That slight rewriting of the second line of the Australian national anthem seemed rather fitting yesterday as we made our way to the Australia Day BBQ at Hagaparken in Stockholm.



This bbq is somewhat of an institution here, having been held annually at the same location since 1997. The amazing structures you see behind us are the Koppartälten (Copper Tents), built not of copper, but wood. They date from 1787 and used to house the mess hall for the king's private palace guards. The park itself is enormous. It was developed by King Gustav III in the eighteenth century as an English-style park and in fact it even has a Versailles-type palace, Haga Slott further down towards the water. In the summer, people gather here on the rolling lawns of Hagaparken to eat grilled chicken, drink wine and to celebrate the well known Swedish poet/musician Carl Michael Bellman, whose songs of Stockholm still speak to the present day inhabitants.

But today, the rolling grass looked more like a ski field!



I have to tell you that the lovely black poodle you see here is called Aussie (and yes, he belongs to an Aussie).

Lambi was in seventh heaven as there was a small weber barbeque there at just the same height as she was - a sort of "fast food" for dogs - and it was full of wonderful smells of grilling sausages, patties and meatballs. Yes, meatballs! These were Lambi's favourite, as one or two rolled off into the snow and she latched onto them with a speed that would beat a striking cobra. We dubbed her our quality control officer - a task she undertook with great enthusiasm.

We had an interesting confrontation with an officious busy-body (one of the 9,000,000 self appointed civilian police-wannabes that seem to live here) who insisted that our bbq was too close to the historic copper tents and they would catch fire. We all thought he was a wanker - we've had this going for eight years in the same spot and not managed to burn them down. And it is damp, snowy, below zero and there are no flames on the bbq and it was in fact 10 or so metres away from the building. Still, he was muttering about ringing the fire department, so Lars-Göran offered to move the bbq to keep him quiet.

And look how far away he made us shift it. See that little black box on the ground over near the trees about 200m away? Yep, that far away. And he kept coming back to check that we hadn't moved it back. I guess if he wasn't having fun he decided that no-one else ought to either.



Lambi was a big hit in her lovely jumper and several passers-by were really taken with it and wanted to know where we got it and what the other flag was. Many, many Swedes out for a walk in the park (see, they ARE completely crazy) stopped to stare at us and wonder why we were all out having a bbq in January. We really have to have a bbq - what is Australia Day without a few burnt sausages, some potato salad and a bit of coleslaw? Perhaps we should have referred them to The Xenophobe's Guide to the Aussies, that would tell them:



The kids were out in force with their sleds and pulkas and warmly rugged up in snowsuits making the most of the slopes to burn off energy.



After a few hours chatting, eating and drinking it was time to head off for home, because unlike Australia, here in Sweden we had to go to work today.