in Lund. He stands next to his red van from early morning till late afternoon, Monday to Saturday, selling flowers. While people rush to and from the train station, he always sits in the back of his van, greeting people that pass by.

“It’s not allowed to stand here on Sundays, so that’s when I go to buy next week’s flowers. They’re imported from The Netherlands”, he says.

But if it was allowed to stand there on Sundays and other red days, he would. That he assures me.

His name is Verner Karlsson and he is almost 74 years old. Selling flowers six times a week keeps him going.

“It’s my hobby. I work with my hobby full-time”, he says proudly.

He never takes a day off work. He stands outside selling flowers in all kinds of weather, from heat waves in summer to cold snaps in February. When the weather has been truly horrible he has gone to his work place, but closed a few hours later because of the lack of people. But that has not happened very often.

There is not a lot more for Verner Karlsson than selling flowers on the square. He has no family and no pets. When he gets home in the evening he watches TV for a while before going to bed, so that he can get up early the next morning.

Verner Karlsson has forgotten exactly how long it has been since he started. It is no wonder, when the days start blending together and weeks turn to years.

“I have sold flowers for at least 25 years, but it’s probably more than that. And I have sold them here at Clemenstorget for the last twelve years”, he says and laughs.

It almost feels like this is the first time it hits him how long it has really been.

Before, Verner Karlsson used to stand at Mårtenstorget, but it became too complicated because of the afternoon parking there, plus more people seem to pass by at the station.

Before he began selling flowers he worked for a company that imported vegetables and flowers from Europe to Sweden. He worked there for a long time before he quit. He felt it was time to do something else.

“It was nice at the company, but it is nice here too”, he says and waves at people passing by.

But it is not always he who initiates the greetings. It is clear that people on their way to work or school are used to greeting him.
Do you recognise many of them?
“Yes, the same people pass by every day”, he says.

After a while, a man comes up and gives him a Danish pastry. Verner Karlsson thanks the man and asks if he wants a flower. The man answers no, but thanks him.

“That was the manager for the café at Ica. He’s nice and gives us something sweet from time to time”, Verner Karlsson explains and puts the pastry in the car.

He works alone and does not think he needs any assistants. He never takes a lunch break, he brings food from home.

Verner Karlsson comes from Lund, but he never attended university. He still lives in town and says that he never gets tired of it.

“I have no reason to move away. I like it here and people are nice. I don’t know where else I would go”, he says.

Have you never had a morning when you felt like you would rather just stay home?

“No no!”

It almost seems like that was the most absurd question anyone could ever ask him.

Every day Verner Karlsson wraps people’s newly bought flowers up in flower paper. Now and then he becomes a happy moment in a stressed student’s morning, making him or her pause for a second and say “hello”.

The contrasts between Verner Karlsson life and the lives of many of the people passing by could not be bigger. He does not want to be anywhere else than where he is, on Clemenstorget every day between 6.30 am and 6 pm.

While others run around life on the hunt for the best house, the best workplace and the best relationship, Verner Karlsson only seems to care about that the day is a nice one.

And the word ‘nice’ is one that come back time after time when Verner Karlsson talks about his work. He does not need a smart phone to lose himself in when the stream of people is non-existent on a Monday morning. There is no Instagram account tied to the hashtag #flowerverner. He probably does not really know what that is all about.

And everything Verner Karlsson says, he says with a smile. He does not need to assert himself in order to be seen. All it takes is a smile and a wave.

When the work day is over, he returns to an empty apartment. It might sound lonely but he does not seem to be missing anything. It might even be nice with some time alone after eleven hours at Clemenstorget with thousands of people passing by.

A lot tells me that Verner Karlsson does this out of passion, and that money is not important.

Two ladies come up and buy some flowers. After the purchase, they point to another flower.

“How much is that white one?” one of them asks.

“Eight kronor”, he answers and takes out a bag.

“Excuse me? Eighteen?”

“No, eight”, he says.

But since he gave them six kronor in change, he offers them the flowers for five. The ladies accept and Verner takes the money, smiles and turns to the next customer.

Text: Sofia Esfandi
Photo: Najla Vallander
Translation: Emily Eriksson