this was actually about 4 weeks ago now, but it was way cool walking to work when it was minus 8, and feeling the proper cold coming. Unofrtunately blog posting has been broken for several weeks, but seems to have now returned...at last!!
This is the view out of the side window of our lounge BTW
When it came we weren't prepared and hadn't fitted our winter tyres to the car, so we couldn't dribve anywhere.
According to the forecast there's gonna be cold and snow again this weekend, so maybe Steve and Emma will get to see some......
Friday, December 15, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
Events of September
So here we are, time has flown and its 6 weeks or more since I posted last. As ever, and as it should be, it's been a fine a busy time.
The end of August continued to be frighteningly hot and sunny as did September. Apparently September was the hottest on record in Sweden and everyone at work continues to tell me how "you won't be smiling soon - the winter will come". In truth it was shit cold when I rode to work this morning - I'm still going by bike every day, but then it was only 4 degrees, and as I keep telling everyone it's not England is the tropics and I'm quite used to commuting in winter temps. Obviously minus 20 may be more of a shock but we'll. Currently I'm having to wear golves and 3 layers to cycle, but I've got a long way to go yet before it gets too much. In all ikleyhood it'll be the ice that beats me rather than the sheer temperature.
Anyway - I'm warm now, thanks to 2 things in principle.
1. whiskey - a fine single malt 15 year old balvenie that Howard brought over in mid September (ok I'm rambling now and not talking in any particular date order, but that's the whiskey to a point). so yeah anyway - Howard came over (more or less or my birthday by co-incidence) and he bought me a bottle of this
Balvenie 15 year Single Malt
and frankly it's bloody nice - so thanks mate!!
But more to the point we went to a great restaurant where we ate the tasting menu and drank about 8 courses of wine. By god it was fantastic!! We were there for 6 hours more or less, and what with having started with a cocktails at The Sky Bar first (very nice), we were a bit the worse for wear at the end of it. But by god it was good - seriously - the best...so following that we went back to Howard's room / suite at The Grand Hotel and frankly they're nto bloddy kidding - this was one f'ing grand hotel room and drank G&T and whiskeys til later in the morning - but anyway I'm getting to the point - all this drinking and eating was suitably great but Sarah had a job interview the next morning, which considering we were both still pissed as buggery is quite surprising that we even made it, but make it we did (I went with her for reasons that are too complex for me to describe here), but yes we hauled our arses out of bed and made it across town talk foriegn languages with an italian and a bulgarian, and discuss life in stockholn generally.
Strange times indeed....but you know what - she got the job. Magic!!
so back to the point in hand:
why I'm warm:
2. cos we've put the heating on - not amazing world breaking news but relevant to my life I guess - the cold is coming and I'm excited - bring on the snow is all I can say.
So yeah - september, well auagust really,, the end of august was a holiday for me, some downtime from work before the partying events of england. Basically we hung out in town and inthe archipeligo and went to places like this Grinda where we swam in the sea and generally lazed on deserted islands in the sun. If I remember rightly, that's one of the many reasons why we're here....
So following that off to England we flew for parties and fun. First off we got to contend with the "terrorism alert". I use this phrase with a heavy bag of salt since I think most of it is all just political bollocks, but anyway, fortunately stockholm airport decided that we'd be quite able to take toothpaste on the plane without endangering ourselves, and they'd also decided that there was little value in making people queue for 6 hours in a rubbish airport terminal to remind them what a great job their government was doing "portecting" them. but yeah...anyway...
so Tom and Karen's wedding ensued and frankly it was damn damn fine. Two of my favourite people in the world getting married and having a big party. How much better than that can it get. maybe I should have a photo link at this point, but I don't, we didn't take a damn photo, not s single one, we were just having too much of a good time. We cruised down the Thames on the boat and drunk fine wine and talked with many people that it has been a while since we'd seen and had a beautiful evening generally. Thanks Guys!!
Following that it was off to a quick walking holiday to chill a bit before the next family wedding. We did 3 days of the south downs and man, it was HOT. 28 degrees one day whilst carrying all our stuff, but by god the views were great because of it, and frankly it was great reminder of why the british countryside is so loved (and missed by us at times). Life doesn't get much better than this ...and every night we stayed in lovely country pubs. great views, great food, good beer and stunning views, add to that the feeling you get after you've walked 25km, and what more do you need.
So we got back from that and Prima cooked us a quite wonderful curry. To stay with james and Prima (as I have done 3 times already in the last 4 months) is quite a priviledge, cos they look after me like something else....
