Okay, the title is a bit of a stretch but, to be fair, I’ve never watched the TV show, and we did return to Notholmen today. Which is an island we are in love with. So, I figure it’s all right.
And it was very crowded inside. When we used to come before, almost every Sunday, there would always be a fair sprinkling of people outside, regardless of the weather but, today, there was no-one when we arrived and only a couple when we left.
Mirinda reckons it’s probably because of the pandemic. When we were here in 2020/21, the Swedes, while generally not wearing masks, were very keen to adhere to social distancing. This meant being spread out at cafés like the one on Notholmen. The café being quite small meant that lots of people would be outside.
Now, all of that has changed. The inside of the café was full. In fact, when we entered, it looked like we were going to have to return later or freeze outside. Just as I suggested that maybe Mirinda might like to walk out to the point, a couple started to pack up and leave. We grabbed the table.
Of course, Evelyn wasn’t there (she’s at uni now) and the woman who always said hello to the girls wasn’t there either, the older woman was. She recognised Mirinda, which was lovely. The other staff members were two young fellows, one of whom acted like it was his first day on the job.
Of course, we had a light lunch (salad poppy seed roll for me, asparagus soup for Mirinda) followed by a not so light dessert (pecan pie for me, semla bun for Mirinda). It was just like we’d never left.
The walk to the island, around the Tyresö Slott park, was very splodgy and lined with quite a bit of mud. Nowhere near as attractive as it was in the snow back in January 2021. While snow has been predicted for the coming week, I’m not holding my breath. It all seems too mild.
Even given the lack of snowy whiteness, the walk back across the bridge was still lovely.
Before the island, we drove down to Brevik to look at a possible house but crossed it off the list because it was a bit isolated and the walking would be too steep.
