Its been a while, and much has passed. I am now, in a rather philosophical sounding statement, permanent. We visited the Migrationsverket (the immigrant office) and got my residency renewed, thus ending the period of limbo I was enjoying for the last few weeks. I had no passport and no residency. Who was I, which country could I live in? Anyway, such problems are passed now and after an amazingly quick issuing of a new passport (one day from the embassy in Stockholm) I was able, despite the efforts of a pissy office worker to put me off Sweden, to get a new residence permit. To my surprise, its now permanent, as a result of E's arrival - which was a pleasant surprise. Whether this means I can leave, if I want to, remains to be seen. But I like the concept of being permanent, its got a ring of - well - permanency.

The other big event earlier this week was going to the skid pan to learn to drive a car on ice and experience the terrors of driving in Sweden. So I spent a happy 3 hours thrashing around in a VW Golf on very slippy surfaces while a funny little guy with a moustache shouted 'brake brake' at me through an intercom system. The elk simulation was particularly memorable.

Shit I'm tired, been out running in the snow for the last hour. Training for the broloppet - more to follow.

Annoyance: 1. People who feel inclined, when you are out running, to shout 'one, two, three' or some such as you run past. Why? I mean, do they run after cars shouting 'suck, squeeze, bang, blow?'. 2. Herbal teas, of any kind but particularly black current. Even the smell (a vile chemical stench) gives me a headache.
Book: Another brain twister, The River of Time by Igor Novikov
Weather: Snowing most of the afternoon, -2.