Early this morning, Mirinda once more set foot in Sweden. And what a glorious day it was for such a wonderful occasion. The penultimate section of her journey, the overnight ferry from Rostock to Trelleborg, had been somewhat odd, mostly because of her fellow two foot passengers. Not that they were two foot tall. No, there were two of them; three if you include Mirinda. And they didn’t have cars. Or trucks.
One of them was a weird musician type fellow who was travelling with six crates of stuff, each weighing ten kilos. He spent a lot of time moving them from place to place. He even slept with them in the café. This wasn’t the only odd thing about him, but it was enough. Actually, the icing on the cake was that he was a Trump supporter. Nuff said.
The other foot passenger was a standoffish man with two Drontal dogs. Drontal is not a breed. It is the type of dog used in the UK Drontal TV ads. It’s more commonly called a schnauzer. I think Drontal dog is better. Anyway, the dogs were fine but the man was a bit unapproachable, so Mirinda didn’t bother approaching him.
When the ferry reached Trelleborg, and she had to wait while the musician with the six crates joined her on the coach, she suddenly realised that the man with the Drontal dogs had vanished. Where had he gone? We shall never know.
The coach from the ferry dropped her at the station and the final leg of her journey. She arrived at home a couple of hours early, having caught an earlier train home. There were warm greetings and two very excited puppies.
They were quite excited earlier as well when we had a visit from Beth Next Door who left Trosa today for Gothenborg. She popped in to say goodbye and give us a second indoor plant, this time a bird of paradise she’d grown from seed ten years ago. She didn’t want to throw it away, but it wouldn’t fit in the removals truck.
It’s the end of an era for Beth and Matts. They’ve lived next door for something like 35 years. That’s a long time in one place if you ask me. Pastures new and all that. Beth said she was starting to get a bit excited about her great adventure.
My day, on the other hand, was nowhere near as exciting.
Of course, being a Friday, I went shopping. And, having gone shopping, I walked home. When I was walking home, I was passed by a couple who were frantically discussing something. It was almost as if they were frightened they’d miss a word so they raced through them. They were so busy talking, they didn’t even say hello as they passed me.
I wouldn’t have really noticed them except for the fact that she was wearing a pair of black, vinyl, flared trousers and a big old fur coat. She also had thick black drawn on eyebrows, which is something I will never understand. Contrawise, the man seemed very ordinary.
Finally, back at home and after all the excitement over Mirinda’s return, and the new indoor plant, I settled down to my Reading Hour, the girls flopped down with exhaustion and my wife had a very relaxing bath.
I do enjoy having time alone but, by Dog, it’s so much better when my wife comes home.
