Foggy Head, Foggy Future

 

I'll let this foggy photo from Sunday morning represent two different things. 

First, the fact that over the past week the inside of my head has been feeling rather foggy as well; as during the previous weekend I managed to contract a cold, involving all the usual ingredients, from a sore throat and headaches to running nose and a barking cough. No point in trying to pin down exactly where I might have caught it from, as last weekend, with my brother here, we spent three days visiting several different restaurants, shops, museums - and public restrooms...

Second, the foggy view may also represent the fact that we have a general election coming up in Sweden next Sunday. As usual (every four years) we have three elections at the same time: National (parliament), regional and local. So both national and local media lately have been full of political debates, and little else - and that will continue for a while yet!

In our parliament we currently have eight parties, divided into two opposing "blocks". The previous election result four years ago took a long time to sort out and ended in a right-wing government. We're probably in for a similar situation once again this time - i.e. that it may again take time to sort out the results, and who is willing to cooperate with whom, to form a new government.   

While nursing myself through the various foggy stages of cold symptoms this week I've also personally spent a bit of time looking at "vote compasses" online.  I actually did five of them (three national, one local and one regional). As they all came out rather alike for me, I decided yesterday that I'm not likely to change my mind, but might as well go and vote early (which we're allowed to do). I've made use of that a few times in later years, to avoid the queues on the final election day; and did so again today. It's still a week of "wait and see" ahead until votes are counted - and even longer until we have a new government sorted. But at least for my own part I won't have to worry about whether it will be raining or not on Sunday...

If anyone would like more details about the election as such, see Wikipedia: 2026 Swedish general election

Life in a Snow Globe

 

 Photo edited in "HDR-ish" mode in Picasa3. 

After a couple of weeks of the weather staying cold, windy and dry, but without throwing more snow at us - yesterday (Friday), it was in snow-globe mood again, the whole day. So we're back to be being pretty much covered in the white stuff again. 

The head cold that hit me from "nowhere" about 1½ week ago has pretty much kept me indoors since then, and I haven't been doing much at all unless you count using up about a ton of paper tissues and cough drops. (The inside of my head has kind of been feeling blurry like a snow globe all on its own, much of the time...) 

(istock image - not my own photo)

Luckily, I had ordered my usual bi-weekly grocery delivery for Thursday - when the weather was still on good behaviour and did not cause any delays. (Besides groceries, I also stocked up on paper tissues and cough drops...) And after I got the delivery sorted, I even managed a short walk to get rid of a couple of weeks of recyclable waste in the right bins; before Nature started throwing the next lot of snow at us. So yesterday I could just stay in and watch the snow-globe-like weather from the comfort of my own home. 

On the whole it's been a long period of "doing" very little. A lot of the time I've just been half-dozing to radio, TV and audio books; with a few excursions into Blogland now and then in between, when I've felt up for it. 

I have got through the whole original B&W Forsyte Saga TV series that I managed to find available on YouTube (mentioned in some earlier post). I watched the 26th and last episode today. I did enjoy being able to see "the original" again, as this was probably one of the first TV series of "grown-up" kind that I ever watched back in my youth. In 1967, I was still only 12 years old, so I'm not entirely sure if I did see it then (might depend on what day of the week and what time of night it was broadcasted?) - or perhaps not until it was rerun again here in 1970? But even so. I don't think any of us back then would have been able to imagine the explosion of various ways we'd have 55 years later of watching pretty much anything, at any time...

Lift Adventures

Dear Diary,

I'm still in the grip of the Cold, and reality still feels a bit blurry. 

Yesterday I might possibly have managed to pass the virus on to strangers myself. (Hopefully neither they nor I will ever know.) 

When stepping into the lift to go down to the laundry room in the basement, instead of taking me straight down there, the lift (very confusingly) took me UP to the 3rd floor - where I was joined by a youngish couple whom I can't recall ever having seen before. Presumably living here, though, as they weren't dressed to go outdoors. Their destination was the basement as well. (The ride down only takes half a minute, which did not really allow for more conversation than to establish that fact.) 

Down there, our ways parted. The couple disappeared down the corridor towards some storage space. I had the laundry room to myself; and over the next 2-3 hours also managed to go up/down in the lift on my own a few more times without interference... Until finally I was going back up with my last bag of dry clothes...

