It's been somewhat of a nostalgic week for me on Swedish tv. We normally don't get much in the way of Aussie television here, except for he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned-by-name (better known as moron). But this week, I've seen two Aussie shows. The first was a great interview with my hero Nick Cave. He spoke about his music, his influences and where he's going musically. He also read excerpts from his book And the Ass Saw the Angel. I've always enjoyed his dark, melodic style and it was a good chance for my rather bemused Swedish husband to get a glimpse of him. I'm not too sure that he found it at all re-assuring as Nick was at his acidic best - but I liked it!

The second show is a series called Kylie’s Kök (that's approximately pronounced "shurk" by the way and means "kitchen"). Not, it's NOT about Ms Minogue, but Kylie Kwong, a young Chinese-Australian chef from Sydney (billy kwong at Surry Hills). While she prepares scrumptious dishes using the very best Australian ingredients, it's not just another cooking show. Intertwined in the series is her story of life growing up as an Australian born Chinese girl. It's quite fascinating to see and I've really enjoyed it.

Today we saw something to make Lars-Göran smile:



Can't see it? No, it's not the glorious blue sky (though that's good too), it's not the sunshine (it may look warm, but it's still -7C).... Still can't see anything different about our building? Top right hand corner? Okay, let's take a closer look:



The icicles are melting! They are dripping down in the midday sun, which is a sign that spring is on the way. Lars-Göran is happy when the thaw arrives. It means that very soon the boat season will begin in earnest - and nothing makes him happier than long days of sunshine sailing in the archipelago. There is also the added benefit of no more posing for strange pictures in the snow. No more fending off sharks that leap through the frozen playground to attack Lambi:



(Well, that's our story and we're sticking to it!)

Today, little Bruce went for a fly around the apartment and landed on the coffee table where he had a snoop around for any stray crumbs or anything else that was vaguely edible. We were able to snap this close up view of him:



It's so nice to have them flying free in the apartment, even if they are eating it up at an alarming rate. We are going to take them with us on the boat, but I doubt they'll be let out of the cage as the entire interior of our boat is beautiful mahogony and I suspect that if they start snacking on that, then they may end up on the dinner plate.

I was saddened to read in Sue's latest blog about poor Buster and his broken leg. It's awful when pets get sick and we send Buster a big "Get Well" from Sweden. Now if you really want to help him get better, I think you should consider a sleeping arangement like the one afforded to our little friend, Molly.

Show the boys, Sue and see what they think! *grin*

This is fairly typical of how dogs are treated in Sweden. They really are seen as "man's best friend" and as such they have full run of everything.

I was reassured when I saw this picture of Molly. It meant that I wasn't the only insane person in this country, sharing a bed with a dog who wants to sleep IN the bed.

Till next time!