Good Evening

Our dinner at Den Gyldene Freden was terrific.  Though we were tempted by the set menu, we decided to make our own choices a la carte and cliche or no, my meatballs were superb and were served with delicious lingonberries (of course). Mark opted for something a little less obvious: Herring three ways followed by breaded pigstrotter and ham hock served with lentils.  I'd substituted a champagne cocktail for a starter... ;-)

We loved both our desserts.  He chose rhubarb jelly with various rhubarby accompaniments; I chose a similar raspberry assortment.  Yummy - and beautifully presented.

A good job we had a bit of a walk back to the hotel to work off some of that full tummy feeling!

Off to Karlstad tomorrow.

Good day

It's been a fine day here and we've enjoyed looking around the city.  Our plans for a visit to the Carl Larsson exhibition were thwarted however- Monday isn't a good day to visit a museum in Stockholm, sadly.

 

Since it was a fine morning, we headed for Skansen, a long established open air museum on a neighbouring island.  We enjoyed the walk over there (via a bridge!)but found it deserted, spending most of our time watching a family of brown bears playing in a muddy puddle in which some very thick ice had formed.

This little one hadn't quite worked out that you can't move a piece of ice that you're sitting on!  Very cute.

The rest of the day, we've spent enjoying the atmosphere of the city.  We're very fond of Stockholm and like the fresh air and the fine architecture in between the more brutal concrete structures.  There are some beautiful buildings with very interesting roof shapes, some topped off with a tower or two and maybe a decorative weathervane.

A blue sky provides the perfect backdrop, don't you think?

Out to dinner tonight, at a restaurant recommended by the concierge here since our favourite Prinsen was booked for a private party.  We enjoyed a fine dinner last night as guests of Mark's Swedish colleague Bo and his wife Mette, at the Grand Hotel - one thing about Swedish cuisine is that we never go hungry!

Role reversal

Leaving Terminal 5 this morning en route to Stockholm, we waited patiently as the plane was prepared and watched the crew board some fifteen or twenty minutes late.  Though we said nothing, there was something familiar about the First Officer...

As the Captain introduced himself and the crew (in a jovial, Radio 2 fashion which brought a smile to quite a few faces around us) we immediately recognised the name of his colleague in the driving seat.  The last time we'd been in his company, I'd been driving and he'd been in the back, for he was one of Edward's old schoolfriends.  This time, the roles were reversed and I'm pleased to say that he and his Captain did a grand job of getting us here safely and comfortably.

During the flight, he came back to see us and it was great to see another fine young man doing well in his career.  Sorry, Richard, we could see beyond that smart British Airways uniform -  you haven't really changed at all from the impish eleven year old who sat in the back of my car giggling on the way home!

Mothering Sunday

Fourth Sunday in Lent and therefore Mothering Sunday here.  I was lucky to spend much of yesterday in Edward's company and brought home a box of something sweet to enjoy later.  Bettine is coming to lunch and she and I will enjoy a cooking free day as Mark's got the oven gloves on today.

In the background of all of that, someone else will be remembered too.

Sorted

We found the European writing implement mountain in the contents of the old study.

 

Now sorted into pencils, ready for the daily sudoku challenge

and pens of varied origins.  One bears the name and address of a company solicitor in Birmingham and has outlived both the company and the solicitor.

A waste bin was filled with the remains of many charity ballpoint pens and dried up felt tips.  But in the middle of all this treasure, I found a relic of the old days.

  

Remember these?

A quick wash under the tap and a new ink cartridge and it was working beautifully.  My handwriting was transformed as the enforced slower speed enabled the letters to be formed differently, properly.  I found myself remembering when I was ink monitor at school and trusted to fill small inkwells in each child's desk, sometimes having to put a piece of chalk in there too, to soak up a minor overflow.  I remembered History lessons with Miss Green, who charged a penny for the school fund if anyone needed to refill their pen during her dictation of her notes.  "Bill" Sykes, the German teacher, who would add arms and legs to ink blots when he marked our homework...we tried to create blots from time to time, just for fun.

But before I had written more than a couple of lines, I was also reminded of the reasons why we (and our teachers) all welcomed the arrival of the roller ball pen.