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Sweden
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Saturday, 15 July 2006 |
It's now almost exactly 7 days since we started our trek to Sweden. I'm mindful that I've not managed to keep you up-to-date, mainly due to being very busy, but secondly we've not had an internet connection till recently.
On Monday morning we made our way to Lund to see the bank, we parked, went in, signed a few bits of paper, and waited for the sellers to arrive. They arrived, we signed a piece of paper, the keys were handed over, and that was that. No frantic panicking or rushing about, like in the UK system, all very civilised, and conducted over a cup of coffee.
That done, we stopped off at the Skatteverket - the tax office - to hand in Nigel's form. There was no queue, we went straight to the counter, the form was checked, the documentation was checked, and we were told Nigel would be an official resident of Sweden and the number issued the same day. Yeah, right, we thought. The number arrived in the post on Wednesday - or rather, we picked it up from the postbox on Wednesday, which is an entirely different thing.
With the form in, we could make our way to Billinge, and see what we had bought for the first time in Summer. We drove, admired the scenery, and pulled into the drive, then we rushed round (or rather, as best Nigel could rushed round) looking everywhere. Then we noticed there were no lights. Aaargh! Anyway, minor annoyance, but something we'd have to sort later. The place looked so huge compared to how we remembered.
We waited for removal men to arrive. About 1:30pm they turned up. About 10 minutes later they left. Someone had forgotten to bring the key to the container, so they couldn't get our stuff off the lorry. Another hour passed, and they were back to unload. I was given the inventory to check through the boxes as they were unloaded - 222 boxes. No, that isn't a typo. Somehow we had 222 boxes of stuff. Hours passed as the stuff was unloaded. Eventually everything was off. Despite having being paid to unpack, they were off. We said that we were expecting the furniture to be put in place and made up, especially as Nigel has a broken leg, so it wouldn't be easy for us to do. They said we would have to wait till tomorrow for that, if at all, but they hadn't been told to do it. I refused to sign the "job completed" form, and so they got onto their boss.
A compromise was reached, and they built up the beds. Sadly, the sofa couldn't be made up, because we didn't know where the legs were. They turned up in a box of glassware and dry goods from the kitchen... Go figure.
We did some unpacking, settled down, and then went to bed. Day one was over.
The next day was unpacking and more unpacking, inbetween more unpacking. We got a lot done, and by the end of the day it was starting to look more like a home. During today the satellite man also arrived to install the dish, after much umming and aaahing, he's coming back next week to do it, as the 2.4m dish needs a big concrete pad to sit on.
Wednesday was a monster day; this was the day we were driving to Stockholm to pick up the animals. Stockholm is only 350 miles away, so a 700 mile round trip was perfect for a day out ;) We set off bright and early in the rush hour, and onto the motorways. There are two things to know about Swedish motorways:
1. They only have two lanes at most for the majority of the distance.
2. They only need two lanes due to the total lack of traffic.
The single most amazing thing about the journey was the total absence of traffic. This was the main artery between Continental Europe, Copenhagen, Malmo, Jonkoping and Stockholm, yet there was not a slightest problem with traffic. It flowed, there was little of it, the drivers are incredibly courteous, and what roadworks there are cause no congestion whatsoever as they are well managed. Even driving back from Stockholm, though the city, in the rush hour (remember, this is the capital city!) was a doddle. As a result, when we got home I felt less tired than the drive to Heathrow to drop the animals off, and that wasn't even half the distance.
We arrived at BA Cargo and waited for the animals to arrive. Once they landed I was given some paperwork that I had to take to the Tull (customs) to get a rubber stamp, then we could have the cat and dog. I did this, and within about half-an-hour we were on our way. Six hours later we were home. Nigel looked after Tazio in the house, whilst I took Troy out for a walk around our fields. Troy enjoyed smelling the rabbits...
Thursday was devoted to settling the animals a bit, and unpacking. You may notice a theme to this week ;) We also had the excitement of the telephone line being connected; within 3 hours of that, Telia had also connected us to ADSL. All 18Mb of it... Remember, this is rural Sweden, far more rural than Castle Donington was, where BT could only manage 2 if the wind was blowing in the right direction.
Friday, Nigel looked after the animals whilst I went to a DIY shop and Ikea to get some lights for the house, and a few other bits we need (such as a load of bins for separating the rubbish), which meant in the afternoon I could get some of the lights up.
There are a few pics of the house in summer at the link below
http://gallery.vollans.co.uk/v/Malmo/Alledal/ |
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Sunday, 09 July 2006 |
I'm writing this on Sunday evening - it's the lull before the storm. On Friday we spent the day driving to-and-from Heathrow to take our cat and dog to the kennels that are freighting them to Sweden for us. Saturday was the real day, the day we went to Harwich and began the new life.
The drive to Harwich was dull and rather unremarkable, other than the car being so full that rear visibility was impossible, and the ramp from Nigel's parents drive was almost as bad. We got to the port in good time, stopping via a friends to say hello and goodbye, and made arrangements so that Nigel wouldn't be too hindered with his broken leg.
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Read more...
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Saturday, 24 June 2006 |
It's now exactly two weeks to go today until we will be on our way to Sweden. It's been a very eventful few weeks, events that would be far too painful and difficult to explain. Let me sumarise it like this:
1. Selling houses in the UK is ridiculously stressful and complicated, and leaves you worrying you are not going to move.
2. Don't believe SAS when they say they can transport your animals to a local airport.
3. Always allow for worst case, and when considering driving 700 miles from Holland to Sweden, think what would happen if the person you are sharing the driving with breaks a leg...
Like I said, two weeks to go, then it's all over, and the stress is gone. Hopefully. And new stresses appear ;) |
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Tuesday, 09 May 2006 |
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It's been a while since I updated this section, so maybe I ought to start now. There have been a lot of false dawns. People who were selling at one price, then decided to increase it. Ones with scary inspection reports. Ones where the estate agent just couldn't be bothered to show us round. Oh, and one with the bidding war from the outer reaches of hell. Finally we agreed on a place, in a little kommune called Billinge. The place is tiny, though it does have it's own rare breed duck and a cheese, so it's not totally uncivilised ;) It's also just 5 minutes away from the Swedish National Forest - the largest broadleaved forest in Northern Europe. Hopefully we'll be moving in on July 10th, only a few weeks away, and hopefully our estate agent in the UK will decide that it's worth sending stuff to solicitors and allow the sale of my house to complete in the UK... On the downside, we've had to get rid of our girls. I'm really sad about this, as is Nigel, but we can't take them with us, and we'd rather them go to a good home now, than us panic later. Still loads to sort. |
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Friday, 20 January 2006 |
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Last week I was in Malmö with work, and I finally got chance to check out some of the many houses I'd seen on Hemnet. Wow. I've seen the house of my dreams. A Swedish long house with 20 acres and so much potential and a home you could see yourself in for the rest of your life. This week I'm back in Malmö again, and it's snowing and very cold. Yet it seems a lot better than the UK with it's wet and cold. Yes, it's below zero, yes it's snowing, but I'm not soaked to the skin and covered in mud. I know which is preferable. |
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