A most unlikely gathering took place in an altogether predictable location. What the hell, it was almost Christmas.
Meet the gang 'cause the boys are here…
You'll have to be faster than that
By the hair on my Jimmy chin chin
As my Sis had never been to Sweden, we pencilled in the week before Midsommar. Usual Ryanair ridiculousness and Stansted, but we were on time-ish. Everything went ok at´the far end as well – and many crappy radio stations later, we were at Norrtälje in Flyggfyran (supermarket) bying beer, and other such essentials. Well, that’s a lie, in Sweden it is AGAINST THE LAW to by decent beer in a supermarket, you have to go to a state run off-licence… But still, it worked.
Got to the Stuga and set about eating and drinking. Which we did admirably.
The next day it was off to the sea. The proper sea, on the East coast. And we decided to walk… Going there was fine. We got to see the sea. The route coming home was looking a little more tiresome though, so Sis decided that we should go cross-country. No man has trod the path that we took, I’m sure. Many, many flying things loved that route though. In the end, we got it kind of right, appearing in someone’s back garden somewhere near where we wanted to be.
Thursday was off to Norrtälje and we met BFG and family at Flyggfyran. We stocked up and headed off for lunch, leaving BFG in the meat section… Ahem.
After a leisurely lunch and a nice wander around town, we got a cal from BFG telling us that they had just left the supermarket. Oh dear. As it happened we ended up following them back to Stugan. Only BFG needed a quick stop at Woody. (After him loitering in the meat section, I was starting to get worried that my long time friend was hiding something…) I beeped jovially and drove on. When we decided to stop for ice cream I called BFG and asked how it was in Woody. There was a long silence, followed by a howl of laughter. “Oh, that was YOU hooting” exclaimed the closet “DIY” enthusiast. “I was calling you all the names under the sun”. No change there then….
A very convivial evening followed, with Pimms (eventually) and lots of laughs.
The next morning was Midsommar’s eve (yeah, I know) so we had to set up the table for an early lunch of pickled raw fish, and other delights. As I was driving, no Aquavit for me (boo hiss). Still, my singing was no worse for it… All too soon it was off to the airport. Got there with hours to spare… Ish. But then again, there wasn’t exactly a lot to do there. Pretty soon we were back at Stansted, after having Barry’s favourite: Salami sandwiches, on the flight.
The evening at Epping Upland was, as ever, great. A nice dinner and plenty of wine.
Well, funnily enough, no planes…
Gave James a lift home from Borås to Stockholm on Friday, intending to fly back down on Monday morning. But, thanks to those wacky Icelandic’s, there were still no flights on Monday! Off to the Train station then! 
Apart from the website not being able to print me a ticket, which caused all sorts of confusion, the journey was ok. Saw lots of Swedish countryside – I think I was asleep when we went past the big lakes…
Met a Scottish bloke who was travelling from Finland to Borås to Copenhagen to Spain… Good luck mate!
After a fairly good nights kip, I awoke to find a rather grey day out side. At least the were no storms, and the North Sea was about as flat as it gets.
Did a spot of work, and headed off for breakfast. No bacon! 
(
Still, everything else was spot on. Off to the offie to stock up on gin and vodka (rather pricey in Sweden…) and then ligged about waiting for disembarking time.
The car started! It’s still a surprise! Bit of a crawl to get out of Esbjerg, but was soon on the E20. 615Km to go!
Some of many windmills:
Mainly it was very dull – the bridge into Copenhagen was quite spectacular:
But going under the airport and then across the Oresund bridge was more so! (got some video – haven’t worked out how to upload it!)
My travelling companion – the conversation was a little one sided…
Todays route:
View Larger Map
Saturday started well, filling the car up with a lot of stuff. TV went in easily as did the PS3, Wii, Printer, tools, clothes and Giraffe. I was feeling very pleased until I went to start the car… “Click” it went… I expecting something like “Brrrrrmmmm brrrmmm”. But no, “Click click”.
“Oh dear”, I said… Once I had stopped swearing I called the very nice people at Porsche and they sent a very very nice man called Jonathon around.
“It’s buggered mate” he said.
And then laughed mirthfully when I mentioned leaving for the ferry at lunchtime….
