This felt very swedish. Slightly earnest, well intentioned, over subscribed children activity in the woods. At Skrylle outside Dalby. Balance on logs and leap over them and run about a bit. Kids like it. Stella wanted fika like yesterday. 

Here's most of the gang, with tea and cheese sarnies.

Saturday
Out for drinkies with Erik and Rob, a musician and a stand up. There's talk of a joint event already. Erik's dying to do tradtional pub songs around the old joanna.  We start at a reassuringly expensive english pub in Lund. Ready? 93 kronor for a pint of Innes and Gunn 'Blood red sky' which in current english money is about 8 quid. Goood christ i hear you scream. Yeah, so we just had one there then went round the corner to Arimans where its about 30% cheaper (but not quite as tasty). I like Arimans, you can see the cathedral from the window and its cosy and unpretentious. Mostly students but a sprinkling of grey hairs too. So we fit right in.  I once saw the fabulous Malmö band Ewing Family Stone there too. With their awesome Jonny Cash covers.
Rob cant stay for long as  he has a little baby, there'll be other times.
Erik drove in to leave his grandad. Fabulously asking me questions via the driver. "Does he have children, is he married?" His parting words. "You remind me of an american friend, Aramis." Ok then. He has a bunch of stories says Erik.



 

Today I'm worrying about wittering. Is this navel gazing serving any purpose? Is it just terribly naff to write a diary/B L O G. How do i dare suppose that this will be of any interest to me or anyone else. Reading back already i can see that not everyday is a golden corn of truth and wit. But hell wit n wittering are family, right. I shall push on.
Started a WhatsApp group with Dom, John and Ben today as threatened whilst in England. I like the idea of sharing stuff and having an ongoing dialogue. 'Godhead' was a group title i suggested to Dom (partly in jest/ partly to reflect my current interest in what is god, God, presence, awareness, soul?). Dom suggested "The Truth Commission" and he expressed a growing interest in poetry. So i settled on 'stuff n things'.

A converstaion between old friends. Perhaps, sometimes we can delve deep. But frivolity will also scamper about.
A picture tells a thousand words. Hope you dont mind John!?

Tuesday
​So, drive to work in quite heavy snow, already melting now. But on sunday I was sat outside a pub in Lustleigh in my T-shirt looking at daffodils.

Another Bromptonite leaves The Temple of Transformation. Water to vapour to water again. Amen. Fitting that a transformational bike...this is a maziz or madiz or something...is used to get to the gates of the temple.

We leave Guy in the street waiting for builders to come and fix his wobbly wall. Then we wobble around Bristol centre a bit before zooming on out to the airport. Sandra feeling a little queasy from the Kia Venga and its hard bouncy drive. Nothing to do with my driving, clearly.
Two hour delay gives us plenty of time to harvest gifts for the girls and browse in bookshops.
I listen to a bit of ya Tolle, liked this:
"There is an inner dimension of consciouness that is available to us here and now...the inner realm of spaciousnees or stillness. Where the mind subsides and you know yourself as an 'I am' precence. That is your true identity. And once you know your true identitiy in the backroung of your daily life then you can deal with the foreground of your life in a much better way."
​True dat. As you know dear reader i like to delve into something when it catches my interest: music, certain stories, poetry books, fold-up bikes, yoga, jiu jitsu... The list goes on and on. 
Back in Genarp, twins are collected and pizza is purloined. Hanna likes kebab pizza so we get one of those. The wee girls were VERY happy that we both came to collect them.
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We meet John and Sara in the square and bounce along country lanes randomly changing to single track road from Sandy Park past Moretonhampstead. Quite hard work for a, 'swedish driving on the righhandside bear'. We pass other glorious place names along the way. Bovey Tracy, Manaton, Sanduck. Mmmm. We stroll up to the top past a lovely farm with lambs suckling in a birthing barn and chickens hiding in a fallen willow. On the way down some elderly sheepdogs also make an appearance. 
Up on top Sandra gets to see some wild ponies basking in the sun and the skylarks are rising. Its warm!!
​Very nice to spend soome more time with John and chat to Sara. Then down again and Dom had booked us in to the Cleave

Larvly sunday roast with all the trimmings and easily the best steamed sticky toffee pudding I HAVE EVER tasted. Beer for the boys and girls provided by Jail, Bath Gem, and Otter. MmmmHmmm.
​Just time for a coffee in the sun back in Drew, up at the top, to revive a slightly car sick Sandra before zooming off to Bristol.

