Names again

One thing I find hard to get used to in England is the use of titles. Filling out Mr., Mrs. or Ms. when you book your flight tickets is one thing, and it’s quite alright, although I don’t really see the point. However, here titles are so much more important. We we’re at a dinner party a few months ago, and everyone was so excited because lady X would be there. Yes, I can see why people would get excited if she’s a really nice and funny/interesting/whatever person (which she was, so fair enough), but not just because of a title.

One of the weirdest things in my eyes, is when people (strangers) call you ‘love’. What? I have never even met you before. You don’t know me, and I definitely don’t love you! I’m also trying to get used to being called madam (or worse, ma’am) in stores. It makes me feel like am 60. I felt just as bad when, at a party with some of Tim’s clients, I was called Mrs. Bolton. Excuse me? Mrs. Bolton is Tim’s mum, that is so not me! All of a sudden, I felt absolutely ancient, and rather diminished. So now, if nothing else, I have to hurry up with my thesis so that I can at least be Dr. Bolton.

Mailed it, but not nailed it

It's now almost 3.10, and I have finally sent in chapter 6 to my supervisor for proofreading. Time to go and join the snoring hubby. Aaaaaah, bed!

Trying to work

Records I have listened to in one day in the library (with a few songs on repeat): the Beatles ‘One’, Amy McDonald ‘This is the life’, Catatonia ‘International Velvet’, Damien Rice ‘O’, Dave Matthews Band ‘Crash’ and Faithless ‘Outroperspective’ (in that very order). Oddly enough, at the end of the day I normally want anthem-like music, or electronica / psychedelic / techno stuff. It’s nice and repetitive, and the brain is on minimal work (there’s no desire to sit and sing along).

Annoying!

Read through ‘the book’ again today, thought I could be a bit ego and put in a few references to it in my thesis. But what do I discover? Loads of bloody mistakes! Some very minor ones (no commas, etc.) one really big one in the part of the book that I have nothing to do with (one of the pictures of the incunabula is wrong), but then… In the first sentence in one of my major sections, the editor has inserted a ‘not’, and thus making it negative! So, instead of “the majority of the extant manuscripts are from Vadstena” it’s now reading “the majority of the not extant manuscripts are from Vadstena”. What?!?! Who did that? I checked my original text as well as the proofs I got back, and no, that was not in there. Why would anyone insert that? And why am I never allowed to be happy?! Aaaargh! I guess it is a bit funny, though. At least it is an obvious mistake!

Strangest sight of the day: man dressed as a chicken walking down Euston road.

Tuesday news

Everything will be ok... sooner or later.

Our landlady is more insane than ever. She's always been a bit mad, but after she started taking Champix, things went from bad to worse. But, it seems as if we might have a pretty good flat coming up. Fingers crossed!

Also, I have just been asked to give my first lecture! (I.e. not a conference paper, but a proper lecture.) It is Linköpings stifthistoriska sällskap ('the historical society of the diocese of Linköping' is probably the best translation I can come up with at the moment). They had seen the book (see earlier post), and want me to come and talk about it. Will get paid, as well as travel expenses etc covered. Wohoo!

(The book has also been presented to the Vatican library, and I found a review on the internet, in which I was mentioned as a 'well known expert', ha ha ha!)

ESC 3 (random thoughts on the final)

Ok, on demand (even Tim wanted me to write this post!), here’s my thoughts on the Eurovision final (very last post on the subject, I promise). I was not surprised at all to see Russia win, although I still think Dima was better in 2006 (or even t.A.T.u. in 2003). Ukraine was no surprise either, but I was quite amazed that Greece did so well. Their song didn’t do anything for me! I thought that there were other countries deserving that third position much more. Really happy about Norway placing fifth, although I still believe the song would have been better if Mira had performed it herself. I’m also a bit surprised that Armenia did so well (and also that Latvia scored as much as they did). Other than that, I think both Israel, Portugal and Iceland deserved a bit more. (Especially Portugal, which I loved until switched on telly text, and got the subtitles for it. It sounded so much more romantic in Portuguese.) Also, having a jury group voting in one song from each semi final was probably not the greatest idea. Poland and Sweden got lousy scores from the people voting in the final (surprise, surprise!). Just drop the embarrassment!

Overly sweet and personal

I felt rather let down by my friend on Sunday, since we never got to meet. Although I love living here with Tim, and I am really happy to have lived in different places and different countries (and all the experiences that has given me), all that has had a cost – losing contact with old friends. Of course, some of them you would probably not have remained close to anyway, people do grow and change. The ones you really care about you find the way back to whenever you meet up again, and you pick up where you left off. That is all great, and it is a good feeling to know that you have that safety. But it also makes you realize what you miss. You never get the everyday stories. You miss all the daily stuff. Sometimes I really wish I could be part of that, and wish I had stayed in one place.

That’s when Tim’s great. He is my best friend (although sometimes I need someone I can discuss make up and other essential things with), and my greatest supporter. So when I was a bit down on Sunday, he picked up the pieces. He reminded me of what a great team we are. And I really do believe that. We have really grown together these last few years, but without ever giving up us as individuals. He can be annoying as hell, but he also makes me happy like no other. And he knows me better than anyone, and still likes me! (And yes, I could add a billion other things, but I probably shouldn’t make it too personal.)

Yes, this sounds really soppy, and it’s definitely not my intention to make things sound too overly sweet and pathetic. But I guess I wanted to tell myself to be happy for what we have. I write this just as much for me, as for anyone else. So, gooooo team Timgela!

Bank holiday

Oh, I love to live in a country when you get holidays you didn't know existed. Bank holidays are such days. They make absolutely no sense (to me, being used to religious holidays only), but they are quite nice surprises.

Yesterday was spent in museums: the Wellcome Institute and the Natural history museum. Loads of people, but fun to stroll around. Today we'll be aiming for more indoor cultural activities, as it is pouring down!

Working Saturday

Tim and his mum had a great day: going to the Zoo and then a boat trip.

I had a rather miserable day, trying to work in the library. I am a person of habit though, and I like a certain amount of consistency in my life. In the BL, this is shown by the fact that I like to have the same seat in the reading room if possible. All the seats are numbered, so that when you collect your books you have to give them your seat number. Getting the best seats is an art – at least to me. It shouldn’t be too close to the door (you don’t want all the people running by), but at the same time not too far away; it should be close to the delivery counter (especially if you have loads of books to carry), but not too close so you can hear all the chatting people etc. Also, I like seats with ‘good’ numbers. I know it sounds really odd, but I like numbers that sound good in my head. Today I was on 252. That’s a good one. Nice and even, and easy to remember. 251 next to me is not. The other day I was on 234. That is (obviously) a good one, too. 233 on my right was rubbish, but 235 on my left could work. (Rainman, anyone?) I fear I am turning into a freak! (But then I try and remember a discussion Elise once had about her seeing numbers in colours, and then I feel quite normal again. Sorry Elise, I’m sure it’s quite useful to have the colour-memory thing! I’ll make it up to you: your book is now on its way. It was posted yesterday!)

More work

Not a lot of updates at the moment since we're too busy entertaining Tim's mum. But I am "getting some time off", and will go to the library and work today.

And tonight, I'm forcing the others to watch the Eurovision final with me. (No, I don't think Sweden will win.)
Ella just got a little baby sister. :) Grattis, Lisen och Tobbe!

Info

Additional info for those who needs to know (or are simply just curious):

Tel Aviv/Jerusalem: 17-22 June
Birthday celebrations (*hint, hint*): 30 June
In Göteborg: 2-4 July
In Stockholm: 5-11 July
Fredön (the summer house): 11-27 July
Moving to C's: 28 July
Moving somewhere else: mid August.

That's it!

ESC 2 part 2

Alright, my favourite songs made it. A bit surprised that Switzerland didn't (and that Latvia did!), but oh well.

Also, Reynir did a great job, singing 'Valentine Lost' (last year's Icelandic entry). Well done! You deserved to win!

Tomorrow I will keep my fingers crossed for Lisen who will have her second child!

ESC 2

Ok, slightly better mood today. Although I still panic when I think about how I was supposed to be finished a year ago. It is hard to describe the pressure on your chest for anyone who hasn’t been there, but trust me, there are better feelings.

Anyway, tonight will be spent in front of the telly – the second Eurovision semifinal, and then Reynir appearing on the Graham Norton show on BBC (and yes, I suspect it will be about Eurovision. He was on the expert panel on Iceland TV a few weeks ago, and is the reason for half of my obsession with the show.)

And then lots of cleaning to do, since Tim’s mum is visiting this weekend (her first child-free weekend since early February, I fear). Also, will get to see Christina and her mum tomorrow, as they will be in town. Hooray!

(And for those who are interested: tonight I'll be cheering for Iceland, Sweden and Portugal!)

Good news and bad news

Bad news first: I'm ready to jump in front of a bus, because I'm so tired of my thesis. I'm sooo ready to do something else, and I just want to cry.

Good news: we're going to Israel in June! The Firm (of course) is paying for Tim's business class ticket, while I have to pay for myself sitting with the sheep in the back. But we'll get away with only £10/night at Tel Aviv Hilton (not 'Bangkok Hilton'). Tim will have to work for two days - while I get to enjoy the sun and tourist around Tel Aviv. Then we get two days, with unlimited access to car + guide, and can travel around and do whatever we want. A trip to Jerusalem is at the top of the list!

ESC 1 part 4 (Bonus round)

Ok, this is what we would have voted for if we could:

ESC 1 part 3

Congrats Norway! Tim and I are still in shock, though. We are absolutely convinced that it was set up - who was voting for Azerbaijan??? And, may I add: ha ha, Ireland!

ESC 1 part 2

Finland should have stopped after Lordi. That was new and fresh, now it's not so hot! Can't help liking Bosnia&Herzegovina a little bit (but that's probably because I like the White Stripes). Tim says that Norway was wronger than a conger. Ireland, well, they don't even deserve a comment. Poland is a poor Celine Dion wannabe. I really liked Russia's Dima three years ago (probably the only one who did that, ha ha) when he performed with the ballet dancer. This year he was a lot weaker, and could have skipped the ice skater.

To sum up: really amazingly poor quality of all the songs!

ESC 1

Eurovision night, first semifinal.
Ok, eight entries in (and one Kopparberg's cider later) - Moldova and Slovenia best so far. Estonia a big joke, but at least you can tell they don't take it seriously. Low point(s) so far: Belgium, Azerbaijan... and well, most of them.

Tired, again

Yup! Tired again. Tim and I really need to get a life (or rather, he needs to finish his book, and I desperately need to finish my PhD). Sat up till 1.30 last night writing, after spending all day in the British Library. But today I have promised myself a little bit time off, so I will leave a bit earlier so that I can catch the first semifinal of the Eurovision. And I promise to cheer for Norway (in this round)!

PS. For those of you (if at all there are any) who think this is great entertainment, BBC three has a really funny "Eurovision I-spy" game on their site. It can be found here. I don't ask how come I know this. I am not spending too much time on this kind of stuff. I promise!

All the good stuff

I finally have my lovely husband back after all the work he's had! He's social and sweet and lovely again. And has cooked me a very yummy beef pie!

Research results

I made a new little discovery today. If you don’t care about my work and research, you can stop reading here.

It’s pretty obvious that my thesis is not going to revolutionize the world. But I’m not even sure it is those great discoveries that I want. Most times it is the little, personal things that are exciting. So, here we go, the discovery of the week:

In the medieval manuscripts I’m working with there are a few calendars (lists of names of saints and church feasts, guiding the reader to how and when to celebrate them). One of the calendars, in a manuscript now in Berlin, has at a later stage been used as a diary – a later owner has written in on which days other nuns passed away. There are not many names added, only five or so, but it is still quite exciting (although old news). Well, mostly it’s not the whole names written out but only the initials. An older researcher (back in 1914, when someone last looked at this stuff), interpreted the initials K O to be the sister Kristina Olofsdotter. In the monastery’s memorial book her death is recorded in September 1526. The date in the manuscript is however July 1625 (so 100 years and a few months off). This old scholar argued that this was a mistake by the scribe, and that it should say 1526 (he does not, however, try and explain the change from July to September.)

Well, it sounded a bit too far fetched to me. Mainly because the name Kristina was always spelt with a C. The name Katarina however, was always written with a K. Thus, the sister whose initials were inserted in the manuscript must have been called Katarina, not Christina. So, a brief check of the number of sisters who were called Katarina O, reveals that there were only two of them. One of them was the last abbess, elected in 1594. The monastery was closed by the king a year later (this is after all well after the reformation), and in 1596 she left together with four other sisters for the birgittine daughter-abbey in Danzig. A little bit of research showed that a necrology (‘list of dead’) from the Danzig abbey still exists. In the necrology a Katarina Olofsdotter is said to have died in Danzig in July of 1626!!! My date and year! So, it was not a mistake by the scribe – Katarina died in 1626. One of the five (!) last nuns of Vadstena must have brought this manuscript with them when they went abroad, no longer wanted in a country that had turned its back on Catholicism. And when their last abbess died in 1626, her death was recorded in the calendar so that she would be remembered by future generations. All of a sudden everything became very close and personal. Here I was, working on a manuscript that must really have meant something to these people. I love my research!

Celebrating Norway

Yesterday's 17th of May made me recall one of the times Tim and I 'celebrated' it in Oslo. (Possibly the same year as I took the picture below. It's from 'our street' in Oslo, where almost everyone flagged from their balconies. It was really pretty, and every year they got lots of attention for it.)

Tim and I had walked down to the Palace (a five min. walk from where we lived), to look at the parade. When the parade was over, we walked up and waved to the royal family, as the good fake-Norwegians we were. And the amazingly poor pictures we took was a great addition to our collection of 'bad pictures of European royal families', which we had started the year before with a really bad photo of the Swedish king (well, at least we got his hand).

After having had the obligatory hot dog in potato bread (!), we got in contact with some of Tim's old friends. They invited us over to a flat in central town, where one of them was serving cocktails. Wohoo! we thought. That sounded absolutely great! We were a little surprised, because 1) few Norwegians will serve you any other alcohol than beer because it is so expensive, and 2) the girl who we were going to had about a year earlier converted to Buddhism, and did not drink (but then, even sweeter of her to make it nice and festive for the rest of us). Well, we should have known. It was all a misunderstanding/ mis-translation. It was not cocktails (surprise, surprise) but fruit cocktail - diced fruit in syrup! Which was nice enough, but not what we had in mind... And when the others a bit later went out for dinner, we had to go home, since we were rather poor at the time. But happy birthday, Norway!
For all the Norwegians:

Happy 17th of May!!! Jeg savner Oslo og President Harbitz gate og jer alle.

Wave to the king from me, and make sure to eat loads of pølse i lompe. I will do my best and celebrate with the only Norwegian food I have in the house: Stabbur-Makrell (courtesy of Minna).

Gratulerer med dagen!

Or weird neighbourhood

Our neighbourhood is rather odd. Across the street we have the cathedral and the residence of a Roman Archbishop (although, if that’s odd or not, is up to your own persuasion, I guess), then we have the far end of the street (Elephant and Castle), where drug problems and the like aren’t unheard of. In the middle lies the Imperial War Museum (very interesting for daddies, not so much for mummies), which is a former loony bin. The ‘mental institute’ now resides on the other side of our block – which gives us plenty of entertainment in the summer months, when the patients spend their time on the balcony shouting the lyrics to Oasis’ Wonderwall. And, of course, there’s also ‘the terrace’, i.e. our part of the street. Here everyone is just plain crazy, although they hide it well enough not to have to move to the other side of the block (this probably includes us, I fear). So, when you meet someone in the street behaving oddly, you can assume that they are: 1) a junkie, 2) mad or 3) just a Londoner. Ah, England is so diverse, but yet so accepting!

Plans for August

More good news! Tim was giving a paper last week on charity in the middle ages (for a whole lot of lords and ladies with lots of money). Apparently he did a pretty good job because one of them asked him to come and do his Christmas party! (An offer Tim gently declined.)

Anyway, one really good thing came out of it - and that's that we have been asked to go to York in August. Tim has promised to give a speech on a manuscript fragment which is relevant for one of the local monasteries, and we will get to see the ruins of Jervaulx Abbey, built in 1156. We will be staying next door, with the lord who owns it. So, free trip to York for us! Hooray!!!

Also, we have been promised that they are going to hold a dinner party for us. I am already panicking about what to wear, and Tim is sighing a lot. But according to Tim, I do not have to worry: academics are considered strange and weird, and so I can get away with anything. What a relief!

Conversation of the day 2

Ingela: You are so stubborn!
Tim: Why? Because I stink?
Ingela: No, you smell pretty good, actually.
Tim: Wohooo! I smell like perfume... and carrots!

Danskjävlar!

One of my new discoveries (for those of you who care) is that one of the manuscripts I am working on is based on an old Danish one. Things are made a lot more complicated and complex by the fact that there was a fairly close similarity between Swedish and Danish at this time (c. 1500), and thus it demands a lot of detailed study. So right now I feel like Ernst-Hugo Järegård in the Danish TV-series Riget: "danskjävlar!"

Tired

Oh, never enough sleep. I am unbelievably cranky today. Hardly any sleep on Sunday (thanks to a combination of a snoring husband, and finding a gang of spiders in the bathroom in the middle of the night) and hardly any last night (the road work has now moved to our side of the street). Also, a few new discoveries yesterday have made my brain go completely bananas! I do not want to find anything new in my material now. Why couldn't I discover these things three or four years ago, rather than a few weeks before handing in?

I really wish I had more exciting things to report, but sadly, no. I have a rather boring life at the moment. I spend my time in the British Library, and my money on their shitty coffee (more on that subject at a later date). Pathetic!

Back to business

Happy birthday, mum! Hope you're having a great time in Italy. And happy name-day, grandma!

Back to some serious writing today. I.e. hide from the sun and the rest of the world in the British Library. Managed to get a little bit done yesterday. But then joined Tim at C's house, where they were doing the last paste up of the catalogue. C was having a barbecue in the afternoon, and we had a great time in her garden - enjoying the weather, good food and wine.

Also, 'my' book is finally out! Well, I've written one of three chapters. But it is a really pretty thing, so run and buy!!! It's a great coffee table book, and will make you look really intellectual! (As if any of the readers of this blog needs to look any smarter!?)

Conversation of the day

Ingela: I love you!
Tim: That's because you have no sense of smell.

Saturday in the park with Tim

Yesterday turned out really good! It was a bit overcast, but that was quite nice, since it was rather hot and humid anyway. Loads of people in Greenwich, but we still managed to get a fairly quiet spot in the Observatory Park. Elena was really sweet, and it was great to see Peter again. We had loads to eat and drink, and no, I did not fall asleep. Actually, I'm quite disappointed with my predictions. Hardly even got one right. Yes, I could not sleep last night - but that wasn't so much due to fretting over my thesis, but rather because of Tim's snoring. And Tim did not get sunburned, but he got a slight tan (and seems to still want to go to Morocco. Hooray!).

Greenwich is really green and pretty, although slightly touristy. We were earlier thinking about looking for a flat in the area, but I think we came to the conclusion last night that it is quite far out. I don't mind sitting on the tube for half an hour, but having to use both the DLR (Dockland's Light Railways) and the tube is a bit too much. Oh well, time will tell.

I have, however, discovered one really great thing about having a blog. Tim is sooo paranoid about me writing about him (i.e. that I'll write how bad he actually is), that he has started to wait on me non-stop. It's really convenient. If I want him to do something for me, I just start blogging and he'll drop everything else and do it. And this morning he's already told me 20 times how good I look and how much he loves me, in fear of ending up here... Oh, this was a good decision of mine...!

Names and plans

Today, for the first time ever, I was called Angela. Quite odd really, since I've been called basically everything imaginable before (and I'm not including anything rude here) but never that, even though it is so obvious. Over the years I have picked up a few favourites. Ingrid is of course the most common variant (largely thanks to my parents lack of imagination), although Ursula isn't unheard of either! The funniest Swedish one is otherwise probably Ingerla (Lisen should know who I am thinking of). In the States it was many variants of Ingy (Ingie, Inky, Inkie, Pinky etc.), which is kind of cute. The funniest one in England so far is Ingemar. Someone - now in my family! - apparently only knew of one Swedish name. (Who cares about gender anyway?! Go queer theory!) So, today I celebrate a new name! (As a small preparation for my real name day on Monday. *hint, hint*)

Anyway, the plan for the rest of day is to go with husband (yeay! he can take time off again!) to Greenwich for a picnic together with Peter and his girlfriend Elena. (Tim is very excited, since we are the first ones who are allowed to meet her!)

My predictions for the day are:
1) I'll fall asleep by 2 o'clock thanks to the great combination of sun and champagne.
2) I'll make up for it by staying awake all night agonizing about the fact that I should have been working all day.
3) Tim will get terribly burnt, will curse the sun and cancel our trip to Morocco.

No, I'm looking forward to it. Greenwich is really nice (although I fear it might be a bit too popular on a good day like this), and it is supposed to be the nicest day of the year so far. Will keep you posted!

PS: Happy birthday, dad! Hope you're having a great day in Venice!!!

Evening in the garden

One of the things I really like with this flat is the fact that we have a garden. Yes, it is rather small, but still big enough for us to sit outside. While I was on the phone to my parents last night Tim arranged a sweet dinner out there. It was quite late, close to 21.30, but the air was still warm, and it was almost quiet as the traffic had died out. And sitting there, with a glass of ice cold white wine in my hand, I felt that life in London isn't so bad, after all.

[Edit: woke up several times in the very early morning hours thanks to the noisy birds outside. I'm not sure I like the garden anymore!]

[Edit 2: ok, it's official. I hate nature! There are so many weird and freaky spiders in this country (almost as bad as in Denmark), and that's fine as long as they stay in their territory (i.e. outside, hiding well) and don't intrude on mine. I just found a really nasty-looking one in the bathroom. Not ok! I'm too scared to check if he's a wolf spider (which we had a few last summer, and I'm not going to insert a picture here, because they really are some evil bastards. If you want to know, just google), but he better not be or I'll move straight away. And our next flat better be on the top floor in some over-developed area! (And yes, I am a chicken, but right now I couldn't care less!)]

Boris

Two nights ago we had to move our bed to the middle of the room. The council had decided to put new pavement on our street, so there's was a lot of digging and drilling going on all night. Tim became the five year old boy he still is (not so very deep inside), and ran out in the street to watch all the cool trucks (and desperately wanted to drive the one that looked like a dinosaur!). Luckily for us, our bedroom is facing the garden, but the construction work was still so heavy that the walls were shaking. Thus, the best solution was to move the bed.

Having the bed in the middle of the room was suddenly quite handy as I wanted to change our sheets last night. No more crawling across the bed, being unable to stretch the sheets because I'm on top of them. But then, what did I discover if not Boris!!!

Next to the bed (on Tim's side) we have a few built in shelves. The lowest one is on level with the bed, so you never see what's below - thus it's a great place for hiding things you don't want out. And that's why Boris got his place there! Some of you might wonder who Boris is, and no, we have not kidnapped Londons newly elected mayor. Our Boris is a stuffed boar's head. Yes, a real one!

I assume most of you know about Tim's obsession with e-bay. Unsurprisingly, Boris was bought on e-bay. For a long time, Tim had this idea that he wanted a stuffed real animal. His original idea was an elk head, which he wanted to put on the inside of our bathroom door. Knowing how small English bathrooms normally are, and how nasty a damp elk's head most likely smells I said no. Or rather, I've promised him that when he's rich and has bought me a big house, then he can have a room which he can fill with toys and whatever weird things he wants. In the meantime, it's a no!

Sneaky Tim, however, soon managed to get someone else in on the idea of a stuffed animal. As the smooth talker he is, he convinced his boss C (a wealthy lady in her fifties) that they should get a boar's head together for their office! Said and done! He started searching e-bay, safely knowing that C would pay for half the boar. And that's when he found Boris (although not yet named). One quick auction later Boris was shipped to the Firm, to be placed in their departmental office. There was a small problem upon arrival - the poor packaging had damaged Boris' front teeth. Oh, well. Problem number two, however, was quite a lot bigger. All of a sudden, C remembered that the Department have a lot of orthodox male clients of a non-christian belief, who would certainly be very offended if a staring boar's head would meet them in the office. Said and done, Boris had to go home with Tim. He lived his first few weeks with us in his box in a corner of the living room, but I soon got very tired of the lack of space (boars are in fact rather big animals). Thus, he had to be moved to the shelf under the bed. Tim has promised me that he'll give Boris a new home somewhere else, but nothing has happened yet. So, if you or anyone you know wants Boris (preferably before the end of July when we're moving), please let me know. In the right home, he would be a great pet!

Otters

Long day today. Finally finished the proofreading of my chapter on manuscript illuminations. About time, since I need to send it to a friendly art historian to read through before publishing. Just have to find someone who has the time to spare...

Then read through the comments on my paleography chapter that I received this morning by mail. Not much to change, but still depressing reading. That surely is a chapter I never want to work on again! Finally on with the writing. Totally uninspired, but hopefully that will change soon. The first ice cream of the year was quite inspiring though. I enjoyed a popsicle outside the library in a desperate attempt to get a tan. All of a sudden summer is here! (Which, however, is not good for my thesis-writing spirit!)

And today Tim finally sent in the texts for the next catalogue!!! Happy, happy, but very tired. The poor man hasn't had any time off for almost a month, and barely any sleep the last week. Tomorrow is cut and past day (think photo album or scrap book), when they glue all the photos in where they should be. I like that part of Tim's job!

So, we celebrated the catalogue by going to the Two Brewers. It's a place that Sophia, Dario and I discovered when we were walking through town last Sunday. I brought an ad home with me, encouraging people to come and vote for the best real ale of the week. Tim almost started crying last night when he discovered that 'Otter ale' was last week's guest ale. Apparently an old favourite of his. Anyway, we managed to find our way back to the place (not too far away from Leicester Square), and luckily they still had some Otter on tap!

Two Otters later we were on our way home, both of us a step closer to the well deserved summer holiday!

Job application

Today my first job application in... eh... probably eight years was finally sent in! (Last application was for a summer job at a car rental place in central Stockholm. At least I made it to the interview! And I was secretly relieved that I didn't get it.) So, fingers crossed ('thumbs held') and all that...

Oh, I hope I haven't cursed it now.

The first post

The grand premiere of London and beyond!

So, here we go. The first post of the 'London and beyond' blog. I started to feel that I no longer keep in touch with all our family and friends around the world, so this is my way to (perharps) change that. (Heavily inspired by Lena and her writing. Thank you very much!)

I doubt I will ever get Tim to post anything here, but I'll make sure to pass anything important on to him (so feel free to make comments).

Happy reading!

/Ingela