She woke up at 5am, then dragged herself to Gatwick Airport before boarding a plane to Stockholm. Things were all as per schedule but, obviously, the plane was then delayed by half an hour. Arriving at Arlanda Airport, there were no people to check passports and a queue started to form, growing longer by the second.
Eventually someone started looking at identities and the queue slowly moved forwards. A plane load of Brits had their passports stamped – a Brexit Benefit for the stamp collecting brigade. She was met at the luggage carrousel by her suitcase which had been waiting, patiently, just going round in circles.
She finally boarded the Arlanda Express and was at Stockholm Central Station in 20 minutes. And we missed her.
We had not woken up at 5am (though I was close). Mirinda had a reasonably slow morning while I went to the recycling then shopping at Ica. I was back within the 70 minutes single ticket time allowance, which made me very pleased with myself.
Mirinda decided it would be a good idea to park the car at Ekerö Centrum to avoid the bus issues she has been experiencing getting back from Stockholm the last few Saturdays. We then boarded a 177, transferring to a 57 just beyond Solna and walked down to the station.
We arrived with plenty of time. Mirinda was hungry so we thought we’d try O’Leary’s. That was a mistake. I couldn’t find a menu anywhere and their order online service was anything but one. Though, to be fair, I didn’t get as far as the ordering because I couldn’t see the menu. We left and headed for another place inside the station where Mirinda was served by the most incompetent person in Sweden.
Still, we managed to get fed and watered and then, following numerous Signal messages, headed down to the Arlanda Express platform. At some point, Amanda passed us, which is where our meeting fell apart.
After returning to the front of the station, I waited in the rain while Mirinda, armed with her trusty phone, went hunting for our guest.
Having waited for a bit, I received a Signal message asking where I was. The message exchange went like this:
Where are you? O'Leary's. Ok. We are outside. Where are you? Outside O'Leary's where you left me. No you're not. Oh yes I am!
A loud, ear-piercing ‘Cooee!’ then directed my gaze to my right and there they were. I think the shriek may have surprised Amanda but, being Australian, I recognised my wife’s sonic beacon and found them standing not that far away from me. I joined them and we headed down to the ferry, Mirinda wondering how they’d walked right passed me.
We waited for a short while for the ferry, boarded and sat comfortably inside for the periodically, ice crunching trip back.
Back at the house, Mirinda and Amanda took the girls for a much appreciated walk around the neighbourhood, peering inside the windows of the friendly, waving locals while I prepared salmon for dinner.
We ate, then sat around talking for a few hours before going to bed.
Amanda is now with us for a week.
