Saturday, May 6, 2017

An Aborted Laundry Day and the Arlanda Jets Senior Team's Season Opener


Saturday, 6 May, 2017:

Today was supposed to be my first laundry day of this year's stay in Sweden.

Unfortunately, the gods intervened to play several tricks on me and my flat mates.

The first minor problem is that Aiki and Janne's washing machine is out of commission. The repair man was scheduled to come to our rescue last Wednesday, but he had to reschedule for a later date next week.

Our next option/stumbling block was to use the communal laundromat located only 100 meters from our flat. The minor problem here is that our special laundromat debit card can only be charged up two days a month. We needed charging and fortunately, yesterday was one of those two days in May.

So between my trip to Stockholm to show Gayle and David around town and evening Warriors' practice on Friday, Saturday became my first opportunity to get a large portion of my clothes clean.

The communal laundry is completely automated including the doors to enter the facility. I swiped my electronic key over the keypad and, voilà, the interior door sprung open. The problem was with the outer portal. It would not budge.

We reported the problem to the proper authorities but were not encouraged by their response as to when the door could be fixed.

So, it looks as if I will need to go down to the nearest river and clean my laundry using soap, water and river stones to beat the dirt and grime out of my garments.

On a happier note, one of out U11 team parents posted some photos from their Thursday night practice on the club's website.

Here are a few of my favorites . . .

Setting the pre-practice tone

Blocking Fundamentals

A Viking pouncing on
the Tackling Tube

Running to Daylight

Coach Dan Pettersson
giving a Viking a little
individual encouragement

I really like watching how well Dan interacts with the players.

On the way back from the Uplands-Väsby Public Library to pick up two new books to peruse over the next few days, I stopped in at an interesting Viking farm site near our flat.

Gunnes Gård
Historic Viking Farm
  
It is pastoral

Viking Bunkhouse

 The Bunks

Daily Viking Era Home Tools

Viking Baubles

Solid Structure

Grass Roof

 Helga

Viking Wood Stacking Wizardry

Father-Son Bonding with
Viking Swordplay
  
More my speed

Viking Farm Animals

They would make a great
sacrifice to Thor

Some of those mounds may
be Viking burial sites

In the evening, I was joining Aiki, Lotta, Jesper and his girlfriend Lovisa for the drive to . . .

The SAFF Division I Men's
2017 Season Opening
American Football Game


Telge Truckers (0-0)
at
Arlanda Jets (0-0)

Jesper was driving the family car
to the game with us crammed in
like Swedish sill

He is smiling, in part, because earlier in the day he cleared his final hurdle to becoming the full-fledged legally licensed driver that you see here.

Fun With Flags

Lotta thought that it would be a good idea, as an additive to our coffee for medicinal purposes only of course, if it turned extremely cold.

It was brisk but not threatening.

DAMN!

The Truckers did not
appear to be overly excited

 The Jets were fired up!

#90 Jet TE/DE
Jimmy Pluto Alonso

Jimmy is also the Wäsby Warriors U15 team's Head Coach. 

In shape?
Yes, round is a shape

 Let the game begin
Once the game started, one had
to note that the Truckers bench
was only four deep

 Jets DL controlling the tempo

The Truckers QB was under duress

Jets DL was a Stone Wall

Excellent Jets Punt return

Getting to the Edge

Getting . . .

. . . TRUCKED!

 Jets QB scramble for . . .

 . . . SIX POINTS!

The Truckers did not get a
first down in the first half

My kind of Truckers

Coach Jimmy after a
BIG hit!

It was 20-0 Jets after one period of play and the Truckers trailed 42-0 at the half.

We decided that it was time to go home and be with our loved ones at this point.

Jimmy Pluto Alonso
caught two passes with these
hands in the first half

One of them was for a two point PAT.

According to the SAFF website, the final score tonight was Jets 69 - Truckers 0.

After the game we did a little grocery shopping.

Interesting flatbread display

Apparently, these are not for sale not for sale at our local ICA Supermarket. Shoppers just break off a piece, eat it and then decide if the want to purchase a pre-packaged loaf of these taste treats.

I am more than a bit excited for the arrival of Sunday for two reasons. First, it is Laurie's birthday, I think that she turns 36 this year if memory serves me.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!

The second reason for my looking forward to Sunday is that I will be taking a fascinating road trip to . . .

Latvia's Capital City

I'll be taking the overnight ferry

We sail from Stockholm's harbor at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday and arrive in Riga at 11:00 a.m. on Monday. I'll have a private room to enjoy and a breakfast buffet on Monday is included in my travel package. 

I will have about six+ hours to explore Riga's central core Old Town before my ferry starts it's return voyage at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. I will be in the same cabin and get another breakfast buffet on Tuesday morning before arriving in Stockholm at 10:30 a.m.

The total cost for all of this is 492 Swedish Crowns, or about $56 USD.

WOW!

Reading Is FUNdamental

Venice's Favorite Policeman,
Commissario Guido Brunetti,
does it again!

I thoroughly enjoy Donna Leon's thoughtful writing style. It is nowhere near the Nordic Noir genre that I'm addicted to reading and thus provides a pleasant boost to my depleted positive energy stores.

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