Long story

I leave a comment on a police portrait photo on Facebook in a Stockholm group, while resting on a bench at Vattentorget in the Old Town, because I have also photographed that police while he was out on his Segway. Hasse, (the coffee drinking Chef), makes a funny comment on that photo, we don't know the photographer in question btw. An hour later, I respond while sitting on another bench, this time at the Skogskyrkogården cemetery. I also ask Hasse if his grill is up and running. He lies, and says yes. In reality, he has just sat down in the garden at Lövhagen in Nynäshamn, where he is enjoying something to eat and drink. So I call him, and I tell him that I am hungry, and that a BBQ at his place in Norrby would be nice. It has been three years since. I am a forty-minute bike ride out, I say. It is the same for him, although in car terms. So we decide to do it, despite it being a weekday afternoon, because the weather is amazing. I inform the third party, Jujja, before riding towards Villa Blåmes. Two hours later, we are eating. And drinking. We also talk to the very old cat. I drink at least three whiskey and cognac drinks too many. Both Hasse and I enjoy ice cream with cloud berries after the very heavy dinner, as he got three kilos of the expensive berries from a friend up North for free. Jujja can't eat any ice cream, he is already full, and a little later he makes his way to the bus stop for the ride home. I stick around for that last whiskey, before riding home the last 15 km in the warm Summer evening. Let's just forget about the horrible hangover I had the following day, okay?

BBQ at Villa Blåmes

Three of the usual suspects decided that it was time for a BBQ at Villa Blåmes at 1700 hours yesterday afternoon, on what was probably the warmest day of the year. Two of the three suspects were there on time. The third, Jujja, had to be tracked down with a phone call as he was still at home waiting to be picked up and driven to the BBQ in a BMW, after claiming not to have promised to take his bike the short bike ride to Norrby. Twenty minutes later, the three suspects were finally gathered out on the veranda eating everything they could find, and then some. After the very tasty dinner followed two hours of ice cream eating, coffee sipping, cognac drinking and story telling, before Jujja decided that it was time to ride the bus back home. Half an hour after that, I jumped on my bike and pedaled for home. A decision was also made about a sunrise visit to a lookout point in the next week or so.

Who broke the glass?

Three suspects attended the BBQ at Villa Blåmes last Sunday. No one is taking responsibility for this broken cognac glass. Was it the drinker himself? That would be me so of course not. And I also managed to drink up the cognac before whatever it was that happened, happened. Was it perhaps the grill master? He looks to have been too far away so he is probably in the clear. That leaves the man with the big feet on the dinner table. Did he do it? The guy that usually hides behind the cigar smoke? He swears his innocence. I guess we will never know what really happened that night.

First BBQ of the year

The top photo shows the view towards Lake Drevviken from the veranda at Villa Blåmes in Norrby. It was a nice afternoon/early evening-BBQ last Wednesday. The bike ride home was fun after a few drinks, beer, whiskey, and liqueur. I was followed by a police helicopter for a while but it turned out that they were chasing two guys on a stolen motorcycle. I spotted both the motorcycle and a few police officers at Hanveden. The second photo shows the Chef enjoying a glass of Påskmust. The third snap is of my gin drink with hallon and lingon, with Mr. Anonymous in the blurry background.

Norrby BBQ

Four of the usual suspects gathered at Malmens konditori this afternoon, it was nice to be able to sit outside in the 20C weather. A few hours later they could be seen and heard enjoying the first BBQ of the year at Norrby at Hasse's veranda. There was a bit of whisky testing to get the evening under way. That was soon followed by beer tasting. We then enjoyed dinner and dessert before finishing the evening with a glass of rum. I probably had a little too much to drink so the designated driver decided to drive me home but a bike ride would also have been nice.

Noise barrier

Norrby Gärde in Handen. Famous for, not much really, but it has it's own runestone. Bit of a wetland, not used for anything at all for a very long time. Close to lake Drevviken, the highway to Stockholm and the huge Vegastaden project where 10 000 people will live so now it has it's own road and bike path, (since a few months). I snapped a panorama here a few years ago when the construction work had just started. Took these photos on Friday. This is a "jordvall", or berm used as a noise barrier. Photos from Vegastaden to come.

Isle of Lime

We had a whisky testing evening a while back. At Norrby, that place with a view. One of the bottles we tried was a Swedish whisky brand from Gotland Whisky. It is called Isle of Lime. Their latest whisky went on sale at Systembolaget just a couple of days ago and people were queuing to get one of the 11000 bottles on sale. The bottle we tried was their second ever whisky and the owner of the bottle is also a shareholder in the brewery. After trying the three brands and enjoying some good food I decided to shoot an abstract of the Gotland whisky bottle and that is the top snap. Skål!

Norrby

BBQ at a friends place on Friday evening. He lives in an old yellow house, (second photo), at Norrby, with a tiny view down over Drevviken,(first photo).

Hidden in the staircase

In August last year the new owners to this old cottage at a property along Gammelgårdsvägen in Norrby decided to replace the old stone staircase with a more modern one. It was hard work and they left the removed stones nearby for a while. Then, a few weeks later early in the evening the light hit one of the stones and revealed part of an inscription that no one had noticed before. The local archaeologist was soon there for a closer look. And it was exciting news for Roger Wikell and his colleagues as the stone turned out to be a runestone from the Viking Era one Millennia ago! I had a look at the stone together with my friend Jim on Sunday, but couldn't see anything. The owner of the property, Mikael, told us what the archaeologists had been able to see and that included a name, Hialmviðr and also a cross. The stone had been cut to fit in the stairway a few centuries ago, so two thirds of the original runestone is still missing. Now we are waiting for the Swedish National Heritage Board to have a look and maybe clean the stone up and fill in the cross and the inscription with red paint, and then place it by the side of the road with an explanatory sign next to it as is the norm in cases like this. When that happens I will go back for a photo of the stone. A photo and some info in Swedish about the find here: goo.gl/xgCFwC

Norrby gärde

The big grassy field at Norrby in Handen. Close to the motorway to Stockholm, road 73, Nynäsvägen. More of a marsh really, nothing on it except for a runestone that I have showed you before. But that will change now with the construction of a new road, bike path and more. Trafikplats (traffic junction), Handen will change the landscape a bit with two new big roundabouts, one pretty much where i was standing when I took these photos. If you want to see how it might look when they are done, press here.