Up North! Two trips at four and six days apiece. I drove a thousand kilometers and flew back and fourth and back again and now I'm back to catching up and doin' all but nappin' in...

Shall hopefully post a bit more before it's summer for real. Two weeks.

Irrelevant but here's a cool cause to potentially help fund, this place serves REALLY GOOD LUNCH and if you ever wondered if EV's grow on trees (?)... they don't, but in fields, apparently. And here's what I'm playing right now.

Stay crunchy y'all.

Just passed the grand 4,000 now!

Props all the rare commenters around here, most notably now @S3C and @Biter - the former of which without a doubt contributes the most commentary around these parts - and the latter who just so happened to snag comment #4000 exactly! Wonder if he's been checkin' the stats page occasionally to time this in, if not it sure is a spectacular coincidence...

Current, published #4000, that is. With spam and occasional deletions accounted for the Count (like Dracula) is currently up at 7,171.

The last milestone was... two years ago, and before that four years before! Seems conversational pace or quantity around these parts is doubling by each milestone now.

Not that numbers like this matter more than the venting and penning this place was primarily made for, but it's always nice with some connection; attention; affirmation; comprehension; complication; condemnation; reprehension; apprehension; contemplation; preparation; devastation; while you're waiting...

If you haven't ever left a comment here before why not leave one today!

Appreciate y'all who do say hej.

Happy Swedish National Day y'all! It is that.

Raised a table flag for the occasion. 🇸🇪

We postponed the plotted, customary, essential North-going trip with one more day. Just a day. Maybe mom would be well enough to join me on the long ride North tomorrow. I've been packing prolifically. The living room's chaotic but in order - most boxes are full and ready to be carried to the car. Plants are still on the tables and windowsills awaiting last-minute packing. Food's still in the fridge and ditto.

This morning I was plotting to take a quick drive to the supermarket and shop a week's worth of food for my still somewhat sick dad, check the tires, refuel the car, and have it all ready to go tomorrow morning...

And it wouldn't start.

I turned the key. It almost started. The lights flickered. The engine sputtered but didn't start. I waited. I tried again. I waited. I tried again. I waited. I tried again.

I popped the hood. The oil was OK. Nothing seemed broken or out of place. I tried again. I tried again. I tried again.

Finally it did start! I rolled out of the parking space, and started down the driveway.

The engine stalled.

I started it again. I drove down to the street, the car started shaking, it stalled again...

I parked it by the curb, right before it stalled again. I started it again, parked better, and ran the engine on idle a while. Though it did not stall then it seemed like it might occasionally. It does not run well.

There's something wrong with the engine, though it ran fine last time, and that is an unavoidable fact. I had a moment of angst. Everything's ready. I'm ready. We've been delaying this trip more and more with each passing day, and now that it's finally almost time to leave... it's just not possible.

Potential backup plans? I've pondered the alternatives...

1. Book a flight instead.

In which case I need some kind of transport arrangement from the airport to the summer place up North - buddy Andreas might be able to assist there - he's heading to his place this Friday. Otherwise the best bet would be the bus, but it doesn't go all the way. The only cheap flight this Friday leaves Stockholm Arlanda at 5:55 in the morning. The first bus leaves Bro somewhere around 4:40. The first commuter train to the bus leaves 5:30 - if the car worked I could've gotten a ride there instead. It's about an hour and a half to the airport. The times do not align. The only viable alternative is thus a taxi. Expensive. Another alternative's a hotel near the airport. Expensive. Another alternative's another flight. Expensive too. And I'd be there just two days then, with questionable transport alternatives back to the airport as well...

2. Buy a new car.

Or more correctly an old car. I've gone through the local catalog now. Found a neat little Toyota Starlet from 1989 - my birth year! Most cheap cars have defects. Maybe this one does too. It has a rusted hole by a wheelhouse. The used car market overall seems a bit lacking... or expensive.

3. Rent a car.

Expensive too. Renting a car for one month would cost almost as much as buying one, and the allotted mileage with the cheaper rental alternatives wouldn't even cover the first portion of the trip. So it'd cost more, or not be a viable alternative after all. Then you'd need to drive it back again. Factor in fuel costs and time - two days there, two days back.

4. Take bus or train all the way from Stockholm.

That'd be more expensive than a flight, and time-consuming too.

5. Ask my nephew who's coming to visit next Sunday if he could borrow my big brother's car...

...instead of him taking the train, and if maybe we could drive it up North and back again, at which point it'd be shorter for him back home than it would be back to Stockholm - so he'd shave a bit off the return trip. I'm relatively certain my big bro needs the car though. They lead a busy life. Worst case though it wouldn't hurt to ask...

There really are no good alternatives.

Once someone is up North it's easy to fly there. Whenever tickets are cheap. Especially if you plan ahead. When nobody is, and when we have a car full of goods to bring with us, all of which wouldn't be possible to bring by plane... there really is no option. We need a car.

Today's a holiday here in Sweden, so there's not much we can do today. First thing tomorrow: call repair shops. We have a list of three to call; hopefully one of them can have a look on short notice. If not we'll have to contemplate our options again. Do we just buy a new car? Do we rent a car? Do we wait? How long do we wait?

