Midsommar 2011

When in the cold, dark, never ending and never changing days of winter, midsommar is always just a dream away.

The reality, at least the one that foreigners often face is not relaxation and celebration with family but wondering, “Where the fuck did all the Swedes go?”

The correct answer should fit into one of these generalizations:  to their summer house, to their family’s summer house, to their boyfriend/girlfriend’s summer house, or to their friend’s summer house.

It mostly means that cities are quite sparseley populated and stores are, of course, for the most part shuttered for the entire holiday. Of importance is to mention here that Systembolaget (the only place to buy alcohol outside of grocery store crap) is included in all this and closes early the day before midsommar and remains so throughout the weekend, as it is government run. If you don’t stock up beforehand (like me!), you’re SOL!

I spent this weekend with my friends toey™ and Tong, asking ourselves where our friends were and at the same time enjoying a short trip outside the city to see a midsommar festival, having our own mini party at my apartment, and walking around the empty city and making up our own adventures.

Amongst today’s finds were an old cat friend of mine from when I lived in Göteborg last year, and the SPF Carrier Pigeon Club pigeon coops on top of the hill just near where I used to live.

I’m not sure why, but cynicism seems to come out in copious mounts here—I don’t usually think about things this way, but whenever I start trying to analyze a situation these kinds of sentiments come out!