We went for a long walk over to the old part of Oxelösund last night, admiring the old homes and enjoying the peace and tranquility - well, until a big freight train screeched by and broke the spell. The water looks beautiful and the islands appeared as though they were floating on an air cushion.




We also prepared our voting papers for the morning. A few people have asked me why I bother to vote, especially in Sweden where it is not compulsory. But I treasure the freedom to be able to cast a vote, viewing it as a fundamental right and the most basic means by which I can have a voice in how my government works. By voting, I help determine who will represent me, my family, my neighbours in my community, my county and my country. And yes, I believe each vote can make a difference.

I take being a citizen of Sweden quite seriously. It means far more to me than simply ease of travel with an EU passport or not having to front up to immigration to get my Australian passport stamped every three years. It is a conscious and serious commitment to this country and I make a real effort to embrace Sweden's ideals, its values and its way of life. Citizenship enables me to take advantage of all of the rights of being Swedish as well as being aware that I also have responsibilities. This is now my home and I want to do all that I can to make it feel like my home.




It is bright and sunny today, so I decide to take advantage of it and do some washing. I actually wash our basic clothes by hand each day as it’s quite easy to leave them to dry in a line which we set up in the main cabin while we sail. But as it is breezy and sunny today, I want to wash the towels, sheets, quilt covers and pillow cases. I have a “Wonder Wash” that a good friend sent me from Australia. This is a small barrel that you partially fill with water, soap and the clothes to be washed. The lid is screwed on, providing a pressurised seal, then the barrel is placed on a frame, a handle attached to the side and you turn the handle for two minutes. Repeat with rinse water then wring out the clothes and peg them out. It is perfect for boating or camping and I use it all of the time. Lars-Göran strings up lines between the forestay and mast and I hang everything out to dry. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I saw that Björn and his workmates have piloted another ship into port overnight and this one is a whopper. It sticks out way over the pier and dwarfs everything in sight. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to manoeuvre such an enormous ship in a tight harbour. I salute the skills of the pilots who had to ease this monster into port in the dark.




First on our list of tasks for the day was to lodge our absentee votes. So, how does it all work? They are very organised over here and elections are held on the third Sunday in September every four years. What a welcome change from the crazy system we have in Australia where politicians consult the pollsters and call an election on the flimsiest pretext when they feel sure they might have a chance of winning. This way, the party elected and the voters know that they have a four year mandate.

The other thing I like is that we have all the elections on the same day. So we vote for a new federal government, a county government, local government and referendum question (if applicable). It's so neat, clean and sensible and I love it. In Sweden, you don't vote for an individual but rather for a party. You can read the article How Sweden's election works if you want a more detailed description. This meant that poor Björn had to collect the voting papers for every party in the election to bring to us. I had no idea that it would have been so complicated for him, but he said he didn't mind going into centrum in Nynäshamn and doing that. For me, it was my first opportunity to vote here, so it was all new.

In the local post office, they set out voting ballots for every party, each containing a list of the party's candidates. I couldn't use these papers because Oxelösund is in a different county and local government area, so it was lucky that Björn had thought to bring it all with him.




You vote by placing the ballot of the party of your choice in an envelope. The papers are colour coded: yellow for the federal parliament, blue for the county and white for the local government (in my case, Nynäshamn). In our case, there was a fourth pink coloured ballot to vote either yes or no in the Stockholm referendum about congestion tax.

Each ballot paper has a list of that particular party's candidates. You can just put the ballot straight into an envelope, or if you want you to you can place an X in the box next to the name of a candidate if you'd like them to be placed top of the list. If you don't place any cross, then the party's order applies and this order determines which candidates will get seats. The number of seats each party has to allocate to candidates depends on the percentage of votes the party receives, so the order of candidates is important to determining who will serve and who won't.




To vote, you grab the ballot for the party you want in each of the areas (national, county, local) go behind a screen and put the papers into little individual envelopes. We actually did that already the night before. Once the ballots are in their envelopes, their colour will show through a window in the bottom (click on the picture to enlarge it and you can clearly see the different colours) and this allows the envelopes to be identified and placed in the correct ballot box. If I was voting on the actual election day, I would do that myself, but as this was a postal vote, I handed the envelopes along with my voting card (the röstkort you see pictured) and my ID card to the person behind the counter, who checked that they were correct and bundled them together to be sent in for counting.

So how did I vote? Well, let's just say that I will not be sad if Göran Persson and his buddies have to look for a new job on Monday.

Next, we set off in Björn's car for Nyköping. He has a Jeep Wrangler that has a name - Brunte. I love the way he names the things he owns. He and his wife also have a campervan called Skalman, which is an excellent name for a home that you carry around with you. The jeep of course is a working car and again Brunte is a perfect name for a workhorse. I think the closest English explanation would be "good old Dobbin".

In Nyköping is a town of around 35,000 people but despite its size, there are many areas where you feel as though you are out in the country.




Nyköping has a lot to offer the visitor interested in history, with the 13th century St. Nicholai Church and the castle with the Royal Tower (now a museum), where the infamous feast of Nyköping took place at Christmas in 1317. King Birger invited his brothers Erik and Valdemar to a sumptious banquet here. After the feast, he ordered his two brothers to be seized and cast into the castle dungeon and then threw the key into the river, thus passing a death sentence on them. Another of those gruesome European family squabbles.




It is all peace and tranquility in Nyköping today and as you wander along the sleepy river it's hard to imagine that such a violent scene took place on this very spot all those years ago.




It was the river area that captured our attention the most and we walked along the leafy banks and down to the harbour area to look around, bought an overpriced ice-cream at one of the many restaurants that line the old harbour and looked at some of the handcraft shops in the old part of town. One thing we did notice was that there was absolutely no place where you could park free. Even on the street they charged a fee for parking and we had been warned in advance that the parking inspectors were really vigilant.




We had more of a walk around the centrum area, though Lambi was feeling the heat quite a bit today, so we had to curtail that a bit. We found the shopping area was fairly compact, with everything within walking distance and most of the big Swedish retail chains represented. I liked the eastern part of town where there were the small, exquisite and exclusive shops. In order for us to sail here involves taking quite a long detour along a marked channel, so we were glad of the opportunity to be able to visit the town by car instead.

After mooching about for the afternoon, we made our way back to Oxelösund, which with only 10,000 people is much more our size of town. The central square is large and well tended, with the shops arranged around it. Lars-Göran and Lambi waited outside while I dashed into ICA and bought some last minute things for dinner this evening. While we have plenty of food onboard, I wanted a few luxuries and special goodies to offer our guest, especially as he had been so kind to us.




Björn has asked if Lars-Göran wants to come out and drop off another pilot and he sped out the door, leaving me barefoot and in the kitchen as usual. I don't really mind as I know they'll have fun together and I can cook dinner in peace. I'm very much a lone cook who likes her kitchen to herself. I can also have some time to digest the last couple of days and to think about home. We are so close now that it is starting to feel real. I hadn't wanted to think about it before as it seemed so far away and that we were never going to get there. Ironically, now we are within striking distance, the burning desire to get there has abated and we are thinking of just drifting around the Stockholm archipelago until the weather turns. Are we mad or what?

Anyway, "the boys" will be back soon, so I had better set the table and pour the drinks, so we can celebrate the fact that now I can vote in Sweden. Thankyou, it makes me feel so welcome. I love this country!