Top Klas

Today we had a second viewing of the red house in Trosa. I was a bit concerned that Mirinda would change her mind. If anything, we loved the place even more. As we sat at the dining table, in the kitchen with Klas, going over how the process works, it felt so right. It was an excellent plan by a man at the top of his game.

Amanda came with us, and she loved the house as well. She liked the guest house too, insisting on a sign with her name on it be fixed to the door, proclaiming her right to unlimited habitation. She also loved Trosa.

She also rather enjoyed Klas the Broker. Or, possibly, that should read ‘Joker’.

I learned quite a lot about Klas today as we wandered around the house, enjoying both the kitchen and his chat. By the end of our tour, he insisted that, after we’d moved into the house, he and I should become drinking buddies. I know where he works so I could just wander by and give a wave. There are plenty of places for a quick beer in Trosa. I’m pretty sure I’d very much enjoy that.

After our very long house visit, Klas showed us a spot, a little further up the road, which, in the warmer months, is a sort of market. There are stalls selling local produce and wares as well as a fine French eatery housed in a pretty wagon. Of course, being out of season, the only thing there today was the pretty wagon, but we could see the attraction.

The area is called Emilsbacke, which means Emil’s Hill. Klas told us that Emil was a dog that used to run around the hills like he owned the place. More than that, the whole place has been planned and initiated by Erik Hedenstedt, a man who loves treehouses. His story is quite inspiring. As is the dog’s.

That the place was named Emils Backe has its own story. Emil was neither a nobleman nor a blacksmith, but a stubborn little dachshund who made himself king of the area. The dachshund Emil, in turn, got his name from the “hill’s” owner Erik Hedenstedt’s great-grandfather Emil Boman, who was a cab driver in Nyköping during the first half of the 20th century.

Who was Emil? available online at: https://emilsbacke.se/innan-emils-backe/

Of course, Emil Boman is connected to the hotel bearing his surname in town and it was there we headed for lunch after our visit to Emilsbacke.

Last time we had lunch at Boman’s, we met a chap who worked there who couldn’t say a bad thing about Trosa. Well, he not only remembered us from February 9, but he also remembered why we had been there.

“Have you bought the house yet?” He asked as Emma enthusiastically said hello. It felt just like coming home.

Possibly the funniest part of the day was introducing Amanda to snus. Klas and the two waiters at Boman’s all rushed to give her a sniff of their tins. She declared that the one that smelled of apricot was okay, but the other two were gross. None of us were tempted to try. As I said, at least there was nothing second hand about them.

Obviously, after lunch meant a walk the length of Trosa high street and back, giving Amanda the grand tour of, hopefully, our new home town. On the return leg, we looked for Klas in his office but think he was still having lunch because he wasn’t there.

Or, maybe he was showing some other incomers around his home town.