Glimmer

It's been another tough week at work but you know what? It's not been so bad because the sun's been shining.

Ok, so I've been cooped up inside the office most of the day but I've been able to sit outside in the garden when I come home from work and it's been nice and relaxing.

Goodbye bulky winter clothes, hello little strappy numbers!

Come on Summer - this country needs you!

On another note, the glamorous C was working in the Swedish office today - she said my old colleagues there said 'hello' - eeee, I miss Stockholm!

Our Survey Said...

Soooo glad it's the weekend! I think I'm still suffering from post holiday blues and it's been another tough week at work. Slowly catching up on stuff now I think but it's hard going.

An all employee's meeting was called - I think it was the worse one I've ever attended - looking around, all you could see was low morale and disinterest in people's faces. Felt a little sorry for the newly appointed HR Leader who had the daunting task of presenting the not-very-happy employee opinion survey results and trying to put a spin on the stats.

She said it was 'extremely positive' that 55% of employees said they were happy with their managers (no mention of what was going to be done about the other unhappy 45%) and that it was 'interesting' that if offered a similar job by another company, nearly 60% of employees said they would take up the offer...

It was also finally announced that a new UK director has been appointed over our department - this came as a bit of a surprise to the guy who is currently covering that position as he had no idea - global communication at its best, LOL! Some people have worked with this new guy before and apparently he's a right arse - another one, joy! He's currently based in Sweden so I contacted some of my ex Swedish colleagues - seems he has an eye for the pretty gals as they said he was very nice to them!

Well, arse or not, our jobs are in his hands - hope he puts us out of our misery soon, one way or the other.

Caught up with the glamorous C at the gym - was good to see her again for the first time since our holiday and she had some potentially good news in that she could be starting another project at the company! Yeah, sure the company is ruthless but consultants don't get involved in all the politics and the glamorous C needs the cash for early retirement! The bad news is that if she gets the project, she'll be working from the Hounslow office but at least I'll be able to chat to her on email and Sametime!

Hoping to catch up with her this weekend as she'll be off travelling again soon - jet setters have all the fun!

Reflections

Well, now that I'm no longer really distracted by the World Cup (apart from the various prediction competitions and fantasy football leagues I've joined), I can now reflect briefly upon my last few weeks in Stockholm and also on the fact that I will be starting a new job tomorrow.

Nearly 6 months in Sweden and I witnessed the temperature vary from minus 13 degrees to plus 30 degrees. From snow and frozen sea to glorious sunshine and daylight lasting nearly 24 hours. Wonderful!

I will miss the 'beautiful city built on water' which I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to explore during my weekends here; I'll miss the cool but friendly and incredibly slim Swedish people; I'll miss my colleagues and friends over there; I'll miss the Nordic Sea hotel which became like a 'home' to me; I'll also miss some of the travelling, which gave me time to relax and catch up on my sleep on the plane. I'll miss eating out in nice restaurants and drinking alcohol during the week, something I rarely do back home. I'll miss saying "Hej!" to people...

My leaving do was in a sports bar, so we (or rather I...) could watch the football - more people turned up than expected and I was really grateful and happy that they wanted to see me off.

I was subjected to a leaving presentation on my last day and gave a very short and rather choked speech, as I knew I would end up in tears if it went on any longer.

I couldn't stop my tears however during the taxi journey to the airport - felt like a sad muppet, but you know, I'm going to really miss the place!

I think I did a good job there, though would have liked to have finished it to my own satisfaction.
Now, will be back permanently in the UK, back to feeling stupid at not knowing what to do, back to office politics, back to traffic jams on the M60.

But it's not all bad - I will be back with the boyfriend, back with my friends, and back home.

Final Supper

My last evening in Stockholm and I dine appropriately on reindeer casserole (Sorry Rudolph!). Chatted to my favourite Belgian colleague - I'm going to miss him!

Best get packing as I want to get into the office early.

* Sigh * - don't want to get emotional, hope I leave with a smile on my face tomorrow in the office and not tears!

