Its been a while!

Its been a while and I was thinking of something interesting to write about and could only think of some old photos.  That was until a few minutes ago.

Picture the scene.

Di is in the kitchen cooking and as I walked passed her, she asked me to switch the blender on.  Being a dutiful husband and looking forward to his dinner, I did as I was told, and there I rest my case, Your Honour.

Nobody said anything about putting the lid on!!  Eggs, milk yoghurt etc. a very sticky mess everywhere.

A wide angle lens would have been good and then I could have shown the bench top as well.  Actually, I think my jumper took the brunt of it.

I think it will be a smaller than usual quiche!

Ben had more luck when he came to stay a few weeks ago.  He is helping to cook pancakes for breakfast.

 Concentrating hard.

 Last month we had some flooding again but no one panicked this time. It was about the same level but the railings stayed up and traffic still flowed. 

The nice creeper over my shed.

A beautiful colour with the sun on it.

Holiday 2012 - Day 84

Thursday 19th July

We watched the sun rise over the east coast before landing in Sydney at 07.20 along with three other plane loads of people. This must be one of the worst airports in the world. Queues everywhere as not enough officials on duty. Poor dears, it must be a bit early for them!
What must visitors think when they arrive here. Eventually we found our luggage and battled our way through.

We were met by Becky, Graham and the boys.  It was great to see them and we all piled into a hired people mover for the journey home. We broke the journey at Beckys for a reviving cup of coffee and so that Alex could go to school. The rest of us headed for North Richmond where nothing seems to have changed.  Having been away so long you feel that something should have changed.

The house was very cold and stale smelling. I had laid the fire before we left but when I lit it, it wouldnt burn. On investigating I found that soot had fallen down the chimney and was choking the throat of the fireplace. This was quickly cleared and the fire lit. With the aircon on the heat cycle and the fire blazing away it began to feel once more like home.

Unpacking, sorting washing, finding presents that we had bought at various points etc. bought back lots of memories.  All good memories with only two bad ones that come to mind.  The argument with customs when leaving Australia over a jar of home made marmalade we were taking to Elin and Jim, I bet they enjoyed it at morning tea time. The biggest row was at Bangkok airport over two bottles of whisky, in a sealed duty free bag, that we weren't allowed to keep.  Still, in a way these things add to the memories of a holiday and I will never travel through Bangkok again. I bet they are really upset about that!!

Its nice to be home but sad in that it will be some time before we see family and friends again.

Now, dear reader, its back to infrequent and mundane blogs.

Holiday 2012 - Day 83

Wednesday 18th July
 
We boarded our flight from Copenhagen at 2205 and arrived in Bangkok at 14.45 today.

We fly out again at 19.20 and arrive in Sydney early tomorrow morning.

I don't think I want to pass through Bangkok airport ever again, but that's another story.  Why let one incident spoil a wonderful trip.

Holiday 2012 - Day 82

Tuesday 17th July 2012

Well this is it!!  Our last day!  A very sad day!

Our flight is at 1900 so I suppose we will have to leave the apartment about 1600.

We were up early to say our goodbyes to Elin who has to work.

It started out as a nice day, it was 16.3C at 0800.

Mid morning it started to rain very heavily, so heavy in fact that the blokes building the boardwalk had to stop.  So what did they do, put on wet weather gear and went fishing in the creek!!

Just before we set out for Arlanda they finished the walkway.

Thank you gentlemen for the entertainment.

Jim and Johan drove us to the airport where we booked in and flew to Copenhagen.  By 2015 we were comfortably waiting in the business lounge  enjoying food and wine awaiting our onward connection.

Its been an awesome holiday and we have really enjoyed being part of our little family but I must admit we were both looking forward to getting home.

Holiday 2012 - Day 81

Monday 16th July 2012

Its a nice sunny morning but quite windy.

Sadly we are starting to think about packing and our return trip.

We all walked up to Sundbyberg, for the last time, and had fika at Stradsmission. 

The boats are back in the water near Marabouparken.

 Two happy chappies.

A lovely old classic BMW and sidecar outside the park.

 We walked to the other end of town and shopped in Ahlens

Fruit stall in Sundbyberg.

.  On the way back to the apartment, I picked up some wine and we shopped in Willeys before stopping off in the park as usual.

Holiday 2012 - Day 80

Sunday 15th July 2012

Its going to be a lazy Sunday, and as its raining, here are some photos from a short walk last night.

This is a new park just a couple of blocks away from Elin and Jims apartment.  Its built around a wooded hill and is not quite finished but its still very impressive.

 A very big wooden fish, as yet unfinished.

The paddling pool in the new park with the new junior school in the background.

A wooden snake.

  
Wooden pigs.

Elin and Jims apartment from across the road.  The front balcony is looking good.

We went shopping late morning, to Stinsen. After fika and a good look around we finally bought a new suitcase to replace our damaged one.  We also called in to a nursery shop to buy pots and plants.  We potted up some of the wild honeysuckle and a couple of other plants.

Ended another good day with steaks for dinner.

When we went to bed it started to rain heavily again.

Holiday 2012 - Day 79

Saturday 14th July 2012

I had to put the date in as I have lost track and haven't been updating.

Another nice day but overcast. Elin and Jim are taking us back to have a look at Hammerby, where we stayed on our first visit to Sweden.
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That's their old apartment, second floor in the middle behind the tree.

A tandem parked outside the bike store across the road.

The same old ferry.

Lots of new apartments.

Once you spot a tandem, they appear everywhere.

Hammerby Ski slope but without the snow!

Johan enjoying his lunch opposite Lumaparken, Hammerby.

The whole area is now well developed with nice shops and eatery's.

One of the old giraffe cranes.

Hammerbyslussen.

An interesting sculpture.

A bit of a competition going on here.

Of course Johan wanted to try too!!

We shopped on the way back in the Bromma complex.