A Moving Experience

This weekend has been absolutely full-on, with our moving flats in just two days. I have been packing, packing and packing, looking after my daughters, and looking after Jo.

Jo had a bicycle accident this week, and broke her foot. Luckily, she had already done a bit of putting stuff away in boxes, but there was a lot left to do, and she was pretty much unable to help, much to her dismay and frustration. So the ball was passed to me, and it is thanks to our friends Mark and Alex that I sit here this evening with a reasonably easy two days ahead of me. They may not think they did much, but just going out to get more moving boxes saved me valuable time.

They say that moving is one of the most stressful things to do. I cannot entirely agree, but this weekend has shown me how capable I can be if needed. Three cheers for me!

We Are Newsworthy

Well, it took forty years, but I finally got myself in one of the national newspapers. Best of all, I did it without sadistically murdering someone and eating their pubic-hair, which appears to be an increasingly easy way into the headlines nowadays.

Nope. Jo, Freya and I got into the DN Sunday supplement for just being, really, though more specifically for being vegan. But don’t let the Sunday supplement suffix fool you, my non-existent readers; the DN is a newspaper of distinction here in Sweden, equivalent to The Times, Telegraph or the slightly inferior Guardian. And although the Sundayness of it implies a jauntier, lifestyle feel, one should still consider it a worthy contribution to the journalistic world.

Lotten, our neighbour and (after her decision to base an article on us) admirer good friend wrote an article about four families and their different ways of saving the planet. Not that I’d ever seen myself in the same light that some do Superman, and I would never vocally make such claims, though it is of course well-deserved (if not a bit embarrassing) to receive such accolade from the rest of society. I would obviously not even try to compare our “work” with the great names (like Gandhi), though unlike Gandhi we continue our fight without the fame-game he and his ego were involved in. No, we are more comparable with the likes of the Nobel Prize winners (which Gandhi has never won, by the way), I would say, than to the star-struck elite who go on and on like a broken record about their “plight”.

The article did a very good job of making us (and thereby vegans) look normal, approachable and a little bit cool. I’d had a good idea of what I wanted to get across, which, despite the lack of column space, I think we manged to do quite well. Anyway, hats off to Lotten, who did a splendid job.

Mission To Sigtuna

We went on a mission today to Sigtuna.

Without our usual co-pilot, Chris.

We’re………sorry, Chris.

In our defence it was more of a mini-mission, Sigtuna being neither that far away nor that big a place. Also, I don’t reckon Chris would mind, since I believe he’s currently diving in Egypt. Still, it did feel treacherous, and we had to console ourselves by eating pommes-frites and onion rings when we got there.

Sigtuna is a quaint village situated by Lake Malar, the third biggest lake in Sweden. It’s one of those touristy places that, despite having lots of modern shops strewn along its main road, still manages to blend them into the surrounding architecture without it being too much of an eyesore.

In fact the only eyesore we saw was a seashore t-shirt store. Actually it wasn’t, but once I saw a tongue-twister on the horizon my animal instincts took over. No, the only eyesore in the rustic village of Sigtuna was the brutally bleak crazy-golf course. Seemingly designed by a clinically depressed Puritan who had got a degree in drawing straight lines, thereafter eschewing his education because drawing lines was too much fun, I think I’d find more enjoyable things to do if I were locked in a white windowless room with a golf ball and a knife with which to stab myself repeatedly in the eyes.

Apart from that it was a wonderfully relaxing day out that all the family seemed to appreciate.

We Have Contact (And I Didn’t Use The Crass “Wii”)

Lotten came up on Monday to finalise an article she has written about us, which should appear in a Sunday supplement of one of the big nationals, DN, later this/next month. She brought her laptop with her, and during our conversation she tried to connect to her email client via wi-fi.

Her connection may have been fast, but it took me and my synapses nanoseconds to see how I could exploit the situation, particularly when she mentioned her connection was unlocked.

Suffice to say, I have now set up both Jo’s DS and my Wii to Lotten’s hotspot (must remember to mention that to her sometime). I was terribly impressed at how easy it all was, and, while it’s not as fast as my “other” connection I shall not complain, considering it’s costing me nothing.

I had been considering wi-fiing the flat myself, but due to some rubbish reason my Internet provider has given I’d not be able to use the free wi-fi modem they are offering. I could buy a wi-fi router to plug into my useless current modem, but spending 700 crowns on achieving a setup that other people are getting for free niggles me somewhat. But now I don’t have to.

Chris, Jack and Mark all have Wiis (with only Mark not having it in online mode yet), so I can see the next few months being fairly interesting, especially with Mario Kart being released next month.

Foraging For Finery

The recycling room is in a bit of an over-run state at the moment, and people are apparently sill unable to have the civil courtesy to sort correctly. Another problem/annoyance is people’s willing to throw perfectly good pizza clothes in the “burnable” container, particularly when there is a huge charity shop 3 minutes’ tram ride away.

I was so displeased with this situation that I went down this evening to save a bundle of clothes from incineration, with the intention of taking them to the charity shop myself. I would have probably come away with more than one bin-bag if:

a) there would not have been the disorder that prevented me from effective rummaging;

b) I hadn’t been scared away by the potential of someone coming in on my act of environmental goodness, thinking, instead, I was simply taking for my own requirements (which we sometimes do, and I shouldn’t even be ashamed at the idea, bit it is a bit embarrassing being caught routing through rubbish).

There are often things left in the recycling room, whether it be clothes, furniture or electrical goods. I’m sure a fair amount of furniture gets claimed be fellow residents, less so about the TV’s, CD players etc. It would be very useful if the previous owners could attach a post-it to the their discarded goods, letting others know if something is in working order, or (if not) what the fault is. Within the last few months I’ve seen four TVs, and even the environmental impact of one of them being reclaimed is considerable.

On a positive note, Lotten, our neighbour below us, seems to have got the wheels of motion turning for a communal compost to be installed in the recycling/rubbish room. Details are scarce just now, but the very fact that the idea is being discussed is a step in the right direction. Well done, Lotten.