07 de kalla mig, "källare pojken"

I spose I should give you an update! I've been to see the doc(s) twice more - different ones each visit - and they've taken yet more x-rays and poked and prodded my hand and finger and they all tell me it's healing well. They can see that new bone is forming and even though there's hardly any knuckle and my finger will forever be shorter (well, as long as I reside in this earthly body anyway) they say my hand and finger will work fine (yeh, we'll see…) They took off my cast on Thursday (yes! free! at last!!!) and my hand and finger have been a bit stiff and sore but seem ok, just weak after not being used for the last month now. Here's the most recent x-rays taken with my palm facing up.

I've also just moved from where I've been living for the past few months at Sollentuna, into a new place at Enskede. Remember the bloke who's motorbike I crashed? (are you sure about this…?) Yeh well Fredrik was kind enough to offer for me to rent a room at his place for the time being. He also happens to have a 10 Mbit broadband connection which is how I'm able to write this to you! I should really tell you all about where I've been living and some of the stuff I've been doing during the summer so stay tuned below!

Thanks to everyone who emailed me well wishes, kind remarks (I promise I'll reply to all your emails asaic!) and also to my mate Singo who sent me a vivid reminder of what happens to you when your motorbike collides with a pole… hmmm yeh thanks for that mate, really, I think… A big thanks to mum and dad for the package of my stuff they sent me a while back (I've used just about everything from in there so it's been great ta!) which also happened to include 2 tubes of Vegemite. hoo-ya! I'm still not convinced that it's possible to live a completely satisfied, happy and fulfilled life without Vegemite. Both tubes are all gone now and I've had to purchase some more of the delicious black goo from the English shop here in Stockholm. It costs a bloody fortune (over $6 bucks for the really small glass jar!!! what's that? did I hear someone say highway robbery???) but sometimes you just gotta cough up. I mean, I was even eating the stuff straight from the tube! Talk about deprived!

While we're on the subject there's something very wrong with the chocolate situation here. Once again the English shop to the rescue! There's nothing like the taste of that glass and a half of full cream dairy milk to cheer you up when you need it. mmmmmmm Cadbury… Flake… Caramello chocolate covered goodness… (drooling noises) Ok I'm back with you now. After such long periods without hearing the very distinctive, much loved, missed and ever so joyous sound of an Aussie accent, I can tell you that you recognize it immediately when you hear it and my oath does it sound bloody sensational!!! I happened to be flicking channels one night a few weeks' back there somewhere and happened across an episode of "Love My Way" - I really couldn't care less what was happening in the show, but I just sat there the entire time, completely fixated, listening to that unmistakably beautiful sound… Believe it or not I also happened across the end of an episode of "The Flying Doctors" from way, way, way back there somewhere in the Grundy annals (yeh they love it here apparently!) Regular free Swedish TV (all three channels of it) leaves much to be desired - for much of the day there's a screen telling you what's going to be on later(!) - so it's a good thing I'm not here to watch telly =P

---

About 3 months ago I had the opportunity to house-sit (well, appartment-sit really) for a lady named Gudrun (remember that name do we? and what she's capable of?) while she was overseas on holiday for 3½ weeks. So I moved from Tumba to Sollentuna, which is located north west of Stockholm approx. 12 minutes by pendeltåg. Her apartment was like living in a boutique hotel! Complete with broadband internet, Sony wide screen LCD telly, DVD, cable, soffa (couch), fåtölj (armchair - one just like I've always wanted! complete with footstool!) and her bed is a Tempur - easily the most comfortable thing you will ever, ever sleep on, ever. You lie on it and just sink into it a little as it conforms to your body shape. I gotta get me one of those! Living alone again was a nice change too as it's what I'm used to, and gave me the chance to get back into some training (I had been jogging 5-10kms down by Edsviken regularly - some pics below - haven't been doing so much jogging lately due to my injuries, 'cept for running down to Helenelund Pendeltågstation to catch the train because I'm running late of course! but will get back into it again soon...) and also to think about some stuff (maybe a little too much...) and just generally chill which was great.

I didn't manage to find anywhere else to live be the end of the 3½ weeks so I decided to implememt my contingency plans and scoped out a couple of good sites in the forest to pitch my tent (yes, I have a tent). I figured I could live like this for a number of weeks until I found some work and a 'decent' place to live. Anyway the lady downstairs - Christina - who owns the apartment complex (I was looking after Gudrun's apartment upstairs) found out I was planning to live in the forest and thought this was a terrible idea (hey but I liked it!) and offered for me to pitch my tent in her yard and so then I could use her kitchen and bathroom etc. Her son Joel was supposed to be staying with her but then wasn't so she offered me his room and I accepted.

Instead of paying rent I fixed things around the place; door locks, holes in the wall etc and spent a lot of time cleaning up downstairs in the basement, garage and workshop. I also cleaned the most disgustingly filthy oven range hood the other week for the other lady upstairs - Gunda - they thought that there was no way to clean inside it but undo 2 screws (hmmmm it's not rocket science ladies…) and whoa-la I discovered years of built up fat and goodness knows what else to spend hours of entertaining fun removing (yeh good work Ty, must you be SO resourceful at times like this…?) Well it's now cleaner than the day it was bought… ok maybe not quite that clean but you get the idea. Am really looking forward to never doing that again… ever ...

So I've just had about 3 months of the best summer weather you could want anywhere in the world! Everyone keeps saying that summers in Sweden aren't normally like this, but I think it's all just part of a conspiracy to keep ppl away! Some days reminded me a lot of Adelaide and others so much like Brisbane it was almost making me homesick! It wouldn't get dark until 2300 (that's 11pm for your civvies) and it would be bright as day again at 0300!!! Totally freaky!!! Right in the middle of summer (midsommar - strangely enough...) it wouldn't even get that dark when it did get dark if you know what I dark… I mean mean, you know what I dark? ok I'm losing it = ) again…

Christina has had her sister + husband from South America come to stay so I've been moved to the basement… Hence the title for this blog entry; they call me, "the basement boy". It's really not that great down there, is really cold and the air is bad and I'm sure it's why I've been a bit crook lately… Cough! Cough! But I guess it's better than nothing and many other ppl live in much worse conditions so I am grateful. Really I am… Cough! Cough!

I'm now pleased to report that I'm out of the bloody basement and am on the mend… Cough! Cough! Enjoy the pics!

The front door to the apartment complex where I was living at Sollentuna

Gudrun's bil (car) which I was allowed to drive while looking after her apartment. It's an old bomb but hey it has 4 wheels
and a gearstick and steering wheel (and brakes...)
and that's all I need to get a driving fix!

Some Sollentuna wildlife. Taken just outside where I was living.
These huge bunnies (actually I think they are Hares...)
were there most afternoons and yes,
I chased them around trying to get some good pics!

All the following pics were taken down by Edsviken
both near the water and in the forest where I loved to go jogging!

Is that a moose I see? Walking on water???

Mållgan strikes again!!!

A poster put up around the place in Sollentuna. It reads:
NAZI PIGS ARE NOT WELCOME IN THIS AREA!
Here live proper workers who don't allow themselves to divide!
Sollentuna against racism and nazism

Graffiti from Stockholms Södra Pendeltågstation

And finally some really stunning pics from
3 separate Sollentuna sunsets.
They were also taken just outside where I was living.