We’re just back from watching the sun go down at Sotherndown. While travelling back and forth they played Madonna’s Vogue twice on the radio. This is my last night in Cardiff. Tomorrow I head back to Malmö with Zoe and Mark in tow (or toe?) ready to celebrate the dawn of 2006.

The Switchbacks
This morning I rode a trail that I’ve ridden many times in the past, but haven’t been near for maybe 3 or 4 months. It’s known as ‘The Switchbacks’ because of the hairpin turns, which make it a really fun ride. It starts out steepish and fairly simple, and ends with a fast, near flat, fairly technical (weaving between trees etc.) piece of singletrack.

This morning I noticed that the trail has changed somewhat since my last ride. The loose rocks have gone and been replaced by small red stones, as have other more precarious parts of the trail. This makes it a much faster ride, but also a much safer ride and I’m not sure I like it.

The thing I enjoyed the most was just being outside and out of the city. I know it sounds like a cliché, but too little time in the outdoors makes me feel like a caged animal.

Thanks to John, James, Elinor and Elin I now have a CV in Swedish! Tack så mycket. Also thanks to those who have cared for me in different ways during my first month in Sweden. I’ve spent some time figuring out the mac keyboard shortcuts so will no longer be spelling Malmö without the dots.

God Jul en och allt (I’m sure you can’t directly translate “one and all” like that but what do I know?)

Peace.

This is my third day in the UK. It’s nice to be home, seeing friends and family and noticing all the differences between here and Sweden. One of the things I noticed first was that I was looking the wrong way when crossing the road. I’ve had to remind myself, when walking into a shop, “it’s not ‘hey’ and ‘tack,’ but ‘hi’ and thankyou…”

I haven’t needed my gloves or hat either…

Yesterday at 7.35am I awoke to the sound of words I didn’t recognise and voices I did as Emma and Sofia sang me the Swedish equivalent of ‘Happy Birthday’ and entered the room with an icecream cake and candles. I blew out the candles and proceeded with my icecream breakfast…

At 7.40am Elinor and Sara showed up, sang, and presented me with manna (well, Ben and Jerry’s).

During the day I hung out with Emma, went shopping and got ready for our guests in the evening. We had a great meal – a feta cheese pie, and people started arriving from 8ish. The apartment filled up and we had a lot of fun mingling with some new friends.

Pictures (hopefully) to follow (please: Emma, Pete, anyone else who brought their camera).

All in all a great birthday.