Preparations...

 

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!

 

On the Road - Sepia Saturday 477

It's Saturday. It's raining. I'm packing for a road trip; and trying to get it into my head that this year is going to be different from last year, when the whole of Sweden was stuck in an abnormal heat wave all summer. This year, I'm likely to need umbrellas, rain-and-wind-proof jackets and warm sweaters - as well as sandals and lighter clothes and sunglasses. It's that kind of summer: One needs to pack for all eventualities. 


We'll be skipping the bikes and canoes, though! 
As if the thought would ever even have entered my mind! ;)
 

This is a car spotted on last year's road trip.

Neither are we (brother & I) bringing all the stuff involved to set up roadside picnics like those in our childhood:

 Dad and my brother near Dartmoor (Devon, England),1971. 

 Same trip, up in Scotland near Loch Ness

Looking back at our family holidays in the 1960s and 70s, I'm at awe with all the planning and packing it must have involved for our parents. (And no internet to help back then, either!)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 477