Excursion

Thursday morning we all worked like mad to get everything done in half the time it usually takes. At noon most of us in the stacks (and many other colleagues) got on the tourist bus the social club at work had booked. We went on an excursion to the east side of Skåne. The first stop was at a farmer's field outside Skillinge, where they grow grapevines. It's rather unusual in Sweden. The owner let us walk in the field while he explained how to grow it, what different kinds of wine you could make and much else. He had done this for ten years and knew a lot. This visit was much more interesting than I thought it would be - and I don't even drink wine!

The next stop was Autoseum, which is what you think it is - a museum with cars. Brand new museum very near Simrishamn. We had coffee there and then we viewed a Pontiac, McLaren racing car, an amphibious car (both for land and water), London taxicab, Trabant, the first electric car, large limousines formerly owned by the Royal Family, several old Volvo cars, a T-Ford from 1921, a delivery truck from the 1920s, a fire engine, old motorcycles and a large number of other motor vehicles. This was also an interesting place to visit.

On the way back to Lund we had a quiz contest. A rather difficult one, I must say. I guessed on most of the questions. After return to Lund we had dinner at a restaurant. It was a buffet and very tasty (they had chicken in peanutsause and I like that very much). It was great to talk to my colleagues outside of work. It turned out that one of them had just been in Quebec City, Canada, and gave a very positive picture of it. I might go there with my relatives for a Leroy Anderson concert in late September. At the end of the dinner, they announced the winners of the quiz contest, and to my surprise I got first prize! The reward was a grapevine in a pot! I had no idea how to keep it alive, but one colleague promised to take care of it when I'm in the United States.

Today was the last working day for a couple of months, and it was stressful. There were so many things to sort out, I tried to clear my desk (it was impossible!), I talked to people making sure they knew I will be away and made preparations for my absence. I will have to stop by there at least once more before departure to Boston. I will leave on September 5.

By the way, if anyone wants to have anything special from Sweden, let me know.