Dreaming of Freedom » Blog post

A dreamy mild November

Suzi — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:58:57 +0000

It’s been a remarkably mild November. The fireworks on Midsummer Common on the 5th were of course lovely. Kate and I avoided the crowds quite successfully and still got a super view. We even managed to get a drink, though not a seat, afterwards in the Free Press.

We had the second ever meeting of the Bookends at the Elm Tree on the 14th where we talked long and hard about Island by Aldous Huxley.

The Christmas lights were switched on on the 20th which did seem a little early but as Michaelmas Term finishes on the 2nd of December I guess it wasn’t. They were accompanied by all sorts of singing and dancing which included Mam’s little girl and a small boy who was very good on the sax. The music drifted all over the marketplace. Lion’s Yard was full of tap dancing, choirs and proud parents holding up phones trying to store the memories. Andy and I escaped the excitement to sit on a tree trunk near the Mill Pond with a couple of coffees and some great conversation.

On the 26th Tim graduated. There was much wearing of gowns, lunch at Churchill and leaning over the balcony in the Senate House and then after all that Tim was no longer just Tim but Doctor Tim. Many congratulations and celebrations! Jon spent the whole day taking photos and Mum was so proud she couldn’t speak. As it was graduation day we all got to walk around on the Senate House lawn which we made the most of as I guess it will be the only time I will be allowed. Such fun!

All in all November has whished by smoothly in a blaze of easy weather and fun. I’ve even managed to get a lot of work done and a couple of poems written!

July brings a short shory and the shortest ferry ride

Suzi — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:19:49 +0000

July in England has been somewhat grey and not particularly inspiring. I did manage to write my first short story in about two years and have just put it up on Amazon in Kindle format. Buy it here for an extortionate price and get all 784 words of it!

I spent the rest of the week working, cycling to work, cycling home from work, reading the Harry Potter series for the first time and finding I had nothing in the fridge to eat because I’d been too busy working and reading. The most culturally noble thing I did all week was go to to New Hall to look at their collection of women’s art and that was mainly because Mum was here to encourage that sort of after work activity.

Meanwhile K has been on the shortest ferry ride in Sweden and couldn’t resist making a video of it. You can’t see on the video but there is a woman in the small hut on the ferry pulling on a rope that pulls them across. Powered by rope! I’m loving it!.

Cambridge – Saturday 9th July

Suzi — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:50:44 +0000

A very pleasant day spent punting from St John’s College to The Doubletree – yes we did get to push our punt up the rollers – that was the best bit. We saw the EDL march and ignored it. Surrounded by police the you could really only see some England flags poking above the helmets and some hooligan like chants emitting from the walls of fluorescent yellow. It did give the city centre a horrid sort of feeling – like it was under attack. I think everyone in Cambridge was sort of embarrassed to have that sort of demonstration here. On Tuesday there was a public meeting and today a demonstration all against the EDL and what they stand for.

The Big Weekend is on of course but I have to say I avoided it and sent Mum off to it instead. She seemed keen on the crowds of people and live music. Tim spent last night there and saw the fireworks which sounded fun. I spent the afternoon relaxing and creating something colourful with oil pastels. Last weekend I did the ‘Jackson Pollack’ I’ve been meaning to do for ages and I’m almost happy with it. It was an amazing feeling splattering that paint on the canvas I can tell you! I plan to do as many of them as I can! Until I run out of money for canvases or my neighbours get fed up with paint on their clean washing!

The evening saw the Free Inkers at the ADC in their first ever trip to the theatre. We went to see Alan Ayckbourn’s Improbable Fiction and what fun it was. We sat in the audience laughing and wearing pashminas and spent to interval eating ice cream and quaffing wine. We wanted to get the full theatre experience and we did. What fun!

Tomorrow – yoga, garden party and with any luck Sunday Lunch!

It will be all white on the night

Suzi — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:14:54 +0000

On Thursday night the most amazing snow fell and in the morning we woke up to the Christmas card snow scene. It is a powdery, sparkling kind of snow that is fantastic to look at but pretty tough to cycle to work through. Of course when we got to work yesterday we were all full of glee at having made it in and celebrated with mince pies and mulled wine. Back home the flat is filling up with people, Christmas presents and food, for some reason we have a fridge full of courgettes, baby tomatoes, red peppers and aubergines. It is the most horrendous thing to open the fridge and see a wall of healthy options staring down at you. I think it’s because it’s the same vitamin filled meal times a hundred that makes it so chilling!

