"April, april din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill!" is a cry heard all over Sweden today - April Fool's Day. The translation of that little line is: "April, April you stupid herring, I can fool you whenever I want!"

The custom of fooling people on the first day of April is very old tradition, dating from the 1600s. As legend has it, the origin of April Fools day comes from when the date of the new year used to fall on April 1st, and was moved back to January 1st. All those who continued to celebrate it on April 1st were referred to as April Fools.

There has been a tradition of funny newspaper stories appearing on this day and there is always a keen interest in picking out which is the fake story. I haven't read the papers today, so I don't know what the story is this year. Actually I do, but I'm too tired to type it out - though I can offer you the link in Swedish - Ny svensk upptäckt gör 3G onödigt

Some funny ones I came across on the net though were on Ryan Air where they advertised this deal! And on another site where they offered Scroll and Sniff Technology.

April in Sweden is also know for its cunning weather. One minute the sun is shining and the next it is raining...

But so far the weather has held as sunny, though quite cold. Even after all this time, I find it strange to be so rugged up even though it's sunny.

Those spring signs are appearing all over the place now, Just check out how much those sälg trees have sprouted. I love them! We used to call them pussy willow in Australia. I don't know if that is their real name or not, but they always seemed so exotic to us. Here they are incredibly common, but I still love them.

Hey! They match my coat's collar.

The other signs of spring are all around as well. Flowers are appearing in the woods and the bulbs are busy poking their way through the ground, in the lawns and in all of the gardens. The snowdrops are bursting out in flower and here outside of my apartment are a small bunch of early crocus sunning themselves.

It is always amazing to see this little bunch of flowers force their way up out of the gravel on the footpath near the wall of the building and open up to the sun each morning. They look so delicate and pretty, but they must be so tough to live in such a harsh environment.

One of the strange things about spring here is how dead everything looks after winter. It is so unexpected to an Aussie. I associate the end of winter/beginning of spring with lush greenesss. We have had winter rain, the grass and the evergreen trees are reflecting that bounty and with the rapid new growth and flowers the countryside looks vibrant, green and lush.

Not here in Sweden, where the grass has been lying under snow for at least 5-6 months and once the snow melts, it appears as dead looking, brown and quite ugly. Add to that the trees that are bare of leaves and also quite dead looking and the bare patches of mud and the early spring environment can be quite cheerless. What saves it is the blue skies, sunshine and the increased number of daylight hours. The sun rose in Stockholm today at 6:15 AM and sets at 7:32 PM. Already up to 13 hours of daylight and rapidly increasing. By mid-June it will be pretty much total daylight round the clock.

Today we headed up to Kista - the "silicon valley" area of Stockholm, just north of the main centre. My destination was here:



And "here" is what? Well, believe it or not,it's a school - Kista Mobila Gymnasiet. The major project in senior English is about Australia and I was asked to come and talk to them, offering an intoduction to the country and to inspire them. To do what, I wonder? *evil snigger*

So it was about the country and it's people as well as my own personal reflections - things you can't read in a book. What it's like to grow up in Australia, and to live there, something about the current political situation, what it's like to study in Australia, if it's possible to work etc. And also about what I'm doing here and about the Australians here in Sweden. And last but not least, about national stereotypes and the most frequent questions I get asked as an Australian in Sweden.

They were a great bunch of young people and I spoke for around an hour and a half with them. Funnily enough the most eagerly sought information was about Australian beer! I recommended that they try out the Dancin' Dingo bar in town and judge for themselves whether VB matches up to their expectations.

Several of them are considering Australia as a working holiday destination next year and a few want to study there as well. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in their projects. I'd like to go back and see how they view us.

So this is me in front of the classroom:



They listened, took notes, fussed over the dog and asked intelligent and sometimes funny questions. I was given a beautiful big bunch of my favourite coloured tulips as a thankyou.

Afterwards we went to visit a chandlery where Lars-Göran spent a heap of money on ropes, a new safety ladder and some bits for the boat. Then it was the long trip back home - and thus my tiredness. Old age is a pain at times.

I'll leave you with another quiz. Beat me if you can!


You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla