My sister flew in from Glasgow to visit a few weeks back. Jane doesn’t like snow or cold very much so was definitely not coming to ski. The main reason for her visit was to get her first hug from Elliot. Little did she know I had a cunning plan prepared for her while she was here? Contrary to what most people think it doesn’t really get that cold in Scotland, it can sometimes dip below zero but never for long. Most years any snow falls disappear within a day or two and as far as I know lakes very rarely freeze over. My sister was about to get a better feeling of what real cold looked like.
In Sunne winters are both beautiful and exciting; although the needle drops way beyond freezing and can stay there for weeks on end everyone and everything is prepared, ready and waiting for it. The days may be shorter but
there are a multitude of winter activities to get involved in. They even have floodlights on the ski slopes.
Having assured Jane that Elliot was joining us (she hadn’t let him go since she arrived) we donned our winter jackets and headed out. Although already into April snow blanketed the ground and most of the lakes surrounding Sunne lay still and frozen. I parked the car next to Lake Fryken and told Jane to close her eyes as I led her down to the edge. Holding her hand we began to walk, when we were about ten metres out I told her to open her eyes. “You are now standing on frozen ice” I told her. Her eyes met mine and she very calmly asked me, “You are joking?” “Nope, this is as real as winter gets” I assured her. The look on my sister’s face was priceless;
she just couldn’t believe something so vast could be frozen solid enough to walk on. When I told her about the cars that drive on the lakes and the horse racing held there I could see she thought I was barmy. I told her to look further out about a hundred metres to her right. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she asked “What is it? is that a man sitting out there?” “Yes” I told her, laughing as I spoke, “he’s fishing”.
When I first arrived in Sunne I wasn’t any more prepared for real winters than my sister. I had lived the previous 10 years in Indonesia, most days enjoying constant sunshine with temperatures in the mid 30s.
My first real taste of winter came in the form of a 67 degree swing in temperature. When I left Jakarta the sun was shining and it was a pleasant +32. I was welcomed to Sweden 24 hours later by a character building -25. At that moment standing there freezing my ass off, I realised just how much my life was about to change.
Winters here are great not only because of the extreme temperatures but because of the people who live here.
Sunne doesn’t realise it’s a small town with no real right to be so popular and exciting. The reason it carries it off is because it has an
infrastructure created by people with dreams which they transform into realities. This is a place where lots of forward thinking people live, where the nature is so beautiful it takes your breathe away and because Sunne doesn’t know its Sunne,
it actually thinks its New York.
Over the next two weeks I want to share more of my thoughts and experiences of living here with you. Tell your friends about this site, pass it on to three people and ask them in turn to tell three more.
Please leave comments about what you read and let’s see just how fun we can make this thing.
My sister flew in from Glasgow to visit a few weeks back. Jane doesn’t like snow or cold very much so was definitely not coming to ski. The main reason for her visit was to get her first hug from Elliot. Little did she know I had a cunning plan prepared for her while she was here? Contrary to what most people think it doesn’t really get that cold in Scotland, it can sometimes dip below zero but never for long. Most years any snow falls disappear within a day or two and as far as I know lakes very rarely freeze over. My sister was about to get a better feeling of what real cold looked like.
In Sunne winters are both beautiful and exciting; although the needle drops way beyond freezing and can stay there for weeks on end everyone and everything is prepared, ready and waiting for it. The days may be shorter but there are a multitude of winter activities to get involved in. They even have floodlights on the ski slopes.
Having assured Jane that Elliot was joining us (she hadn’t let him go since she arrived) we donned our winter jackets and headed out. Although already into April snow blanketed the ground and most of the lakes surrounding Sunne lay still and frozen. I parked the car next to Lake Fryken and told Jane to close her eyes as I led her down to the edge. Holding her hand we began to walk, when we were about ten metres out I told her to open her eyes. “You are now standing on frozen ice” I told her. Her eyes met mine and she very calmly asked me, “You are joking?” “Nope, this is as real as winter gets” I assured her. The look on my sister’s face was priceless; she just couldn’t believe something so vast could be frozen solid enough to walk on. When I told her about the cars that drive on the lakes and the horse racing held there I could see she thought I was barmy. I told her to look further out about a hundred metres to her right. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she asked “What is it? is that a man sitting out there?” “Yes” I told her, laughing as I spoke, “he’s fishing”.
When I first arrived in Sunne I wasn’t any more prepared for real winters than my sister. I had lived the previous 10 years in Indonesia, most days enjoying constant sunshine with temperatures in the mid 30s. My first real taste of winter came in the form of a 67 degree swing in temperature. When I left Jakarta the sun was shining and it was a pleasant +32. I was welcomed to Sweden 24 hours later by a character building -25. At that moment standing there freezing my ass off, I realised just how much my life was about to change.
Winters here are great not only because of the extreme temperatures but because of the people who live here. Sunne doesn’t realise it’s a small town with no real right to be so popular and exciting. The reason it carries it off is because it has an infrastructure created by people with dreams which they transform into realities. This is a place where lots of forward thinking people live, where the nature is so beautiful it takes your breathe away and because Sunne doesn’t know its Sunne, it actually thinks its New York.
Over the next two weeks I want to share more of my thoughts and experiences of living here with you. Tell your friends about this site, pass it on to three people and ask them in turn to tell three more. Please leave comments about what you read and let’s see just how fun we can make this thing. 
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