At present, I am out travelling. Two weeks in which the general idea is that I should take some time off everything (including writing) and instead immerse myself in the here and now. The here and now being our trip through various stunning locations in the US. Leaving aside the fact that I cannot ever
I have been thinking a lot about feet lately. My Fitbit device tells me I’ve walked 650 000 steps in the last month, which is the rough equivalent of 580 kilometres which in turn is roughly the equivalent of having walked from London to Edinburgh and then some—or about a third of the distance between
This morning, I had a crisp roll with my tea. Crisp rolls are one of Sweden’s contributions to the world, albeit we call them “skorpa”. Traditionally, crisp rolls were made from left over bread that was cut into slices and then baked in the oven at low heat for a very long time, resulting in
Today is Good Friday. When I was a child, this qualified as the looooongest day in the year – potentially with the day before Christmas as the single contender. In difference to the day before Christmas, Good Friday was a rather gloomy day. The music on the radio was anything but upbeat. What movies were
So here we are, on the eve of a new year. I have a tendency to go a bit blue while contemplating the year that is about to end, mainly because it has just swished by. Tempus fugit, as the old Romans would say. And time does fly, doesn’t it? Somehow, just how fast the
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but after years in relative obscurity, corduroy is back on centre stage. To me, this is a material I have very lukewarm feelings towards. I remember those dark brown corduroy jeans I had as a teenager—jeans so tight I had to lie on my back to have a chance
No sooner was our third child born but I turned to look at my husband. “We have to get better at this,” I said. “We still haven’t got the breathing down pat. We need to practise more before the next one.” The midwife looked at me as if I were crazy. Hubby, to his everlasting
Every picturesque ruin need a ghost or two, preferably with an intriguing and gripping backstory. Rarely do people who die peacefully in their sleep or due to an overconsumption of cake become ghosts. No, ghosts tend to be the impressions left behind by people who came to a violent end. Really good ghost stories also
We all have days when the “to do” list in our life is seemingly endless, when the chores pile up and life is far more grey than anything else. I guess all of us have different methods for coping with these days. Personally, I recommend some escapism: like living inside a glittering soap-bubble for some
Several years ago, I saw a stage version of Franz Kafka’s short story Metamorphosis. I’d read it before—my mother kept a steady stream of classics coming my way, and rated Kafka highly. The story left me itching all over, a disturbing mix of black humour and despair—most apt when telling the story of the young