Sunday 30 June 2013

A midsummer night's dream

It has been something of an intense couple of weeks :). It's not that I haven't had things to post about, quite the contrary. Instead, there barely seemed to be a quiet moment to string together a few thoughts out of the rush of things.


Running between one apartment and the other is tedious business. There is more than a little bit of neither here nor there going on. But that all ended yesterday when I finally packed up and moved everything over. So I suppose it's official :).


In between there was much ado over furniture and such other things. And a weekend trip to Sweden over midsummer! Yeah, trust me to plunge headlong into a road trip when I've got a zillion other things to do :). It was a really brilliant break from things though. The weather wasn't exactly on best behaviour. But neither did it completely ruin things. Far from it in fact.


Given midsummer is about the biggest holiday in Sweden, we followed suit and started the weekend at a cabin out on the fjords a bit north west of Gothenburg. The idea was more to relax and enjoy the scenery than anything else. Which worked out, with a bit more of lazing about than scenery hunting :).



The next morning we were off to Gothenburg, but with a couple of detours. First a quick stop at Skärhamn, at the watercolour museum. (Why have one there you ask? Well, why not?) And then a not so quick stop at Marstrand, spent mostly delving into the entertainingly maze-like Carlstens Fästning!



For something we almost skipped for lack of a parking spot, that was an afternoon very well spent :). The best part of the tour, if you ask me, was the haphazardness. More specifically, there's no fixed route you can take in your exploration through the castle. There are actual (formerly) secret passageways! And they take you on a mad spinning trip around through and under the stone walls, bringing you out again through random gateways.



Eventually I think we left mostly as we were satisfied we'd explored the lot. But it might also have had something to do with the fact that by then we were all really starving :). Finally when we did show up at our hotel in the middle of Gothenburg, the clouds that had been threatening to burst decided to do so.



Of course they waited till we were out exploring the city on foot. We countered by hiding for the rest of the evening in one of the cafés along the Avenue, a perfect place for people watching and good food :).




The next day we fared much better with the exploration of the city! Randomly picking fancy looking buildings in the distance and heading in the general direction doesn't often yield rewards, but for us, on this day, it worked like a charm!




One of the things I'd never done, possibly surprisingly, is visit an amusement park. Or ride a roller coaster. Given that Liseberg was barely a couple of miles from the hotel, we couldn't possibly miss it. As it turned out, I'd picked some particularly hardcore company :).


I did my bit, even went on three roller coasters! But after that I was content on taking photos of other people doing crazy things :P. There's a special thrill in managing to catch specific people on a snapshot from several hundred metres away as they plunge in free fall :D.



So that was last weekend. And then this weekend came the move. But it's only now, after having unpacked all the bags and stored them away, after a ton of other minor details have been sorted, that I finally feel like I'm home :). Well, sort of. It'll be nicer when they finally deliver my sofa, I bet!

Currently: moved in
Listening to: Edward Shearmur - 27th July

Sunday 16 June 2013

Of biking trails and modular furniture


In a lot of ways, it's been a pretty big week! With great weather for the most part. I took advantage of the weather the first few days and went on something of a biking expedition around the water bodies strewn around Asker. Even hit 350km since I bought this bike :).


For years I'd been familiar with the few closest lakes, and while they make for some beautiful walks, a bike unlocks significantly wider territories for exploration :). I went far enough to actually end up next to one of the inland fjords in the area, Tyrifjorden. The views, as expected, more than made up for the punishing biking terrain.



That's the trouble with living in Asker. No matter which way you come from, if you've been more than 5 kilometres away, it's an uphill climb back home. Gullhella isn't a whole lot better, but when you're willing those pedals to keep moving, every metre of elevation counts. Reason I bring this up is that that's where my new apartment is!


Finally got the keys this week and it was a novel experience as I explored the apartment I'd previously seen filled with signs of the previous owners' life, empty. Waiting, I felt :). That's a good thing right? But I couldn't shake the feeling that the floor looked relieved to be out in the open after years of hiding under couches or tables or whatever else.


I wasn't really planning on the no-furniture-sleep-on-a-mattress deal, so the last couple of days were spent hiding some of that floor back under some new stuff. At least the shapes of the shadows will be different :).


I really need to get something that matches my red door...

Feeling: proprietorial :P
Listening to: Eels - Fresh feeling

Sunday 9 June 2013

Leftovers


Things are beginning to fall into place somewhat. And while I seem to continue to lose track of the too many things that need doing at any given time, I'm beginning to develop a knack of remembering more or less in time ;).


When I think about it, the last couple of months have disappeared in a hurry. The only bits of snow in evidence now are the stray patches on distant peaks, and midsummer is fast approaching. I'm having to worry less about finding a place and more about what to put in it...


Stray thoughts, rather like the tiny splinter that had been putting slow leaks in my bike tyre, prick the otherwise mostly peaceful run of things. Rather as I'd suspected, letting go isn't just in the deciding to move on. Bits and pieces come floating back from time to time, like so much flotsam rising from a sunken boat.


I've started reading again though. But not the Wheel of Time. Somehow I couldn't seem to muster the patience for it just now. And in hopes of reading the original untranslated versions some time in the near future, started with Jo Nesbø. Fast paced mystery thrillers seem to be more suited to current circumstances, somehow :).

Currently: gearing up for another five days of alarms and deadlines
Listening to: Aerosmith - Sunshine