We have eaten reindeer stew, meatballs in lingon gravy with juniper berries, pickled herrings, herrings in mustard sauce, rye bread in varying recipes and tomato ghoulash as well as more familiar dishes. The food tasted so fresh and wholesome in sharp contrast to the stale, stodgy food that the UK has to offer. Wine is not their preferred drink of course and since the sun is well over the yard arm, I think now is an appropriate time to address our wine deficiency! Alcohol is horrendously expensive in Sweden but then the government encourages people to moderate their consumption in the interests of their health, which they regard highly. They tend to drink beer or Schnaps with their meals - alcohol is not served before mid-day and the drinking age limit is 20.
A Taste of Scandanavia
I was expecting quite a culture shock but found the citizens of Stockholm to be warm and friendly without exception who all spoken perfect English without any discernable accent, and the city has the air of a well run and efficient system. The four inches of snow already lying across the city didn't impede vehicular progress at all and nor did the further 6 inches of snow that fell on Friday cause traffic to grind to a standstill on streets and motorways as it did in the UK on Wednesday. I left work at 5 pm on Wednesday thinking 30 minutes would be ample time to get to the doctors surgery for my appointment - but FOUR HOURS LATER I finally skidded my way into Kepwick.
It started to snow at 4pm so everybody downed tools and made a mad dash for their homes. At first, there was only snow on the roads which isn't such a problem to drive on so why it took an average of 10 minutes to get round each round-about, while remaining stationary for long periods of time along the V and H roads, I really don't know. But by 7 o'clock, it began to freeze and then the roads were a bit tricky so the dumb poms went even slower. I couldn't get through to Pete to let him know where I was because the network was overloaded. He and Bryan left work at 7.20 and came up the A5 which wasn't half as bad. They had to drop an auditor off at the station which delayed their relatively trouble free run home, arriving here just before 9pm.
To while away the time as I inched across town, I listened to the radio, tried ringing Pete and Kristian alternately, nibbled on a packet of mixed nuts from my handbag and tried not to think about the increasing need of toilet facilities. I heard on the radio that the M25 wasn't moving in either direction and Luton and Stansted had cancelled several evening flights.
We tried ringing Ryanair but we couldn't get through and they shut down their phone service at 10 pm anyway. So we had a quick tea, made sure the boys were OK and left for the airport just after midnight. It took 4 hours to get to Stansted; sleeping bodies were scattered throughout the terminal as they waited for rescheduled flights while early morning flights such as ours were leaving almost on time.
Needless to say, we had a terrific time in Stockholm. The temperature there had warmed up to a more comfortable -2 since the week before when it was just a tad too chilly for their liking at -13. Out of doors we wore our thick padded jackets, Russian fur hats bought from Northampton, gloves, woolly socks and boots and I wore long-johns under my black pants. We were toasty warm within our insulation and because we walked everywhere, even worked up a sweat. When it snowed, the air was dead still and the snow flakes were dry and powdery. As you will see from the photos, it was magical.