Last Trip

So, today should be the last time I fly over to Stockholm. Six months has whizzed by in the blink of an eye. I think I'm going to get upset as I will miss it all - I hope I don't end up with girlie tears in the office!

Anyway, England will kick off against Ecuador this afternoon and I should catch most of the first half at the airport. I hope there will be happy texts waiting for me when I arrive in Sweden.

Heja Sverige!

Swedes - can't beat them at football (for 38 years), and their men look better in their underpants....

So England go through as leaders of Group B, despite the 2-2 draw against Sweden, which was definitely a game of two-halves. We were in an English pub in Stockholm, which promised to play The Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen every time an English goal went in...

Anyway, first half, we lost Michael Owen who agonisingly twisted his knee - Svennis brought on the 9ft Crouchie to partner Shrek. England had a lot of possession, lots of shots on goal and Joe Cole played a fantastic dribbling game, scoring a magnificent goal for England to lead at half time. Cue lots of jumping around to God Save the Queen...

Second half, England seemed to have lost the plot (as usual) and the Swedes equalised and were all over the England goal, hitting the post several times.

Svennis took Rooney off (who kicked off his boots in a tantrum) and brought on Stevie G - a timely substitution as Gerrard cleared off the line and then scored what we thought was the winning goal. Scouse Power!

However, it wasn't to be - in the 90th minute, the Swedes equalised and again, England were unable to beat Sweden - 38 years and counting!

Still it was a great night and experience - no trouble at all, despite the mixed Swedish and English fans in a packed out pub. Me and a couple of colleagues were interviewed before the match and apparently appeared on local Swedish TV. The guy at the hotel recognised me this morning from my 'TV slot' but I didn't stop to give him my autograph.. ;-)

I asked in a previous post whether the Swedes would get emotional over this game? The answer is yes, they got all emotional - they acted like they had won the World Cup itself, they were running round the streets singing and some had jumped on top of buses, but it was still all very .... nice and safe, I didn't feel that I was in any danger at all walking through the city.

I guess this Saturday, I'll be shouting "Heja Sverige!" when Sweden meet hosts Germany.

A load of Boules

My last weekend in Stockholm came and went in a blaze of glorious sunshine. I'm so glad the great weather has continued unabated, as the boyfriend was able to appreciate and enjoy the city as I have (his last memories had been full of snow, snow, blizzards and more snow...)

We took a boat trip out to Vaxholm and saw some of the archipelago - tiny little forest-covered islands, some of which are privately owned by people, who had built their own "summer homes" there - they looked fantastic!

One last trip to Skansen, to walk around the beautifully preserved 16th and 17th century buildings and then back to Stockholm city to sample some Belgian beer.

On Sunday, I sat in Kungsträdgården, where there was an international boules tournament (La Mayo Boule Festival) taking place. I spent the afternoon catching rays in the scorching heat and watching people practice and competing against each other- boules looks like a simple game but probably very difficult to master. You could tell which players were the Swedes and which weren't - the non-Swedes were the ones who cussed and muttered when their boules didn't land correctly. The Swedes were just really laid back and calm, regardless of winning or losing.

Wonder if they will be so calm and laid back after tonight's game?

Scouse Power

Yet another uninspired performance by England but for once, Sven made some decent substitutions, which changed the game in a positive way.

'Shrek' came on and didn't seem to have any problems with his foot, though I still don't think he was 100% match fit. The whippy Lennon came on, and straight away started to be a threat to the Trinidadians (or is it Tobagians?)

Crouchie and Lampard made some shocking misses in front of the goal and it all looked like England would settle for a dreary 0-0 draw until finally, the 9 ft Crouchie scored with his head in the 82nd minute.

Sitting in a bar surrounded by Swedes who were rooting for Trinidad & Tobago, me and two colleagues were the only people who jumped up and cheered!

Then in the 90th minute, Stevie G lashed in a stunning left-foot drive and England are well and through to the next round!

We hung around to watch the Sweden v Paraguay game - nice goal from Freddie in the dying minutes so should tee up to a nice confrontation next week.

And since England won and as promised, here's the pic I posted on my birthday. See? Nothing to get excited over...


For 24 hours only, as it's just too weird for me to see my mug on here....

And....

... a big happy birthday to the boyfriend today.

Looking forward to seeing him tomorrow! :D

Gratulera med dagen!! *

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Another year older. Wiser? Maybe!

One of my Swedish colleagues tried to guess my age and had me 8-9 years younger - I'll be buying him a beer or two tonight! ;)

Anyway, since this is such an auspicious occasion, thought I'd post a weenie picture of myself here... tomorrow, I'll remove it so I can remain an anonymous-ish blogger!

Anyway, tonight I'm having a World Cup/Birthday party - woohoo, get the beers in! Or shall I stick to G&T...decisions, decisions...

* Happy Birthday!

06.06.06

An ominous date (if you go by the hype for the remake of 'The Omen' film...) but today is actually Sveriges Nationaldag, or rather Sweden's National Day.

As I'm not actually entitled to this holiday, since I take all the UK bank holidays, I went into the office and for the first few hours, I was the only person in the whole building.

No interruptions, printer all to myself, mp3 player on, it was pretty good...until I swivelled round on my chair and nearly had the crap scared out of me as a colleague was like right behind me, about to tap me on the shoulder (ok, so my music was on a little loud and I didn't hear him knock on the door!). I think I may have squealed like a sad girlie and jumped about a foot off my chair - embarrassing!

Left late afternoon to make the most of the nice weather and after dropping off my laptop at the hotel, wandered into Stockholm towards Kungsträdgården (kinda like an open park-like area with loads of cafes, stalls etc). The blue and yellow flag of Sweden was everywhere, every other person/child was holding a little flag.

After resting in the park and taking a few photos, I meandered back via the shops, which was a bit lethal for my credit card, since I ended up buying a cool bikini (who'd have thought it - buying a bikini so close to the Arctic...?) and some presents which I'm going to struggle to take back to the UK - too much sun to the head I think!

Anyway, an early night for me tonight since I have an invite to a 'recognition' dinner with Big Boss Lady who's making a state visit tomorrow and I want to try to make some sort of good impression. Best stay off the alcohol tomorrow - don't want to say something I'll regret...

Just the Tonic!

My second to last weekend in Stockholm and my glamorous mate C came to visit me again. Last time she was over, we had a majorly chilled weekend doing, well, not a lot! This time we decided that with the lovely weather, we had to see some of the city. And of course sink a few G&T's or two in what was considered her 'leaving do'.

Friday night, we had drinks in the Sky Bar of the Radisson Hotel (where we were staying) - being on the 9th floor, we were treated to a nice panoramic view of Stockholm at night.

Up early on Saturday and we went to Skansen and wandered around the place for a few hours in the sunshine. My second visit here but I still didn't get to see everything - such a great open place that a third visit will probably planned for my final weekend in Stockholm (with the bf).

Went to the Vasa Museum again - the old preserved ship never ceases to amaze me and fill me with awe - there were also some new bits to the exhibition that weren't there when I last visited.

Instead of taking the bus back and despite our weary feet, we strolled back to the hotel, deftly criss-crossing roads to try to avoid runners in the Stockholm marathon!

Alas, we didn't get to relax like we did last time, getting the sauna opening times mixed up, but still, it was kinda novel riding the hotel lifts in our dressing gowns and slippers!

A nice steak dinner, washed down with very generous measures of gin & tonic at the Nordic Light bar. Wandered back to the Sky bar and tried our hand at Black Jack at the mini hotel casino (should have quit when I was winning...!). Was a great evening, loads of laughs and funny chats.

Sunday, we were going to go on a boat trip but not only were there big queues (didn't book tickets...doh!), but the water looked kinda choppy. Neither of us have good sealegs at the best of times, and the thought of being on a boat with a hangover turned me a bit green!

