Random post of happy
why_am_i and I have just spent a lovely weekend in Stockholm visiting spiff_mysmask - in fact, Kat is still there! spiff_mysmask have a cute little Swedish cottage in the suburbs, cosy and warm with a real wood stove. Everything is covered in snow and ice right now, so the houses are all blanketed with a layer of white on the roofs and it looks like a winter fairytale, especially at night when the lights are on. Waking up and looking out the window at an endless expanse of snow was like magic!
We had a nice, relaxed time - all of us were feeling a little tired for various reasons, poor David was quite sick just before we arrived, and Anette, Kat and I were all suffering from coughs and colds, so we took it fairly easy, sleeping in and lying around quite a bit. It was wonderful to be able just to sit around and chat and catch up on things - it didn't seem like nearly two years since we last saw each other! The first evening, spiff_mysmask provided all sorts of interesting Swedish food for us to try: yellow pea soup, which apparently is traditionally eaten on a Thursday, but still tasted good on a Friday, especially with the usual accompaniment of mustard (!) added; bloedpuding, which I totally can't spell, but consists of a mixture of pigs' (I think?) blood, spices and seasoning, and grains, is cut into slices, fried in a pan and served with lingonberry jam on it, and is far, far nicer than that description makes it sound - Kat and I both had a few slices each and rather liked it; loksill (pickled herring) and senapsill (pickled herring with mustard), both of which I thought were delicious; Swedish cheese; and falu korv, a type of smoked sausage which is cut into slices and fried. After this feast (and after travelling for 13 hours to get to Sweden - I had to get the overnight bus Thursday night, came straight from the Burlington party, to catch the plane Friday morning, and arrived Friday afternoon) I was sleepy, so sitting by the fire and not doing much was the perfect way to spend the rest of the evening.
On Saturday we had a lazy morning, containing exciting breakfasty goodness with everything in a tube - no, really! it's not just Swedish furniture that comes flat-packed, but you can also get all sorts of food packaged into tubes :) caviar, vegetable pickles, cheese, pate, pickled fish... ("Hot sausage! Innatube!) I bought some from the local ICA (supermarket) to bring home for souvenirs, as I was so taken with the idea. In the afternoon we went to a fabulous concert by the Eric Ericsson Chamber Choir - Eric Ericsson founded the choir in 1945 and is still conducting it, at nearly 90 years old! They did a range of mostly 20th century a cappella music, including a movement from the Rach Vespers (and then Bogorodyitse Dyevo as an encore, yay!), the Part Magnificat, Taverner's The Lamb and The Tyger (hands up who's ever heard that before?!), Bruckner's Ave Maria... hmm, and a few things I didn't know, including the Penderecki Stabat Mater, which I thought was quite beautiful but wished I'd understood better, a Brahms motet and two contemporary Swedish pieces. The choir was excellent - apparently they have just won a Swedish "Grammy" award for best chamber music - and the concert was in a lovely old church, so overall a very enjoyable experience. Then we went out to a tapas restaurant and enjoyed lots of tasty nibbly Spanish food before heading home for wine, chocolate and an evening of knitting! I now have snuggly woolly wristy-warmers that Anette knitted for me while we were there :) *squooshes* not only are they keeping me warm, but they provide nice cushioning for my wrists while I'm typing.
Sunday evening spiff_mysmask had organised a party where we got to meet a dozen or so of their Swedish friends. Before that, though, Kat and I thought we ought to at least do a bit of sightseeing, and headed into town, where we spent a couple of hours at the Stockholm City Museum, deciphering signs in Swedish - a most instructive experience. We arrived back to a house full of people and the party about to get into full swing, with plenty of food and drink consumed and much interesting conversation. Hurrah for good parties!
On Monday morning David had to head off to work very early, via a two-hour long commute, in the dark and at -5C! We were luckier and slept in - it was only about 0C when we left the house for a day of seeing things. We saw old Swedish buildings, glassblowing demonstrations, a furniture factory and "engineering factory" (which is not, apparently, where they make engineers); and then some typical Scandinavian animals - including otters, yippee! - at the Skansen park, which is sort of a combination historical village, museum and zoo. Next we sampled semla, a traditional pre-Easter treat consisting of a spiced, light bun filled with cream and marzipan, at the Vede-Katten cafe which, according to that day's Metro newspaper, has the best semlor in Stockholm. They were very busy! And the semlor and hot chocolate were very good. That left us enough time for a walk around Gamla Stan, the old medieval town, and then a quick dinner before I had to head off to the bus station to get the Flygtbussen back to Skavsta airport.
And so it was that at 7:30am today, following another overnight bus ride from Stansted airport, I staggered off the coach back in Manchester, dragged my luggage (full of food-in-tubes and pickled fish!) back home and fell into bed for a much-needed couple of hours sleep. Mmrph. But an excellent weekend, overall!
I spent nearly an hour and a half at the gym today - after being away for a four-day weekend, I found I really missed it, even though I've only been going for a couple of weeks. I'm starting to get addicted to the feeling of tired, well-used muscles; in particular I like using the weight machines and coming out with my arms all wobbly and weak from doing shoulder and chest presses. It's already easier to lift what I started off with, so I am increasing the weights a little bit and doing an extra few repetitions. Positive feedback is also good: Lee has commented that various bits of me are firmer and my pectoral muscles are bigger already! After such a short time I rather doubt this, but it is nice to feel encouraged :)
CAOS choir rehearsal has been switched to 8-10 tonight so that orchestra can use separate rooms for sectionals. It's nice not to have to rush down for 6 with all of the peak hour traffic and everyone trying to go home to Fallowfield, though finishing at 10 has meant that we are having a very late dinner after! I suppose I should wander down there sometime soon... maybe I will have a drink in the OP bar before rehearsal *hic*
We had a nice, relaxed time - all of us were feeling a little tired for various reasons, poor David was quite sick just before we arrived, and Anette, Kat and I were all suffering from coughs and colds, so we took it fairly easy, sleeping in and lying around quite a bit. It was wonderful to be able just to sit around and chat and catch up on things - it didn't seem like nearly two years since we last saw each other! The first evening, spiff_mysmask provided all sorts of interesting Swedish food for us to try: yellow pea soup, which apparently is traditionally eaten on a Thursday, but still tasted good on a Friday, especially with the usual accompaniment of mustard (!) added; bloedpuding, which I totally can't spell, but consists of a mixture of pigs' (I think?) blood, spices and seasoning, and grains, is cut into slices, fried in a pan and served with lingonberry jam on it, and is far, far nicer than that description makes it sound - Kat and I both had a few slices each and rather liked it; loksill (pickled herring) and senapsill (pickled herring with mustard), both of which I thought were delicious; Swedish cheese; and falu korv, a type of smoked sausage which is cut into slices and fried. After this feast (and after travelling for 13 hours to get to Sweden - I had to get the overnight bus Thursday night, came straight from the Burlington party, to catch the plane Friday morning, and arrived Friday afternoon) I was sleepy, so sitting by the fire and not doing much was the perfect way to spend the rest of the evening.
On Saturday we had a lazy morning, containing exciting breakfasty goodness with everything in a tube - no, really! it's not just Swedish furniture that comes flat-packed, but you can also get all sorts of food packaged into tubes :) caviar, vegetable pickles, cheese, pate, pickled fish... ("Hot sausage! Innatube!) I bought some from the local ICA (supermarket) to bring home for souvenirs, as I was so taken with the idea. In the afternoon we went to a fabulous concert by the Eric Ericsson Chamber Choir - Eric Ericsson founded the choir in 1945 and is still conducting it, at nearly 90 years old! They did a range of mostly 20th century a cappella music, including a movement from the Rach Vespers (and then Bogorodyitse Dyevo as an encore, yay!), the Part Magnificat, Taverner's The Lamb and The Tyger (hands up who's ever heard that before?!), Bruckner's Ave Maria... hmm, and a few things I didn't know, including the Penderecki Stabat Mater, which I thought was quite beautiful but wished I'd understood better, a Brahms motet and two contemporary Swedish pieces. The choir was excellent - apparently they have just won a Swedish "Grammy" award for best chamber music - and the concert was in a lovely old church, so overall a very enjoyable experience. Then we went out to a tapas restaurant and enjoyed lots of tasty nibbly Spanish food before heading home for wine, chocolate and an evening of knitting! I now have snuggly woolly wristy-warmers that Anette knitted for me while we were there :) *squooshes* not only are they keeping me warm, but they provide nice cushioning for my wrists while I'm typing.
Sunday evening spiff_mysmask had organised a party where we got to meet a dozen or so of their Swedish friends. Before that, though, Kat and I thought we ought to at least do a bit of sightseeing, and headed into town, where we spent a couple of hours at the Stockholm City Museum, deciphering signs in Swedish - a most instructive experience. We arrived back to a house full of people and the party about to get into full swing, with plenty of food and drink consumed and much interesting conversation. Hurrah for good parties!
On Monday morning David had to head off to work very early, via a two-hour long commute, in the dark and at -5C! We were luckier and slept in - it was only about 0C when we left the house for a day of seeing things. We saw old Swedish buildings, glassblowing demonstrations, a furniture factory and "engineering factory" (which is not, apparently, where they make engineers); and then some typical Scandinavian animals - including otters, yippee! - at the Skansen park, which is sort of a combination historical village, museum and zoo. Next we sampled semla, a traditional pre-Easter treat consisting of a spiced, light bun filled with cream and marzipan, at the Vede-Katten cafe which, according to that day's Metro newspaper, has the best semlor in Stockholm. They were very busy! And the semlor and hot chocolate were very good. That left us enough time for a walk around Gamla Stan, the old medieval town, and then a quick dinner before I had to head off to the bus station to get the Flygtbussen back to Skavsta airport.
And so it was that at 7:30am today, following another overnight bus ride from Stansted airport, I staggered off the coach back in Manchester, dragged my luggage (full of food-in-tubes and pickled fish!) back home and fell into bed for a much-needed couple of hours sleep. Mmrph. But an excellent weekend, overall!
I spent nearly an hour and a half at the gym today - after being away for a four-day weekend, I found I really missed it, even though I've only been going for a couple of weeks. I'm starting to get addicted to the feeling of tired, well-used muscles; in particular I like using the weight machines and coming out with my arms all wobbly and weak from doing shoulder and chest presses. It's already easier to lift what I started off with, so I am increasing the weights a little bit and doing an extra few repetitions. Positive feedback is also good: Lee has commented that various bits of me are firmer and my pectoral muscles are bigger already! After such a short time I rather doubt this, but it is nice to feel encouraged :)
CAOS choir rehearsal has been switched to 8-10 tonight so that orchestra can use separate rooms for sectionals. It's nice not to have to rush down for 6 with all of the peak hour traffic and everyone trying to go home to Fallowfield, though finishing at 10 has meant that we are having a very late dinner after! I suppose I should wander down there sometime soon... maybe I will have a drink in the OP bar before rehearsal *hic*