Author: Anne Fox

Two weeks ago we finally went broadband which means that we don’t have to count the minutes any more, a huge relief plus will turn out to be cheaper as we now pay a flat rate.  While we were at it we also took the opportunity to go wireless which means that we can surf anywhere in the house and theoretically also in the garden although we haven’t tested that out yet. Since we have been enjoying an Indian summer this last two weeks or so we really should try it out now before the winter sets in.

There is a new head teacher at Gwen and Mia’s school and he takes Gwen’s class for woodwork (last year they had needlework). Last week, one of the class was missing. Big mistake! This boy lives just over the road from the school so the head master took the whole class across the road to collect the miscreant who was at home with his Mum and playing computer games. I think there would be a 101 rules and regulations to prevent this from happening in the UK and I don’t know if this is going to be the standard way of coping with truancy from now on. We have yet to see if this strategy will have a long term effect. This is a boy who has a habit of just leaving school to go home if things get too tough for him.

I have just arrived at Umeå having had 45 minutes to get off one plane in Stockholm and catching the next one while collecting my luggage and checking in again. Only just made it and had my first female pilot. It is surprisingly hot here with temps of 23 degrees.

The photograph shows the famous golf course in Kangerlugssuaq, the northernmost green in the world, pictured in the only goo weather of the trip, shortly before the pilot arrived from Iceland!

Tony’s trip to Greenland this month turned into something of a fiasco.  The pilot was late flying the survey plane to Greenland, delayed by bad weather en route, and when he did come, the weather in their base Kangerlugssuaq was terrible – fogged in or heavy rain.  They did manage five and a half hours flying, but most of that was in rain and poor visibility.  Eventually they ran out of time, since the plane was needed for offshore whale surveys, but there was no respite in the terrible (and highly unusual bad weather), which continued after they left!  It was lovely for him to be back in Greenland of course, but the bad weather gave little incentive to go out for walks!  Christian, his colleague and co-observer, went on a cycle ride to the ice cap, and was 2 hours late coming home in the dark, so Tony and the pilot scrambled the emergency services, travelling his route to the ice cap first with a taxi and then with a police car!  They returned to find Christian in a nearby restaurant, perplexed as to why his late home-coming should have caused any problem and wondering what at all the fuss was about.  He didn’t consider a two hour delay in his arrival in the dark and terrible weather to be a problem!

Tony is in Greenland dependent on good weather to do the second part of his aerial survey (the first part was in June when the weather was so good that they came home 4 days early). This time their pilot was a day late coming from Iceland because of bad weather and the bad weather has followed them to Greenland. This means that Tony needs to spend some extra time in Greenland to finish the job and will be away from home on his birthday on Sunday, coming back instead on Monday or Tuesday. Any later and this causes problems as Anne is scheduled to go to Sweden on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Gwen has a compulsory overnight trip with the whole of her class. They are cycling to a place near Grenaa and staying in some hut or house (not sure exactly until she comes back tomorrow). The problem is that today and tomorrow is scheduled to pour with rain so she is not looking forward to the ride at all. You can see whether it’s raining on her from here. The yellow blobs are rain clouds.

This is just a quickie to show Aunty Ann that Mia’s new outfit fits perfectly.

Mia’s birthday was rather overshadowed by the fact that she had a huge fall at school early in the day. As well as her knee she scraped her fingers and elbows.

Thanks to everyone for the lovely presents. We are enjoying greatly the terrible jokes in Uncle Greg and Aunty Sarah’s book. Gwen has already read one of Mia’s myriad books from the Rotherham Houfes and Mia insisted on wearing her new outfit from Aunty Ann to school immediately.

After school there was an intimate party with Gwen and two of Mia’s friends. We went to the local theme park then came home for tea and cake in the garden as it was such a lovely sunny day.

Mia is a thrill seeker and the highlight of her visit to Legoland in mid-July was a ride on the roller coaster. Look at the picture and decide for yourself whether this is really enjoyment.

Today we had planned to go to the Viking festival south of Aarhus but it has been raining continuously all day so we have stayed in and done the mountain of washing and ironing instead.

Mia has lost her first tooth at the grand old age of nearly 8. Now she does not want to go back to school because she feels her appearance has been spoiled!