9 months of waiting is over

I have not been able to blog as I had to focus on other things until the baby arrived; i e work...


 Spring passed very quickly and before we knew it as always May was showing a taster of what summer would be like; or not.
What is it with summers in London nowadays? When I first moved to London it felt like summers were when I could go swimming in Hampstead Heath and spend the evenings in shorts outside a pub or cafe. This whole summer went by in an instant since it rained nonstop so there was no real summer feeling of: let's stay outside and socialise. Instead it seemed like throughout June and July people just seemed to go home straight after work since it was pouring down and cold anyway. Not that I complained!
For me the weather was perfect. Being highly pregnant in a London summer was not something I was looking forward to; but instead it turned out the coldest for years so I just continued to enjoy my life with a growing stomach  ( biking in rain gear whilst being 8 months pregnant can be a bit of a challenge though).


Every day for 9 months I have counted my blessings and realized how lucky I am for everything in my life. I am sure that had I not gone travelling maybe I would not have felt the same way. I try to only see solutions, life can be a challenge many a times, but of course: feeling that it all leads to us learning something new makes all these challenges more understandable.
Throughout this year I have been trying to work as much as possible but always make sure that every day is special and that I smile through it. 


 I decided early on that I wanted to have the baby in Sweden so through the 9 months we have been travelling to and from Stockholm for scans and seeing friends. It has been the most amazing 9 months I could ever imagine. Every time we have been to Sweden we have felt like we were on holiday and made every check up truly special. 

Of course a trip to Stockholm always consists of a fika at Rosendahls trädgårdar

I have always been fond of old Swedish school posters

Foam cafe Karlavagen, so happy to be with friends and family

The wonderful cafe at the photographic museum

Time

I normally find a away around work to have my own time. In fact I consider myself an expert on managing the time.  Since I was young I have always got up quite early " Up and Jump" used to be my expression as soon as my eyes had got used to the daylight. Even during my travels I was always the first one up, doing my yoga and then having breakfast as soon as the kitchen opened in one of the hostels I stayed at. The saying " we can sleep when we are dead" might sound really annoying to some, but to me that is what I swear by. Looking back at my time travelling; I am sure that I was awake 30-40% more than most other travellers I met and since I am someone who is always on the go, imagine how much more I crammed in than my friends! Of course it is all individual as some people get far more out of staying at the hostel drinking, sleeping in the day and just taking time in one place, but for me that does not work.  
One of my bedside table books is Bodil Jönsson's " Tio tankar om tid"- "Ten Thoughts about time".  She is a physicist who has managed to grasp what time is in a very concise and approachable way. She reminds us of how to take care of our time on this planet and how to "stretch" time. The first and easy thing to do is to not repeat small experiences like going to the same restaurant, ordering the same food, travelling the same journey to work. But instead making sure that every day contains new experiences, this way there is a defined moment in everyday, which looking back makes it feel longer. 






I found a swedish blog discussing time as well and she had some interest points:


In US, researchers has found :

•  the average person spends FIVE YEARS in a car queue.
•  a whole year is spent looking for things 
• Two years are spent trying to get hold of people whom are unreachable!
• Couples spend only four minutes a day talking to each other about important matters.

These facts are hardly surprising. What do you do to stretch your life out? How do you make the days and weeks seem longer? I am curious since it is one of life's real challenges.

Spring is here

I decided to use the time off from work by going to home. To sleep in my own bed, in my own room and decide over my day was just what I needed. It was bliss. I come from a tiny fishing village called Råå, which is situated on the southern east coast of Sweden. It is a beautiful place on earth, when the weather is good I can not imagine a better place. This time my best friend mrs L with her 8 week old daugther Amanda was there as well. Mrs L and I grew up as neighbours and both left our village early, straight after college, so somehow every time we go back home it is like we become the teenagers agin but somehow living a much better existence: no worries, no hangups, no responsabilities just pure happiness. Hang on: did I not say Mrs L had a newborn? oh yes, and we loved to play with her like a little doll, but then in the evening when we were about to go out, all the parents were busy on their and were not available to take her! oh dear, so little Amanda had to be bundled into the car and come to the party. 

If you are stuck for where to go on for the summer, I can not recommend Sweden's coasts enough. The area I come from used to be a place where upper class  Europeans would go for their summer vacations: Mölle, Arild, Torekov now of course they all go to st Tropez et all, so we have the area all to ourselves. And it is heaven. Clean beaches with clear water to go for a morning swim in, perfect temperature in the water and outside, peace, nature everywhere, you can create the most idyllic holiday you ever had. Just look at the May issue of Lonely planet magazine to get an idea of Sweden in the summer.