Yes, as was kindly pointed out, it is about time for an update:
I'm on summer holidays, and if you're the sort of person who is particularly jealous of the extensive holidays that teachers have you should probably stop reading. That said, I am having a great time. A few days after school finished it was time for "midsummer" here in Sweden which usually involves hanging out with family and/or friends, lunch in the sun with accompanying shots of Swedish snaps, followed by a lazy weekend... that's exactly what I did this year (after missing last year's edition due to a week in Lisbon). At the end of that weekend I took myself out to the airport, managed to talk my way to the front of first the bag-drop queue and then the security queue so that I was able to make my flight to Paris. Once there I had a nervous wait for Dino who was delayed flying in from London (what a surprise for Heathrow!), she ran from baggage collection to the TGV station and we thankfully made our train to Montpellier by about 9 minutes. This was to be the most stressful part of my 6 days in France/Montpellier... the other stressful moments were limited to deciding whether to buy a baguette or fruit loaf for breakfast - usually solved by buying one of each. The weather was great and Montpellier beautiful, the old town is predominantly pedestrian with lots of small laneways winding around and leading to tiny squares with cool cafés and bars. A mate of Dino's from Canberra, BJ, was also there for the week so the 3 of us took it very easy... bakery, cafe, beach, bar... you get the picture. BJ is on his way through Stockholm next week so hopefully the sun will still be shining - this week has been fantastic by Stockholm standards: 20-25°C, generally blue skies and light breezes... it's hard not to love it when it's like this.
Since the last post I've also been to the very north of Sweden - trooped off with 40 odd students and 3 other teachers for a 4 day trip to the northern most ski resort in Sweden (literally on the border with Norway - one of the runs takes you across the border and back again!). Skiing at the end of May, with almost 24 hour daylight was a very cool experience. And thankfully the cherubs were neither too spoilt nor too bratty so the experience was altogether different from last year's debacle. After that there were about 3 weeks of school left and it passed by very quickly in a rush of marking and setting final grades, at the end of which I was happy to say "enjoy your summer" to the kids and (surprisingly?!) even happier to say "see you in August" to colleagues... after 10 months it is nice to have a break from school and everything that goes with it.
The rest of summer is looking as good as the start... the next 2 weeks or so I'll be in Sweden coaching the group I've been working with at the swimming club - we've got nationals in a week and a half, and 4 of the 8 are off to Beijing for the Olympics straight after that. So that's giving me a bit of structure to most days! After that I'm heading to London to catch up with friends, including Larry & Martyn's 30th anniversary party which I'm really looking forward to. Then (yes, there's more!) I fly to Washington D.C. to visit Dad, and I think there is going to be a side trip to a beach for a week with them. After all my globe-trotting I arrive back in Stockholm at about 6pm the day before I go back to work... just the way I like it.
Think that's enough for now.
Chilled, rich.
