A smörgåsbord of cottage maintenance, fun, and mishaps

Hello again, dear readers,

Since restrictions on international travel from Australia had eased as 2022 progressed, hubby and I finally booked in April to return to Sweden, for three months from the start of June 2022.  Our cottage on the island of Orust, north of Gothenburg, had pretty much had to fend for itself the three previous years, with just a couple of short visits by my nephew near the Swedish mid-summer holiday.  Our elder daughter and her Senegalese husband had also planned to move to Sweden from Spain, using our cottage as a base at the start.  Despite my trepidation about the flight, it all went quite smoothly with passenger assistance at departure, the two transits (Bangkok and Helsinki), and on arrival.  One curiosity was the flight path to deviate around Ukraine.  

Due to a slip on our part, the electricity at the cottage had been cut at the end of 2021, but we were able to arrange for it to be reconnected for our arrival.  Then it was a case of gradually restoring internet access, satellite TV (two of life's essentials!), cutting the lawn, and getting our 15-year-old Nissan from France back on the road, after it had sat for four years out in the open in our driveway.  All it needed was a new battery, a couple of new tyres, a new fuel injector, and a lot of TLC with a sponge and detergent.  It took three tries to get the car through the road-worthy test, one of which was preceded by a lap or two of the local roads at high revs to lower the CO reading.  Hubby got that tip from the internet, which certainly made the monthly subscription worthwhile.  

Our daughter now has a car to use, which is essential in view of the location of the cottage.  She burst a (new) tyre on a rock outcrop in the gravel road leading to our cottage the morning that hubby and I were leaving to return to Australia, the fan belt has since had to be replaced, and a most recently the alternator gave up the ghost, but, touch wood, the Nissan seems to have survived.  

There is a bit of work and a few tic bites ahead of us.

Hubby had several DIY tasks at the cottage to keep him occupied, including repainting two outside walls.  The weather was fantastic for much of our time there, which is fine if the walls are not south facing, but they were.  He had to wait for cloudy days to avoid the paint drying on the brush.  Red wooden cottages are all very cute, but they do require work.  We should not complain too much though; we have only just begun to repaint walls that were last repainted in 2010.

The five tree stumps near the house had turned into ants' nests.  Sweden has no termites, but an ant infestation is not so desirable.  The blokes-weekend method of trying to burn the lot after a good dousing with petrol is not great near a wooden cottage, but professional stump removal is not cheap.   Son-in-law came to the rescue with Herculean effort using axes, saws, a crowbar, and a lot of sweat. 

The stump near the well.

It was not all work though.  We had very enjoyable quasi-simultaneous visits by friends from France and the UK, with the obligatory silly-hat competition.  The demand on the bathroom was intense, to the point that hubby had to use the outdoor shower - great for the first few minutes when the sun has warmed the water in the hose, a bit bracing after that.  

Overcautious - hats in the shade

Look what came down in the last shower

Hubby spilt glasses of red wine, not once, not twice, but three times.  He could 'blame' the first two spills on the irregular board hidden beneath the table cloth, but the third time was all on him.  To make matters worse, the third soaked a large-print library book that I had foolishly left on the table.  It was part one of two, so we had to pay for both books to be replaced.  Personally, I quite liked the antique look of red streaks on most pages, but not the librarian.  We looked on in amazement at all three spillages, since it is so unlike hubby to be so clumsy; perhaps it was the wine.

My nephew has been nagging us to go to an antique warehouse near Uddevalle, about 30 km from our cottage, for many years.  Last year he was even more insistent, since he was keen to find a stuffed capercaillie (who isn’t?)  So we went, and, lo and behold, they had four of them!  The salesperson did say something like “We don’t get that many people looking for these; let’s take x kr off the price, just to seal the deal.”  My nephew was very satisfied, although he has yet to find a secure way to attach it to a wall in his apartment.

In Melbourne, 'grouse' means something
wonderful or amazing.  That sums it up.

Grass cut, walls repainted, paths and flower beds 
weeded, stumps removed - just in time to fly back
to Sydney.

All in all, it was a great visit to Sweden after a three-year absence, and so nice to be really home.

All those days that came and went; little did I know that they were life

Dear readers,

I was a little surprised to see that my last blog entry was posted as long ago as November 2020, but not overly surprised.  As for many of us in many countries around the world, the rolling lock downs and further self-imposed isolation during the pandemic sapped most of my enthusiasm for doing anything new. Without anything new, what is there to blog about?  To some extent though, the mundane of shopping locally, watching TV, and staying safe, gave us comfort during that time, and reflected an oft-quoted line from Stig Johansson's poem Förlusten: "Alla dessa dagar som kom och gick / inte visste jag att det var livet" - see this entry title for a translation.

Anyhow there were some events of note in those 18 months, at least for us.  Here are some of those up until early 2022:

Now that we owned a house again, it was time to consider installing solar panels, if only to be able to cut short the numerous cold calls with a clear conscience, and to tell ourselves that at least we were doing something to reverse Australia's poor reputation regarding climate charge.  It took some time to choose a company for the installation, with numerous telephone calls and checking of credentials via internet.  Like many, we spent ten times more time coming to a decision than we would have taken to buy a dodgy second-hand car for the same price.  The work and safety rules seem to be a little lax here, but no-one was hurt in the installation, and it looks like we will be earning real money from the panels in less than four years.

I guess they do this every day

Hubby turned 70 during a partial lock down over a year ago, so we just went with our two kids in Sydney to our favourite local restaurant, rather than have a party with closer contacts and the health risk that that would bring. It was a great day, especially for me who had lobster.  Hubby did go down to Melbourne by train, an adventure in itself, a few months later for the 70^th of a close friend, and to catch up with several members of his family.  Face masks were still the order of the day on public transport, but all went well.

Happy 70^th!

Our meals out locally were often take-away on a bench in a park with a view of the ocean.  I will never get tired of those views.  Even outside, there are guides posted for social distancing, in terms the locals can understand.

I think I would want to be at least one
adult kangaroo away from another
adult kangaroo!

Our younger daughter jumped onto the property ladder at the end of 2021.  She surprised us by making a decision after inspecting just half a dozen apartments in a four-week period.  That shames our two-year search that I wrote about in November 2019.  Her apartment is really nice with a wide balcony on two sides, and is close to several of the hip(ster) parts of Sydney.  She is really enjoying it.

A balcony with a view?

Hubby formally retired in early January 2022, just as another lock down kicked in, which unfortunately prevented him having a farewell party.  He still continues with a little professional work, but the new-found freedom also gave him more time to spend on projects at home, for example framing numerous paintings by our elder daughter, friends or me!  My preference is for floating or shadow frames, which, despite being fairly simple, are still expensive to buy ready made.  That meant a visit to hubby's favourite hardware and purchase of a table saw and dressed timber lengths.  Tens of frames later, he has the production down pat, but he should not give up his day job, no wait, he has no day job!

I've been framed!

From an early age, our son has wanted a dog, but hubby is a cat person, and I am not really a friend of any animals.  Thanks to lack of work during the pandemic, our son had boomeranged back home near the end of 2021.  We have the space, and could profit from the extra company.  We thought little of it then when he volunteered to dog sit a chihuahua for an acquaintance of our younger daughter.  It is not as though a chihuahua takes up a lot of space, but they do take up a lot of affection, cute yet time-consuming.  The dog sitting has turned into a life-long commitment, with begrudging acceptance by our son's cat who is also here.  Nacho is now part of the family!

A reluctant sailor

That pretty much covers my life up until hubby and I flew to Sweden earlier this month, of which more in my next blog entry.