Today we had the following conversation :

L-G: Do you have lions in Australia?
Marie: Well.. yes, but only in zoos.
L-G: Ha Ha. Very funny. Lions are quite big in Sweden.
Marie: I know. I've seen lions. But they are native to Africa, not Australia.
L-G: *long silence and looking at me like I'm mad*

Then it dawns on me that he doesn't mean lions, he means Lions. Oops! Well, it was an honest mistake. I had to explain to him what a platypus was yesterday and we had just been discussing flying pigs, so it was a natural conclusion to draw.

The reason he even thought of the non-animal lions was that today was the annual Lion's Club Market day here in Nynäshamn and we spent a fun morning mooching around the stalls and buying a few things as well as chatting to friends and soaking up the atmosphere.

The main street was blocked to traffic and filled with stalls. It was very busy when we arrived.



When you remember that 4 people in the street usually means that it's rush hour, we were quite taken aback at the numbers. The stalls were a mixture of the usual things that you seem to get everywhere these days (cheap jewellery places, t-shirts etc), some handcraft stalls (some of there were derivative, others were really lovely),food stalls selling breads, various smoked sausages, spices, jams, honey etc, CDs stalls, books, places selling wreaths for next week's Alla helgons dag and of course sweets and rides for the children. There was also a huge flea market set up with piles of goodies, books, bric-a-brac - in other words, something for everybody.



I bought some cute socks at one stall, having spotted a pair with flying pigs on it. For those of you in Sweden who know me through the expat sites where you can have a user picture atvar, you'll recognise that mine is usually this one, so of course I had to have those socks. And because they were 20kr each or 8 for 100kr and I'm such a bargain hunter, I simply had to pick out another 7 pairs



And yes, I'm aware there are only 7 socks in the picture, but Lars-Göran declared that my black socks with the flames on them were too tasteless to be in the photo. Meanie! Anyway, you can see I also chose cows, sheep, penguins, bears, cats and bees. So is it any wonder I mixed up the whole lion thing?

We then took a look at the book stall. There wasn't anything in Swedish there that we wanted, though I liked some Christmas cards that he had with Nynäshamn motifs on them - really lovely paintings of the town. Annoyingly, there were no prices on anything and while we were discussing them, the stall holder overhearing us talking English asked if I wanted to see his English books. I went around the back and looked through a box of what he had - mostly Mary Higgins Clark rubbish, so I only ended up with the Christmas cards.

After we went along to the flea market and of course began with the books.



As you can see, Lambi is enjoying herself with a great view of everything happening around her and being at an ideal patting height, she had her fair share of admiring fans chatting to her. As luck would have it, one of Lars-Göran's friends was serving on the flea market, so we managed a great bargain for a big bag full of books that we found - some in English (including a lovely curry cookbook) and the rest in Swedish. I also found a couple of smaller pyrex dishes that I wanted and L-G spotted yet more things to fill up the boat with. All in all a very productive and enjoyable few hours.

On the way home, we noticed that the police had set up a big breathalyser sting at the exit to the car park. There were at least 10 police there testing people. I pointed out to Lars-Göran that it was only 3pm and that people were unlikely to be drunk just yet. However, he told me that Friday is a big binge drinking and party night and people wake up on Saturday with a hangover and take the old hair of the dog cure (ie a couple of drinks to steady the nerves) and head out for the day. So he expected them to nab a few over the limit.

This reminds me to tell you about the police hats over here. I laugh every time I see them. I'm used to the SA police uniforms, based I'd guess on their British counterparts, with trousers, blue shirt with collar, tie, jacket and cap that looks like this. Sorry, couldn't find a better picture. However, over here, they have these real tough guy uniforms with big mean looking boots but hilarious hats that look like they belong on an episode of the old puppet show Thunderbirds. Don't believe me? Then compare: Thunderbirds and Swedish police. Am I right or am I right?

Once home, I made a batch of scones and we had our own little Devonshire tea and tried to decide where to fit in these new books. Our shelves are overflowing.