Elias o Eva

Elias o Eva
Originally uploaded by evafritz

Had dinner with Anna tonight, met her new little boy Elias who was very charming and looked wise.

Anna's other half came back knackered from playing football and cycling to and from work and had to go to bed early without any wine, which just shows that exercise just isnt good for you.

I had lunch with Jenny at Sturehof castle, v v v nice place. We managed some shopping as well but not a lot as the sales are just too much like hard work. I like nice empty stores, dont mind paying full price as long as I can actually see what they are trying to sell me.

Tall Ships race - Stockholm

CIMG2213
Originally uploaded by evafritz

The Mexicans are the best! Loud singing accompanying the men standing on the beams for the whole length of the canal, til they got out far enough to lower sails. Fantastic...

Anniversary plans

We were planning to have a romantic day together today, going to some vineyards, cooking a lovely dinner enjoying the wine we bought earlier. We did go to one vineyard and got some wine, but then we went (via pub for lunch) home and both fell asleep as we are hungover from last night when we went out with some guys from work for dinner and drinks.

So the dinner (starter - scallops; main - halibut with capers and anchovies and home grown potatoes, carrotts and courgettes) we have decided will make a great Sunday lunch. We are considering getting some take away instead.

Photo sites

Oh how I dislike photo sites. I obviously am not able to send my photos from the mobile to the blog and I cant load anything onto Facebook whatever reason. Today I was told by Yahoo that they are stopping their GREAT photo site so please could I move over to Flickr. Not too keen on Flickr so am doing this under duress.

Is it so hard to make a nice and easy to use and share site for photos?

Here are some by the way

Tuesday

Ok I thought I had sent lots of photos to the blog over the weekend, but none have arrived. As I am useless at all things techy I have no idea what to do. On top of this I have mislaid the cable for transferring photos off mobile to laptop. Its not going well...

HP7

We got a book each. So in the house we are now four grownups, four HP7 books and two persons who are struggling to take part in conversations as their noses are stuck in the books. I am trying to make mine last, so reading very slowly.

Tonight, tonight. Lalalalalala tonight

Just a few hours to go. Nice to know the weather gods are on our side as thousands of kids and parents (and random other grownups) plan to queue up outside bookstores around the country.

My idea of dinner, drinks and a pub crawl before queuing now seems less clever. Maybe we should stay in, have a take away and take the car to Tescos and not risk being soaked?

No - to hell with it! The last book is worth some pain. And we can dry up while reading it in bed - assuming we can find a taxi willing to bring us home looking like drenched cats.

Or maybe the rain will stop magically around 11.30?

Friday nights the night

Just another few days to go.

Have re-read HP5 and HP6 and seen the HP5 film.

Have booked a table for Friday night so we can get through the agonizing hours leading up to the book release with some good wine and good food.

Have pre-ordered my copy from Waterstones.

Now I just need to get through the next couple of days of work. Will be hard but I am strong.

Books

I have just finished One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, it was good and would have been perfect for the holiday. But I started it early. I have a few books on the side of the bed I could potentially bring, but I am not feeling too tempted by them so I need some tips. So what should I go out and buy for my holidays?

With only two weeks to go I have started packing mentally (I am sad I know) and also to plan what apart from clothes to bring, ie books and stuff. Clothes I find quite easy to decide on, just need a few days to decide on these, but shoes are trickier, as is make up and general 'stuff' like shampoo/ conditioner / creams - how much can you assume will be there when you arrive? I like to gamble and shop if gamble doesnt pay off.

As I am going to Sweden I am bound to be given some books when I arrive but I will need a book for the journey there, going on my own so it has to be a good one. I have 3-4 audio books to keep me company but as you are not allowed to use devices during start and landing need something to read during these periods... War and Peace is not coming with me on holiday, way too big. I want a nice, medium sized, relatively light hearted but not too much of an easy read, I am not in the mood for thrillers or anything factual (sorry Barb) or biographical.

The only type of 'ladies books' I like are Barbara Cartland because she is a class of her own, but she is more a summer house read than an airplane read (would you be seen in public reading BC?) I am feeling quite picky currently so ideally I would like to find a new book by an author I have already tested and like; John Irving, Terry Pratchett, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Christopher Brookmyre, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling.

I am going to have to do some book shopping next weekend when EL and J are here, am sure they wont mind popping into Waterstones for a nose around...

Blue Dress

I bought a blue wrap dress at Sainsbury's yesterday and am wearing it today. I think I look smashing and was expecting to get at least a few persons telling me how nice I look when arriving at the office. Its now 5 and noone has commented.

So am I looking smashing but they are all so used to my great style that noone comments. Or am I l0oking iffy and noone is commenting because they feel I should have really made a better wardrobe choice this morning?

Annoyed

Must have got out of bed on the wrong side today. In a miserable mood most day. Just been on the call with help desk and as helper #1 was useless hung up and dialled again and #2 somewhat effective so at least I know something has happened even if issue not resolved.

Should just go home and hope that I get out of bed on the right side tomorrow...

Eva-Lotta, I had rare roast beef on beef dripping fried bread, then calves liver fried (rare) with shallot onion rings and cream sauce and Cranicen for dessert. Not sure about spelling, by then I was quite full so cream, raspberries, honey and whiskey was just what I needed to push me over the edge.

Diet

I have put myself on a diet after weeks of overindulging. I had hoped that the Delhi trip would sort out the weight gain by giving me a few days of general food intolerance but nope not this time.

So now I have a headache because I thought I should also give up tea while I was at it. I have found a nice alternative (Pukka tea - Detox) but it seems my body wants something more. Also while my lunch (beetroot soup with rice cakes and hoummous) was nice it could have been nicer. And while snacking on strawberries and peaches in theory is lovely right now I would love a doughnut.

Luckily we are going out for lunch with work tomorrow so I can start planning what I will eat already, making sure I make the most of it as dinner will have to be soup or salad.

But dont feel too sorry for me, dinner is stir fried pak choi, fresh peas and courgettes from the garden served with brown rice, dessert is raspberries and blueberries. I just want some ice cream with that...

Camping in the rain

We decided not to go camping as planned this weekend, but booked ourselves on the Transmanche ferry over to Dieppe Friday night. JD sorted the hotel out, a bit outside of town but it is a tiny tiny place so even this hotel was only 20 min walk from the seafront and all the food and wine.

The boat trip was great. Nice food (a lot better than we had anticipated) and plenty of wine, bless us for leaving the car in Newhaven! The four hours simply flew away and the only akward time was when a small child decided he needed to throw up just as I was leaving the loos, but I was nice and held up the door for him and helped him into the cubicle. A lady in the next booth was barefoot, but that just teaches you not to go barefoot onboard a ship I think. She was later seen washing her feet out in a sink.

Saturday we strolled into town and checked out the market. Love the market. Tried to order bits and bobs in our best French and noone spit at us so must have been ok. Bought 6 sausages. One made from donkey meat which did not go down well with JD. Lunch was divine at La Melie, 10 course menu degustation. Yum. With lovely wine to go with it of course.

We took the bus back to the hotel after JD had spent some quality time (and money) in a wine shop selecting 12 nice wines to be stored along with all the other wine we have. We will need to start drinking more to get through it all, ah poor us!

I must admit that eating and drinking for two days in France is a lot more alluring that spending time in a tent, even if it hadnt rained. But camping has its good sides too, its cheaper and probably better for you both body and soul.