Ullgee bear opens the door as Guy is out in the yard trying to get his garage door open as the builders are coming to fix his leany wall. Lovely to see Ulla again. Think the last time was at Dads funeral back in 2011.  A nice cuppa then its off into the evening to show Sandra a slice of Bristol. Guy parks at Sion Hill and we walk along the Clifton suspension bridge. Its pretty, lit up in the dark with the mud flats glistening below.
We stroll down to Royal York Crescent and then to the Giggling squid on Princess Victoria street for a spicy thai meal. Then polish off the evening with a game of scrabble back at Guys. 

​He's had a lot of damp work done on the house and i can certainly smell it. This kind of house would benefit from the sort of active ventilation we have. I bored Sandra with the theory of modern closed victorian houses as opposed to when they were built with nice rattly windows and fireplaces that sucked in air and chucked it out again
Now its all sealed plastic windows and walled up fireplaces. No wonder there's damp, there's nowhere for breath, body heat, washing up , washing machines, drying clothes and baths to go. Annnd breathe out.

I do love these terrace houses though. Its a very similar layout to Curzon st in Reading where i lived with Yvonne and then Jon n Ruth. Guys place is much nicer upstairs than we had it in Reading, specially the room we were in, very cosy.

A soft day. Soft light, soft weather. Lambs are gambling, the theme from All creatures great and small plays in the background as we walk to Chagford. We bump into John with bike bag and helmet in hand. To the Ring of Bells and there we stay for lunch and beers whilst it rains outside. Dog cuddling continues, its Meadows' turn today. Jail ale is tasting gooood.

In the evening we wonder down to Fingle Bridge Inn for dinner. Its lovely and warm inside. Originally known as The Anglers' Rest a tea shelter founded in 1897 for local fishermen.
On the way out in the light of the pub I spy movement on the far bank and see an otter! Sandra n Dom spot it too. Fantastic. A black slither along the stones and then its gone. We stand on the bridge(from the 17th century with ashlar stone piers baby) and stare down into the busy waters of the Teign.

There are prezzies to buy at the airport Penguin liquorice for Ulla and schnaps for Dom, some chocs for Guy. Plenty of time for a breakfast omelette and a good strong coffee for Sandra.

We drive down and meet Dom outside his work on Mary Arches st and walk to Cathedral Green. (They started work on the cathedral back in 1114 donchaknow?) Off to Sainsburys on the Alphington road which is frankly a treasure trove compared to the  swedish supermarkets i'm used to and then on to Drewsteignton.

​So nice to be back especially with Sandra in tow. Almost five years since last time. After a nice GnT we head off for a dusk walk to stretch our legs along the lanes whilst Dom makes a lovely dinner. Up to Drogo in the drizzle with a torch to wave at cars.
After roast chiken thighs and a veggie mix we entertain my current bugbear of what is god/ consciousness/ presence and then head to the Drewe Arms where Mabel Mudge was previously landlady for 75 years!! Now its Muffy something...
When i come back from the loo a mummy beagle has taken my place. She's escaped to the pub for a break after seven weeks of puppy care. She's awful sweet. Queue photo.

When i climb into a gloriously warm bed later (Electric blankets rock!) Sandra is already blissfully asleep, like a princess on her fluffy pillow.

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There's also a lot of time spent stroking really soppy cats too of course. Look! There's even a cat on that red thing, next to that yellow thing.
I'm very much liking the big anvil on top of the tree trunk. The sticker on the forklift (think its a forklift, is it a forklift?) says Kommunteknik, "Yeah we'll fix that." Thats the old strapline. The new one is more like, "Yeah, we'll fix that just hand over a sack of cash." At least thats what the big, bad bosses want us to say.
​More informative entries about work to follow.
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