When the lift came down, and the door opened, it was empty of people - but its floor covered with Stuff. I could also hear voices from the entrance floor above. Obviously someone was in the process of moving things (perhaps also themselves?) either in or out of the building.

Not yet having walked the whole set of stairs up to my flat since before my knee accident, I really did not want my first attempt to be with the extra burden of a heavy bag - and who knows, maybe even encountering other people carrying things or furniture as well... 

On the other hand: Stepping into a lift half full of someone else's stuff didn't seem like a super idea either. So I didn't. But left the lift go back up without me.

There's a door to the stairwell next to the lift. I opened that; and caught sight of a couple of people handling more "stuff" up at the entrance. One of them was (I think) the same man who had been in the lift with me when I first went down. Luckily it seemed they were moving things out of the lift rather than into it. I called their attention; and soon the man said that the lift had been emptied now so that I could use it.

Looking out of my window when I got back up to my flat, there was no removal van parked outside, though. Only an ordinary car. Not having known for quite a while now who lives in one of the flats upstairs, I'm still not sure if anyone was really moving out (or in). Perhaps they were just having a bit of a clearout. 

It did strike me that it was the 31st of the month, though. So note to self for the future: Avoid booking laundry room on the last (or first) day (or weekend) of the month... 

Cold

 

The cold incubation period is the time from catching a cold virus to the first symptoms, typically 1 to 3 days, though it can range from 12 hours to a week. (Google AI)  

Yesterday, I started to feel like I had a cold coming on: I had a couple of violent sneeze attacks, and felt a bit congested and generally "weird". I dismissed the idea, though - because where (or who) on earth would I have caught it from?? I haven't been anywhere recently, nor had any vistitors. Could it perhaps be an allergic reaction rather than a cold? But since January has been such a chilly month here (temperatures below zero), that didn't make sense either. I know pollen can drift  with the winds from further south in Europe even before the season really starts here, but still... 

Today, no doubt any more: However I managed to catch it, it is definitely a cold. It's kept me in bed most of the day, half-slumbering to an audio book - and falling properly asleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon. (Just now trying to keep myself sitting upright at the computer for a while, though.) 

This is the extent of my off-line human interaction over the past week: 

Last Thursday I had groceries delievered. I went down to open the entrance door for the delivery girl (it was a young woman this time), and we rode up in the lift together. I live on the 2nd floor, so that only takes seconds. She then put the bags down in the hall just inside my front door and left. We exchanged one or two sentences, no more. She seemed healthy to me - and it also really seems a bit too long ago to be of relevance. 

On Saturday, I spoke to a neighbour in the basement corridor outside the laundry room (looking at the booking board). But we probably stood like two meters apart and only exchanged a few words. (She had booked the slot after me, and I told her that as it seemed like I'd able to start an hour early, she could count on doing the same. We did not meet again.) 

I have gone up and down in the lift a few more times during the past week, but then without meeting anyone. I can't think where else I might have come across some lingering virus though! (The laundry room, possibly - but it's rather "airy" down there, and I wear rubber gloves most of the time, and always start by wiping the surfaces...)

I can't actually recall when I last had a winter cold. Having had flu and covid shots every autumn has in later years seemed to protect me fairly well throughout the winters!

No doubt I'll survive this one too - it just still puzzles me when/where/how I picked it up!

Icy Cold

 

As no snow plough appeared in my immediate neighbourhood on New Year's Day, the wet snow we had then just froze; and since then the temperature has just kept falling (to around -10C / 14F), which again leaves us with very icy and dangerously slippery streets. 

Today was the first day of 2024 that I ventured out a bit further than to the rubbish bins - which are just to the right of where I stood to take this photo. (My entrance is behind the bush in the background.) So you can see even walking that far is a bit of an adventure these days. Today I went as far as to the recycling bins. Normally an errand that takes me about 15 min - but today half an hour, because of having to walk extremely slowly.

Very weird weather today: Sun shining from an almost clear blue sky - but at the same time light snowfall. Or more like it was whirling around horisontally (even though the stormy winds from yesterday had subsided a lot). 

It's been worse in other parts of Sweden though: Proper snowstorm chaos in the south (with road accidents, and queues standing still etc), and far up in the north temperatures down to -43°C (-45°F). Here ("in between") we had the wind blowing, but very little snow falling. 

