Cleaning Sunday

We're doing a pretty good job of sticking to our rota we made about a month ago (Paul is way better at it then I am but then he gets to show off that and tell me off which make him feel good and I really don't mind a bit of earache). I have moaned at him for so long about housework I don't mind being nagged at, makes me open my eyes and be a bit more considerate of how he must have felt doing a full time job, being the household earner. Now its my turn, but I really hope one of his many projects will pay off soon, it would be nice to have a bigger buffer. However its so much better then when we lived in London, at least now we don't have to count our pennies every week to work out what we could afford to eat.

Today was also one of the many many family gathering / birthday parties which take up a large part of our free time. And it always seams to be on Sunday afternoons! Maybe I've gone and become more British than I thought but why can't parties be held on a Saturday? or is it that the most immediately family, which consist of 18 people, only are around on Sundays?

It is always a bad day for us as F1 (which is the only sport that Paul follows, thank god) always seam to fall on the same time as these f***ing parties.

So the question always comes up - Do I have to go? and I always answer - Yes you do! which is never a good start for a day of formal fun.

Don't get me wrong these parties are very nice and with good food etc etc and I used to be very jealous that I couldn't attend when I was living abroad but now they seam to be every other week!! And when we left today (which took just over 1 hour, leaving that is) I found out that we had another 2 coming up before xmas - that is one a month from Aug right up to xmas!

I am so glad I have decided to quit my saturday job at Smögen (seams like I have found some clients in town, much better) cos I just would not have enough time to do anything with my family or let alone myself.

Moan moan moan....

Another topic that came up over dessert was why I missed London. I couldn't help getting frustrated that my mum and sister didn't get where I was coming from so me and Paul had a long discussion about it in the car on our way home and then it came to me, they wouldn't understand cos they had never seeked out what it would be like living in a different place, not longed to be part of something bigger, they were perfectly happy living in a small town for the rest of their lives.

There is nothing wrong with that and at times I even envy them for not being so pertinacious as I am. But of course they don't understand where I am coming from, and they never will.

What surprised me tho was my mums reaction to my disappointment of my romanic view of Sweden. If she was in my shoes, she wouldn't stay for a second longer then she needed to. It almost sounded like she couldn't wait for me to move away again - No, I know that is not true, but maybe she too finds it a bit strange to have her daughter on her doorstep. I mean, 12 year is a long time....

However it felt good talking about it and I got some rally good tips on how to bring some of our British traditions into our Uddevalla life. The butcher on Södra Drottninggatan Wattson and Olsson and apparently there is an eastern supermarket near by. It is also worth checking out Dalaberg and their local shops (which is just up the road from us). With this new search engine I found quite a few ecological farms that sells both cuts of meet and vegs, maybe worth doing a trip once a month picking up some meet. Bet both Paul and Mina would love that.

It feels weird, I am doing what I used to do in England, searching out people and places that reminds me of home and a culture that I miss and I never thought it would be the British.

Mina is doing her part in our new cleaning routine - microfiber cloths are just the best invention!