"Brittsommar" - Indian Summer

How is everybody? Here in Stockholm, we are experiencing a wonderful Indian Summer--Nature's consolation to the premature arrival of fall. The temperature is around 20C but it feels like 30C when sitting in the sun. On Friday both Durox and I were off, so we rode our mopeds in the sun and came to this secluded place where there was a pair of benches facing each other, as if custom-designed for us :-). We took a siester on these benches, soaking in the sun like a traveler would drink from an oasis on a desert, not knowing when the next time the life-saver will appear.

 

Yesterday I visited Durox at his work, and took a little walk around the area, which is surrounded by water and islands. It is one of the most picturesque areas of our city. Many people lined up for the ferries to the archipelagoes to catch the last chance for a "summer" excursion. Some took their speed boats and sailing boats and basked in the mild sea breeze.

 
Sunbathers sitting by the coast of Skeppsholmen, a small island where Sweden wrote down its brilliant ship-building history.

 
Left: Af Chapman. The ship was used to train sailors decades ago and now is used as a youth hostel. Right: The brownish building is Wasa Museum. It houses the 17th century Wasa warship, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 and later exacavated from the bottom of the Stockholm harbor in the early 60s. The building with a steeple is the Nordic Museum.



Lots of boats and yachts on the Stockholm harbors.

 
Left: This beautiful castle-like building on Skeppsholmen is the site for Admiralitetshuset, some sort of military office, and for the Swedish Tourist Association. Right: Distant view of Kastellet, a little tower on a separate island next to Skeppsholmen. The tower's purpose was to salute incoming ships during the old days.

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Tomorrow I am going to start working. Despite the beautiful weather I can't help but feel a streak of melancholy. Even though I am more than grateful to have gotten this job, in my heart I mourn the imminent loss of freedom which I have been enjoying during my jobless days. Perhaps it is fear that is knocking on the door of my soul. Fear of being burnt out again. Fear of losing the freedom of being able go out in Nature whenever it strikes my fancy. Fear of having to do work that I don't necessarily feel inspired of. I have had so many terrible experience with previous works, that this fear invariably creeps in when I am about to embark on a new job. But this time, I will not let external factors crush me. Yes, I shall consciously choose to be a healthy worker, not a workaholic. I shall remain my own boss at heart, and make sure that I do not sell my health and soul to work.