Out On The Ice

“I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, and have been looking for the right moment”, Sue told me when the prospect of walking on an iced-over lake became a reality. The reality for us – that we wouldn’t plunge through the ice to a frozen death – came when we saw a group of […]

Year In Review 2011

It’s been a funny year. It’s been a mixed year. It’s been a year of ups and downs. Mostly it’s been a pretty good year, though there have been times. Yes, there have been times… I started the year catching a flight back from Lismore to Sydney. I’d been in Lismore for about ten days […]

Three Days in Stockholm

“What should we do in Stockholm?”, Damien asked me on the weekend. I was having a drink with him and Kristen, his fiance. They’re planning a trip to Europe in the early part of next year, including “three days in Stockholm”. “Three days is not enough time to spend in Stockholm”, I told them. But […]

My Last Day in Stockholm

After yesterday’s shitty weather, my final day in Stockholm was one of those classically-beautiful Swedish summer days. The morning started with packing and check-out, and a lovely compliment from one of the staff at Sky Apartments that my Swedish was very good. Although I’m sure she was flattering me to an extent, I accepted the […]

Saltsjöbaden

It was a normal enough Tuesday. Busy, of course, culminating in Swedish class. It was our final Swedish class of this “season”, with a recommencement in two weeks. Thus, we had a few things to eat and drink, including some Swedish meatballs. Yummo! As part of my homework for Swedish class this week, we were […]

Nyheter från Sverige

Although the newspaper predicts a warm weekend – relatively speaking – it was a cold day today. It was a day to stay indoors reading, listening to music, and occasionally look out the window. If I was 22 years old I would have spent the day working on a small volume of melancholic poetry about […]

Saltsjöbaden

Today I ate some wild berries. I have no idea if they’re poisonous or not, but they didn’t have much taste, so I think I’m okay. But if I die, I’ll die a happy man because I’ve had the most wonderful day. I’m spending a few nights at Saltsjöbaden, a seaside town on the Baltic, […]

Gra

As if the weather today wasn’t depressing enough, when I walked into Torget in Gamla Stan for a late afternoon glass of wine, they were playing Billie Holiday. I was just about ready to jump off Västerbron. Despite the weather – the technical term was “shitty” – I had a reasonably lovely day. I had […]