The Doors

Still in Stockholm, walking along Swedenborgsgatan in the Söder neighbourhood, I noticed the different style doorways, something I’ve never even looked at before. Thanks to the endless architecture walks in the lockdowns I’ve become much more interested in buildings, and on this trip I seriously drank in as many architectural details as I could.

It turns every street into a gallery of sorts. So much to look at! Like these shells for instance. And the leading on the round window. Very nice.

I also appreciate all the different colours. The reliefs on this exterior is very child oriented - I wonder why? Google ain’t telling’ me nuthin. Anyway, above the doorway I noticed something in the ceiling.

I’m guessing that’s supposed to be St George and the dragon? Buildings can hold such mysteries.

Still on the same street, I’m guessing this building had something to do with a shipping company importing soya.

Different street, but I liked the font on this 25.

In Gamla Stan I kept looking up to see what the doorways there looked like.

Symmetrical is the answer.

I guess modern architecture won’t leave as many intricate details for future generations to discover.

And lastly, the doorway in the building I grew up in, in the Vasastan neighbourhood. I do have a vague memory of the lion up there. The doorway has been modernised since I lived there, but when I walk into the stairwell it still smells exactly the same as it did when I was a kid. I have three memories that are linked to the outside of no. 51. One is that I made butterscotch in winter once, and to cool it I left it on the outside window ledge that was covered in snow - totally worked. Memory no. 2 is of blasting Lucille really loudly with all the windows open when I was about 12. So cool 😆. And lastly, like most kids with a recordable cassette player, me and a friend recorded stuff for our own “radio” programme (called Squash - don’t ask why). We talked a lot of nonsense and sang, but also did interviews with people in the street. One of them was with someone as they were putting air in the tyre on their bike. I remember trying to tell my friend off quietly, while still recording, as she was hopping noisily whilst we were asking questions. It would be bloody amazing if I still have that tape somewhere.

Camera walking in Gamla Stan

Back in October I went to Stockholm for a few days to see my family, who I hadn’t seen for over 2 & 1/2 years. I’m never that keen on going back, not because of seeing family, but because Stockholm and I just don’t get along. There’s definitely a reason why I moved abroad, and every time I go back I get reminded why I was so happy to leave. It was just a really bad fit in the end. But this trip was better than usual, as I got my priorities right. Usually seeing my family is like a by-product of me going there, but this time they were the only ones I saw. Call it Covid Clarity - the realisation of what and who is important in your life. Anyway, one Saturday morning, me and my sister H went for a walk in the Gamla Stan (Old Town) neighbourhood, which used to be the capital back in medieval times. Most of the medieval streets are buried under the cobblestones, and the houses that are there now were mainly built in the 16 and 1700’s. Look how narrow this street is! I’m guessing you don’t get much daylight in these buildings.

About 3000 people still live there, in houses like this, mainly divided into flats. Jammy sods. Might get an Airb’n’b there one day, but I bet they’re pricey - and tiny… I never really paid attention to Gamla Stan as I was growing up, but from now on I think I’ll try and always make sure that I go here for a walk and a nosey.

Back in my teens this was my impression of it - Västerlånggatan, the main street, the touristy naff street (but hey, I’m a tourist now too innit). The street always full of people. This trip was my first abroad since Covid, and being there was quite nerve-wracking as, compared to the UK at the time, there were no restrictions to speak of. I insisted on wearing a face mask indoors, especially on the tube, and tight crowded places like this made me nervous. Wearing a face mask in Sweden generally meant that you had Covid - so I was grateful for people keeping their distance from me, haha!

Best to stick with the quiet residential streets instead, eh?

Thought this looked sweet; two climbers holding hands.

Not so sweet was this sight of a dog, looking like it was stuck to the wall.

There were however lots of cool details that caught my eye, like this door knocker,

this sign,

this small half circle of a garden,

a funkis house number, against a great colour palette,

a shoe mender’s sign

and an optician’s.

Lots of different architectural styles - and colours too. The pale orange house was built in 1520. Crazy.

I also liked the contrasting quoins on the corner of this pale red building. But the I guess quoins usually are.

You don’t get buildings in these colours here. We really could do with more colourful apartment blocks against our grey skies too.

Hej, it’s me, Squinty McSquintface! L8er Gamla Stan. I’ll be back.

An August weekend away

Seeing as it’s been greyer than grey for the past few days, I thought I’d stay back in time, for a bit of colour and something a bit different from the late January gloom outside. I know I always say it every time I post pictures from my father-in-law’s house in the Cotswolds, but why we don’t go here more often is beyond me. I think it has something to do with the fact that we have an only child, so with him in mind we try to go with friends when we do go, which takes a bit more planning. Anyway, last time we went we arrived a few hours earlier than our friends, so I walked around the house taking pictures.

