Smorgasbord, schmorgasbord

To keep the Africa blues at bay we thought we'd book cheap flights to somewhere in europe, so it was all about closing your eyes and pointing at the map of Europe - except that it's more like check out ryanair and see what are the cheapest flights you can get - the winner ladies and gentleman was Stockholm. Ah yes, the land of the Swedes - and I'm not talking about turnips or swedish people here, i'm talking about The Swedes - hello, Abba anyone? yeah. Turned out that while the flights were cheap, everything else was OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE. Yes I needed to utilise my Caps buttons since it was OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE. Think £100 for the cheapest room you can find in a hotel. Forget hotel, hostels themselves were working out at £35 per person in a dorm! Get real... Guess it was because we chose to go there in August, during the UK's bank holiday weekend. Anyway, we had to try and forget the costs and enjoy ourselves. So we booked into a studio in a suburb, since staying in the centre was crazy expensive. I mean - EXPENSIVE. Otherwise it was all good good, except the Swedes, and I mean swedish people, as opposed to Abba, were not the most you know, um, whats the word, friendly? forthcoming? interesting? I think they're a fairly reserved lot, unless they are drinking. Also we decided to go for the smorgasbord, i mean when else in your life are you going to be eating a smorgasbord, and splashed out at the smorgasbord experience at the Grand Hotel. But it's only when we were there, not thinking about the £100 we were spending on our dinner, that I realised, I actually really don't like herring - and smorgasbord is all about herring. Poached herring, pickled herring, herring in mustard, herring in pesto, herring in vinegar, herring in a hat and coat wearing a monocle singing hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my ragtime dooolll - no that's the frog from the Looney Toons cartoons. After a few mouthfuls of herring i was feeling rather ill, so I spent my £100 swedish dinner experience eating - crackers. Nice. Oh well. At least it got us out of London and Notting Hill carnival madness - nice to arrive home and see that it was all mostly cleared away - aside from the dried vomit and smell of urine emanating from every doorway - which reminds me of the first time I spent the Notting Hill carnival, watching the action from our balcony when a guy walked past and asked if he could piss in our doorway - yeah at least he asked, and when we said, uh, no, he just pulled down his pants along with his girlfriend and they just did their business right there in front of everyone to see. Now that is NICE.