pjohansson

Last 5-6 weeks have just passed so quickly. Went back to Sweden to spend a few weeks there and it was fantastic. Very warm and sunny throughout the time I was there. Still had to do some work as I am self-employed, however it is so much easier when you are close to family, friends and the sea.

Will write more soon and share some lovely pictures.

Back in Sweden for a few weeks, great to be spending some time by the sea. The weather is absolutely glorius. There is a reason why they call this the island of sun and wind!

First get together of family and friends tonight - the annual pub crawl! This small village used to have only 2 pubs so 3 years ago when there were suddenly 6 or 7 pubs/bars/restaurants open in the village, we decided to go on the first pub crawl ever in the village! Then a facebook group was formed and for this year, invites to all 200+ members of the group went out inviting everyone to join us on the pub crawl. We are not sure how many will actually show up tonight but hopefully there will be 20-25 of us trying to complete the course. This year there is one or two new places open, so will be trickier than ever before...

Photos and stories to follow in the next couple of days. Watch this space!

Today's story seems to have been the 78-year old Swede who went out drinking in Helsingor (Denmark - the city where Hamlet takes place) and did not have enough money to pay for the ferry ticket to go home. So he steals a jingy and then starts rowing home. Halfway he falls asleep and starts drifting.

Story ended happily - the coast guard picks him up and takes him back to Helsingor and puts him on the next ferry to Sweden. Why did they just not drop him off in Sweden?

My email have been jammed by friends sending me various news links to the story on BBC, yahoo, cnn etc... All asking me the same question: Is this someone you know?

LOL!

Off to Berlin for a quick trip tomorrow. Never been before and unfortunately I will not see much of it either. It is one of those arrive late afternoon and leave the next morning trips. I am running a networking event in the evening so I am going out there with a couple of the other organisers.

Hope to see at least a little bit!

Currently in Durham where I have spent the midsummer weekend at a friend's house. In true midsummer style, the rain was pouring down as we were cooking on the BBQ! A little (or in this case a lot) of rain does not scare me from getting the BBQ going. We had set up a reasonable sized cover so we at least could get the BBQ lit and do the cooking outside. Needless to say, the rest of the party was spent indoors.

On the menu were burgers, sausages, chicken, kebabs, seafood skewers, and fruit & marshmallow skewers. With this there was lots of different salads - potato, couscous, tomato/mozzarella, and mixed - and home made dips and sauces. I added some citrus marinated salmon, meatballs and strawberry/meringue cake (just like my grandmother always makes) to give it that Swedish smorgasbord feeling. Maybe I should have got some herring too, but I would have been the only one to eat it and I am not a great fan of it either...

So yet another rainy midsummer weekend has passed. Things are just as they should be!

Had a couple of business meetings near Borough Market today so made a little tour around the market to pick up some goodies for the weekend. A big lump of fresh buffalo mozzarella, focaccia bread, fresh organic tomatoes, green Italian olives (that I absolutely adore), dessert in the shape of strawberries and cheesecake parcels, and some spicy sausages. Making a little Friday night treat for myself and the boyfriend.

My flat got invaded by ants this week - really tiny little buggers. I work from home most of the time so I was sitting at the table in my kitchen/living area working on the laptop and all of a sudden there were a few of them on the top of the table. I squashed them of course... but then there were more... after a while I tried to figure out where they came from and I still do not understand where they came from.

I live on 3rd/4th floor so it is not like they could come in from the garden, Could have been from the roof terrace but I actually do not think so. They seemed to come from a corner of my flat at the opposite end - almost as if they are coming from below the floor. Or even from the abandoned place next door.

I have now sprayed all possible places they could come from and the flat is ant free (for the moment at least). They better stay away or else...

Kind of celebrating that Sweden managed to score 2 goals against Greece last night. I have to admit that I have been a bit reluctant to get carried away with the whole European Championships. I am simply not a football fan, but I guess that I should make an effort now that my English boyfriend has decided to support Sweden throughout the championships as England did not qualify.

I started watching the football last night and I think I managed a total of 5 minutes during which that the Greeks were doing some lame 'kicking the ball around between themselves to wast time'. Even me, who do not have an eye for football, could tell it was making a very boring game of football. They should not be allowed to play. Then my boyfriend told me that they won 4 years ago. How is that even possible? Let's hope they weren't playing that lame football then.

After watching the Greeks being just lame, I decided I had better things to do... and from the shouting coming from the boyfriend I could tell that Sweden scored 2 goals in the end. The first one, the boyfriend said was one of the most beautiful goal he had ever seen (if England would have been in the Euros then I am sure he would not have thought so). The second goal was appearantly someone on the Swedish team tripping on the ball and accidentally getting it into the net. Serves the Greeks right for playing lame football.

Yay, Sweden won their first game of the Euros!