Living with a wood behind us which has a primary school on the outskirts, means a lot of kids on nature trails are quite often seen on the lit path. They are also heard. Actually, it would be fair to say they are heard more often than they are seen. Victorians would hate that. I rather like it. Going to school and getting to roam the woods sounds brilliant to me. It also shows how much the Swedes love the Great Outdoors.
Mind you, it does mean we can’t leave the back door open for the girls given they’d run off and join the kids. Of course, once we have a fence to enclose the back, they can come and go as they please although Emma’s barking may become problematic.
When the kids are not around, though, we let them lie in the sun just outside the back door.
As well as the Great Outdoors, something else the Swedes seem to love is not finishing work on their houses. This is not a criticism by any means. In fact, I rather like it.
The thing is, every place we’ve stayed in in Sweden, excepting one, has incomplete work waiting for completion. The one exception was the luxury flat I stayed in on Söder. I can’t remember anything unfinished there.
However, the general rule seems to be ‘If you start something, there’s no need to finish it.’ At least not straight away. Take the Red House. There are wires hanging from the ceiling, plugs hanging off walls, one long stretch of wallpaper stops about four inches from the end, etc, etc. It’s brilliant.
It’s never anything major; just small jobs that can obviously wait. After all, there’s the unending Great Outdoors to explore and schnapps to drink. Life is so much more than minor house repairs.
In saying that, we will definitely have to finish the fence.
