Fika Time and Football Weather

Sweden’s summer weather went a bit Mancunian on us today.

“You love this weather, don’t you Laurie,” quips every foreigner any time a raindrop falls. It’s a bit insulting to be honest. Us Manchester lads can enjoy the sunshine too. It’s a lazy stereotype. Except for the fact it’s completely true.

“I love it,” I reply. And I do!

Perfect conditions for slick passing, sliding tackling, diving headers after training and accidentally crunching our fast-footed winger Eliyo’s toes with my metal studs. Sorry mate!

Yeah, football in the rain is great. I’m quite hoping it keeps spitting overnight to slicken the grass even further ahead of tomorrow’s match.

We host Nyköping BIS. They sit one place below us in the table. It’s a relegation battle now. We need to battle and find a way to win. So some lugubrious grey skies might make for the perfect backdrop. Let’s have it!

Rain: great for football. Less great for a day out hiking with family members who’ve flown in for a summer holiday! Rain was not the plan.

“Tomorrow is adventure day!” me and Sara announced last night at dinner with our siblings. “We’ll rent a minibus, pick you up after breakfast, drive out to Tiveden — our favourite National Park— where we’ll hike, picnic, maybe have a little swim.”

It was a great plan. But it fast changed this morning when cycling to town straight into horizontal, pissing rain.

“Change of plans,” went our group text. “Not getting the minibus anymore. Let’s get coffee instead.”

Sweden’s great for at least two things: its natural beauty and fika. The weather forced us go for the latter, which is never a bad option.

Fika = Coffee and Cake. We got both in abundance.

So me, Sara, Soph, Jonny, Casey and Kristen hid inside VASA Konditori for most of the day, sat around a big table ordering pastries, lattes, drip coffees, more pastries and much, much, much more coffee.

Fika culture dictates you talk openly about life in an unhurried, sociable environment, which is exactly what we did. As is poured outside, we covered American and British politics, Netflix documentary recommendations, whether our phones listen to us and which side of the Atlantic the show Friends is more popular on.

The weather didn’t get any better but we braved the outdoors anyway. Endeavouring to honour “adventure day”, we walked around Öset — Örebro’s nature trails by the lake. Still grey and not very summery, we dashed along the paths to a glass house by the water with a logburner inside, and found a fire already blazing. I was personally happy to stay there, cosy, but our group is intrepid. We hiked on along the lake, navigating a mean-looking, hissing gaggle of swans. Before we finally headed home to dry out, we all took our hoods down and posed for some self-timed photos. What a team!

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See you tomorrow. Cheers!