Sweden is closed, opens in 2008

Xmas and the period afterwards, until the first day of the New Year is closed. Empty subway corridors in early morning hours gave me a feeling of being the only working person in the whole world, aprat from the half alseep dude outside the entrance who was distributing a free morning paper (full of advices how to keep your New Year's promises, mostly).

The Swedes are being lazy and once more I have to admit how smart their strategy is. With stomachs full of Xmas ham (yum!) and Xmas cola (julmust - yuk!), they dwell on sofas and armchairs, not fooled by the idea that the darkest time has passed just yet.

Although a couple of days ago Dagens Nyheter made a small reportage from above the polar circle, where the sun is forgotten and unseen for a while now. People who live in one of the villages in that impossible area have faces red from the frost (that is what I choose to believe anyway) and wear a miner forehead lamps everytime they go out. They love Xmas. After Xmas the sun will come. Xmas is better that Midsummer, because after Midsummer there will be less and less of the sun. So now the best time has just started.

I can see a point in their approach, enjoying the thought that nowhere else in the world will I be able to experience such extremes. Such darkness as Sweden in December, such sleepless, bright nights as in Stockholm in June.

At home, we pass the days dedicating our time to creative activities. Some of us paint, some sew. We listen to old concerts on dvd. Today "Simon&Garfunkel. The concert in Central Park" from 1981. Right now "Fifty ways to leave your lover" is playing. Happy New Year, my sweet all!