2geonomads

Wednesday 11th June 2014

A nice relaxed start to the day and under very sunny skies we take a ferry from the jetty near Stefan’s apartment to downtown Gothenburg.  A snack lunch is taken at a restaurant on the waterfront and in my rush to tell Gail that the shrimp platter will be too filling for her I end up giving this assertive advice to an elderly lady who has somehow taken Gail’s place in the queue behind me. Either my eyes are getting worse or I have finally accepted that my chat-up line will now only work with octogenarians!

As we have avoided buying gifts in light of the relatively low baggage allowance on Air Berlin we have set aside some time to do some shopping and for the first time on this trip my titanium knee sets off the security alarm in the Ahlens Dept. Store. This brings a security guy coming coming over to check me out. I then get Gail to take my day pack off me so as to prove that it is, indeed the knee that is causing the problem. On subsequent visits to the store the same thing happens but security guard relaxes when Gail explains to him that I am doing it intentionally as I am an attention-seeker.

Stefan and I leave Gail on her own for about 45 minutes to do some solo shopping as we are both ‘target shoppers’ and, therefore, a pain in the proverbial to Mrs I. We use this time to walk up the main Kungssportsavenyn and revisit some of the places I recall from my days in Gothenburg in the 60’s. Stefan has definitely carved out a very successful career for himself in sports journalism and he seems to greet any number of well-known identities as we take our stroll.

Stefan apartment overlooking Gota River

The evening has been set aside for inner at an Italian restaurant in Eriksberg , near to Stefan’s with two good friends from my football playing days in Gothenburg, Eddie Dahlberg and Rolf Johansson. A very enjoyable meal is followed by a chat over coffee back at Stefan’s with Gail having to listen to a stream of no doubt highly inaccurate  reminiscences on our sterling football careers

Obese Ferret,Stefan,Rolf

Stefan lives very close to Rolf and seems to call on the poor fellow when any practical work or repairs need to be carried out in flat of Mr Thylin, whose ineptitude in such matters makes me look like a professional handyman.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.