We wandered along the waterfront, across to the island Skeppsholmen and then finally, came to rest on the tiny island Kastellholmen (the Vasa ship sank near this island), sitting on the rocks along with a few Swedish sun-worshippers, admiring the view, enjoying the weather and catching a little exhibition of planes doing a fly-past. Occasionally, we could hear the faint screams of people on the rollercoaster at the Tivoli funfare, which could be seen across the waterway. We sat there for a couple of hours - great relaxation.

Noodles for lunch when we got back to the hotel - another trip up and down the lift in dressing gowns and slippers (sauna had closed early...again!), then we were out for what should have been a quiet night.

Numerous G&Ts later, we hadn't moved from the bar to go to the restaurant and in fact, we only moved after they'd called last orders - oops!

Made a feeble attempt at packing and crashed out at 1.30am ish.

Another fab weekend, really felt like we were on holiday. Me and C are like chalk and cheese, but as friends, we really click. Can't help but laugh at her and she really doesn't seem to mind!

Felt and looked like death warmed up today - and didn't get a lot of work done!

Time for detox methinks!

Sibling Rivalry?

I'm staying in Stockholm this weekend.

My sister has asked the bf to take her out to the cinema.

Not just any old bf, but my bf, not hers, whom she has left back home.

I guess it bothered me just a tiny bit but I don't know why.

Perhaps it would be more worrying if it didn't bother me?

Countdown Commencing...

This is my last month in Stockholm.

As such, I will be spending most of June (including my birthday) in Sweden, in an attempt to give a decent handover and provide as much training as possible to the staff remaining here.

The days are so long now, it's lovely.

BB

Have managed to avoid watching Big Brother since I've returned from Stockholm for the long weekend but it's hard to pick up a newspaper without finding out about the freaks and weirdos on the show.

I caught the Swedish Big Brother final last week ... if people think the BB Brits get up to naughty stuff, well let's just say there's still a loooong way to go before they catch up to the saucy Swedes!

TV watershed? Doesn't exist over there, so there was full-frontal (male and female), boy trying to snog boys, girls snogging girls, lots of nudity and sex (ok they didn't actually show the actual act but they played the noises and various moving duvet shots...). I checked the time - it was 7.10pm, so probably early enough to put anyone off their tea!

I think the girl who won had slept with 3 of the guys, but I could be wrong - it was all in Swedish and I wasn't looking that closely at the moving duvet shots...too busy trying to eat my tea!

Winning Team?

So, Sven has chosen his English squad for the coming World Cup, with some surprising inclusions and exclusions. Since this is his last fling as England manager, it looks like he has decided to throw the dice and gamble.

In interviews, he's always come across as quietly spoken, cool and calm. 'Detached' and 'somewhat unemotional' are words I would use.

This was not the case when I saw him interviewed on TV tonight in his native Swedish tongue. Svennis (as the Swedish tabloids like to call him) spoke loudly and confidently, smiled a lot more, and at times, showed a cheeky arrogance and swagger that probably hasn't been witnessed in the UK (except when slipping in and out of Ulrika and Faria's respective apartments...)

Shame I didn't understand a word that he said.

Jag kom , Jag såg , Jag utforska *

With the snow finally melted and the days getting longer, it was an ideal time to finally get to explore Stockholm properly. I stayed the weekend and my sis came over for a visit.

The weather was dry and sunny but the chilly wind (especially when we were facing the sea), took the average temperature to around 11 degrees C.

What I realised about Stockholm whilst wandering around was that for a big city, there wasn't a lot of people around. Nice weather on a weekend, Manchester city centre (never mind London!) would be crammed full with jostling people. In Stockholm, you got to walk around with a lot of space and freedom. Refreshing!

It was the Swedish King's 60th birthday this weekend and there was a band and military parade at the Royal Palace. There were crowds watching but you still had space to walk around without being squashed to claustrophobic oblivion. Also, as me and sis were about to cross the road, we were stopped by police as a procession of royal cars drove by and Princess Madeleine waved at us! Was too royalty-struck to take a photo...doh!

Where else did we go? We spent a few hours in Skansen, the world's first outdoor museum and even so, covered less than half of the place, it was huge. Deffo need to visit again, to see all the old Scandinavian farmhouses, and see the indigenous Swedish animals again such as wolves, lynx, bears, wolverines and elk. One scary thing that we nearly witnessed was a tiny little monkey that just about escaped the clutches of a large iguana - ok, monkeys and iguanas aren't indigenous to Sweden but these were in a little tropical zoo part of the park.

Visited the Vasa Museum again as sis wanted to see the recovered battleship and wandered around the Nordiska Museum just before it closed.

When sis left this morning, I wandered over to Skeppsholmen, another of Stockholm's islands and saw the Af Chapman (below pic) a 100 year old sailing ship which is now used as an unusual hostel. Sat by the quayside for an hour or so to absorb the glorious views before heading back to the hotel.

Stockholm is beautiful. The buildings, the waterways, the boats, the people. All in all, a great weekend, different from the usual bank holiday back home and one which I hope will be repeated soon with the bf, who's last impression of Stockholm was of snow blizzards and Gulag-like conditions!

Back to work tomorrow, ho hum!

* I came, I saw, I explored

AIK, rule OK!

I didn't need persuading twice - when I heard there was a Stockholm derby match between two of Sweden's leading teams, AIK and Djurgården, I just had to get a ticket.

I know nothing about Swedish football but I was supporting the home team, AIK (pronounced "ah-ee-kwor") at the Råsunda Stadion. Black shirts with gold trimmings, hence their nickname, the Black Army and they were the underdogs in the tie.

With an attendance of 34,174, it was a good noisy atmosphere. The game started off slowly, only livening up after AIK were dubiously awarded a penalty and went 1-0 up. In the second half, AIK increased their lead to 2-0 but in the 80th minute, one of their players (who wasn't the goalkeeper) was sent off for trying to catch a goal-bound free kick!

With a one man advantage, Djurgårdens pulled one back, but their fans were still celebrating when AIK buried the tie with a great goal to make it 3-1!

This was no Premier League game, maybe it was like Championship level but it was an enjoyable nonetheless.

Possibly the cleanest football match I've ever been to in terms of language - I'm sure everyone around me were swearing like troopers but I was oblivious to it all as it was all Swedish!

Beers afterwards - too many!

Glad Påsk! *

* Happy Easter!

Fabulous Weekend

I was really looking forward to my mate the glamorous C coming to visit me...and my anticipation was totally justified.

I haven't laughed so much in ages, nor been this relaxed. Despite not being a girlie-girl, I do love girlie chats with friends and there was a lot to catch up on.

After sampling a few G&Ts in a couple of bars in Stockholm, I decided that I really needed to tell her about the Valentine thing - I gave her a home-made 'Sorry' card... she forgave me (saying that she had suspected it was me) but what was totally weird was that she then apologised to me for overreacting but that her personal life had been taking a bit of a rollercoaster ride at the time in a major way, the details of which caused me much merriment, but I think she was glad to get it all off her chest.

So how relaxing was this weekend? On a scale of 1-10, it was easily 10.5! :)

On Saturday:

• Stayed in bed chatting until noon
• Went to a local cafe for brunch, chatted until 3pm ish
• Back to the hotel to "rest" for an hour or so
• Sauna
• A spot of tv (Hell's Kitchen, no less)
• Sushi and a few G&Ts

Today (Sunday):

• Up in time for hotel breakfast
• A spot of souvenir shopping
• A visit to the Medelhavsmuseet (Museum of Mediterranean & Near Eastern Antiquities)

And then it was time for her to leave.

I believe she really enjoyed the weekend just as much as I did - I found the chatting and laughter really therapeutic and hope we can do this again, only next time, we might try to do a bit of sightseeing!