James O'Brien

Grant and I won prizes in the ticket raffle at the Swedish Church Bazaar today.

In diving up the two prizes, Grant selected the SAS glasses, while I took the books which included a 2001 edition of the songbook for Allsång på Skansen (Sing Along at Skansen), the Swedish tv show held at Skansen in Stockholm, every summer and which I attended three times last year.

The bazaar was pretty much the same as it was last year, with a collection of stalls selecting a variety of gifts and food, though it seemed like numbers were down a little. I suspect it’s because it was so bloody hot today.

“This is not typical Swedish Christmas weather”, one of my colleagues at work (who is half-Swedish) said to me when we bumped into each other.

I also saw another colleague (who is also half-Swedish) at the bazaar. So, for just a moment it felt like we were having a mini-staff Christmas Party.

That was the biggest difference between this year and last. That I knew a few people to chat to.

Two of the people who’ve done the class came along, including one who helped out on a stall.

And since Grant and Graeme came along I felt a little more confident about attending that I perhaps did last year.

That said, when I ordered my lunch – a meatball sandwich – the woman who took my order did look at me slightly strangely.

“That’s a strange Swedish accent”, she seemed to be thinking when she looked at me. Had she asked I would have said, “Please don’t judge my accent, I’m from down south” :)

Grant and I also chatted briefly with the tall man selling tickets who we both agreed was a very nice gentleman.

And of course, best of all, he sold us the winning tickets in the raffle.

PS Graeme has posted some more photographs here.