Today saw a big concert in Stockholm. I say ‘concert’ but it was one where the audience probably sang along with all the songs. That was because it was a concert to celebrate 50 years since ABBA won Eurovision with Waterloo. 50 years?
Obviously, it was an occasion for headline punnery: ‘Happy ABBA-versary‘ declared all manner of news sites.
According to Associated Press: Fans around the world celebrated: A choir belted out the song at London’s Waterloo railway station, and a group staged a flashmob and silent disco in Brighton.
Here, in our little red house, I didn’t do anything to celebrate. I did have a bit of a sing while making dinner, but there were no ABBA songs.
I suppose we did manage a bit of the song title. We walked down to Trosa and out along the harbour where we saw plenty of water. In fact, the water was running really fast from the river to the sea. It must be snow melt or leftover rainfall. You’d be hard-pressed to row against it.
It’s pretty difficult showing the rater of river flow with a photograph, but I’m going to try anyway. Here’s one as we approached the fisherfolk on the banks, staring morosely into the raging torrents.
I realise you can’t see anyone in the photo, but they are there. Near the blue thing in the centre background. I counted 15 of them – fisherfolk, not blue things. No-one was catching anything, each one looking as miserable as each other. It was like a small convention of miserable.
We skirted their rods and lines and headed out to the pizza place at the end of the pier. I wanted to see what progress had been made on, what I thought was going to be a garden. If it is, then it’s going to be a water garden.
A water garden with a three-pronged boardwalk crossing it.
The Heras fencing has now gone but I think it’s still got a way to go to be finished.
Given the piles of decorative rocks, it might be a Japanese Water Garden.
During our walk there were a couple of surprises.
Firstly, as we approached Visthuset, the café we visited the other day, both of the girls decided to start walking up the ramp rather than walk straight on as I intended. I figured we’d have a coffee on the way back but, no, both Emma and Freya were ready almost as soon as we arrived in the centrum.
I figured it must have been because it was going to be warm inside while it was a tad chilly outside. At any rate, I agreed, and we enjoyed a lovely latte while absorbing some heat. Actually, I enjoyed the latte while the dogs enjoyed the heat. The girls had their coats on, and I think the warmth seeped into and was stored in them.
The other big surprise was the state of the first place we visited in Trosa back in 2021. They are either renovating it or dismantling it. It’s hard to say which at this stage. I noticed that the carpentry joy has been carefully removed, so maybe it’s resurrection rather than destruction.
It’s hard to imagine that we sat near the bin in the photo above, and enjoyed an ice cream.
As you can see from the photo above, there’s still a bit of snow laying about but, I really think that’s it now. I discussed it with a chap who fussed over the dogs in the woods and he agreed. Of course, the both of us may just have been overly glass half full. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is for highs of 15°, so that’s a good start.
I forgot that there was a third surprise. In the woods. I guess the pixies have been having tea parties. You can tell it’s pixies by their use of blue crockery and yellow rocks.
I know to leave rocks on cairns and twigs on piles but I have no idea what the correct fairy gift is for abandoned tea parties. Hopefully, they’ll be okay with me just leaving it be.
