An unpleasant fika

I had to make a mercy dash into Tyresö Centrum today. The gin had run out. And, being Sweden, there’s only one place to buy alcohol: The Systembolaget. And the closest one to us is at Tyresö. Besides, I didn’t have to go to the butcher which meant there was no clash of location.

They’ve been doing some work on the floor tiles in one part of the centre. I wonder if it has anything to do with the burst water main from a few weeks ago.

Whatever the reason, today there was a one way system around Mirinda’s café, meaning you couldn’t go directly to Clas Ohlson. Not that I had to today.

You can see the red sign just in front of the fellow walking in the photo above.

The café has seating usually going out along the corridor to the right but, because of the tile work, the furniture had been moved to just behind the red rope. The old location of the furniture was on a wooden platform sitting on top of the tiles. This had been removed and (very noisy) work was progressing on the tiles. It would not have been a very pleasant way to have fika.

When the circular saw screeched into action, I felt especially sorry for the people running the café. At least their customers could escape.

I didn’t spend a lot of time down that end of the centre apart from the usual shop at the ICA, which is to the left of the photo. As soon as my trolley was full, I headed out of earshot for the second level and the Systembolaget, which was surprisingly busy.

Well, maybe not so surprising given it was a Monday. People were probably restocking after the weekend. I know from experience that a Friday is not a good day because there’s stocking up for the weekend going on. I hadn’t realised that Monday can also be a busy time. I normally buy alcohol on a Wednesday and, unless there’s football on, it’s a relatively quiet time.

Having bought gin and beer, I headed to Espresso House for an essential latte.

Norah was back from her holiday. She told me she had a great time, very relaxed. I asked after Fanny given I hadn’t seen her for the last couple of weeks. Norah said she was now on holiday for the rest of July. Which is rather sad, I explained, given we leave on July 20.

Norah commiserated. And, when I said how much I’m going to miss Sweden, she was pleased. Not that we’re leaving, but that we have such high regard for her country. She was also pleased when I said that we’d definitely be returning.

As I sat drinking my latte, I looked around and realised how much I’m going to miss Tyresö Centrum. I’m not a big one for shopping centres though, having lived here during a rather cold and snowy winter, I can see why they are pretty handy here. I guess it’s familiarity and my oddly cheery disposition, but I’ve really grown rather fond of the place.