OK So what’s the news?Well I’m in Örnsköldsvik at the moment using Gunnar’s computer. I havethe house to myself exept for Hera who I have just taken for a walk upthe mountain. I seem to be spending a lot of time in the green stuffthese days. It was an enjoyable walk and exactly the same one we tooklast time I was here.There has been a bit of a disaster here. Two days ago the other(older) dog was put down after she attacked Sara (the younger ie.Molin) little puppy. Well actually he was a rather large puppy of 4months. Although it’s proven to be a costly episode the worst part isthe devastation on the part of the Victorin family here. This wasAnders best hunting dog and he appears as though he has lost a 4thson. Ulla-Brit and Gunnar are in a bad way too. I’m not sure if it helps or not me being here. I hope to stay for a wee while as I amenjoying it here. I’ve learnt a good lesson in travelling here. I haveto be the only guest to families otherwise they continue to speakSwedish and only understanding about 10% I switch off after a while.Plus sitting down chatting is not fun when you like to do things. WhenI do get a chance to chat to people I notice that I burst forth withlots of useless information. All part of not being able to talk for long periods of time I guess.Gunnar is working at the Ö’vik golf course and Ulla-Brit has juststarted an on-call shift. She started at 3pm and will work through thenight. Anders is at work of course. He has already taken his vacation.The past few days I have spent following Sara around. Whilst this is great for reasons of getting from A to B it is a pain as expressedabove. When I’m with her people are just as pleased to see her andwant to catch up on all the Häggbom gossip so Swedish is the norm.I’m not sure if the email from Melkers got to you but just in case itdidn’t here’s what’s been happening:I was really lucky to get Sune’s ticket from Stockholm to Sundsvallwith Sara. And then travel with her in the rental car from there toTunsjän, Sollefteå, Trelångingen, Umeå and then Övik. We stayed atHälludden for two nights. That is the Häggbom summer home thatbelonged to a company previously. It is just across Tunsjän fromAnders houses and where the Molin’s live. Sara was good enough to letme drive the car in various stages so I got my first experience in amanual on the right/wrong side of the road (remember I’ve alreadydriven on the right once this year in Maui). It was great experienceand I was glad for it. Problem was that Sara doesn’t like driving/drives dangerously slow at times and is a terrible passenger. Shequietened down a little after she realised I wasn’t going to kill her.But the trip from Trelångingen to Melker and Katarina’s was painful. Ishut my eyes and tried to sleep to avoid the pain of watching. To addto this I had Katarina jabbing my side. Ylva was in the front seat (11/2 years) and Melker, Katarina, myself and Rickard (some months) werein the back.Melker has a rather small home in Umeå. Seems more so with thechildren. Sara and Ylva slept in the lounge and I slept with the mouseand the computer. Slept pretty well but I’m still adjusting to allthis light over here.Ylva came into my room early in the morning to watch videos ofmedieval dancing which Katarina does. She turned on the video and whenI sneeked a look at her she was actually watching me and not the video!The reason for the trip to Trel. was that was where the Häggbom/Klingberg family was helping a friend plant trees. Plus theydidn’t have any transport back to Umeå. Melker doesn’t have hislicense and explained a funny story about sitting his test for thefirst time. He hit a parked car and said to the instructor ”I guessI’m not going to get my license then?”. He said to me that he shouldhave had some fun on the way back to the police house (whatever) bydriving all the way backwards with the handbrake on! He’s fun. We hada quick little chat from 11:30 to 12:30 that night which was good.Otherwise I would have only seen him and that would have been it.I may go up there again to get to an airport on 11-12th. There is anultimate trip in Latvia that the Stockholm crowd are going to and theysay the parties are good! I may pay for Alena to come over and joinus. From there I want to go and see St Petersburg. Backis (my ultimate mate from Stockholm) has contacts both in Finland (I may be in transitthere onto Latvia) and St Petersburg. This is the kind of thing I missnot being able to play the game. It basically provides a freeaccomodation ticket around the world. Shame.Anyway. It was good to catch up with Anna and Lasse too. I think theyare becoming more accustomed to me or something as it was better thistime. We also saw Torkel whilst in Umeå. He looks OK but it is hard totell. You could tell that he wasn’t 100%. Sara saw Mirre at thehospital and they may not need to operate but time will tell.Apparently Mirre is talking about having the wedding later this year.She is pain free at the moment which is surprising and good.I didn’t know but Torkel, Melker and myself are all the same vintage!1967.I’m not entirely certain of my plans from here but I have to call afew people. I have called Mats & Karin and Mats was thrilled to hearfrom me. He said it was and order that I should come and see thefamily and Lars’ at the summer house in Halmstad in July so I’ll bethere at some stage. Hallan goes out to Koster on the 15th withUlla-Brit so I may catch a ride with them. Torsten is still inAustralia but heading to Bali next month. Torsten the bigger keeps arecord of who is going to Koster and when so I must have a word to himat some stage. The list of people to see in and around Stockholm growsdaily so I must go back there. My flight home is from there anyway.I’m playing with the idea of going to Ludvika. Johan-Petter is thereat the moment so that would be a bonus. Also Lalla was buried thereand I would like to ‘see’ her. Main problem as always is transport. It’s interesting to find out how little the families know about eachother. I had Hallan, Sara, Anna, Lars with me but I could not find outthe name of Ingers barns-barn. (I left my bloody family tree in London- Doh). I think I can recreate it faster than most now. Still I havethe barns names and there is always Broren of course. I hadn’t eventhought of the Enander crowd. It surprises me that there are many ofyour generation still to meet.Having been here a week now I am already getting a feeling for what Imight like to achieve. History lessons are with your generation andfun is with mine. I guess I cannot cope with the amount of knowledgethese Swedes have about their local areas. With the general knowledgethey have and the experiences like the Victorin boys have I havestarted to feel really ignorant. The breadth and depth of knowledgeand experiences that someone like Gunnar has is fantastic. The reallyare spoilt over here in Europe.So I’m more looking forward to meeting people like Sandra Hjerling andKajsa von Schoenberg now. It’s a neat feeling being able to recogniseold photos of the ‘clan’. I am doing pretty well now. There was afamliy gathering of the Victorin/Häggboms on Ulla-Brits piano and Irecognised about 75% of them! I’m beginning to understand the familyties a little better too. Oh an interesting little anecdote. Sara started chatting about how sheis not short of cash (bought these salt shakers for SK500! a pop!!! 3of them!) but that she still works. She seems to be a bit snobbishabout it. It is interesting to feel the wealth over here and I’mdesperately trying to understand the common Swede. It is hard to putthe Häggbom and Victorin wealth into perspective. Interestingly enoughboth Melker and Torkels places seemed rather poo poo but adequate.Elins place on the other hand was rather cool for one person. It costher SK430,000 to get into it (borrowed from Sara) but it is a goodinvestment as these things seem to only go up in Stockholm.So I’ve been busy. Oh almost forgot. Sian (Sigrid) and Otto(boyfriend) and I went on a walk to see some really old trees. Hadshött? bullar and rice at the top of the hill with coffee of course.Saw a very rare swedish woodpecker too so that was fun. Hope thephotos come out OK. I’m crossing my fingers for some good ones ofMelker & co and also of Anders with the deceased dog @ Tunsjän.Sorry I haven’t emailed earlier but I feel a bit guilty using thecomputers all the time. Hopefully this is long enough to make the wait worth while :-)
