Yesterday, it was autumn clean-up day or höststadning. For those of you not living in Sweden, this is when residents come out once a year to help prune trees and tidy up the back garden of the apartment complex. As you would expect, hardly anybody turns up. This time, out of 35 flats in this complex, only people from 5 flats came to help. Pathetic!

Lars-Göran cut back a lot of tangled ivy and I swept it up and collected it together in a bag - all carefully watched by Lambi's friend, the little cat Snusan.



It seems rather early to rake up leaves as most of them are still firmly attached to the trees. People would argue that there is no point cleaning it all up only to have a brisk wind next week blow the leaves off. Maybe it's all a bit pointless if you look at it from that angle. However, I see the benefit in attending as being social. It gives us a chance to do something constructive for the garden as well as renewing ties with neighbours and meeting new people. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed and the lovely sunny weather also helped to lift our spirits.

We had a nice time - a couple of hours raking, weeding, sweeping, pruning and taking stuff to the dump followed by a bbq and chat.

This is all of us relaxing at the bbq:



Lambi had a wonderful time befriending anyone who had food in their hands. She has an uncanny food-seeking-radar and the smell of grilling sausages was sending her into a frenzy of joy. She begged unashamedly and most people just couldn't resist (what a con artist!) A friend of mine who also has a dog said that she recognised that look of Lambi's all too well. She called it the "I just happened to be strolling past and noticed you have food in your hand" look:



I expected her to be ill last night with the combination of excitement and too much to eat. It sounds like a little kid at a birthday party. But she was fine.

Today, it was still a great day and autumn has really settled on the landscape. The sky is summer-blue, but you know it's not summer as there are splashes of red on the maple trees, some of the vines are brown as rust, others are yellow and there is a scent of burning from bonfires. Still it's like a picture post card.



The water is so clear, it's unbelievable. You can see down several metres as though you are looking through glass. I can't get over the number of small fish there are everywhere. However, it's freezing in the water and the air temperature is not far behind. Check out this family feeding the ducks in the local park. They are very well rugged up against the chill.



An interesting survey was conducted by the new English newspaper in Stockholm, The Local. They had spent August collecting data on people's views about learning Swedish and how fluent they were or how important they thought it was. Many people filled in the on-line survey and the results were quite interesting to read. You can judge for yourself by looking at the results here. The funniest quote was the crack about the first 40 years being the hardest!

One of the findings was quite disturbing - 13.7% of people who have lived in Sweden for over 5 years can't speak a word of Swedish! It makes you wonder how they can get on with absolutely no Swedish. They must find it very difficult to do daily chores like shopping, looking up things or even just asking someone a question. Sure, English is understood in a lot of places in Sweden, but it still must be very limiting. Maybe they are the type of person who huddles in their own little national group and will always be an outsider. How can you find balance and contentment in your new country if you can't speak the language.

Oh well, each to their own. I find that as my fluency increases, people here are happier to stop and chat. I can read the papers, understand conversations and am increasingly feeling that this is really home.