Friday, June 23

 

 

We wake to a slight wind but no rain. We wash but have no breakfast since the summer market has already begun.

When we get to the junction we will find the traffic under the control of the local scout troop, who have walkie-talkies that they use the way they have seen people in films use them. Unfortunately the films they have seen obviously did not feature people with walkie-talkies directing traffic, because no matter how long they chat back and forth the traffic doesn’t move.

I jump out to walk to the market before the fishcakes run out. Irma arrives in the car just as I get there. Apparently she told the girl stopping the traffic that she needed gas and drove past her. When we arrive we notice dozens of empty spaces waiting for the cars held up at the end of the road. Irma chooses one about five metres from the market.

Benita has so many customers that they have spilled out over the entire area. I push through to the market to find that Maj-Britt has made so many fishcakes that Liisa has had to hide one of the trays to prevent potential customers thinking that nobody has bought any. I buy ten and Liisa gives me one more for breakfast. We then wander around the stalls, saying hello to people we have not seen for almost a year and looking at people passing Mika and Camilla’s stall where we chat with Juhan and Ann-Sofie while they sell potatoes.

We find an almost hidden extra serving space at Benita’s, reduced to selling only lonkero but with no queue at all, and have one each. We feel glad we had our egg sandwiches yesterday.

The sky brightens and we will spend the afternoon mowing and pulling up bamboo. Sunshine will disappear into the barn and return later in the evening.

We will wash in Eija-Stena’s old house, which lies empty for the moment. Mika suggested that we use this until the electricity line gets reconnected.