I feel sorry for the bus drivers who give a big cheery “God morgon!” as people get on the bus, only to be ignored by sullen faces. Mind you, they might just be getting in early because, while I started off cheerful and smiling, my day started to go downhill quite quickly. And, because of yet another wasted trip, I’m starting to go off Sweden.
One bit of joy was when I managed to capture the bus I just left (840) with the one I was about to catch (875). I find such simple pleasures sometimes.
Anyway, last week I was told I could open a bank account if I filled in some forms and returned with them today. Today I was told I can’t open a bank account without a Personnummer. Grrr. I was sorely tempted to go to the airport and get a plane back to Farnham.
It’s really frustrating. We want to buy a house, we want to be a part of Swedish society, we’re even trying to learn Swedish but, no, we’re thwarted at every turn. I really have no idea how we managed to get residency. I guess it must have slipped through somehow.
So, yet another wasted double bus trip to Haninge centrum, another morning spoiled. Thanks a lot. I suppose it wasn’t completely wasted. I did have another lovely latte from the independent café. And I managed to get a photo of the public art outside the centrum.
This is called Filosof (Philosopher) made by Sture Collin (1939-) in 2002. According to the artist, it is meant to slow people down as they rush from the bus to the shops and back again, or from work to home. It is meant to convey a sense of the pause, a moment for reflection.
Collin says the legs represent the entrance to the philosopher’s cave as he sits and contemplates. I don’t know why he chose legs, though the gnarly toes are how mine feel most of the time.
I took this photo because I thought it looked more contemplative.
Hopefully, that’ll be my final view of Haninge Centrum.
After a miserable trip back to the house, I went into the Coop for supplies and was hit with my second whammy of the day. My credit card didn’t work at the till. I had to cancel my debit card the other day because someone was trying to steal our money – we didn’t lose any, the bank paid us back – and now need to use the Mastercard. Then it doesn’t work.
I tried the requisite amount of times before the machine just refused to let me try again. I was about to leave, hungry and broken when I suddenly realised I had a few, battered notes in my pocket. I paid with cash. I made great heartfelt apologies to the line of customers that had grown considerably while I faffed around.
Back at home, I moped a bit while telling Mirinda of my travails. The worst thing is that she’d grown a bit attached to the two Trosa houses (the pink and the red) but it now seems unlikely we’ll be able to get either of them.
Later, I cheered up a bit while attending a WFA webinar about Sir Douglas Haig and the Royal Navy.
It was given by Clive Harris and, as usual, was informative and littered with exceptional illustrative photographs. As usual, it was about things I had no idea of before joining the WFA.
There was an odd thing at the end of Clive’s talk. Usually there are heaps of people ready to ask questions but not this time. David, who runs the webinars, said that there were no questions. He then received a message from someone to say the Q&A panel on Zoom was locked. He checked and said it wasn’t. I checked and it was. So, there were no questions.
A sad end to a rather sad day.
