Yay. It's the Malmö Festival this week.
Everything is free, so it's all good for the poor and unemployed like myself. I saw three free movies and a concert over the weekend (although one of these was free thanks to the lovely Jenny). Yay. Even better, they were all rather good. I'll be seeing Lost in Translation tonight.
It's very cheering to read about the crappy weather in both Edinburgh and Wellington. Thank you, Cal and Giffy. I am seriously shiftless and needing to sort out my life, but at least it's still nice weather here. :-)
Having reached the grand old age of twenty-seven myself, this was my cheering quote for today:
'A woman of seven-and-twenty,' said Marianne, after pausing a moment, 'can never hope to feel or inspire affection again; and if her home be uncomfortable, or her fortune small, I can suppose that she might bring herself to submit to the offices of a nurse, for the sake of the provision and security of a wife.'
I'm re-reading Sense and Sensibility, but I think I should stop now . . .
Apparently that's a Swedish proverb. Just a little too appropriate for me today, eating oh-so-tasty baked goods in the park.
I had a great Swedish speaking day today. I had some almost-conversations in the shops, where the kindly shopkeepers pretended to understand me, so I felt terribly successful. Hurrah.
We just spent a lovely long weekend in Stockholm. It's a nice city in the summer heat. It's all built on islands, so it's possible to take ferries everywhere on a hot day. Apparently the Stockholm archipelago has 24,000 islands. Perhaps it could be the place where I finally realise my dream of having an island of mine own.
We stayed with Patrick's friends, and slept on their balcony. I hadn't considered sleeping on my balcony (it's a lot smaller), but I may have to give it a try one of these nights.
We touristed our way through Gamla Stan, the island containing much of the old town. It's chockablock with tourists, cute little cafes with umbrellas, and very dull royal buildings, but with excellent palace guards. Particularly loving the hats. Goodness, I wish they had dress-up opportunities for tourists. In fact, perhaps they could staff the palace very cheaply indeed that way. It'd go down a bomb on the international tourist circuit. ;)
We also took in the Vasa museet. The Vasa was a ship built in 1628. It sank on its maiden voyage (not enough ballast, apparently). Someone found it again in the 50s, and there's been some dedicated restoration work. It's an awesome sight.
I took their 10-month old baby on a walking tour of the Modern Art Museet. It gave me a whole new perspective on modern art. An enormous mobile with alphabet letters? Fantastic. Fizzing electrical sparks as artwork? Just the ticket to keep the nipper entertained.
My favourite place was Junibacken. It's an exhibition based on the stories by Astrid Lindgren. e.g. Pippi Longstocking (aka Pippi Långstrump) and Emile. Goddamn it was magical. There's a train through a world of stories. Yes, it sounded crap to me too, until I went. The train doesn't just chug around on the ground, it whirls through the air, up inside the crazy helicopter man's house on the roof, with secret doorways opening in front of you . . . One moment you are passing storybook miniature cottages, the next you are shrunk to Borrower size, being menaced by a huge rat, surrounded by buttons and candle stubs the size of a table. You pass through the afterlife, and go underground in the troll caves.
As soon as I was finished, I wanted to go on it again. Luckily I was distracted by Pippi Longstocking's house. I played. :)
In Swedish, 'slut' means end/finish. You can imagine how much amusement that provides me. Every shop in town has large signs advertising their 'slut rea' (rea meaning sale), and the decision on my residency was made by a beslutsfattare. Tee hee.
Still no job. Instead, I'm getting quite tanned from the large amounts of time I am spending in the sun every day. Obviously 'quite tanned' for me means off-white and freckly, but it's been good times. I'm recovered now from the whole bronchitis episode, which means I really have no more excuses for failing to sort my life out. I've been sending out CVs, but I think I need a more cunning plan.
Patrick had a gig on Saturday night. It was the first time I've seen them perform live, so that was great. Considering electronica is not really my thing (ssh, don't tell anyone) I still really enjoyed it, and had fun times dancing and checking out the pretty Swedish people.
I find the streets eerily quiet here at night. Perhaps I haven't been in the right places at the right times, but there was none of the raucousness of Edinburgh on a Saturday night. It was mostly mad drunk people in the 'Burgh, so I don't miss them all that much, except in the way that you get used to things.
I also went to a party in a bush on Thursday. Not being particularly good with Swedish (now there's the understatement of the year), I didn't get the difference between a party being in *the* bush or *a* bush.
So we arrived at the park to find many bicycles propped up against trees, and distant sounds of music and laughter. I was looking around the park in the twilight, when Patrick disappeared head-first into the nearest bush.
It turns out it was actually an avenue of bushes that had grown together over the top, providing a playhouse for big kids with lots of candles and drinks. It was a delightful idea for a party venue, but I'm glad I wasn't trying to find it by myself . . .