One week down...

...only one left. Noooo!!!!

It's been quite a nice week so far. It's been mostly sunny and splendid weather, except for a few occasions when degrees have dropped well into sub-zero's and the air has been so thick you'd need a sword to cut through it (caused by my mother's inability to handle the fairly subdued chaos in the form of breadcrumbs on the counter and the occasional pair of sunglasses or used kitchenware, which could be argued is inevitable when the number of house inhabitants go up by 100%).

This was especially true Wednesday morning, which still turned out to be a lovely day. We drove to Grandma's town where she took us out to lunch (in the one and only restaurant, serving two lunch courses, both meat - luckily they had some soy stuff in the freezer and I adopted a 'don't ask don't tell' attitude with regards to the yummy gravy it came served in...). We then drove out to Söderåsen (Skåne's largest mountain-ish ridge) and had coffee and waffles in a lovely cafe (see pics below). Inevitably discussion turned to family traits and history, and we figured out that me and my sis's genetical composition is as follows:
37,5% Finnish
12,5% Swedish-Finnish (an ethnic majority composed of Swedes encouraged to move to the Finnish coast some time ago to fill up empty space, basically...)
46,875% German
3,125% Polish

later that afternoon my sis and I took a walk in the forest and picked wild blueberries and raspberries... ah, nostalgia.

Am leaving for Gothenburg in the morning to visit A, so should really go to bed. Sunday or Monday I'm off to visit M in Stockholm, and then heading down the coast homebound but stopping in Kalmar to visit F and J.

Anyway, hope I can sleep, I am quite tired but I have to keep the window open since it's so warm, and there is some seriously loud (insert appropriate term from translation of bröla: low, moo, bellow; wail, howl) of an animal I think is moose but dad claims could be deer or roe deer. It's pretty frakking loud though, definitely louder then bull wailing (and I've lived in farmland, I know what bull wailing sounds like far too well) so I'm thinking bigger animal...

Anyway, just have to catch the end of CSI and then I'm off to dreamland before getting up at 6.40, ugh (my choice though).


Lotta på Åsen, where vi 'fikade'


What must surely be the universal sign for 'here be caffeine!'

Back in the land of semi-skimmed milk (direkt övers., reds anm)

I am back in Sweden once again, and it wasn't really a culture chock this time. When I came back from living in Spain for six months it felt drastically different. The quiet takes some getting used to though, and not just the general silence but the lack of people, traffic, I dunno, all the things that make noise! At the moment I'm sitting at the open window staring out at the lilac hedge, and hearing nothing but the leaves rustling, the dog panting downstairs (just took him for a long walk, and it's actually sunny and about 24 degrees) and occasionally the faint sound of a car on some fairly distant road. It'd be perfect, except it means I can actually hear my ear noises very clearly. Usually they're muffled by the 'white noise' of suburban London (and of course, the oddity of having a fridge next to my bed...).

Thursday was the company summer party, which was fun, but felt like it went by incredibly quickly and ended quite early. Of course, Friday was a work day and most people go home by tube which stops running around midnight, but especially after living in Spain being quite drunk at 11 is usually just the start of the evening, not when you should be heading home. Feels insane to remember our usual head-to-town time when going out was about 1.30am...

On a completely unrelated note, have found a perfect vacation book. I found a review of Scarlett Thomas's latest novel in a freesheet (which I very rarely read), but after doing some reading up on her decided on purchasing 'PopCo'. This review by 'sophie-a' at amazon.co.uk in particular really hit home:

"Before reading PopCo, I was getting frustrated with the lack of books suitable to my tastes. I had read all of Haruki Murakami's books and wanted something similarly intelligent and thought provoking. Scarlett Thomas restored my faith in the female writer with this book. This book is a great read for a female reader who is sick of chick-lit and doesn't know what to go for next. Despite the girlie cover of the latest edition, this book is intelligent and witty. It is not chick-lit, but an amazing, compelling novel that stopped me from doing anything until I had finished reading it. The story appeals to the young, leftish person wondering why they are doing what they are doing in life (and anyone older who considers themself trendy but morally conscious). The excellent thing about the book is the author's ability to create characters and intertwining storylines that leave you wanting more. Once you've read this book you will begin your quest to track down the writers others."

