The other day, a friend who lives in New York sent me a couple of pictues of the unbelievably crowded commute she faces through the traffic each day. I know that there are really crowded places all over the world, but some of her pictures of overcrowding on the subway and the sheer mass of humanity jostling on the footpaths was quite frightening. It made me think about how different it is for me here and really how lucky I am to have a relatively stress free bus ride in beautiful surroundings.

First off, I would like to say that this post is NOT meant to make anyone who has a daily city commute jealous. I feel your pain. I have done long, stressful commutes to and from work for some time. I think the worst was in England where we were living in Oxford, but driving daily to the office in Pangbourne near Reading, up the perpetually clogged English motorways. And Kuala Lumpur was not much better as we had to drive from TTDI to Selangor Darul Ehsan through heavy, choking traffic jams and roadworks with a lot of maniac drivers. Quite scary.

These days, it's the bus that suffices and fully half of my journey is along lonely country roads. I am usually more inclined to see a deer, a soaring hawk, or a quietly grazing pony rather than another car on this stretch of my journey. I especially love the wooded peacefulness and open fields on my trip from here to Södertälje and I wanted to share it with you.




The morning begins with breakfast, accompanied by the cast of Hitchcock's movie The Birds, who are all sitting in the tree opposite the apartment building, occasionally swooping down into the garden in a sweeping wave to feast on the last of the autumn berries. I wish they had come closer as they are sidensvans or waxwings - a really pretty little bird and lovely to watch as they hop about busily, chattering to each other.

This is followed by a ten minute stroll down through the sleepy town, where three cars in the street at the same time constitutes peak hour and on to the main bus stop at the railway station. Here, I stand in the sunshine watching mist rolling in from the sea and see my good friend Russell sitting in a tree at the edge of the car park. He flies down to say hello.




"Russell?" says my dear man, "Why Russell?"
"Well, he's Russell the Crow", I answer, while Lars-Göran looks at me as though I am a madwoman and mutters "I can't believe you just said that." Hmmm... believe it, baby, believe it. No need to email me in disgust as he has already groaned and hit me with a cushion on your behalf.




Now it is time to squeeze myself on board the number 783 and hope that there is a spare seat somewhere for the long trip. Hmmm... I think I'll have to go right up to the back of the bus to grab a spot. Maybe I'll sit behind that guy in the shiny blue jacket who is pretending not to look at me but wanting desperately to know what is happening with that camera he can see out of the corner of his eye. Not that he's looking, or anything. Anyway, I was on the bus many stops before he was, so he didn't have to sit right in front of me, did he?




Oh dear, he got off at some place in the middle of the woods. So it's just a few people left onboard as we wind our way through the green countryside and look out at the grazing farm animals and the old, wooden barns along the road. It is so peaceful and scenic that one can drift easily into a relaxed and contemplative frame of mind.




The fields are interspersed with woodland areas, that glisten in the early morning sunshine which casts dappled shadows and soft light in the many glades. A red deer darts through the trees as we pass, causing me to wake from my daydream state. I can relax completely on my trip as you can see that I have a guard dog taking care of my valuables in my backpack. Probably eating my lunch as well :)




All too soon, we are entering the civilised world again as the bus pulls into Södertälje. This is an interesting town and quite unusual in that it has a very large immigrant population (around 43% I believe). Despite a population of over 80,000 people, it does manage to retain a little of the small town feel, particularly around the canal area. With a genuine old town centre and surrounded by the beautiful rolling landscape of Södermanland county, it is a perfect balance of both worlds. Not that it is a museum piece - it is a varied, vibrant and active town and blends the old and the new in an innovative way.




You are never far from a glimpse of the past, even in the centre of town and peeping down the street at the crossing, the church spire catches the sun's rays and shows a welcome face to visitors and residents alike. After just over an hour on the bus, rolling through the gentle undulations of the Swedish countryside, it's time to log-in and get some work done. I'm so glad my secretary has everything totally under control.




I hope he hasn't been answering my email again. Though he is actually a lot smarter than me, so I guess his answers would make more sense.