Two weeks of vacation

These past two weeks have been rather hectic. The same day my vacation started I visited the Malmö festival in the evening. I went mainly for the food, which is a little different with international influences. That day the weather also changed. In my opinion for the better. It's about ten degrees cooler now and it rains occasionally.

Saturday two weeks ago I went to the summerhouse and the next day I joined my mother and her boyfriend on a trip to Gotland. First we drove through Småland and made a stop at a very weird museum with several different displays; alarm clocks, figurines with accordions and tramps and the folklore related to them. The main reason for visiting was the handcraft items these tramps had produced from wire and metal. There were things like coasters, whisks and candleholders. My mother has done some of this type of handcraft and wanted ideas and inspiration. In the evening we made it to Oskarshamn, where we drove onboard a large ferry. After three hours we arrived at Visby. It was after midnight when we came to the B & B (where my sister and her family were already installed).

The week on Gotland contained a lot of sightseeing, we drove out every day. The island is known for rock formations ("raukar", sea stacks), sheep and an agricultural landscape. We visited a light house, nature preserves, geology & history museums, a cave with stalactites, a herb garden, several old ruins, the Visby botanical garden, a sock knitting factory and quite a few outlet stores and shops both in Visby and the countryside. My niece and I started every day by jumping into the swimming pool. It was truly marvellous.We also went to the beach, which was near the B & B. We all had one day of the week where we would be in charge of dinner. On my day I opted for as little cooking as possible and offered hamburgers and corn on the cob. It was well received. Our visit was at the end of the tourist season and my mother made some bargains when she got large flower pots at 50% off and souvenirs at 20% off. I found out that the souvenirs were cheapest in the grocery store! In all, we enjoyed our visit to Gotland very much.

After getting back to Oskarshamn on the ferry we drove west to Borås. The week there was also nice with a visit to the outdoor pool with my niece, shopping at second hand stores and a road trip to another town. During my visit I gave myself a present - a car. Yes, after 32 years as a train commuter I have given up and bought a car. It's a grey Hyundai, last year's model. Yesterday my mother and her boyfriend drove back to the summerhouse and I drove home. On the way I made a strategic stop at Ullared, which is a large shopping place pretty much out in nowhere. I limited my purchases to four pieces of garment and some small kitchen/decorative items.

Time for vacation

This Monday my mother called to say her sister was very ill and in intensive care at the Kristianstad hospital. I went there directly from work that afternoon. We got to see her one last time, although she was not really conscious. She passed away that night. Her health had been failing in recent years so it was not a shock but still sad.

The week at work was the same as the previous ones; hot. Wednesday there was an all-time record in Lund of 34.4 degrees. It has been a terrible summer. Despite this we have accomplished a lot of things. Much more than I thought we would. Mostly thanks to the extra workers. Today was the last day here for them and we had fika to thank them. This is also the last day before I get vacation. I'm very happy about this. It may take a while before I can write on the blog next time.

Excursion to Ivö

One more terribly hot week passed by. I spent the mornings at the storage and the afternoons in the basement level. I was asked to help out at another department so I have registered a lot of books in our catalog recently. There is a backlog because they couldn't get the book entry transfers working from the new national catalog to ours until last week.

Our two extra workers have been very efficient. So efficient that we have problems finding tasks for them. They have shelved, retrieved, sorted, moved, boxed and rearranged books. They also vacuumed part of our storage. We were told to take it easy with the vacuuming because the engine was getting overheated. Apparently it draws air from outside (where there is about 35 degrees) so it doesn't get cooled properly.

It was another great weekend at the summerhouse. My sister and her family were there also. Saturday we did an excursion to the island Ivö in the the northeastern part of Skåne. The only way to get there is by car ferry across the lake. We brought lunch which we ate in a natural preserve. Ivö is a place of geological interest, with an old kaolinite quarry and fossils in the sandy soil. We hiked along a trail in the forest, near the beaches. We also looked at the church, a well (without water) and ruins of the castle Ivöhus (where an archbishop had lived in the 13th century).

The ocean water was warm so we jumped in a few times. My niece is like a water animal. She spends more time under the surface than above it. Crazy kid.

Simrishamn market

We have 30 degrees indoors at work (outside it's 33). Last week I was supposed to have two desk duties but managed to persuade someone else to do that so I could go to the storage instead. I found out today that the air conditioning at the storage can't cope with this climate so it's up to 22 degrees there now (should be 18). Still, it's much better than at the main library. I have been sitting at someone else's desk for the time I need to use a computer. One of my colleagues works part time so I can use his desk in the afternoons. It's located in the basement so it's better than on the 5th floor.

