Swedish Childcare

One thing that is obvious about Sweden is that they have a very different attitude to childcare from the UK. Saturday lunchtime - probably a bit above freezing. A very well wrapped-up baby happily sleeps outside a cafe while mum and dad have their lunch. (Baby so well wrapped up you couldn't see them as you walked past).

It's not something you see every day but it also isn't unusual. I can't think if anything wrong about this - if your child is dressed for being outside then they'll be OK sleeping too, and it's not as though people go out looking for babies to steal.

The Sun

Finally the sun appeared this week - it was a momentous and joyful occasion. Then my colleague complained that the glare on his monitor was too bright and asked if I could close the blind on the window. Farewell bright friend - see you sometime in spring.

Weather has also gone cold - I suspect we won't see 10 degrees until the spring either.

Greyness

Some greyness

This week it has mostly been grey - I don't think I've seen the sun since last weekend. There was a bit of blue sky today and the sun tried to come out but then the cloud thickened again and thwarted my hopes. To be honest it's so gloomy it's getting a bit depressing. It's also very mild - some people still running in shorts - not swedes obviously, they wrap themselves up properly as though they know it's suddenly going to get very very cold.

Darkness

This will probably not be the last time we mention the darkness. Our days are about 1 hour shorter than the UK at the moment and it will only get worse. Once the clocks change, the sun will set at 16:01 tomorrow. One rainy day earlier this week it felt like it wasn't fully light until 9:30 - when lunch is at 11:30, this feels very late. The evenings feel so long - it seems like it's been dark for hours and then you check your watch and it is only 9:00. Probably photos to illustrate the gloom another time.

Super-Tasty Snack Time

On the way home from Wednesday's run, we stopped at Nystekt Strömming at Slussen to sample the majesty of the strömmingsrullar. Fried herring and mashed potato with salad in a flatbread - yumyumyum. Not certain why it has taken us 9 months to try, but we'll be back there for sure. Superb filling wintry food.

Further Signs of Approaching Winter

#1 Grit bins appearing on pavements
#2 Adverts of TV for spiked car tyres so you can drive on frozen lakes without a worry.
#3 First sound of a car driving past with spiked tyres - metal spikes in the tyre make a pretty unmistakeable sound as a car drives past. Spiked types are permitted from October 1st and winter tyres are compulsory December 1st to March 31st.

James Turrell at Kulturhuset Järna

Many months ago now we had a weekend away in the countryside outside Stockholm. This was very exciting compared to the other bits of Swedish countryside we had been to because it was a bit open. Being outside and being able to see more the a few hundred metres is not something we are used to - normally there are a load of pine trees to block your view.

Järna is a concentration of Steiner schools and businesses run on Steiner principles - there is a biodynamic farm and mill. Being Steiner, all the buildings have organic shapes - heavy on curves and light on right angles. 

Spread across this 'campus' were a load of installations by American artist James Turrell. Best known for his ongoing work at Roden crater, he works with light and colour. Obviously this doesn't make him sound very special - what sort of artist doesn't work with light and colour? Turrell makes large installations which generally have lots of light (or sometimes very little light) and sometimes changing colours. He also make 'skyspaces', a large cylindrical roof with a circular opening in the roof. I assume the intention of to focus you on looking at the sky since that is the only place you can really look. This photo above is a sneaky one looking up in the skyspace and is rather reminiscent of 1960's Apollo mission pictures of the earth.