Pictures from Stockholm

Here are a few pictures from the snow covered Stockholm.

White Out

Well, after rounding out our time in Brighton and somehow packing almost an entire room into 60kgs of luggage, we made it to Sweden without too many problems. We were delayed by a about 2 hours due to the snowfall in Copenhagen, but otherwise we have been pretty lucky. It has been snowing back in England and luckily we were not due to leave today, otherwise we would have had difficulty leaving due to Englands transport system shutting down whenever it snows a few inches.



Here in Sweden however, yesterday there was about 10 centimetres of snowfall and it was business as usual. Today, while I haven't seen a car go past all day everyone appears to be at work. There is about 40-50 centimetres by the looks of things out the window but in reality it is probably more like 30. Still, for my eyes, we may as well be buried in it.



It hasn't stopped snowing since I first looked outside at about 9am. Time to clear the snow from the driveway shortly, it should be fun.

One Last Week

One last week of an uncomfortable living environment. The last few weeks have gone by really quickly it seems. I think we are pretty well organised and ready to move. Mentally, I have been ready to get out of this house for a few months. One last week of insanity.

One last week of worrying whether or not we should send more stuff to Australia or Sweden or whether to chance the suitcases being over the weight limit. Another two packages will be sent to Australia today, hopefully, and then we should be fairly close to being sorted.

One last week of seeing some friends. Maybe for the last time ever. I certainly hope not, but you never know when I may see some of the people I have met here again. There are a few who are planning a visit to Australia and I will hopefully be able to catch up with some when we travel back to Sweden to visit.

One last week of this chapter in our lives. A new chapter is only a week away, and that is something to really look forward to.

A little piece of home away from home.

It is nice to see that the English here like to remind themselves that they made Australia what it

is today. This is on one set of gates just outside Buckingham Palace.

Road Block

We thought it would be a good idea to check and see if all of the stuff we own can fit into the suitcases and carry-on bags we have. Bad idea. Tears, frustration and the realisation that we can not afford to keep everything that we want is taking its toll.

We discovered that we are going to have to send several packages to both Sweden and Australia if we are going to keep everything we want, however, neither of us has any where enough money to be able to accomplish this. We have already donated so much of our stuff, books, clothing, bedding and house hold items and we still have too much. We are both at a loss as to what to do.

There are some difficult decisions to be made over the next couple of days regarding some of our stuff, hopefully we make the right choices.

Winding Down

It is really approaching fast. It is only 12 days until we depart England. It is going to be strange leaving the place we have called home for a while. Not so difficult to leave the house we live in, but we will miss our friends. Thanks to the technology the we have available now, it is still very easy to stay in touch with them though.

Sofie finishes work early today so we are going to do a few things today. It will be nice to spend an afternoon together without too many people in town. Also, we are going to go to London tomorrow to see a few things that I have not seen yet. Getting the rest of the tourist stuff out of the way while we are still here in England.

I look forward to it, but not as much as having a look at both Copenhagen, which we are going to go to with Sofie's parents. It is something I am really looking forward to. Also looking forward to having a look at Stockholm for the first time. It is going to be cold, but I think it will be a really nice city.

I am starting to get really excited about the trip, and another cold Christmas. I can't wait.

The home straight

Two weeks left here in Brighton. It is exciting, especially for me because it is about 6 weeks until I return home for the first time in what will be 21 months. That is not to say that Sofie isn't excited too, but it is slightly different situations. I am going home, where I know people and where I fit in. To Sof, it is unfamiliar and she only knows me. One thing I do know, they will welcome her with open arms.

I am also starting to reflect more on the time that I have spent here. It has absolutely been an experience which I have grown up a lot. I felt before I left Australia I was too reliant on other people, but now I can stand on my own 2 feet as well as be there for Sof to rely on. This gives me a lot of confidence, and it will give me confidence to think that I might make a good father one day. But first, other things need to be sorted. Starting with finally leaving this house.

We have got some furniture to offload, the house to give another quick clean too. I hope that our housemates are going to finish the tasks that they told us they would, but we are not going to do them. There isn't too much more to do though. Which is exciting.

I will miss Brighton, and will always have fond memories of it. I will also view it as the place where I grew up completely. I have made some good friends here whom I will obviously miss but they will also have somewhere to visit now in the Southern Hemisphere.