Ohhhhhhhh it's cold out! After glorious spring sunshine which had lasted for days and days, we woke up to gusty winds, thick fog and gray skies. I stepped outside with Lambi into blowing rain and brrrrrrrrrrr downright icy cold winds. You can barely see across to the island on the other side of our bay.




It's hard to believe that they forecast summer conditions this week - and even harder to believe that I actually took them seriously! That will teach me. I used to love the rain in Adelaide. Rainy weekends especially provided an excuse to stay in bed or lie for hours on end on the couch, with either tea and a good book or some bad television and a bowl of ice cream depending on the time of the month. Even walking around in the rain could be fun too, especially during a nice autumn rain on a misty day. And a summer thunderstorm even more so. But I think that has worn off in Sweden as we get so many rainy days during spring and summer. A friend was saying yesterday that there are 164 rain days per year here!

It is harder to take photos on such grey days. There is no contrast to excite you and everything looks drained of colour and life. The crocus have closed up, waiting for sunshine before opening again, the daffodils are still not out, nor are the tulips. Everything is just waiting.




This week has been busy again and there seems a lot of things still left to get through and plan before we go away. We have amassed a lot of literature now, bought or borrowed all of the charts we need and started letting friends know that we are heading their way. One friend was disappointed that our route does not pass the town where she lives, so I jokingly told her that she ought to get her dog out to dig a canal between their lake and the Göta Kanal. She answered that the dog was busy digging a hole from Sweden to Australia.

That reminded me of when I was a kid in Adelaide and I was told that if I dug a hole in the ground, I would come out in China. Did your mum tell you that? Well, it seems that clearly my mum lied to me! This rather nifty Google Maps hack shows where you’d come out if you dig straight through the Earth. Contrary to what my mother told me, digging a hole in my backyard wouldn’t get me to China. Instead, I’d have the Northern Atlantic Ocean pouring into Adelaide. If you want to end up in China, you need to live in Argentina. I wonder if I should tell Carolyn that if Sophie continues with her hole, they will end up somewhere between New Zealand and Antartcica? Some dogs of course have far more important things to do.




We have another lovely long weekend this week, with Valborg on Sunday and May Day on Monday. We are heading off to the bay where the big bonfire will be lit - our first overnight trip out on the boat this season. Valborg is celebrated in Sweden in different ways, depending on the part of the country you live in. However, the lighting of extremely large bonfires is a popular way to celebrate all over Sweden, where people have been gathering material for their bonfires for months ahead. The lighting bonfires is an ancient custom related to keeping away evil spirits, demons and witches.

Nowadays Valborg is simply seen as an official welcoming of spring and a way to finally farewell winter. The spring will literally be sung in with special spring songs. Choral singing is very typical of Swedish Valborg celebrations, with many of the traditional songs dating from as back as the 19th century. The most popular and traditional spring festivities are held in the old university towns of Uppsala, Lund and Gothenburg, with its famous carnival parade. In those cities, the students party all day and all night (and even perhaps longer than that). It is also the king's 60th birthday, so there will be celebrations for that as well in Stockholm.

So we will be joining in our local bonfire, watching from the boat, with good food, good wine and good company. The forecast is for a cold, but clear and sunny day - it should be great.