tour on the bike

The weather was super this morning while cleaning the house. In stead of working I decided to go for a tour on the bike. I put air in the tires and has to look for 5 minutes to find the key of the bike lock. And of I went.
I tried to go to Stockholm city to have a feel of time. It takes approximately 30 from the apartment to the office. During the tour I saw one of these big boats coming into the port. The height of these boats is unbelievable.
At the moment that I wanted to go back to Nacka is started raining cats and dogs. Within 2 minutes I was completely soaked. On top of all I got lost again.
But I has fun on the bike and that is the most important off course.

Internet

If everything works out fine, I will be connected to the virtual world. I received a letter from the post office that a parcel is waiting for me. Let's hope it is my internet equipment.

My body is telling me to start running and excercising again. The game from Sunday against B reminds me of it again. So tonight after having collected my parcel I will go for a run.

Open spaces

The new O offices in Stockholm have been shaped up by a famous Swedish design firm. The concept is great: open spaces without having the feeling of working in a cafetaria.

Some people complain about it since they cannot concentrate with the constant noise around them. Since I have worked in open spaces for as far as I know it, I have found a way of blocking this all out.
But, ..... the open spaces have another disadvantage. Today J mailed in sick. This means that out of our tiny (still to be expanded department) 40% is ill . They should install some kind of a system that sucks out the bad bacils out of the air.

Developpers of special machinery: come up with the idea and O will be your first customer.

flights

Yesterday evening I arrived at Bromma airport. I took the 17h flight from Zaventem.
The flight was OK, I slept most of the time because of the busy weekend we have had.
On Friday we had drinks at Place Lux. T and E came over and we had a good time.
On Saturday evening we went to Le Bazaar. We had dinner in the restaurant above the club. The foot was great, a couscous de maison with lamb and merguez. Afterwards we stretched our legs on the dancefloor. The music could have been better, but was good enough not to remain seated.

When I arrived yesterday evening I was stopped by the Swedish police. I must have looked very supicious. At the end I didn't had to open my bag, but I had to talk for over 5 minutes to tell them why I moved to Sweden. The bullshit must have been really good, because I passed.

Sweden here I am

I flew into Bromma airport today. It was a rather bumpy landing. But the most important is that I have made it to Sweden.
I'm in the week of suprises. This moring the moving company advised me that they had postponed the delivery date by a day, i.e. from tomorrow to Wednesday. I have arranged that they will still deliver our furniture tomorrow (read tomorrow late afternoon - up to you to decide if you want to take the Spanish afternoon or not)
I is flying now to Stockholm. She took some time of to help me unpack. (and to ensure that I don't turn the apartment into a bachelors place)
And I'm not surfing the net with a bit of Muse in my ears.
Friday evening we will both leave Sweden again. She goes back to Belgium while I fly to Warsaw for the go-live of an Oriflame project. This means that I will miss the famous chicken festival.

Appartement

En ja, verleden week hebben we ons nieuw liefdesnest in Zweden gevonden.
Veel keus was er niet. De firma die ons begeleid in het Zweeds gegeven had maar 1 huis kunnen vinden in ons budget. Het is eigenlijk geen huis, maar een apartement in een 2 appartemenshuis. De eigenaars wonen beneden, maar zijn het gros van het jaar in Spanje. Dus, .... geen last van de directe buren.
Het huis [laten we het zo maar noemen] is 120 vierkante meter en heeft 3 slaapkamers. Plaats genoeg dus voor vrienden die willen overkomen. De living is heel ruim en is naar het zuiden gericht. We hebben zelfs een houtkachel in de living. Dat gaat gezellig worden. Wel opletten als V komt, zorgen dat er geen 'peau de bete' voor komt te liggen.
Hopelijk kan ik de verhuis regelen voor de tweede week van Januari en dan begint mijn leven echt in Zweden.
Ik heb 2 parkeerplaasten voor auto's. Vermits ik zelf zonder auto vertrek, ga ik die verhuren aan collega's. Vermits alcohol duur is in Zweden, ga ik ze in natura laten betalen.
Ik zie al enorm uit naar de zomer. Het terras is groot en onze BBQ gaat mee. Joepie

Papers and decisions

I finally got the confirmation for my flight tomorrow to Sweden. I’m flying out tomorrow morning and coming back tomorrow evening. With a bit of luck I will have filled out all the necessary documents to apply for my social security number.M from the relocation agency is going to accompany me to the offices and in the meantime she will tell me by how much I will have to increase the budget for the house rental. People in her office have been looking for a house in the budget and apparently they cannot find anything.
I will also try to find out what it will cost me to keep my scooter in Sweden. Oriflame is not paying for the shipment of the mean machine (although my trip tomorrow is four times as expensive).
Time is not my best friend at the moment, I still have a bit over a month to find myself a house to rent and arrange for the shipment of the furniture.

Concerts

I'm only moving to Sweden at the end of this year, beginning of next year. My choice to move to Sweden is already affecting my decisions right now. In March 2008 the new Lotto Arena is hosting Nightwish, one of my favourite bands.
The question of the day is: will I buy my tickets here or do I start surfing on the internet to see if they also perform in Sweden.
And this is not the only band where I would like to buy tickets for. The Cure is coming to Belgium. I know that talking about the Cure makes me look old, but they are a top band. I still remember the days where .............................. I was dressed in black ................................
As everythings stands right now I will be saving money by playing the chicken and not attending either of the 2 concerts.

snif snif snif