Two Bathrooms

Back here in Warwickshire supervised by my bother in law Mick, I ripped into the replacement of the bathroom, and creation of a new en suite. It's a big project but necessary. It will add value to this property and facilitate taking a lodger. I need more income thanks to derisory bank interest rates on savings. Now I have time constraints. I need to be heading back to Sweden the first week in April. I hope to have a lodger/tenant at this end by then. If not I must return in the autumn to sort that out. I have complicated my life wonderfully.

The snow delayed the project somewhat. Material deliveries didn't get through and neither did Mick last Saturday. It's not worth risking life and limb, or an insurance claim in an environment of inept winter driving.

A weekend of heavy rain and the packed snow and ice has gone. Progress on the new en suite is slow and steady. Three man days of effort to get out of the ground. Mick's excellent pipe work will be invisible. My tiling will not. Gulp! An RSJ supports the upper floor above the kitchen extension, denying access for the wastes in the new en suite. The pipes have to go over it. We need an extra 10cm of height. Que the installation of a false floor. I'd like to say that the construction kept me out of trouble for a day, but a muffled hissing noise told us that I had screwed the new woodwork onto one of Mick's pipes. Mick made the repair with no obvious adverse reaction to my blunder. I'm a beginner and am here to learn. He is a good teacher. I cringed when he let me back in. Big black felt tipped lines now mark where the pipes are. In big letters it says PIPES. He also gave me the 15cm section of pipe with the hole straight through it as a souvenir. That now sits proudly on my desk next to the PC. Learning is about being able to make mistakes. It's OK. I just think of all the money I am saving by doing 50% of the work myself.

Today I have to start the job of tiling out the en suite. I got one wall with a window done last week. Now I can get on with the rest. All walls and floors have to be complete ready for Mick's return on Saturday. No pressure then.

Would you rather I was blogging about motorcycling and travel? By the spring I will be restless for sure. Right now my nose is stuck firmly to the grind stone. Cutting curves around pipes that is almost literally true.

EEEK!

Winter 2013

Completion on my Swedish house happened like clockwork on Friday 4 January. What I have experienced this last three months is efficiency and warm and friendly service. The UK could learn much from Sweden. It was hard to lock up and walk away for three more months. The house is well looked after and I will be back in the Spring. I have a good feeling about this coming summer.

-25C. What is that like? That is the temperature at my place in Sweden just now. Friends are keeping an eye on the place for me. I have no experience of -25. Anders tells me he has driven his truck at -41C in the far north. Engine heaters are required. Scarves and eye shields are necessary. We are not meant to be in     -41C.



4 inches of snow and Britain ground to a halt.  People don't know how to drive on snow and ice, and we use summer tyres all year round. The only reason there are not more accidents is that the Brits skive off work and go sledging with the kids. They have sledging accidents instead. Put it another way. The local councils worked their socks off to clear the roads. It's the best they have ever done. A credible effort to keep Britain moving and support our ailing economy. Then head teachers closed thousands of schools due to health and safety concerns. 25% of the national workforce to stayed home to look after the kids. I'll be careful passing an opinion because some of my closest friends are teachers. I believe passionately that health and safety often goes beyond common sense in our country. I suspect it has more to do with a fear of personal injury litigation. Heathrow has invested in a fleet of second hand snow clearance machines bought from Zurich I understand. Unfortunately having the gear is not the same as planning and implementing procedures for using it effectively (?). I'm only an armchair operations planner these days.

My social life went on hold, but that happens every time we get a spell of real winter weather. You have to be nuts to risk the narrow country lanes in this. The telly is failing to stave off cabin fever completely. Home alone with "Pointless" each evening to punctuate the day.

Monday: I have enough dirty clothes to load the washing machine. I've been looking forward to this for days! Programme E, 40C for colour fast materials. I need the snow to go away!

Arn

The place where I am buying a house is of historic importance in Sweden. Sorry to Swedish friends if I mangle your history and legends in this post. Corrections to follow.

Visingso is an island in the middle of lake Vättern, and it is on that island that the state of Sweden was founded in the 12th century. To the west and south the land was held by the Danes. Wester Gotlandish Swedish kings reigned and died always under threat from the Danes. They had to fight for their land. It was from Visingso that a united Swedish army finally drove the Danes back and from then on held the north.

The story of Arn is of a local boy who becomes a Templar Knight in the first crusade to free Jerusalem from Sal al Din. He protects the merchants and Bedouins. Before Jerusalem falls he returns to Visingso to marry his long lost sweet heart ,who had his son twenty years before. Six years later he leads the Swedes against the Danes. Is Arn a legend, history, or modern fiction? I am not sure I need to know. Which ever I am a mug for a good story and they come no better than Arn. Which ever, the story of Arn provides a romantic connection to Vättern and Visingso, where I choose to spend my summers at least, and join the community.

I came looking for Torfin in Norway, and overshot! Too late. Vättern has my heart.

      

New Year in Sweden

Stansted Airport was shoulder to shoulder, standing room only. Security was strict and alert. Shoes off, and belts, shuffle forward holding your trousers up, thanks to the bloody Islamists who would kill if they could. A bacon baguette previously frozen ensures indigestion, and adds to the travel misery of the Saturday between Christmas and New Year. it is a price worth paying for new year with friends, but pay it I must. Ryan air promise only cheap flights and punctual arrivals. They deliver that and for the price I have no complaints. Not an easy airline to love, but that is not their reason for being. They make what I am doing possible and for that I am thankful.

Friday I have completion on my house to attend to, and all of the work that follows a house purchase, but in the mean time there is the New Year fest at VMCK. We will join the rest of the motorcycle gang and face 2013 as a group.

Shopping and cooking. Bertil leads with the main. Oxfillet with a chanterelle mushroom cream sauce. Östen has organised gratin potatoes and asparagus. I think that is right. My part is Cock-O-Leekie soup to start. Hearty Scottish fare to keep out the winter cold.

Did we get drunk? Of course! For the vikings the web of weird connected all times and places, all people and events. For  us it is our mobile phones connecting us to those we love not present. The networks are busy tonight. Midnight arrived one hour ahead of the UK. My friends know of Auld langs ayn but do not know the words. New Year is not right even for an Englishman without that wonderful Scottish song, so fortified with malt, I gave it the best I could, and let my song roll out a little drunkenly across the huge expanse of lake Vättern. If not elegant, it was lusty and from the heart. I´ll have a sore head tomorrow, but what the hell.

Happy new year to all of you who follow my blog. May 2013 bring you what you wish for yourselves.

God Ny År