But things never stopped (including the heartburn by this stage) and there was no time to dawdle, it was on to coventry for another wedding (Andrew and Karen) which was also a total laugh. I have pictures of this one, but I've kept them private in respect of others' weddings, so if you're a named contact on flickr then have a look, if not then well, suffice to say the normal events went down, and there was a chocolate fountain. enough said.
And then back to croydon for one last blow out (well actually 2) and a big slap up meal at the noodle bar whose name I have forgotten.
In truth it was 10 days of absolute madness and partying and 10 days of absolute regret in a way, because I just spent it with all my favourite people and it kinda reminded me the things I'm missing back in the UK. However much I love Sweden and however much I love the life I have now, there is nothing like your true true friends and their company.....
There were other things that happened in that period, but frankly, I'm loosing the will the type right now, and there's still more of september to cover.
So yeah - there we go, the rest of the time, well it's a bit of a blur.
My aunt and uncle came to stay
I worked a shite load
I went kayaking in the middle of stockholm - truly amazing fun, and a load of other interesting swedish lifestyle things happened.
now it's time to get away from the computer, as it's 12 hours since I logged on this morning.
laters to anyone who's still listening.
The end of August continued to be frighteningly hot and sunny as did September. Apparently September was the hottest on record in Sweden and everyone at work continues to tell me how "you won't be smiling soon - the winter will come". In truth it was shit cold when I rode to work this morning - I'm still going by bike every day, but then it was only 4 degrees, and as I keep telling everyone it's not England is the tropics and I'm quite used to commuting in winter temps. Obviously minus 20 may be more of a shock but we'll. Currently I'm having to wear golves and 3 layers to cycle, but I've got a long way to go yet before it gets too much. In all ikleyhood it'll be the ice that beats me rather than the sheer temperature.
Anyway - I'm warm now, thanks to 2 things in principle.
1. whiskey - a fine single malt 15 year old balvenie that Howard brought over in mid September (ok I'm rambling now and not talking in any particular date order, but that's the whiskey to a point). so yeah anyway - Howard came over (more or less or my birthday by co-incidence) and he bought me a bottle of this
Balvenie 15 year Single Malt
and frankly it's bloody nice - so thanks mate!!
But more to the point we went to a great restaurant where we ate the tasting menu and drank about 8 courses of wine. By god it was fantastic!! We were there for 6 hours more or less, and what with having started with a cocktails at The Sky Bar first (very nice), we were a bit the worse for wear at the end of it. But by god it was good - seriously - the best...so following that we went back to Howard's room / suite at The Grand Hotel and frankly they're nto bloddy kidding - this was one f'ing grand hotel room and drank G&T and whiskeys til later in the morning - but anyway I'm getting to the point - all this drinking and eating was suitably great but Sarah had a job interview the next morning, which considering we were both still pissed as buggery is quite surprising that we even made it, but make it we did (I went with her for reasons that are too complex for me to describe here), but yes we hauled our arses out of bed and made it across town talk foriegn languages with an italian and a bulgarian, and discuss life in stockholn generally.
Strange times indeed....but you know what - she got the job. Magic!!
so back to the point in hand:
why I'm warm:
2. cos we've put the heating on - not amazing world breaking news but relevant to my life I guess - the cold is coming and I'm excited - bring on the snow is all I can say.
So yeah - september, well auagust really,, the end of august was a holiday for me, some downtime from work before the partying events of england. Basically we hung out in town and inthe archipeligo and went to places like this Grinda where we swam in the sea and generally lazed on deserted islands in the sun. If I remember rightly, that's one of the many reasons why we're here....
So following that off to England we flew for parties and fun. First off we got to contend with the "terrorism alert". I use this phrase with a heavy bag of salt since I think most of it is all just political bollocks, but anyway, fortunately stockholm airport decided that we'd be quite able to take toothpaste on the plane without endangering ourselves, and they'd also decided that there was little value in making people queue for 6 hours in a rubbish airport terminal to remind them what a great job their government was doing "portecting" them. but yeah...anyway...
so Tom and Karen's wedding ensued and frankly it was damn damn fine. Two of my favourite people in the world getting married and having a big party. How much better than that can it get. maybe I should have a photo link at this point, but I don't, we didn't take a damn photo, not s single one, we were just having too much of a good time. We cruised down the Thames on the boat and drunk fine wine and talked with many people that it has been a while since we'd seen and had a beautiful evening generally. Thanks Guys!!
Following that it was off to a quick walking holiday to chill a bit before the next family wedding. We did 3 days of the south downs and man, it was HOT. 28 degrees one day whilst carrying all our stuff, but by god the views were great because of it, and frankly it was great reminder of why the british countryside is so loved (and missed by us at times). Life doesn't get much better than this ...and every night we stayed in lovely country pubs. great views, great food, good beer and stunning views, add to that the feeling you get after you've walked 25km, and what more do you need.