In my apartment it's an acceptable climate because I can open the kitchen window and the balcony door to get air to ventilate. My bedroom is too hot so I sleep on the couch instead.

This past weekend did not turn out the way I had planned. I was really supposed to go to Landskrona carnival but that did not happen. Friday evening my mother called me and said they were going to the market in Simrishamn Saturday. She asked me to join them so I did. Simrishamn is a seaside town in the southeastern part of Skåne. It's a long train ride, more than two hours. We had a good time at the market; I bought a dress, a scarf and a tunic. For lunch we had an upscale pizza at a nice restaurant where we sat outdoors under the trees in the back yard. When we were done it was 50 minutes until my next train so instead I went with my mother and her boyfriend to the summerhouse. It meant that I missed taking my medicine one day but I don't think that will be a problem. That evening I went swimming in the ocean. It was great, it must have been 25 degrees and fun waves. Sunday morning I did the same but the water was colder and no waves. It was still very enjoyable though. After one fleamarket and relaxing time on the deck I returned home Sunday evening.

July heat record

Last week it was the same procedure as the previous one - I spent as much time at the storage as possible. Some afternoons I have travelled to a few indoor malls to check out the summer sales but there have been very few purchases made. Wednesday it did actually rain a little. It had no particular effect on anything. This July will be the hottest in 260 years. The farmers are experiencing great difficulties. They don't have enough food for their animals and the crops will be very limited.

There are many forest fires in Sweden right now. Some of them are out of control. There are hundreds of firefighters on their way from France, Germany, Poland, Denmark and other countries to help us. They bring helicopters and other material also. We are grateful for this. The fires have historic proportions.

Saturday I went to Eslöv, which is a small town north of Lund. There really isn't much to do there. I went to a second hand bookstore I had heard about but never visited before. It was very well organized. I bought a book on emigration. After visiting a charity shop I went for lunch at the local pizza place. This was basically what I had energy for.

Summer sales

Last week it was yet again incredibly hot weather here. It's very dry everywhere. There are several forest fires raging in northern Sweden right now.

At work I spent as much time as possible at the storage, where there is a constant temperature of 18 degrees. I brought the two extra workers to shelve most days. This week we are only two people in the stacks, plus those two extra. It's manageable, even though we have more requests than I expected at this time of year (and with this weather).

This past weekend was the first one I didn't go to the summerhouse in quite some time. Instead I travelled to Ystad, a very nice seaside town on the south coast of Skåne. There was an international food market, a flea market and most stores had started the summer sales. The icecream stand at the square had the same kind of brand as in Åhus. I chose pecan and chocolate flavors this time. Very tasty.

Some afternoons I have travelled to different malls in the region, and also to Helsingborg. I have been looking for more short pants and found one black pair on sale. Also a jeans skirt in a second hand store.

Sunday I had to clean up in my apartment. It looked absolutely terrible. I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, went to the recycling place with paper/plastic, went grocery shopping and did some handwashing. I also watched the nations cup show jumping event and the soccer world championship final on TV.

Market

Last week was another hot one. I spent some time shelving at the storage (where there is a constant temperature of 18 degrees) to avoid the worst climate. One of the temporary workers also helped with shelving.

The hot weather has meant that my tomato plant is growing quite fast. I have actually remembered to water it. There has already been about ten yellow tomatoes to eat. They were very nice.

Wednesday afternoon I went by bus to Hörby, where there was the annual market fair. It started already in the 18th century and is one of the oldest traditional markets here. I got some small things; a plastic bucket, napkins and some licorice.

Rather surprisingly, the Swedish soccer team made it to the quarter final but was there beaten by England. It doesn't happen often that the Swedish team makes it that far so they did well.

This weekend was yet again spent at the summerhouse. This time I had invited a colleague and she had a car so she drove us. She also brought her dog. We covered a couple of fleamarkets on the Saturday. I got a bedside table for the summerhouse. Sunday my mother took care of the dog so we could go to Åhus to be tourists. We looked at the very small museum and then had a very large icecream. It was very much worth the money. Near the marina I spotted a clothing store and was lucky to find a pair of short pants and a top on sale. Even though the ocean water was rather cold (15-17 degrees) we jumped in twice. It was a great weekend.