Friday, June 22

Sandholmsudden, 15:54
We stayed up late last night because we knew that we would not go to the midsummer market. Sure enough, when I went out at 10:00 I saw a full ferry arrive and then, ten minutes later, another. I knew that the scouts would fail to control the huge queues, as they did last year, and mayhem would ensue.
When a third full load of cars arrive we both decided to miss the market completely. We had breakfast and then I washed my hair; not an easy or pleasant task. The huge wind that had continued through the night dried it in minutes though.
In the afternoon we decide to go to Benita’s to see if she has any of her egg and anchovy sandwiches left. She doesn’t.
Today we both decide to sit indoors, where we find three scrapbooks of press cuttings about Pellinge market, dating from the 1980s when Marita first opened Benita’s (named after her daughter, who now runs it).
While we sit eating a cheese roll (no, the egg and anchovy sandwiches had all gone in the morning) Benita tells us about the chaos at the market, and we feel glad we stayed at home. Erika arrives and tells us about the Koreans.
She has turned one of the small granaries into a bed and breakfast: something that, to say the least, requires an enormous leap of imagination. Two people from the Korean edition of Lonely Planet will arrive next week to try it. Hmm, we say.
I wander outside and photograph the nearest island from the foot of the jetty. Helmer wanders past me, chuckling, as I do.
When we get home we will have new potatoes from Camilla’s shop and salmon from the Kellgrens.
We will go early to bed, not least because we went very late yesterday.