Hearing about the extreme cold up in the north on the radio this morning made me recall one New Year way back in my youth (1978/79), when I actually did experience temperatures nearly as cold as that (around -40°C = -40°F).* 

I was living in Karlstad back then, and the youth gospel choir in the church I belonged to was invited to a small town or village further up north in the province of Värmland. I think we sang at some kind of youth club on New Year's Eve, and then also in a church service on New Year's Day.

We had trouble with the cars getting all icy and not wanting to start (photo evidence above); and spending the night in sleeping bags on air mattrasses on the floor of a school classroom wasn't really cosy either... I remember I caught a cold and a fever (well, it's one way to keep warm!) and I suppose I must have ended up having to stay home from work for a while afterwards. While we were up there I don't think we were actually told exactly how cold it was - I seem to recall only learning about that after we were back home again. Anyway I sincerely hope it's a record I'll never have to break again in my personal experience.

* PS. I just did a bit of googling to check, and yes, it really was that cold in northern Värmland that New Year. 

It’s Cold Out There

Yesterday was my 7th ‘Blogoversary’, can you believe it?!

It was on 5th January 2009 that I created my first blog, entitled The Island of the Voices – without knowing if anyone but myself would ever find it. But some people did find it – and, even more amazingly,  some of you are still with me! … also having followed when I widened my horizon further and sailed on to Beyond the Lone Islands (from 2011).

Whenever you came aboard, thanks for still tagging along!

After a mild autumn and no snow for Christmas, we’ve had a cold start to 2016. Around -10°C (14°F) here today… Which is “cold enough” for me, but still nothing compared to the far north of Sweden, where it’s been down to -40°C/F in some places.

Yesterday I took the bus into town for some errands; got off at the railway station (above). Nice to see sun and blue sky…

Later, waiting for the bus back home in the town centre.

Pigeons seem to have the idea that people standing still by the riverside may involve food…

 

Today: Dressed for a minor polar expedition.

Some of the views (and water reflections) down by the river have changed since my early blogging days. Old factory buildings have been torn down, new highrise apartment buildings have gone up.

Depending on how one manages to frame the images, it is still possible in some spots to get the view to look much the same as before though. Mind you, with furry mittens on, it’s not all easy to handle the zoom and settings...

The camera gave up before I did today, claiming “weak battery”… I think it really just found it too cold, though, because the battery charged very quickly when I got back home!

Linking to Through My Lens and Weekend Reflections

Feverish Wednesday

“An illness is like a journey into a far country; it sifts all one's experience and removes it to a point so remote that it appears like a vision.”
~ Sholem Asch ~

Can’t recall the last time I had a cold of this magnitude. Feverish all day. Trying to keep myself upright as much as possible though because it’s better for my breathing. Been watching TV, not really caring what’s on. When I find myself watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills I know I’m not quite my usual self…

Feathers and Eggs

In Sweden (and some other European countries) we have a tradition at Easter to take in branches of birch and decorate them with colourful feathers and eggs.

▲ From outside a day care centre last spring.

In more recent years, it has also become a tradition in our town to have a big Easter Tree in the town square. Last year I managed to get some colourful photos of it against an incredibly clear blue sky: ▼

This year I wasn’t in town to see the tree until Easter Monday, which was such a grey, dull, wet and chilly day (and with no shops and hardly any restaurants open) that even a decorated tree could not do much to liven things up: ▼

▲ Straight from my mobile ▼

My aunt and uncle putting on a smile for me in the rain outside just about the only restaurant in town open for lunch on Easter Monday.

▲ Going for a short walk around my neighbourhood on Easter Sunday, I saw this tree in a garden. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen a private tree of that size decorated for Easter.

We are soooo longing for Nature to bring on some colour of its own! Doesn’t look like that is going to happen during the next week though…

In the meantime, the cold I began to suspect yesterday, has gone on to a stage way beyond mere suspicion. (I can only hope I didn’t pass it on to my aunt and uncle!)

To try and look on the bright side: When my brother was here on Saturday he helped me get a lot of supplies home from the supermarket. I also have the basic medicines etc. So no need to go out for a few days, if staying in should feel like the best thing to do. Not that the time ever feels “right” for a sore throat, running nose and a bad cough… But it could be worse.

C for Cars under Cover (ABC Wednesday)

We’ve been having COLD weather here lately!

For ABC Wednesday - C