So far it's very good, and you get a basic tutorial in cryptography. Anyway, I'd recommend it (and hope I didn't just break copyright too badly). Now, have to go get ready, am heading into Lund to meet a friend for dinner and some wino :)

The Evils of Marketing and the common cold

I might sometimes regret the decisions I made regarding my education, but hotdamn am I glad I was never tempted to go into marketing. I have to read various marketing journals as part of my job description, and if I wasn't already quite cynical I certainly would be by now.

If you ever wondered why society is seemingly going to hell in a handbasket, studying marketing will at least provide some clarity. Example: obesity. Numerous initiatives have been initiated to fight obesity as a growing health problem, such as banning advertising of sweets etc to children, and promoting nutrition labling on food products. How very delightful it then is to read about the cake industry bemoaning the fact that sales are down, and how they're thus planning strategies to 'combat the growing perception that cakes are an occasional treat rather than part of a balanced diet'. Gaaaah!!

It just seems so daft, apparently there's no point trying to get rid of anything that someone can lobby for in order to make money... Isn't that a cheerful thought (and yes, I do realize the knock-on effect a collapse of capitalism would have on the whole world, and that the whole thing is probably just an effect, not a cause... I'm just saying... it's so silly!).

Other than that, I'm getting a cold and a cough, but remain in high spirits (packing! party! home!).

On slaying and dress-shopping (which one is more horrendous I can't quite decide)

The first sunny weekend in God (or SMHI, reds anm) knows how long has passed, but I don't care, because in 4 days I am going on ho-li-day (imagine off-key jolly sing-song voice). The weather is supposed to be quite shit but I don't care either, I am seeing my family and my friends and as long as the trains aren't cancelled so I can get where I need to go, I don't care (although some sun would be awfully nice as I estimate I've gone back to being as pale as in January).

Had a quiet weekend, Saturday was 07/07/07 and the 2-year anniversary of the London bombings, and as I had some really vivid nightmares last week inspired by bomb threats and a '24' overdose, I decided to avoid public transportation... But nothing happened, and Sunday I went to town for a spot of shopping. Bought a dress! for the first time since I was about... 13? maybe, in anticipation for Thursday's company party which I keep forgetting, as it's not really the big event this week (flying home! Friday!). It's quite good timing with the party though, as it means I have to be done packing Wednesday evening as I leave straight from work on Friday, and Wednesday is so soon!

The only other major event (apart from dress-purchase) was the successful slaying of yet another gargantuan spider over my wardrobe. I don't get why they keep appearing in the same corner, and I would like to read up on spider behaviour and society (know your enemy!!) but there'd probably be pictures... Yes, I'm a wuss - but only when I'm on my own, I had quite the rep for being a courageous bug-killer at uni, I just need an appreciate audience to cheer me on and provide moral support...

Ignorance is bliss (if currently residing in London)

My friend F dropped by London for the weekend, which was a lot of fun. As I don't have internet at home anymore and we were running around sight-seeing, I didn't have any more news of attacks after Friday afternoon (when 3 out of 4 directions around our office were blocked off above ground to search/disarm bombs). Thus our only concern all weekend was trying to avoid getting drenched.

Saturday we were entirely unsuccessful at this, but spent the evening downing Cosmopolitan's at R's place which worked wonders. I can never sleep very long when I've been drinking, so I woke up promptly at 7 the next morning, and as it wasn't raining we were on the road by 8 o'clock (which I considered quite a feat, actually, considering the liberal amounts of Cosmo's consumed). Took a walk around Tower Bridge and the Royal Courts in the morning, and I had my first ever Cornish pasty. It definitely hit the spot at hungover 9am in the morning, and quite possibly lived up to 3,5 years of anticipation.

I was quite relieved to find out today that all 4 of the panel experts queried in a major Swedish news publication on whether or not going to the UK should be avoided said it was fine. One, however, suggested avoiding public transport. I'll keep that in mind, thanks...