Sun, Sea and Sailing

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  Norrköping, Sweden
Friday, August 10, 2007

After staying with my Uncle for 3 days I met up with Henrik. Now for
those of you who read my blog and keep up to date with my bragging, you
should remember Henrik from my trip in Australia. Steve and I met him
for the first time in Airleys Beach where we joined a group to go
sailing in Whitsunday. Mark was also with us at the time. In fact
Henrik has fantastic shots of Mark drinking beer through a snorkeling
mouth piece, while wearing the goggles. They are not pretty pictures!
We spent 3 days sailing with the others and eventually we went our
separate ways until we met each other again in Sydney for the new year and then
he traveled with us to Adelaide where he was living at the time

Captain Sami

. So
Henrik came to pick me up from Hägersten and this time he was doing all
the driving and I was being the good, well behaved tourist! We drove to
his place in Norrköping, which is situated south of Hägersten, about 1
hour drive away. It was strange seeing him after 6 months, but it felt
like it was only yesterday that I left him in Adelaide. I kept thinking
we were still in Australia, until I got in the car and we started
driving on the other side of the road.

As we arrived in his house, I met his mum (Yvonne) and his mum's partner
called Hasse, his little sister called Emma, who is the cutest 13 year
old girl I have ever met. If only I was as good as her when I was 13,
my mum would have never left me in the UK! After a fantastic dinner
with the family, Henrik and I cycled down to the city centre, to watch
the fireworks, as it was the August festival here in his town and each
year they have fireworks with music competition. Tonight was the 3rd
night of the competition. In town I met two of his friends, Emma and
Ante

Sailing

. We watched the fireworks together and soon after that we were
met by a few of his friends and we spent the night watching and
listening to the Beatles cover band, which I think not only surprised me,
but also surprised Henrik too, since they are not exactly my favourit
band, and I remember I kept telling Henrik off for putting their music
on in the car, every time we were traveling together in Australia. But
they were good.

The following day we had an early start at 8 in the morning. We were going
sailing and I was really excited about this. Hasse has a sailing boat
which is his third sailing boat and since the age of 20 he has been
sailing. This was his 30th year of sailing. The place where the boat
was parked was called Fyrfjärden in St Annas archipelago. This is
approximately situated south of Norrköping. We went sailing for the
whole day and by the time we got back it was about 9 in the evening. On the
way out to the Island, Hasse kindly taught Henrik and I how to put up
the sails, how to do the transition from one side to the other and how
to take them down

Sailing

. It was fun and hard work, and Henrik was shocked to
find out that he wasn't going to be able to sleep on the boat and he
actually had to work. In fact if I remember correctly he managed to
escape the work part on the boat, back in Australia!


We went to an Island called Gubbön and we also visited another copper
mine Island called Fångö. The distance between these tow Islands is
about 500 mts and believe it or not, Henrik and I swam it. Much
to Henrik's disappointment the water was actually comfortable enough to
swim and there was no excuse for him not to! Besides I think the fact
that I was going to swim and his little sister was there with us on
the little dingy, he probably thought it just wasn't going to look cool
in front of her, if he didn't swim and I did

Sailing

. The water was cold, but
after a while you got used to it. I also swam back to our boat, so if I
am correct, effectively I did the swimming part of a triathlon, at
least that is I what I am telling myself! I can't say I was tired, but
every time my face went underneath the surface, it felt like someone
punched me in the heart and closed all the airways to my lungs and
breathing was hard, because of the cold. I can kinda understand how
people can get heart attacks. Of course I kept smiling, or maybe my
face just looked like that from the cold. So there you go Mark, you
should be very proud of me, and in case you are wondering, no I did not
ache the next day! and no I am not about to start triathlon when I
return!

After our swim we went for a hike to the top of the Island for a great
view of the surrounding Islands

Sailing

. We then had a little time to ourselves
to rest on the side of the water, waiting for lunch. While waiting,
Henrik and I decided to take the little dingy out for a little bit of a
ride. A joy ride! Except every time I went to turn on the motor, it just
wouldn't turn on and actually it completely died on me! I took that as
a sign not to play around with it and went back to have a rest with
Emma. Henrik joined us for a while, but since he can't keep still, he
decided to go back on the dingy, and surprise surprise, it worked! He
took it out for a ride and came back to get me. Finally after about 5
tries, I managed to get the motor running, looking very sheepish in
front of Henrik whom by now had the biggest smile on his face! Soon
after that, I managed to get him back, by doing a few fast turns, where
he was about to either fall out or feed the fish, I wasn't about to
stick around to find out which one was going to happen first, and
thought I would just head back to the boat. Besides it was time for
lunch, and there is no justice to keep the stomach waiting for food,
for much longer

Sailing

!

Lunch was a combination of jacket potatoes, sour cream, spring onions
and Sill, which is pickled herring. The Swedes very much like their
fish and fish tasting food. And I have to say I have nothing against
that and it suits me just fine. After food, we headed back to the ducking
area, on the way Hasse taught me how to steer the boat, which was a lot
of fun and a lot easier than the dingy with a motor. I have absolutely
enjoyed my sailing experience, and it has convinced me that I would
love to have my own sailing boat one day. I can almost hear Mark
thinking from UK, saying that I would need to get a job for that! Are
you sure you don't have one in your shed? And I am talking about the
boat and not the job!

Sailing

Once we got back to the house, we got changed and headed out to meet up
with some of Henrik's friends. These are friends from when they used to
be in Kindergarten or primary school, so you can imagine that I spent
most of the night digging all the dirt on him! :) But before that, as
we parked the bikes in the parking lot, we were immediately welcomed by
his friend, Mike, who decided to greet us with first a jump over the
bush and then a very well managed professional fall on the ground,
exactly like the ones you see on TV, when a bomb has just gone off in
the battlefield and the stuntman throws himself across the ground,
landing very softly on his hands. I thought that was very impressive
and professional. Later on I was told that he had aimed to jump over
the
bush, except he failed to see the fence immediately after

Sailing

! This was
immediately after finishing a whole bottle of vodka and starting the
second one! I know I am in Sweden! And like the greatest people in the
world have always said, "...if you can't beat them, join them...." The
ride on the bikes back to the house was very interesting. I almost
wished that the roads and pavements were covered with cushions.

This morning I managed to get myself out of bed around about 10 in the
morning. I found Henrik already awake and having breakfast with his
family. I washed my face and tried to look presentable and went and had
my breakfast. Well needless to say, most of the day I have been quite
lazy. We went to have a look at where Henrik grew up and where he went
to school and then went over to Hasse's house for a gorgeous BBQ. I
also tasted Swedish Dark chocolate which was surprisingly good, and I
say this because I don't really like dark chocolate. During dinner,
just as I was about to start, I realised I still had my chewing gum in
my mouth

Sailing

. So me being me and not wanting to make a fuss and not wanting
to take it out and put it on the side of my dish as I though it might
be rude, I decided to take it out and leave it in my pocket, and to
take
it out immediately after I finished with the food. Well I forgot! and
of course it got stock to my pants and it was just a mess and still is!
Henrik is trying to convince me that I should put my trousers in the
freezer. But then I can't help thinking that that kinda defeats the
purpose of not wanting them to know what had happened and I would have
been better off just putting it on the side of the dish! :(

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