After a week of glorious sunshine, it's turned cold and wet again. It's ice cold and frosted outside, everything looks like a glass left in the freezer too long. I think this is possibly my least favourite time of the year. Mostly because of this:



Isn't she a grotty, revolting mess? The snow is melting, leaving behind the sand and gravel mix they spread after they plow to help with grip in the ice. While it's a godsend on an icy day, it is awful when combined with slush to form huge mud tracks everywhere. Luckily, Lambi is so small I can just pop her in the sink and give her a bath. It must be really hard for those with big dogs.

I feel emotionally bruised this week. Not to mention stressed, rushed, busy, tired, ad infinito nauseum. I've been helping an expat here whose relationship has foundered and she is facing the heartbreaking task of packing up her whole life and head off into the unknown. Will she go home? Will she stay in Sweden and try to make a go of it on her own? It's been emotionally draining and very sad.

How do you handle other people's pain? Is there ever a time when it gets easier hearing that someone you care about, even if you don't know them well, is staggering under the weight of heartbreak? Or going through a major personal nightmare. I just feel so small. There should be compassion classes in high school or university where you can learn the right things to say and the right things to do. How to help others. How to make them feel better. How to stay out of the way. How to listen.

In this case, that compassion is mixed up with the thought that, but for some indefinable causality, grace of god, or maybe just incredible good effing luck, there go I. So even as I try to do what I can, which feels like nothing of course, I think, 'What if it were me going through this? What would I do?' Life can and does sometimes change in a second - you can snap your fingers and something's vanished.

In other "news" I had my hair cut short again, so I now look like this. No, I'm not in a bad mood, just utterly exhausted from helping with packing up Jen's stuff. I've also been helping an American expat here to buy a boat. Lars-Göran loves nothing better than playing with boats (not to mention spending other people's money!) so he's as happy as a pig in mud. This guy is a novice sailor who has a big plan to sail to the Mediterranean this autumn! It's quite an undertaking and we are doing our best to see he gets the best boat for the voyage that he can afford and that it is properly equipped.

This sign deserves a place here in my blog. I cracked up when I saw it. Translated into English, it reads "We have piss in the freezer - 30Kr (about $A6)" Of course, it was more than likely written by an immigrant and should read pizza rather than pissa. As you can imagine, I've emailed that shot to everyone I can think of here in Sweden.

Looking outside now, I see that the trees are budding, and some birds have returned to the region. That can mean only one thing: mere months remain until Nynäshamn residents will be seen in public with barely any clothes on.

Even though temperatures still register in the negative region of the thermometer, small buds have started appearing on the trees and bushes around the central part of the town. It was a veritable heatwave yesterday in Stockholm with the mercury hitting 10C. Jodee (an Australian friend) and I were marvelling at the sudden emergence of the barely clad person strolling down Götgatan at lunchtime. We were still wearing 5 layers of clothes as it was biting in the wind. And we laughed at the idea of us thinking how it had "warmed up" when it was 10C.

'Holy crap!' exclaimed Jodee. 'It's hard to believe that we'll get to have spring soon, after all this cold. I'll be happy not to have to have all these layers of clothes on when I go outside.'

Likewise, others will undoubtedly be happy to strip off and stride about mostly naked, once the thermometer rises past freezing. In recent years, more and more undergarments have made their debut in Sweden as outergarments, and this year, judging by the crowd in Söder yesterday, promises to be no exception.