If we do get time for a check-up tomorrow I'll be going with the car, dad will be staying home to oversee the air source heat pump check-up in parallel, and best case scenario *fingers crossed* the car gets fixed and the pump gets fixed and we're ready to take this trip the day after... by which time I'll be getting virtually no time at all up North before it's time to head back again, and work, and fly back up again. But then the car would be there, and so would the folks, and even if the main car breaks down again I have a spare up there. My lovely little bright red '95 Polo. Props Andreas. In times like these it's a pretty awesome reassurance to have around, I just need to take it in for a yearly check-up before it's allowed back in traffic again, it should be all good, it ran perfectly last year...

If no repair shops have time and all other plans falter maybe I can head up North and breath some life into my Polo instead, maybe I could drive it back South and up again, with all our stuff. That'd be expensive though.

I could leave it at the airport for the two day duration before I'm back up again, too. If I do book a new flight.

There are options.

None as ideal as it would be to head North in the car we already have here, but lately it seems you'd best be prepared for anything.

Have been looking around at new greenhouses btw. They're expensive too. Hope that wooden frame reinforcement idea and temporary sheets of plastic work fine for now...

Seems like I'm just blogging about depressing things this Spring, but that really is the kind of Spring it's been, thus far! Just one problem after the other. If ever there was an ideal time to just write and vent around here though why not now. That's what this place is for after all.

I did have a fun trip and visits in the midst of all this ongoing seasonal madness, though elements of planning collided there too. Wonder how things would've turned out if I had headed up in the beginning of May after all, maybe we'd have had the greenhouse fixed and an alternative car at the ready already, maybe it wouldn't even be broken...

Best let bygones be though. Whenever these initial travel issues settle maybe I can. Here's hoping tomorrow solves all.

Recap on the Poland trip I said... later maybe.

I took over 2,000 photos - have gone through and rinsed dupes and inferiors. 1,264 remain. Still haven't taken the family on a digital tour through the world we saw... at the time of writing this they apparently have huge anti-government protests in Warsaw. We made it back in time.

That was great (the trip I mean - the protests I know too little to talk about), but overall spring hasn't been quite as springy as usual this year. Not just colder than usual, but taxing man. Problematic.

After the recent setbacks with work and sickness it appears our greenhouse collapsed. Received the news via our friendly neighbor up North.

We usually get one or two glass panes broken by snow each winter, but this year the roof's gone entirely, and the frame's bent on one side. The glass sides seems to have shattered pretty much entirely.

Wonder if it's possible to enforce the frame with wood, and then just wrap it up with soft plastic... we'll find a way, I hope. Tomato, squash and cucumber plants have been growing well thus far, indoors. It's starting to become a challenge to fit them in the car for the long drive up to the place at which they're destined to grow and bear vegetable...

And in regards to the long drive: Dad's still sick. First it was me, then mom, then him, quite recently. All of us with that familiar fever and fatigue. We'd intended to take the drive this weekend but that's not happening.

In addition to that our air source heat pump (that big machine that re-circulates air and warms water) broke down. The company in charge can't troubleshoot before Wednesday this coming week - potentially it'll be longer before they can fix it, by which time at best half the week will have passed. It takes two days to drive up, and I have a return flight booked on Sunday, so best case I'd have just Saturday to fix up a week's worth of preparations before I fly back again.

My dad - clocking in at a commendable eighty years of age this year - is no longer keen on doing the drive up North by himself, so I'd planned to help this year, yet after the next weekend I'll be back South again, and the weeds are growing, and the grass is green, and we really ought to be getting started with the farm work at this point, but somebody needs to stay and see to it that pump gets fixed, so potentially I'll be driving up the car with mom, and then he'll take a flight up, and we'll meet at the airport as I'm headed back South again...

If he's still not alright by then, or the pump issue still isn't resolved, maybe we'd take the next flight back up together instead. Or we'd meet at the airport the weekend after instead - I'll be heading back South again then.

So far we've been taking things on a day-to-day basis. Can't plan ahead. Wait till the new day and see how everyone's doing then. Mom's better. Not great but okay. Mayhaps ready to travel soon...

It became clear the trip wouldn't happen this weekend at least, so now I'm hoping for Tuesday - since I work Monday, in which case he'll fly up at the end of the week, or the week after when I fly up North again too, or the weekend after that.

I put the roof box on the car today - which by the way was in for repairs last week too - it's had strange and sporadic fuel pump-related issues all winter - finally seems to be running smoothly again!

Wouldn't surprise me if something happens with the car during our drive up too though. If we get going this Tuesday it'll be the thirteenth.

Nothing's been ideal so far this Spring. Not my work-out regime, not work, not weather, not hobbies, not travel plans - have cancelled four flights already and I hope I won't have to cancel more. It's getting costly, my wallet's mossy, this spring's been... kinda saucy... as in running slow. Not the usual gas pump adrenaline flow.

Just remember that everything will be alright in the end, and if it's not alright it's not the end. Heard that from a wise man named Shia.

Let's get it. Whichever the best way possible is. One day at a time.

Summer's coming; may all be better then.

For a minute. Recap in a moment. Poland's pretty spinning'. People out there glowing. Pancakes with cheese and spinach. Prices low like an omen. Sun makes for grimace or grinning. Melting like a snowman.

And look here. A pretty cool chandelier.

Sixteen levels! Built by rebels.

Dope place. Pole and?