He had a fiddle and couldn’t actually find much wrong. The battery charge was pretty low, but the battery seemed ok, and it was charging. He reckoned I should leave it on charge overnight and it would be fine. As he was the professional, I completely disregarded his advice and went out on Sunday and bought a new battery! Well, just to be safe. Even then, the porker was telling me scary things like “PSM failure” (stability control), “airbag failure” and it refused to go into Sport mode. Although without PSM this was probably a good thing. At least the stereo still worked. Full of confidence (yeah) I pointed it at Harwich, with plenty of time to spare, just in case. That part of the journey was thankfully not very eventful, and I rolled into the ferry port at 14:15 – rather early!
There was me thinking that it would only be me and truck drivers… First a Morgan plus 8 rumbled past. Then a 997 turbo cab, and then a mint 993 Carrera 4S turbo spec. Nice! There was also a worrying number of caravans…
Joy, the car started and I got on the ferry Direkt till baren… Carlsberg me up. 
After being chastised by the strict Danish lady for not disabling my car alarm… it was time for a quick Futurama before dinner. Decided on the buffet so I could stuff myself with marinated Salmon Apart from the waitress bringing me a Chablis 1er cru instead of the vintage Mersault I ordered, everything was tickety-boo. As chance would have it, Mr 993 4s and his wife sat next to me. Turns out the maroon colour (which wouldn’t be my choice) was exceedingly rare, with only 3 in the country. They had be haring it around Scotland for a few days – and we nattered cars while I tried to get the right wine… He had also had a TVR 3000M, which was a one off, and some other interesting bits of kit. The 993 was his favourite though, and I have to admit, it was lovely.
After gorging on cheese (probably not the best idea when on a ferry in the middle of the North Sea…) I was pretty pooped, so it was another Futurama and then bed. Good night!
Today’s route:
It’s what you should do. Lounge around for a bit and then have a spot of brunch.
However, I had a huge pile of cardboard where the kitchen table should be, and the kitchen table was still in pieces in various boxes. So I had some building to do before I could lounge around! Damn… Table went together easily enough though:
and so I could start cooking. Nothing too tricky 
Eggs ham and cheese = a slightly wonky omelette. The first meal in Sturegatan 48 was a modest success. The cooker will probably not see any more action for a fortnight or so
Now it’s 14:30, which I think is time for a Bloody Mary. Having no vodka makes this a bit tricky. Even more tricky is no tomato juice. Or Worcestershire sauce. Or pepper, celery & celery salt…. So a glass of wine then
And make a shopping list…
Having managed to find a decent flat near town, good size but no parking ( :{ ) I decided that I should make it look like the IKEA catalogue. When in Sweden, and all that.
Annoyingly, you can only certain items for delivery. Like pillows, but not duvets… Must be some Swedish logic I haven’t got the hang of yet.
As I was flying into Gothenburg, it made sense to hire a car and go into IKEA from there. Pete loved this idea as it meant I was then travelling in my time rather than him paying for it… Oh well. Duly hired a Volvo estate (what else) and bombed down to IKEA at Kållerad.
Being the Monday before pay day I had the place to myself, which made a change for fighting people in the Edmonton branch… Had to have a hot dog, natch. Took two circuits to get what I wanted, and there were only a couple of things out of stock which was irritating but not unexpected. Oh, and I bought NO candles at all. See girls, it IS possible
Next stop, El Giganten for electricals. Which are horribly expensive here. Not so good… Was feeling pretty pleased with myself, because it was only 4 o’clock. Hopped in the car and realsied it wasn’t really 4 o’clock… Well itwas, but only in the UK. In Sweden it was 5 o’clock!
Car was pretty much full so a quick stop at MIO to look at sofas before unloading at Sturegatan 48. Which took a lot longer than loading did… Finally picked Brian up about 7:30, dropped the car off and took a few well deserved Cruz Campos in Babbel. Not a bad days effort
Finally found a flat so I don’t have to stay in the hotel any more. Or impose on Brian. Need furniture though…
Subbu was finally happy that he had the rice just right (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, or was it the other way around?)
After a quick stop at Jims flat for some measuring, we hiked off to Vejlegatan 9A and were greeted with rather appetising cooking aromas.
Being a bit British we immediately pitched in to help Subbu but plonking ourselves on the sofa and switching the TV on. I really do not know whose idea it was to let Pete be in charge of the remote…. After lots of random channels and teletext he got lucky and found the football, so we started tucking in to the wine!
Subbu fed us admirably. The potato dish was particularly superb IMHO. We couldn’t quite manage all the rice though. Cheers Subbu! It was very nice.
image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace