The Sacred Diary

This is a blog post without a point (that remark directed at a certain reader who wondered if there always has to be one). So I'll make three.

1/ I seem to be in an every-other-day mode at the moment. Every other day (or so) I get inspired to "do things", and the next day I find myself totally exhausted and not wanting to do anything at all. On Sunday I went to that scrapbooking event, which was costly but interesting. Yesterday I can't even remember what I did, all I know is that I had intended to go out in the afternoon, but ended up sleeping instead (in spite of sunshine outside). So I'm writing this down mainly to remind myself tomorrow of what I did today...

2/ It's still a cold and dangerous world out there. Normally (a word that does not really apply to this winter) I prefer to go shopping etc in the morning; but when it's -12° in the morning and +5° in the afternoon, it seems better from that aspect to reverse things. Some spots are also still really icy, so I decided to take the bus half way to the supermarket. For safety! But for some reason, although I had pressed the bell in good time, the driver did not stop at the bus stop; I had to shout "hey", and then he brought the bus to a very sudden halt, way past the platform. Getting off, the step was really too high for me, and I was "this" close to falling (making a gesture you can't see). As a result I now have pain in a hip and knee which are otherwise usually among the less painful parts of my body. By the time I got home (walking now in spite of all seemed safer than getting on another bus), I again felt exhausted, so I can only guess that tomorrow will be another sleeping-day. (And laundry. Mustn't forget...)

3/ After writing the post entitled Church(es) the other day, I decided to reread The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37 3/4). I found that this book still has me ROTFLOL (web abbreviaton for "rolling on the floor laughing out loud"); except that I try staying on the bed, because that's more comfortable than the floor. Anyway, I think I shall have to try and get hold of it in English, too, because I only have the Swedish translation, and there are some puns and anagrams in it that I'd really like to know the original versions of...

I'm tired, and aching. Think I'd better get back to my bed and my book!

It Just Goes On And On

Pictures above and below taken around 4 a.m. through the window.
The newspaper deliverers are having a really tough winter!!!



Since yesterday, we have probably had at least 30 cm of new snow on top of what was already there. It was also snowing earlier in the week. And it's still snowing! For today, there was a "class 2" weather warning (on a scale of 3) for a large part of the country.



I did go out for a very short breath of air in the afternoon today, but it was just too difficult to walk. My intention was to walk to the nearest letterbox and post a letter, but I gave up half way. The sidewalks hadn't been ploughed at all, and the streets were slippery with loose snow on top of treacherous ice. My friend will have to wait for her letter!

In the picture above you can see that the layer of snow on the ground now goes higher than the seats of the park benches!

To look on the bright side (for me personally), I'm glad that my brother managed to come last weekend when the weather was fine.
He also helped me get some supplies home from the supermarket.
Good timing, considering the new attacks of snow during this week!
I managed to get to my physiotherapy (rehab pool) Monday and Thursday; the rest of the time I've just been staying in!
(Apart from that very short walk today.)

In spite of the blessings of the Internet (♥2U!) there are moments...

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December; [in this case, February!]
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island...

~Paul Simon~

However, Saturday afternoon always offers a treat: my favourite radio talkshow or panel game, which is the Swedish equivalent of British Just A Minute. I learn from the Wikipedia article that the British game started in 1967; the Swedish one has been running since 1969 so was not far behind. The object of the game is for four panellists to talk for sixty seconds on a given surprise subject, 'without repetition, hesitation or deviation' (and challenging each other if they think someone does not keep to the rules). It always gets hilarious, and serves as my weekly laughing exercise!

Wish I could give you an example. but not much point in directing you to the Swedish Radio podcast site. (Any Swedish followers I'm sure will find their own way.) So I got curious to see if maybe BBC4 also had their version on the web...? I found two episodes currently available on BBC iPlayer (limited listening time). So if you don't know the programme, you have a chance to find out what it's about.

Now having listened to one of the British ones, it seems to me that the Swedish version tends to have more detailed subjects; often long sentences which are kind of short stories in themselves. Like, the British programme I listened to had one subject entitled "what's in my handbag". While today's Swedish programme happened to have one about "how I came to discover what X keeps in her handbag" - and X in this case being the leader of one of our political parties (aspiring to be our next Prime Minister if they happen to win the next election), whose handbag has been much discussed in media lately because someone found out it was a very expensive one!

What makes YOU "LOL" - laugh out loud?