The laundry-room in our new house is a bit shabby. But it has three washing machines! This means laundry days can be shorter and more efficient than before. Isn't it fantastic? :-)
Today I washed all our dirty linen including all the towels from the bathroom and the bedclothes. I feel like the perfect housewife!
I work at a newspaper called Sydsvenska Dagbladet now. It's a morningpaper that comes out 7 days a week. I start working at 14 or 14.30 in the afternoons and work until 00.30 or 01.00. I work seven days out of 14.
I like working shift. Normal office hours: Monday-Friday 9-5 is not really my thing at all. There are of course some disadvantages working shift, like working weekends or days when normal people have free like Boxing Day or New Years Day but the compensation makes it worth it. I also like having a free day in the middle of the week because it feels so much easier to do all the boring stuff, like washing and cleaning, on a Wednesday then on a Saturday.
Another good thing is that I don't have to hurry in the morning. I can sleep almost as long as I want and then eat my breakfast and drink my coffe without any stress. I read the paper carefully and I even have time to watch some tv before going to work. This last week I've started to watch The Sopranos all from the beginning! One or two episodes before cycling off to work. A perfect start of the day :-)
Instead of travelling around with their caravan this year, my parents decided to put it at a caravan site for the whole summer. They also bought a large tent which they've attached to the caravan, so they have enough room for everything. This makes it's more of a summer house than a caravan actually :) We went to visit them this weekend to check everyting out. The caravan site is in Varberg, on the west coast of Sweden and located just next to the sea. It takes about 3 minutes to walk down to the beach from where they live. Which we of course did although it's far too cold to go swimming yet. I really long for the summer! Maybe you can tell from the photo above, I just had to take my shoes off and try how cold or warm the water was...
I took my bike and went for a tour today. The city was calm and quiet, not much traffic at all. I ended up in Sibbarp, sat down on a rock and watched the Öresund bridge and people walking by. Enjoyed the sun. Longing for the summer. Read my book: The bridges of Madison County.
One might think I abandoned this blog but that is not true. Blogging in English is hard work for a Swede like me and in the last 14-15 months or so I just didn't find any inspiration... To prove that this is a viable blog I will now report from my visit to Copenhagen last week! I went there with a friend of mine and we took the train from Malmö. It was a hot and sunny day so we both made sure to bring bottles of water with us. After arriving to Køpenhavns Hovedbanegård (the Central Station that is) we first went to the Tourist Center to find some maps over the city. I happen to love maps and also hate to get lost - a good combination for a tourist. We decided to follow a D-I-Y tour that we found in one of the leaflets and started walking.
In front of Church of Our Lady I found this beautiful statue. I'm not sure what it shows but I like the people seem to come out of the stone and how the sun reflects on the figures.
In Rosenborg Castle Garden we took a short break in the shadows of a tree. Becasue of the great weather in the last couple of weeks the grass in the park was no longer green. The Castle itself is from the beginning of the 17th century and reallly looks like a castle from the fairytales.
We kept on walking and after a while we reached Nyboder, a collection of small yellow houses build 1631-41, originally to house the crews of the royal navy and, according to the leaflet, which they still do today. The houses were co cute! I took several photos and I can definately see myself living in one of them.
Then finally, we reached the goal of our long, long walk through the city: The Little Mermaid! She was smaller then I expected and it was actually difficult to take her photo without getting 300 other tourists on the same picture :-)
Then we started walking along the water back to the central part of of the city. After a refreshing beer at the City Hall Square we took the train back to Malmö. We had a great day and I will definately return to discover more of Copenhagen. Meanwhile I put some more pictures on my Flickr-account.
I didn't make any podcasts from Dublin. I had my iPod with me but when I was there I didn't feel like letting my travel companions in on how geeky I really am :)
However, I enjoyed my first visit to Ireland. We were very well taken care of, our hosts picked us up at the airport, took us to the hotel and then made sure we were alright throughout the whole 4 days stay. At St Patrick's Day we went to see the parade and the atmosphere in the city were great. I also tasted my first Guinness with black currant, which was a pleasant suprise, and saw my first hurling and Gaelich football game. In the evening we had dinner together and afterwards we ended up in the pub at the hotel where we stayed.
I like Ireland and the Irish. I can't explain why but I felt so welcome all the time and I already know I want to go back to see rest of the country. Perhaps this summer already. I've heard about the Castlebar 4 Day Walk - that might be a fun experience :-)
A song in Farsi called Bora Bora sung by a guy called Arash is very popular in Sweden right now. His song is number 1 on the bestselling list and it was a piece about him in Metro this morning.
The song is sooo good and I'm playing it all day long ;-))! It makes me wanna dance and learn Farsi and read Iranian authors and blogs and visit the country and...
A Swedish travel agent called LŠs och Res (Read (study) and Travel) is planning to arrange a trip there next year. It would be very interesting to go there!
When my grandaddy,
was 101
He did the Nijmegen Marches,
just for fun...
And so do I :-)
If I survive my 6th march, I'll be back next Saturday.
Today is laundry and packing day. On Saturday I'm leaving to participate in my sixth International Four Days March in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
It's probably going to be a bit tough. I'm not as well trained this year as I was last year and 160 kilometres is no less than 160 kilometres. No short cuts are available if you want the medal, which I want.
The Vierdaagskruis is special because it's a royal dutch medal which means you're allowed to wear it to a Swedish uniform. Wearable medals are by definition important :)
The fantastic woman holding the record, Annie Berkhout, is participating this year as well. She must be 88 years old by now and is marching in Nijmegen for the 67th time!
My sister is getting a second poodle and a couple of days ago she visited the breeder to choose one from the litter. She chose Ila who looks as if she would have no problem charming the whole world. I can't wait to meet the little troll! :-)
Ila means to hurry up in Swedish, a suitable name for a poodle I recon :-)
