Adrian likes being on the beach, but for digging rather than for swimming.

As part of the kitchen renovation, we replaced the kitchen floor. The old floor was plastic laminate, on top of an older floor of corkboard tiles, on top of an even older pine floor, which was probably the original. I had hoped that we could remove the newer layers and rescue the original, but it was both very uneven and very drafty, so it got torn up. Underneath it was a layer of peat insulation. I guess at some point it may have filled all the space under the floor but now it had mostly turned into peat dust, and a wide empty space above it explained our cold floors.

I found two pieces of an old newspaper under the floor. On the first piece, one side seemed to hold a letter to the editor, where the writer complained about a barber who kept insisting on using various treatments and fragrances on his hair and beard. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – that’s an eternal struggle apparently because I have the same trouble whenever I go to a hairdresser other than my usual one.

The reverse side of this piece reports from the annual meeting of Sveriges Praktiska Livförsäkringsförening, Sweden’s Practical Life Insurance Association. Systems/rules for determining the payout upon death were discussed.

The other piece was from an ads page. One side was full of ads for rooms to rent, as well as ads by “proper girls” and “older ladies” and “young men” looking to rent a room. Replies to these ads were to be addressed to “St.-T. Annonskontor V. Slussg. 3”, among others, which indicates that this page was from the Stockholms-Tidningen, and that the newspaper had multiple ad offices.

On the reverse of this page there are ads for cigars, cheap firewood, and some kind of juniper drink. Cigar prices ranged from 5:50 öre to 9:50.

Midsummer. We usually celebrate with my mum, somewhere around Uppsala. (Christmas and New Year’s are at our place, Easter and Midsummer usually at hers.) There’s a handful of places that we alternate between. This year we opted for a ride on an old steam train (Lennakatten) to Marielund, where there is a traditional Midsummer’s picnic. None of us are interested in the singing or dancing around the maypole, but I like the train ride, and a picnic is never wrong.

This year we shared the train with a TV crew from the BBC who were filming for a documentary series called something like “Great train rides of Europe”. I’m going to have to look up that episode when it becomes available, to see what they made of it.

Ingrid and I went to Kyrksjön (Church lake) for a late night swim.

The older I get, the less fond I am of of bathing or swimming in cold water. I rarely go swimming in the Mälaren nowadays. Kyrksjön is small and sheltered and gets really warm, so today even I went for a long swim.

For Ingrid, the best part of swimming is the jumping and diving.

The electrician did his work today and we can finally move into our new kitchen. Now we can do the dishes in the kitchen instead of the laundry room – and we have our dishwasher back! And we can unpack all our glasses and plates and cutlery and utensils.

One of the best things with the new cabinets is that we have far fewer of them. Instead we now have drawers wherever possible on the lower level. There will be no more digging in the deep corners of a cabinet while crouching or even kneeling on the floor. Especially Adrian has really been struggling to reach some of the plates and bowls. Everything cannot be at the front of a cabinet – but with drawers, that’s not a problem, because even the things at the back are easy to reach. Best thing ever!

Now that we have the oven back, we immediately made potato gratin, which Adrian has missed for so long.

Nearly there! Apart from the floor and some electrical work, everything is in place – and most essentially the stove is back in its place and plugged in and ready to be used. For weeks already we have been dreaming of all the things we will be able to cook when we have access to an oven again. Pizza! Cannelloni and, lasagna, potato gratin and stuffed peppers! Bread and cakes! We’ll just have to be careful about not spilling anything until the floor has gotten its finish.

I enjoyed a doubly luxurious breakfast. Firstly, the food itself: cereal with yoghurt and a mound of fresh berries of various sorts. We splurge on fruit and berries all summer. Secondly, the circumstances: since the rest of the family is away, I could eat exactly when I want, which generally means odd hours, with no advance planning and no concern for anybody else’s hunger levels, preferences, plans for the rest of the day, etc.

I like mending clothes and other such things. There’s something deeply satisfying about it. It’s almost as good as making something from scratch, but with much lower effort, and it’s inherently un-wasteful.

Today, while the rest of the family are visiting Eric’s parents in the countryside, I spent half a day mending things: a hoodie, a pair of Adrian’ stretchy trousers, some tights, a pair of woollen liner gloves, and finally my autumn/winter outdoor trousers. Those last ones took a good two hours, because each leg needed two patches, and the fabric was both thick and slippery. But it felt so good to have finished them. And now they’re almost better than new!