Frozen solid

Suzi — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:06:04 +0000

I had a truly exciting moment when on the 29th we walked out to the woods behind the Botanical Gardens only to find the lakes and ponds frozen over and people ice skating and playing ice hockey. Utterly amazing. I’ve never seen a lake frozen over before. We had to go and stand on it but of course it was terrifying especially when we heard the ice cracking. The ice has cracked up now but the canals in Gothenburg still have large sheets of ice floating on the top.
We spent New Year Eve watching the fireworks from our flat window and moving the rest of the stuff down the hill to our new, cozy miniature sized flat. I guess it’s a good way to start the new year – by saving money – but we will miss our old place with it’s view of the lipstick building and any fireworks that may be happening down at the habour.
The family have now all gone home back to England but I am still left with one mince pie and a jar of marmite!

New gloves and geekdom

Suzi — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:03:48 +0000

I now have new rainproof gloves. I believe they are also windproof and they are certainly extremely warm. They have clearly been designed to go with an astronaut suit so they have the added value of inflexibility and hugeness. Now I will cycle in more comfort than ever.

I have been spending some quality geek time making up spreadsheets to record my working hours and to calculate the huge 33% tax they will extract from me. It’s nice to make a spreadsheet to record income rather than expenditure. There’s nothing like a spreadsheet to make you feel you have a grip on life.

A website is almost remade

Suzi — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:18:37 +0000

Well after a grueling few days I’m closer to launching Dad’s new and improved website. The website is looking alright and after I transfer the domain name and it’s got it’s own special webspace then I’ll be making you all have a look at it and begging for constructive feedback.

We spent a few happy hours in the sunshine today, cycling up to Partille to have a delicious dinner with our Gothenburg friends. It’s our last weekend of total freedom before K starts his masters course and all the hard work that entails.

The Swedish is coming along slowly… very slowly!

Library Lookup

Suzi — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:07:29 +0000

All K’s hard work has finally paid off and he has launched the first working version of his library look up website. Although the project isn’t finished you can now use it to search for libraries in London. Hopefully it will expanded one day to cover the entire UK. So if you’re looking for a library in London or a certain book in a London library then this is the site for you. Why not have a go.

George Bush denied the right to hear that people are angry in Britain

Suzi — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:46:08 +0000

I’m currently watching the news about George Bush’s arrival at Downing Street and am disappointed but not surprised at the size of the anti-Bush/war/American foreign policy demonstration. According to the news the demonstrators are nowhere near Downing Street, instead held back by large police lines, and therefore unlikely to be seen or heard by Bush. A clear demonstration of (dare I say it) the lack of true democratic right to opinion in Britain.

It’s also sad to see how small the demonstrations have become over the last five years – I don’t think the numbers represent the amount of anger felt by people over the whole war charade nor the disappointment felt in the government. Many people are however confused about the situation as the reasons for war sold to them have changed every time one became an untenable lie. The success of ‘the great war sale’ has been down to that most effective weapon of all – namely the war propaganda pumped out by the media. Anyone in doubt about this should check out the work Media Lens have been doing.

Here in Sweden the war in the Middle East seems far away and I’ve been spending my days reading books by Bertrand Russell. The weather has turned again and it’s currently raining heavily. I’ve spent a very pleasant day baking cakes and other wholesome things. Yesterday K and I cycled with his friend up to Partille where we consumed pizza, non-alcoholic gooseberry pop and sweet Swedish strawberries.

The cruelty of captivity

Suzi — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:40:05 +0000

I walked up to and around some of Slottsskogen yesterday evening. I came across the birdhouse or Fågelhuset to discover a variety of birds as well as some Humboldt penguins which are pretty much an endangered species. I wandered up the hill to find the rest of the zoo. It’s completely free and you can see a variety of animals including moose and deer. Despite the fact it’s always interesting to see animals I can’t really shake the feeling that it’s unjustified and cruel to keep animals in captivity. It seems that others share this view too and there is actually a campaign to close the zoo down.

Apart from my wholesome walk to see unwholesome practices I spent a good part of my day working on the Norwich page on my website. It’s looking a little better now.