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| My Moomin Mamma Mug |
I have not yet started the actual "packing", but I've started making lists and gathering things...
Outdoors, the remnants of storm Floris from Britain has been shaking the trees and throwing water at my windows every now and then throughout the day.
I was convinced that I had booked the laundry room (in the basement of my building) for this afternoon (12 onward). However, "something" made me go down already around 9:30 to double check... Good thing that I did! because it turned out I had actually accidentally booked the 4th (yesterday) instead of the 5th! ...
... BUT the laundry room happened to be free until 12... So I hastily re-booked, darted upstairs to gather the things most important to get washed - and managed to get my two loads done before 12. The first one (towels etc) went in the tumble dryer; and even the t-shirts in the second lot got some 20 minutes in the drying cabinet (and actually got almost dry in that time, since there were only a few of them).
In Swedish we have a saying: "ha tur i oturen", meaning "to have good luck in the midst of bad luck"... I can't think of a corresponding common expression in English? If you can, please enlighten me!
Perhaps "to find a silver lining"?
ReplyDeleteI think JayCee may be correct.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about this expression, and can't think of anything that relays it. OH, how about every cloud has a silver lining?
ReplyDeleteYes we call it a silver lining here or just plain old good luck.
ReplyDeleteYou may have missed the date, but it all worked out even better in the end
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear of good luck with your laundry! I have to carry mine outside to another building and we’ve been having rainy days. No reservations so I try usually to get there early mornings. But I’m not a morning person…
ReplyDeleteBarbara, that sounds troublesome. Where I lived before, I had to go outside to get to the laundry room too, although it was in the same building (and similar reservation system to where I live now). Here I can take the elevator straight down to the basement. There is a booking board with booking cylinders marked with our apartment numbers (which can only be moved with help of a personal key). Of course it happens that some people are not all that good at keeping to their allotted time... But one whole, it usually works "fairly" well. - I'm not a morning person either, so always try to book afternoons. But sometimes, if the slot before mine is not booked, I'm able to start a bit earlier.
Delete... on the whole ... (not "one whole"!)
DeleteOh I love your mug!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I'm a lot like Moomin Mamma when it comes to packing...
DeleteLike JayCee, I was thinking of the silver lining.
ReplyDeleteGood job I don‘t need to book my washing - with my rather unorganised neighbours, I imagine we‘d forever be arguing about whose turn it is…
Meike, see my reply to Barbara above (about the washing) + my comment below (re the silver lining)
DeleteThanks for all your replies. I'm familiar with the saying "every cloud has a silver lining" since before. To me there is a slight difference in meaning between that and the Swedish proverb about having "good luck in bad luck", but it seems that's as close as we'll get in finding an equivalent :) - The Swedish expression kind of involves a turn of events; while to me the silver lining seems to be more about finding a brighter side to a dark situation. I just looked up the phrase in my Wordsworth "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", and here is what they say:
ReplyDelete"A silver lining": The prospect of better days, the promise of happier times. The Saying *Every cloud has a silver lining* is quite an old one; thus in Milton's *Comus*, the Lady lost in the wood resolves to hope on, and sees 'a sable cloud turn forth its silver lining to the night'.
Though outwardly a gloomy shroud
The inner half of every cloud
Is bright and shining;
I therefore turn my clouds about,
And always turn them inside out,
To show the lining.
Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, *The Wisdom of Folly*
Oh! I have thought about this again and guess what, we have the exact same saying in German: Glück im Unglück! An example was our trip to Ripon this year: It was bad luck (Unglück) that our train for the last part of the journey was cancelled, but luck (Glück) that we found an alternative route, were together, managed to have seats on the alternative train and my sister-in-law was still able to pick us up 2 1/2 hours later than planned.
DeleteMeike, yes, the German phrase corresponds exactly to the Swedish one :)
DeleteSometimes bad luck creates the opportunity for good luck. My friend's husband lost his job in the USA which was shocking for them, but he got a great job working in Belgium and they loved living there for 10 years. Nice you were able to get the laundry room!
ReplyDeleteThanks Terra. Yes, that story fits rather well with the Swedish phrase.
ReplyDelete