farewell august, welcome september 2024

Or bye bye summer, hello autumn, as September is the official first month of autumn in Scandinavia. 🙏🏻👋🏻

Just like July August has been offering too many hot days in combination with surprising rain showers as well as heavy rainfalls (my roof is not happy…) with thunder and lightning.

Climate emergency is here.

And it has had an heavy impact on some parts of Sweden ever since the horrific summer of 2018. Yet too many ignorant people voted for a government that blatantly fight to make things even worse. 

The incompetence is mindblowing.

It’s 2024, but according to the Swedish government it might actually be 1984, business as usual rules as does selfishness. 

And I know, the same kind of ignorance and stupidity is seen all over the world, in politics as well as in everyday life choices. It’s hugely disappointing. Frustrating. Infuriating. Heartbreaking.

But what have I been up to this August, apart from being angry at the state of Sweden and the world?

Wrote a LinkedIn article about the recruitment scam I told you about in my last blog post. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/piaktw_recruiter-newjob-scam-activity-7231540510782312449-r6Yo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

It hasn’t gathered nearly as much arrention as I expected. Which is really weird. Like most things on LI are I suppose. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Go ahead and give it some much appreciated love and attention if you wish!

Club of interest might want to know that as the continued summer debacle of no commuter trains but replacement buses went ahead for the umpteenth year (+15 of them… 😱) and the whole ordeal ended on August 12.

So just as usually these past 8 part June and the whole of July, I spent most of my days reading. I’m currently 15 books ahead of my reasonable goal of 50 books read in 2024 on Goodreads.

Some decent reads, some blah ones, but no mindblowingly great ones yet. Four months left to get at least one but preferably two 5🌟 reading experiences. Fingers crossed.

Here are my books picked for September. ☝🏻

I know I won’t be able to finish them all of course. But I hope I might finish two, I focus on the 14th novel in the wonderful Isabel Dalhousie-series. Edinburgh, Scotland, philosophy and human interaction, well-composed slow reading at its best. They never disappoint and put me in a good mood of appreciating the little things in life, we often take for granted.

Focus two is the cli-fiction ’The ministry for the future’. Only 35ish pages in and 600 to go, I’m not sure what I think yet. Too close to home? 

As I have a couple of not yet finished books I read already, I’m just happy if I can finish those AND one of the new ones this month.

Apart from the Isabel Dalhousie book (which I always buy and make plenty of notes in) they are all library books. I’ve certainly rekindled with the joys of libraries after the pandemic. It’s almost addictive. And it’s a complete guiltfree addiction, which is super nice. 

Positive addiction actually. The ”ministry” book wasn’t available already at the library, so I asked for a purchase and got it. Now I do hope more readers will follow. It certainly feels like a book A LOT of people would benefit from reading.

I got this T-shirt in July/August. It’s organic cotton and it’s actually, believe it or not, a painting of Harry Styles by British comedian Joe Lycett, and sold by Greenpeace. Surplus money goes to fighting oil companies.

A) Who doesn’t want a portrait of Harry Styles on the chest?

B) Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh?

C) Who doesn’t want to help fight the dirty business that have caused and continue to cause havoc on our planet?

D) And who doesn’t relish a super comfy, kindly produced T-shirt?

I got it in a very large size, since I’m always unsure about sizes (size tables are a bit so-so) and I’d rather go oversized that too small. Haven’t figured out how to style the sleeves yet, they’re too long and refuse to stay roll-uped) but I love the quality.

Prior to the return of the commuter trains I had to accompany little mum to health checkup appointments twice. It was a complete shambles, you would think they’d get better at communication, routines, signage and helpers after these +15 years, right?

But no. Not at all. It was a small and stressful hell getting on and off the right bus. And with a walker for 👵🏻 it was extra stressful.

The bus drivers were either reckless drivers or super new at their job. I even had to stand beside one of them and guiding him in the right direction on one of the rides…

We survived the ordeals. And I am so very grateful I didn’t have to commute every day during those months.

On the day when the commuter train were back I accompanied 👵🏻 again to a health appointment, this time in the city. The weather was perfect, I bought vegan blueberry buns to put in the freezer and a big sourdough loaf. 

Then we had late lunch at favourite place Mahalo. It was probably a year since I last was there, and the plantbased food was just as perfect as I remembered it. 

The Knivsöder glass noodle salad with tofu, mango and peanut sauce for me. And for little ’eating like a bird’ mum she had her favourite sweet potato fries with chili dip sauce.

In a week there’s a return visit at the ear specialist, and we most certainly will have lunch at Mahalo afterwards again. Will probably chose the same dishes too.

I was going to write about my recent (peri-)menopausal vegan supplement discovery but realised I wrote about it in my prior to last blog post. So I’ll just add that during month 2 (August) my sleep has turned better, if not nearly as good as it used to be (but of course stress and strains might cause issues with that too, not just a certain time of life), but I’m definitely grateful for at least some better sleep and time might change it even more, who knows?

Another little lovely outing took place last week. We took the bus to nearby Sigtuna. With a car it takes about 45 minutes, but with bus it takes 1,5 hours (where 30-45 minutes is waiting to change bus at a country road alas, but the bus rides themselves are so lovely and void of people that it beats taking the bus - train - train - bus trip that’s a bit quicker).

It was a lovely day. The late summer weather was again perfect. The town quite void of tourists. The houses and sights pretty as usual. And the walk by the lake blissful.

I had planned for a tofu lunch at the new thai restaurant we found last year. (Sigtuna may be the oldest city in Sweden, but it’s also probably the last place that offers a vegan place for food…) But then I suddenly saw this sign about a 100% plantbased cafe with daily lunches! Of course you must support such initiatives!

The dishes that day were spinach soup and aubergine with miso, Asian salad and rice. They were both very flavourful, but I missed having some bread (for the soup) and it certainly would have been good with more aubergine than three small rolls.

Looks like the dishes are more… satisfying on other days, but you rarely choose a day for a visit to a restaurant you didn’t knew existed prior. 

If you ever find yourself in Sigtuna, and want vegan food, go pay a visit to ’Hey Lucie’!

It’s hard to grasp that summer is over (at least if you look in a calendar) and autumn has arrived. It’s especially sad since it isn’t a nearly as enjoyable season as it used to be, prior to when climate change was fully upon us (2018). 

I do hope it will be a beautiful and very enjoyable autumn though weatherwise.

And I have high hopes for something splendid and fabulous to finally happen. To find my purpose, a positive change that brings joy, growth and a regular income again. I am SO SO ready for that.

Bring it, September, bring it on!

🩷💚🩷