Long week-end

G'day everybody,

It is the Queen's birthday so we are having Monday off. I mean that is for those who work, for me 'everyday is the Queen's birthday' to paraphrase a sentence by Ross from the series Friends.

I am in the process of writing my memoirs. That sounds a bit hoiti-toiti; I really just meant that I am collecting my thoughts on paper and trying to remember where my life went. I think I have to be hypnotised because there are so many gaps in my memory. For example where was the kitchen situated in the house in Panama City, Florida, where I lived when I was 15, and what and when did we have dinner and what did we have for dinner? I have no memory of that, but I clearly remember the kitchen on Södra Vägen in Gothenburg where I grew up and what we usually had for dinner there. Maybe it was because my grandmother always cooked since my mother worked and my grandmother was very traditional. For example, Thursday was always pea-soup and pancakes, even if we had already had that in the school cafeteria for lunch. This is just one example of things that I don't remember.

Swedish (Thursday) comfort food

Yesterday hubby went to a model-railway exhibition in Rosehill and we had to grab something to eat before. There was a Hooter's there so we decided to try it. We had avoided it on principle for years but it was the only place conveniently near by. They only have waitresses working there, no waiters, and when you are employed it is only by looks and shape. You have to wear a tiny sleeveless t-shirt and very small shorts showing half of your bum. It was very strange and you wonder why any normal person would accept the conditions but I guess a job is a job. 

Our waitress was beautiful, she looked like a 40's filmstar with long pitch-black hair and a very beautiful complexion with blue eyes. As we were leaving we got talking and it turned out she was from Bodø in Norway and had only worked there for two months.  She seemed happy with her job. On the wall at the bar was a sign that said "our waitresses are flattery driven". It was a little difficult for a Swede to take all this in and I wouldn't want my daughter to have to work in such a demeaning place.

When we got home we googled Hooters and other similar American chains that all go under the title "breastaurant" and they all have some sort of sexist dress code. Definitely to be avoided in the future, even though the chicken wings were pretty tasty.