I received a letter this week from a friend in Adelaide (waves a big hello to Jane!) who was querying whether there were moose in Sweden as it was her understanding that these animals were only to be found in the northern states of the USA and in Canada. Jane, if the Swedish tourist authorities could hear you, they would let out a huge wail of despair as they have staked their whole Come Visit Sweden campaigns on the recognition factor of the estimated 250,000 moose (älg) who make Sweden their home. The fact that this brand-recognition-cum-brainwashing has not extended to the antipodes will come as a grave disappointment to them and I'm sure several hand-wringing sessions will be held over the next few years to contemplate where they have gone wrong.

You can see a map of their distribution across the northern hemisphere and some facts about the moose here. Apparently some purists quibble over the classification of these animals with several zoologists arguing that the north American animal is a moose and the slightly smaller European animal is an elk. But according to the Swedish tourist authorities, it is moose. And who are we to argue with them?

You cannot move anywhere in Sweden without falling over tourist stands full of moose paraphanelia - stuffed toys, t-shirts, postcards, keyrings, shot glasses, fridge magnets, socks, ties ad nauseum all graced with the image of a moose. It's a bit like the marsupial overload you get in Australia. And these road signs you see pictured here are dotted all over the country. I intend to investigate the moose more closely when we are away this summer, despite Lars-Göran's extreme reluctance. While we are at Kalmar, I intend to force him (either by laying on a real tantrum or perhaps at gunpoint) to take me to Grönåsens Älg Park, purely so I can have a close encounter with the king of the forest and report back to you, my loyal readers. So Jane, watch out for moose postcards from Sweden in the mail.

Earlier today, I stumbled on this site and had some fun composing a snapshot of keywords on my blog. The resulting picture is here:




I was quite pleased with the result, though I see there is no mention of moose. We'll have to rectify that over the next few months, won't we?

Lars-Göran's daughter sent us another letter today, this time from Sri Lanka, where she seems to be getting on really well, except for an annoying case of headlice (poor kid!) She is enjoying her work there and seems to have overcome the bout of homesickness she was suffering from a couple of weeks back. One funny thing she wrote about was being introduced to a very strange game - cricket! I had to laugh. While those of us brought up in countries that were once a part of the British Empire know this game intimately (and know that Australia are the best in the world at it!), to most of the rest of the world, the game remains a completely unfathomable mystery. I'm pretty certain that Madde thinks it's an incredibly weird sport.

It's been cold and slushy for the last couple of days, though the days are considerably lighter and that is always cheering and a sure sign that spring can't be too far off. Down at the harbour, the water birds continue to return in great numbers.




They seem to be very grateful for the family that is there to feed them as it is hard to find any kind of food at the moment with a lot of the ground still covered in snow and the water still a mishmash of crushed ice. I laughed as the family looked like they were wading through a veritable sea of ducks.




I wanted to finish with a lovely picture story sent to me by a friend in Moscow. It was a feature in the local newspaper about a wonderfully inventive Snowmen Parade on the streets. Isn't it fabulous? There are more pictures in the link.




After looking at that, I think you'll agree that snowman making ought to be included in the winter olympics. I know I'd watch it and it would have to be more interesting than bizarre sports like curling.

Now I better be off and get dinner ready and try and think of a way of smuggling these into the house. Purely for safety reasons, you understand. Reflectors are vital here when walking outside in winter and I'm thinking of these ones solely on practical grounds. Would I lie to you?