So we got back from that and Prima cooked us a quite wonderful curry. To stay with james and Prima (as I have done 3 times already in the last 4 months) is quite a priviledge, cos they look after me like something else....
But things never stopped (including the heartburn by this stage) and there was no time to dawdle, it was on to coventry for another wedding (Andrew and Karen) which was also a total laugh. I have pictures of this one, but I've kept them private in respect of others' weddings, so if you're a named contact on flickr then have a look, if not then well, suffice to say the normal events went down, and there was a chocolate fountain. enough said.
And then back to croydon for one last blow out (well actually 2) and a big slap up meal at the noodle bar whose name I have forgotten.
In truth it was 10 days of absolute madness and partying and 10 days of absolute regret in a way, because I just spent it with all my favourite people and it kinda reminded me the things I'm missing back in the UK. However much I love Sweden and however much I love the life I have now, there is nothing like your true true friends and their company.....
There were other things that happened in that period, but frankly, I'm loosing the will the type right now, and there's still more of september to cover.
So yeah - there we go, the rest of the time, well it's a bit of a blur.
My aunt and uncle came to stay
I worked a shite load
I went kayaking in the middle of stockholm - truly amazing fun, and a load of other interesting swedish lifestyle things happened.
now it's time to get away from the computer, as it's 12 hours since I logged on this morning.
laters to anyone who's still listening.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Down by the lake
Here's my by another one of the local lakes that i was at yesterday. We'd just done a 10K walk round the local nature reserve, and this is just by a picnic site at the end. I'm not overly sure what the duckboards are for cos they don't seem to lead anywhere and it would seem unlikely that you could launch a boat from the end due to the vastness of the all the reeds (or whatever they're called) - but then maybe in other times of the year they're not there and you could launch......
according to one of my work colleagues this is predicted to be the last good weekend of summer and from here on in, autumn and winter come, whether this is true or not we'll have to see, but I have one more week of work before 4 weeks away from my desk, with a micture of holiday and training courses.....nice!
Its also harvest weekend at the moment, there are loads of people out working all the farms and combine harvesters all over the place. At the nature reserve this afternoon there a demonstration of traditional methods of farming and harvesting, because the 2 farms they run there focus on preserving old techniques and the like.
yesterday we met a volunteer group who work there who were working on a new project to restore some old farms and tracks around the area, because the nature reserve itself exists because in the past 2-300 years it was a major farming area outside of stockholm. So they're going down there today to demo their skills. Its quite cool stuff cos in a way its a bit like the old ray mears bush craft stuff, because there's lots of things like, making your own fencing and various craft type things like that.
according to one of my work colleagues this is predicted to be the last good weekend of summer and from here on in, autumn and winter come, whether this is true or not we'll have to see, but I have one more week of work before 4 weeks away from my desk, with a micture of holiday and training courses.....nice!
Its also harvest weekend at the moment, there are loads of people out working all the farms and combine harvesters all over the place. At the nature reserve this afternoon there a demonstration of traditional methods of farming and harvesting, because the 2 farms they run there focus on preserving old techniques and the like.
yesterday we met a volunteer group who work there who were working on a new project to restore some old farms and tracks around the area, because the nature reserve itself exists because in the past 2-300 years it was a major farming area outside of stockholm. So they're going down there today to demo their skills. Its quite cool stuff cos in a way its a bit like the old ray mears bush craft stuff, because there's lots of things like, making your own fencing and various craft type things like that.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
At least somebody is eating the cherries
There are a number of fruit trees in the garden, 3 apples, 1 plum, one immature pear and a huge 20 metre cherry tree. In truth I've tried a few apples but most have just fallen and gone on the compost heap. The cherry tree is dropping its fruit everywhere and currently the insects are having a field day, especially the wasps and the butterflies, as you can see here.
Whilst taking the photo I had waps crawling all over me, because unfortunately there are about 20 wasps to every butterfly.
Thanks to Steve for showing me how to take photos like this. When you see his dragonfly shots then you can see what can really be done.
Whilst taking the photo I had waps crawling all over me, because unfortunately there are about 20 wasps to every butterfly.
Thanks to Steve for showing me how to take photos like this. When you see his dragonfly shots then you can see what can really be done.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Where did I leave the car?
So here we all on Sunday night well into the 3rd leg of a 3 day drinking event to celebrate Steve's imminnent departure to Spain, Tom and Karen wedding and just general party feelings. Its was a fine time indeed.
