Snuff and stuff

A lot of Swedes use snuff which you buy in little round boxes and if you are a long-time user your trouser pockets take the form of the snuffbox and everybody can tell that you are a snuff user. Anyway our son tried it while he was here and we were all a little grossed out and kept telling him how off-putting it would be for a possible girlfriend. He retorted that a lot of girls use snuff here in Sweden, and sure enough in the afternoon while shopping I saw this blond angelic-looking girl put in a snuff portion (they come if the form of tea-bags) while parking her bike. Apparently it's safer than smoking and not only old men use it, which used to be the case in the old days.

Last night was elk-spotting time again. Just as we were fretting over the last minutes of the soccer game between Croatia and the UK our neighbour came in to tell us that there was a huge elk in her back garden. Our daughter and husband abandoned (very reluctantly) the game and ran off to see it but I just couldn't. As it was, they made it back to see Croatia score 2-1 against the UK, which none of us had expected.

Hubby has been over in Australia now for two weeks working, but is coming back on Sunday. He will be very pleased to see the garden in tiptop shape thanks to our son-in-law.

Before that he was over in Durham for a graduation ceremony among other things. He does look a little Harry Potter like, doesn't he? (This link is not too remote; parts of Durham Cathedral, including the room below, doubled as a film location for Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.)

Sweden is suffering from a very dry period and except for the rainstorm two days ago we haven't had a drop of rain since we arrived in May. In fact, it wasn't just rain it also hailed quite a bit and our son-in-law was quite amazed since he had never seen hail before.

Our son has gone back to Australia after a fun month here with pizza-oven building and swimming and generally doing holiday things.

Enjoy the rest of the summer if you are in Europe! If you are in Australia just try to cope with the cold weather, someone said it was just 10° in Sydney!