25 August 2009

Nordic Gloom.

Sweden is fast galloping towards autumn and winter.

As I write ( 20.00) it is pitch black outside.
The shops are full of dark coloured autumn clothes.
The schools have been back for a week.
People have returned to work from their holidays.
Tourist attactions are closing down.
Sweden has its collective nose back to the grindstone.

Meanwhile, most other countries are still in the throes of sun sand and sangria.
I´m sure it must have something to do with Martin Luther or Calvin or some other sort of Nordic guilt trip.

People are girding their loins and preparing for the swift glide into the chill and misery of a Scandinavian winter. Memories of light and sun are cherished and will be brought out to make the months to come endurable.

We are on the last lap now of our stay here and are beginning to think about last-minute shopping and whether or not we´ll be overweight on our baggage allowance.

I´ve enjoyed our stay but am looking forward to being back in my own place again.
Not to mention a visit or two to the beach.

Let´s hope there´s some sun left for us when we get back!

21 August 2009

Absolut Vodka, Apples and Fish Soup.

Last week we went over to the other side of Skåne (Scania) to visit friends. The area is called Österlen and is incredibly pretty, full of picturesque red-painted wooden houses or half-timbered, sometimes thatched cottages. It was a wonderful summersday when we drove from Helsingborg and this was Sweden at its summertime best.

We were making for a small village called Kivik which lies in the centre of the apple growing district. Needless to say, one of its most famous products is cider. Not far from Kivik is Åhus, the birthplace of Absolut Vodka. And in Kivik itself is a very well-known restaurant called Buhres, which does a fish soup to die for.

All three things we managed to consume in our overnight stay when we weren´t yapping our heads off to catch up on the 4 year´s absence since our last visit. A final walk round the centre of the village took us past the house where the author Fritiof Nilsson Piraten lived. His books cover a period from the 1930s till the 1970s and have become Swedish classics.

It reminded me that I haven´t written anything at all since we came on holiday. I must shape up for September when I go back to the Torrevieja Writers´Group!

5 August 2009

Swedish Climate Reverts to Type!

We´d had some quite good weather and I was looking forward to meeting four friends from Spain who were on a Baltic Cruise and whose boat was calling in to Helsingborg as a final destination before returning to Copenhagen to disembark.

Monday dawned. The skies were iron grey and it was pouring like it would never end.
Down to the yacht harbour I traipsed, mac on , brolly up.

The tender came in and everyone came on land. It was ridiculous how heavy the rain was. They´d had wonderful weather in St Petersberg and all round the Baltic but our day was doomed.

I´d planned a leisurely stroll round the town and coffee and waffles outdoors in a lovely cafe with a thatched roof,a windmill and a fantastic view over the
Straights to Denmark and Hamlet´s Castle. But you couldn´t even see your hand in front of your face for the rain!
Talk about the best laid plans of mice and men.....

The following day was brilliant sunshine.
Bugger,Bugger, Bugger!!!

And this is summertime.
But already things are going swiftly the other way.
The shops have all the autumn clothes, the teachers start to work next week and the kids go back soon after. Mid-August in Sweden is back to work and nose to the grindstone and soon it´ll be dark evenings and low temperatures.

Could this be why I moved to Spain?