We played some cool board games, Tom , Karen and Sarah cooked some great food on, we got to meet Steve's (ex) work colleagues and see how much they loved him :-) and for me, best of all, I just got to spend 3 days with all my old friends, its doesn't get much better than that.
James pushed the boat out and made some fantastic roast lamb for Sunday night and here we all are in the garden enjoying the rest of the evening.
But anyway , on to the point in hand. After 3 days of drinking and not much sleep, I made a brief visit to my old colleagues in the city and then jumped on the SAS flight out of city.
I got back to Stockholm about 10pm and basically was completely shagged. I'd parked the car at the airport but I was buggered if I could find it. I ended up wandering round the back arse end of nowhere airport car parks blindly wondering whether I was a tired idiot with no memory, or whether the car had been stolen (answers on a postcard which is most likely)
anyway - 30 minutes later - I did find it and managed to drive slowly and carefully home.
Great weekend though. Roll on september
We played some cool board games, Tom , Karen and Sarah cooked some great food on, we got to meet Steve's (ex) work colleagues and see how much they loved him :-) and for me, best of all, I just got to spend 3 days with all my old friends, its doesn't get much better than that.
James pushed the boat out and made some fantastic roast lamb for Sunday night and here we all are in the garden enjoying the rest of the evening.
But anyway , on to the point in hand. After 3 days of drinking and not much sleep, I made a brief visit to my old colleagues in the city and then jumped on the SAS flight out of city.
I got back to Stockholm about 10pm and basically was completely shagged. I'd parked the car at the airport but I was buggered if I could find it. I ended up wandering round the back arse end of nowhere airport car parks blindly wondering whether I was a tired idiot with no memory, or whether the car had been stolen (answers on a postcard which is most likely)
anyway - 30 minutes later - I did find it and managed to drive slowly and carefully home.
Great weekend though. Roll on september
Other stuff that has happened this week...
A big deer with antlers appeared in the garden 2 mornings in a row
The cat got more ticks and I had to remove them (try catching a cat, holding it between your logs, grabbed its head and tilting it backwards with one hand, while brandishing your tick removal device with the other - here's a tip, its bloody difficult and the cat can probably be relied upon to struggle intensly and make wierd noises)
I went to the swedish GP and had my ear syringed, after speaking a whole load of crap Swedish to the receptionist and the nurse. Good fun though in the end - and by god I can hear in my right ear again now!
I went go-karting again on Wednesday, but didn't win this time. I spun twice and came 3rd.
Things I'm reading - SQL Server development team intranet site - its full of interesting things.
I tried the new QOOP photo printing service which is tied into flickr. I've used their photo book service before, but haven't tried prints - we'll see how it goes - dead cheap and easy though - their interface was fairly impressive - as it was when I had my book printing previously. I can't recommend it enough.
I changed my blog template slightly.
I went to Croydon for the weekend and partied hard.
The cat got more ticks and I had to remove them (try catching a cat, holding it between your logs, grabbed its head and tilting it backwards with one hand, while brandishing your tick removal device with the other - here's a tip, its bloody difficult and the cat can probably be relied upon to struggle intensly and make wierd noises)
I went to the swedish GP and had my ear syringed, after speaking a whole load of crap Swedish to the receptionist and the nurse. Good fun though in the end - and by god I can hear in my right ear again now!
I went go-karting again on Wednesday, but didn't win this time. I spun twice and came 3rd.
Things I'm reading - SQL Server development team intranet site - its full of interesting things.
I tried the new QOOP photo printing service which is tied into flickr. I've used their photo book service before, but haven't tried prints - we'll see how it goes - dead cheap and easy though - their interface was fairly impressive - as it was when I had my book printing previously. I can't recommend it enough.
I changed my blog template slightly.
I went to Croydon for the weekend and partied hard.
Here's the local lake
These are the rocks next to Edsviken (the local lake) upon which I like to laze after a tough day at work. I can be here within about 5 / 10 minutes from home, and this was taken last week at about 6.30pm after work, when I went for a quick swim. There's some more on flickr, but basically I live on the other side of this lake - just over a hill. Nice! In the background you can see a guy contemplating jumping in - there's a mini sheer cliff face of about 6 to 10 feet high depending on how brave you are, where you can jump in from.
Alternatively you can go to the opposite side of the lake, where there's a nice grassy park to sit on, from where you can also take a swim.
Alternatively you can go to the opposite side of the lake, where there's a nice grassy park to sit on, from where you can also take a swim.
Why don't my toenails grow anymore?
a good question or what? ever since I've moved to Sweden they just don't grow. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Frankly I find it very strange.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
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