On Saturday morning we took the train to Lund- The city of ideas. It is well known for its large university and being the base for Sony Ericsson. It has a beautiful Cathedral where we witnessed a Christening and a wedding. The university buildings were impressive but the place felt quite deserted as all the uni students are on their summer break. Mark engaged with some of the sculptural works in one of the parks before we settled down to a beer in the main square.
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Everyone in Malmo gets around on a bike and as I am walking miles each day we figured I could see more in less time on a bike. We looked into hiring one but it worked out cheaper to buy a second hand one so I have! Sweden uses a site called Blocket which is like an ebay within the country and she was advertised on there. She is really beautiful and I feel like a real local zooming around on her. It’s been many years however since I passed my cycling proficiency at school and my road sense is a little shaky, especially when you consider they drive on the wrong side of the road here! Where there are special Bike lanes I’m away but when it comes to any big junctions I still have to get off and walk across the road! Mark is hiring a bike on Sunday so I’ll try and build up my confidence following him. Brenda may seem like an odd name but our Vauxhall car was named Vince so it seemed to work.
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After work, Us Two (the company Mark is working for) and a team from Sony Ericsson went head to head in a football match in the park. My husband has turned into a football god and scored 5 goals! I must admit I missed most of them as I was playing Badminton (very badly) with one of the opposition team’s wife. Nevertheless I was very proud of his efforts and UsTwo won the first half.
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As I have been walking around the city I have been taking photos of some of the interesting buildings. The big wheel is part of a permanent theme park behind our hotel which I’m sure we’ll be visiting this weekend. The red brick one surrounded by trees is the Modern Art Gallery, just to prove I am being cultured. The 2 photos featuring Mark were taken outside our hotel at 4:50 this morning when the fire alarms went off and all guests poured out into the street to be greeted by 2 fire engines, a crane and backup car. It felt very surreal as we were all still half asleep, but it was just a false alarm, someone having a crafty fag I think.
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We began our day as every other thus far pigging out at breakfast. We have it down to a fine art now, tea, OJ, cereal with yogurt instead of milk, Bread with cheese, ham and tomato (known as fralla), bread with boiled egg and caviar from a tube (salt substitute) then pickled herring.
After a nap to digest all this we went exploring Malmo together. We wandered through pretty streets and squares, stopping off for the occasional coffee, heading for Malmo’s new architectural focus; the Turning Torso. We watched the documentary video of the part-commercial, part-residential sky scraper based on a twisting human body. I then showed Mark where I am planning to swim when brave enough. We ended up in one of Malmo’s many beautiful parks with it’s windmill, castle, casino, fish market and organic farm shop, just a little more variety than Riversley.
I have spent this evening trying to drown out the noise of Mark’s new Nintendo Guitar Hero toy. Despite using headphones, his enthusiasm when playing his small plastic guitar makes him quite loud. Time for my go now!
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Hello All
Jackie & Helen are doing a sponsored swim for the Mary Ann Evans hospice in Nuneaton, if you would like to sponsor online click here.
Thanks very much for your support,
Jackie & Helen xx
Welcome back to the blog!
Well we’ve settled in really well to life here, everyone thinks we look Swedish, clearly my highlights have paid off!
Mark has completed his first two days at work and I have walked the length and breadth of the city and given myself blisters! Today we moved into the room that we will have for the rest of our time here so have finally been able to unpack which feels great. Our first room was great but this one is fantastic, large, open plan and Mark has managed to get his Wii connected to the TV so he’s happy.
I have found the local swimming pool and already completed my first bit of training for the Swimtrek. I am building up to the sea but so far it looks very choppy. I also experienced my first bit of Swedish nudity. I entered the sauna in typical prudish British style in my cosie and got a sign pointed out to me of lots of naked women so figured when in Sweden…it felt quite liberating. I then visited the nudist pool and it looked great so tried to convince Mark to go on his first Saturday off, but I think that will take some persuading.
Although Malmo is quite industrial on the outskirts, in the centre the buildings are beautiful with lots of quaint squares filled with cafes and restaurants. We went out for a meal with Mark’s work colleagues on Thursday which was lovely. Really looking forward to the next month here.
These photos are different views of our apartment.
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