Nice, isn’t it? My interior taste is changing and I’d love more old stuff in our house too. Actually, we’ve inherited two of these style mirrors - I just don’t notice them anymore. Do you find that too? That you can’t see your surroundings properly, a bit like being snow blind at home?

To be honest I am a bit in this house as well. It wasn’t until S, who had never been there before, said how photogenic it all was (she’s an interiors nut like me too), showing me the pictures she’d just taken of it, that I realised that I should pay a bit more attention to it again.

Like this fireplace. Why have I never noticed this red brick beauty before? I know I’ve noticed the newspapers jammed into it, but not the thing itself.

And who have we here? Bella, that’s who. A new addition to the H family and very well she behaved too. She’d finally gotten over her manic puppy phase from the last time I saw her.

And yes, of course we went on our usual walk. This time Mr Famapa pointed out the skeleton on one of the headstones. Can you see it? Bella clearly didn’t.

I love this tree and how it hugs the ground exactly right. Surely someone must be trimming it to be like that?

Along the walk the blackberries were already out and kept us full. Thank you nature.

Ahhh, so nice to see this green again, and to also know that it will come back in a few months time. I’ll lose my winter swimming, but I’ll gain SPRING.

On the way back from the walk there’s two ways to come down the hill; the sensible one (my personal choice)

or the steeper one, that some people can’t not run down. I’m just too scared that I’ll twist my ankle or something stupid, and seeing that when I last twisted my ankle, it took 10 months before I could go out running again, I ain’t taking my chances.

Just by the front door of the house there’s a few plants, cheerily welcoming you home, and this rose was a rather color delicioso.

And next summer I better plant some Cosmos in our plant border at home, or I’ll be very cross with myself.

Tea for three and three for tea

Celebrated my 46th birthday in August, and Mr Famapa had booked afternoon tea at Sketch as a surprise. We went there for my 40th as well, and the David Shrigley art on the wall has changed since then. I watched a live Art Fund webinar on Art and Humour the other night, and he was one of the panelists. I really like how his brain works.

There were so many birthday gatherings in there, so I guess some live music elevated the atmosphere. I don’t often find myself in a place where there’s say, a bar pianist, or like here a little string trio, but when I do I feel really awkward. Do you? The sight of patrons just continuing with their eating, drinking and conversations, as if the musicians aren’t there tenses me up, and how no one claps when they’ve finished. But then, as a musician, especially with the crappy two years we’ve had, I’d assume you’d be very happy to be out playing again, even if the all the mfs in the room don’t acknowledge you, haha. Anyway, we stuffed ourselves full, and I love any foods that come in small portions and that you can switch up flavour wise as you wish. I also like that you can order more of anything that you especially like. I think Oomoo managed to eat the most, he being a growing lad and all.

The atmosphere was more enjoyable than on previous visits, as it felt like people were genuinely pleased about being able to go somewhere for a treat again. Less selfies, more talking.

This dude found my picture taking quite annoying last summer. I see his point, but he’s seems to be over it now. Phewf.

Shrigley’s stuff isn’t just on the wall, it’s also on the table, and if you have cash to burn you can buy it.

Too steep for me though. Haha - get it? Steep? Tea joke.

The staff are really nice in here and not snooty at all. And I love the interior (by India Mahdavi) and am glad that it’s still there. I think there was talk of it changing a while back, but I think the proprietors realised that you shouldn’t kill off such a popular design too hastily. At least this is a good design that happens to be Instagrammable, rather than an interior that’s been put together solely for the purpose of people posting from there (neon? check. plastic flowers? check. mirrors? check. pastel colours? check.). Gosh, I sound like a very grumpy lady today… No idea why, but piss off if you don’t like it. JOKE JOKE

The cloakroom on the way out. I like it a lot.

You know, I’ve never paid attention to the actual building before, but it’s very clearly Georgian with the fanlight window above the entrance (and the exterior of course!). I’d love to see the face of whoever owned it back then, seeing what’s happened to it since. Speaking of which, I looked up our house on the census from 1921 the other day, and there was a family of three living here then, but all the age of what we will be this year (50/47/13). How crazy is that?! Charles Carter worked as a bank cashier and Kate Carter’s occupation is down as “Home Duties”, and they had a daughter called Jean. They also had a live-in servant at that point which is such a strange concept, but much more common in the old days. I’m assuming the help slept in the study, where I am now, in the smallest room of the house? They would’ve just lived through a pandemic too, which is another crazy coincidence. I also checked out the 1911 census, and they lived here then too, but without the servant. I would love to know what the house looked like then. There’s a brilliant BBC series, A House Through Time, that finds out about all the tenants who’ve lived in a particular house, and then gives their lives a historical context. You can watch the latest series here (another programme I watched when I had Covid). It’s such a brilliant idea, and fascinating too. I wonder if the Carters, a hundred years ago, also celebrated birthdays with afternoon tea. I’d like to think they did.