Moving amid the madness

When I returned to Sweden just over 4 weeks ago, my calendar was crammed with catch ups, teaching, field trips to southern Sweden and Norway and a journey through Ikea to fill my new abode. At that time, coronavirus was just starting to take hold in Europe with a few isolated cases filling the headlines and a small gap opening up on the supermarket shelves where hand sanitiser was once found. Little did I expect how extensive the impact of the virus would become and how many aspects of our lives would be touched by this. I’m saying this while sat in Sweden, where the government are taking a very relaxed approach to tackling the issue. I follow everything that is going on in the UK via the news and friends and then am surprised at the differences I observe over here.  While I have been advised to work from home and all teaching has been moved to online courses and field trips have been cancelled, there appears to be little change in people’s social habits. While out on walks I pass cafes and restaurants still packed with people (they’ve switched to table rather than counter service as a safety measure), I get emails inviting me back to gym classes and to play innebandy (which I politely decline) and I’ve never seen so many people out in the parks, gathering for picnics and socials, just keeping their groups below the limit of 50 participants. I guess only time will tell how the Swedish strategy works out and I’m sure in years to come all of the various approaches taken will be put under much scrutiny, hopefully to better prepare us if another virus finds it way into our population in the future.

One of the benefits of the Swedish approach is that I have been able to move to a new little apartment, just across the road. After nearly 2 years in my previous place, my tenancy was soon running out but luckily I managed to secure a place in a studio apartment owned by the student housing association, just 5 minutes’ walk from the office and 100 m from my old place. So, I’m now sat looking across at the natural history museum (with one set of blinds rolled down to block out the people opposite), in my sparsely furnished but bright and cosy new home. A particular highlight in this new place is the fully functioning oven which I christened yesterday with a courgette soda bread loaf. I’ll have to wait until socialising is acceptable to start churning out cookies and cakes though, unless I feel the urge to demolish an entire batch to myself!

My new apartment and view of the natural history museum 

Due to the downturn in the economy, my previous landlord decided he wanted to sell his apartment as soon as possible, which meant putting it on the market before I had moved out. This led to a slightly surreal few weeks and an introduction to another very Swedish concept for me. Within two days of my landlord deciding to sell, I was informed I would have to move all my stuff out of the way in preparation for the ‘re-styling’. It turns out that when selling an apartment in Sweden, it’s customary to make the place look like a show room for the photos and viewings. So, in the middle of attempting to isolate and work from home, I had to hide all of my belongings and leave my little bubble for a while to let a woman come in and fill the place with furnishings, flowers and copious amounts of cushions. The place was then to be kept in this state for the viewings over the following week. Unfortunately for my landlord, carefully placed crockery and ‘luxury’ magazines couldn’t overcome the fact that he was too late to the game and after the bidding rounds (a very quick process in Sweden), the apartment remains unsold.

Before (left) and after (right) the 'restyling'

While the actual moving process was all fairly simple for me, especially as Felicity kindly cycled across to help walk my bed and table across the road, gaining a taste of home in the form of hot cross buns and mini eggs in return. Furnishing a place while avoiding public transport is not an easy task. Luckily I have all the essentials, but the drastic downsizing of my freezer to a little slot was something I wanted to address sooner rather than later. I decided to have my first delivery here in Sweden, something I’ve avoided in the past as I don’t really know how it works. It turns out my avoidance was for good reason. On selecting delivery, I accidently had my parcel sent to a newsagent in town, about 3 km from here, rather than my door, oops. This resulted in an intense arm workout as I staggered down the road with my 16 kg box. I must admit, while I walked there, I couldn’t make it more than the 600 m to the bus stop with a freezer in my arms, so I had to break my ‘no public transport’ rule for the 10-minute journey back.

Aside from moving house and staggering around with a freezer, I’ve mostly just been working on what I can from home, going for walks in the sun (hasn’t this spring been beautiful?) and catching up with friends and family, far and wide, via video chats. That is one of the silver linings in all this, I’ve spent time chatting with so many friends that I would never usually get around to talking to, face to face. Technology has allowed group ‘meetups’ with friends in England, Scotland, Germany, the US and Canada, thank goodness for the internet! On the work front, as we obviously can’t go across to Midtdalsbreen in Norway at the moment, I won’t be able to get the data I need, so I’m trying to figure out how to make the most out of what I already have. Looks like I’m going to have to quickly become an expert on error analysis using the Monte Carlo method! I do realise I am very lucky though to still have work to do, and for that I really am thankful.

It just remains for me to wish you a very happy Easter (at least it’s Easter while I write this) or Glad Påsk for yesterday as Swedes randomly celebrate the day before, as they seem to for most celebrations. This isn’t quite the Easter many would have expected but I hope you’ve all managed to find a means to celebrate in your own way. Sending love and good wishes to everyone back in the UK and further afield.