Hell Rain

There is still old snow hanging around in cold shady corners here in Vitared. Spring is trying to arrive definitely, but winter is stubburn up here. The sun was shining when I got home on Saturday afternoon, and I was in good spirits. Bodil, Ernst and Liela for company Friday evening and this morning, then a slow drive back via Habo and a rece' of XL Habo for iron mongery. I have little projects all over the place at my place. Coffee with Uncle Osten and home in the sunshine. That is when I had the idea of exploring the tracks to the north of my place. It doesn't say "Here there be Dragons!" on the map so what is the harm? I'm used to tracks through the forests these days. I'm not put off. Darwin, Jane and I went exploring. A branch blown off a birch tree partially blocked the track at one point, but it didn't stop me getting 3 miles (english miles. 4.5 km maybe) into the swamp though. I think there were a couple of clues there I should have given some thought to. A game bird similar to a very large grouse flew low to one side of me. I looked it up later. I can't remember to spell the name, but I'll write it as Kappercailie. I'll correct that sometime. The little Polo coped well with the rough terrain, up a hilll, great view!, then down the other side. A whole birch tree was down at this point. I got out of the car to try and shift this one as well. The wind got up a bit and the sky had gone black. That was when the that feeling of "maybe I should head on back" seeped into my conciousness. I was reluctant to give up. I sort of felt that if I kept going north I'd pop out onto the highway from Mullsjo to Falkoping eventually. Then the hail arrived. It pelted the little car like a battery of machine guns. Yikes that was loud! My retreat through the rapidly whitening landscape was tense, the situation utterly transformed in just a few short minutes. As I crawled into the drive back home the hail petered out and the sun shone again. I decided to stay at home the rest of the afternoon and surf the net.

Broadband stopped working again. I thought maybe it was the storm, but even once it had passed I still had no connection although the device was showing a reasonably strong 3G signal. Strange. There was actually correspondance I was expecting. Important stuff, so I decided to go and try the coffee shop at Hokensas Camping. I was sure I'd get a signal out there, and if not  hopefully wifi for the price of a strong coffee. It turns out they don't have free wifi. It's on a camp site. You have to buy broadband at reception and they are closed. The new restauranter, Aiden, is a nice guy and had a solution. Swedish people are good at solving problems and cooperating, is my observation. Aiden let me use his Android as a hot spot and I got my emails. And yes there was important correspondance needing replies, so half an hour and a coffee and the job was done for now. The question remains why didn't my broadband work.

Aiden is young and an imigrant to Sweden himself. He is also a bit of a philosopher. He wanted to know my story. An englishman out in the middle of nowhere before the start of the season, in his little British car. I gave him the headlines. A new life he concluded. Probably I agreed. Then he shared an idea. "You know, if a house plant isn't doing well on a window sill at home, my wife moves it to another window sill and often that is all that was needed for the plant to thrive". Aiden, that was so cool. Thank you very much. Indeed I personally seem to be much happier and healthier this past three weeks.

Sunday I went to the Fuzz Guitar Show in Gothenburg with Ernst. He wants a new guitar kanske? I went along for the ride. I don't play although like many boys, I dabbled as a teenager. If a funny looking, geeky teenage boy wants to meet girls, a guitar is one way to do it. How to try a new guitar at a show where everyone else is also trying a new guitar? No solution. The guys selling and demonstating agreed. The side shows are good. Black American blues artist Eric Bibb and Staffan Astner were absolutely brilliant. They were worth the ticket price on their own. Ernst didn't get a guitar, but went home with new strings. he also didn't get a parking ticket. We did get pizza and then coffee with his son Markus, and then the long drive home. His offer to sort out my broadband back at his place was not to be turned down. That the sucker beat Ernst was worrying. My broadband died! I cadged the use of his wifi to catch up before a night time drive through the forest back to my place.

A word to those unfamiliar with Swedish country roads. I have already said the wildlife comes out at night. Be careful on forest roads. On the 8 mile stretch from Habo to Vitared 2 row deer ran out in front of me. They are frisky at this time of year and running about like crazy. Bed and sleep. Bliss.