Always something new to learn

Today, we took Zed for his yearly check up. It proved to be a really easy exercise, very much like getting an MOT done in the UK. It was also nice and quick. There was no need for going for a wander around Woody’s while we waited – Woody’s is a big hardware shop, just across the road from the mechanic that KSP recommended and Nicoline endorsed.

We sat, instead, in the small waiting area and watched as Zed was lifted, inspected and given a clean bill of health.

Afterwards, the mechanic gave us a few options for getting the car serviced by various local companies. Of course, none of them were open today, given it was a ‘bridge day’. These occur whenever there’s a public holiday on a Thursday. A lot of people don’t see the point of going to work on the Friday and, therefore, have a nice long weekend instead.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Unless you live in America, of course. They don’t like having days off work.

Anyway, we were in and out in next to no time and, can I just say, it was fantastic to see a female mechanic, working on the car next to Zed.

On the way home in our newly approved car, we stopped off at the ICA, recently opened in Vagnhärad, the old one having burned down on December 2, 2023. The old one had stood there since 1972. There was also a Hemköp in the town for a while. I remember seeing it the first time we visited Vagnhärad but it closed in the September, shortly before the fire broke out at the ICA.

The new ICA is bright and sparkly new. It’s not as big as the one I visit in Trosa but I reckon the people who live within walking distance will be well pleased, given the only alternative they’ve had for a while was one of those 24 hour unmanned container type jobbies.

Mind you, a lot of people had started using the new Willy’s (opposite Woody’s) when it opened. I remember the women at SFI constantly raving about the savings and how much they appreciated a big new supermarket in the town. The new Willy’s, after some delays, opened in May last year.

The reason we stopped off at the supermarket was in order to get a few things so I could make some wild garlic pesto using the leaves we plucked yesterday. Which I did as soon as we’d finished lunch. We were very happy with the result.

I was also very happy with dinner: griddled tuna and pak choi. I haven’t made it for ages. I was even happy with the photo.

But it wasn’t just food preparation I was engaged in. There was also some important stuff to do on the website today. The host we use has moved and our site had to move with it. This means a migration of all the files, the blog, legacy stuff, everything. It’s always a bit frightening but, given you’re reading this, I guess I got my part right and the host, theirs.

The other thing I did today was record my latest Letter from Sweden for the FATN. If anyone’s interested, you can listen to it here.