Winter-visit in Sweden

The last week was fun but busy. Tuesday morning, I flew to Sweden to combine some business with pleasure. First, the proof print of the next issue of Hypoxia had to be approved at the print shop in Lund. It looked good, so now it is being printed and should reach the readers in time, somewhere around 7 December.

In the evening, I had dinner with my mother, my sister and her husband. It’s nice to meet them again, and so much easier now, when we live in Europe.
As always, I stayed at Bonen’s place in Limhamn. Together with Kimmo, we went out for fika and then some fun on Wednesday evening, doing Malmö as if we were in Copenhagen. That meant going to odd, scruffy bars that we do not normally frequent. Fun!

Thursday morning saw me taking the train to Stockholm, where I had three meetings with different clients, then dinner at Soldaten Svejk (this marvellous place!) together with Lotta and Susann, both friends that we got to know in Jerusalem.

Friday was slower, with an early morning meeting, lunch with old friends Krister and Dag and then dinner at Lotta’s and Per’s place, with sound effects ©Sigvard, five weeks old. He is a little cutie, but sleeps even less than his energetic mother.
Waking up Saturday, Stockholm was dressed in white, and it was still snowing. I ventured out in the winter climate, walking to the old city to try out my new little back up-camera. At lunch, I had a fika with another freelance journalist (or, rather a former freelance, she works with copy now), then went for a museum visit. The evening came with another appointment at Svejk together with another Lotta, also a friend from Jerusalem and a journalist. We ended up spending many hours at Svejk, chatting away, enjoying the excellent beer and food and getting to know other people there.

Sunday was my last day in Sweden, and started with a relaxed brunch together with Anne, a friend from the peace-keeping missions in Kosovo. She reminded me of an idea about a childbook that I had, so now I have written a synopsis and contacted my illustrator-friend Micke. Who knows, we might even publish it.

On the way out to the airport, I stopped for a fika in a wintry Sollentuna, visiting Lena, Ulrik and their children Alexander and Carolina. This was my first meeting with Carolina, being only five months. A happy and smiley little girl!

Continuing to the airport, my train was delayed. Then my flight. The snow storm covered all the runways with snow, and they could only keep one open. That one quickly became to slippery and had to be treated again. In the end, I came to Amsterdam, to discover that the train didn’t go all the way home. Well, after almost seven hours of travelling, I did come home. My sweet Femke had some warm tea and a sandwich ready to cheer me up. She had spent the last five days in Paris on a conference, and came home just a few hours earlier.

Now, I am busy writing. Just about to finish a text about Belgian beer. Tomorrow, I might go flying at Wijk aan Zee, the forecast looks perfect. We’ll see how the weather develops.