February 2022

1st Feb 2022

This Tuesday morning all was as usual. My new rocking chair arrived around 12:30pm. I had taken my old one downstairs already – it was easy by the wheels of my shopper. When the car with my new rocking chair arrived, I opened the gate for them and we did switch the rocking chairs just outside my front door. They thanked me a lot and I was happy, that I have got the transport for free or with other words I paid it by my old rocking chair.

Directly afterwards I was going to the grocery shop nearby. When I left the shop, there was the beggar sitting again, I have met around Christmas. He got a banana of me and I also asked him, where he comes from. He told me from Romania. Though I was quite sure he enjoyed his Christmas gifts. I told him, that I hope he will get employed soon, because it is not a good life to be a beggar.

Back at home I had a cup of coffee and a special home made bun we call semla. In the evening I used Zoom to attend the kick-off for 2022 of the Swedish Green Party, here called miljöpartiet de gröna.

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2nd Feb 2022

I was late for breakfast by reading in bed. Anyway I managed to fulfill the work with my blue jogging trousers. They are looking good and very practical now with the cuffs instead for the elastics.

I also bought two table clothes – a very little one I will use in my book shelf. It was this one I had seen on a Facebook page called Marketplace. When I was at the sellers home, she had laid down a lot more of table clothes in different sizes. All of them hand woven by her mother in law. There was one in the correct size for my table in the living room, even it was not oval. The little one was for 10 SEK and the big one for only 20 SEK. I would have paid more for it, but the seller was happy to get it sold. It was not the money she needed.

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My order of avocados and lemon has arrived around 7pm. They were handled with care and have literally been passed from hand to hand. They didn’t have any bump and looked like painted. My dinner was small chickpea pancakes – very easy to cook and tasty.

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3rd Feb 2022

I worked in my kitchen a lot again, preparing hummus, mayonnaise of aquafaba and ate tomato-soup with soy beans for lunch. Unfortunately it seems I have problems with soy. I’ve got itching.

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4th Feb 2022

I still had itching. After I had been demonstrating against the climate change, I did cook a Guacamole at home by my great avocados. I really enjoyed it.

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5th Feb 2022

You maybe remember that I bought those window lights by the Facebook marketplace. I was in contact with the seller, because the cables were made for one big window and not for two, which I have. Finally I couldn’t reach her anymore by Facebook messenger. Though eventually I gave them to the Red Cross secondhand shop.

My special work in the kitchen this day was making a drink of hemp seed. It doesn’t taste very good even I added vanilla sugar like it was described in the recipe. I think, in my smoothies it will not taste so much.

When I was shopping groceries I had forgotten my notes at home. I remembered the most of it anyway. The beggar was not sitting at the usual place outside the grocery shop.

I also was chatting with my son Marcus by Skype, but later as usual, because he was still sleeping at our usual appointment.

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6th Feb 2022

Inger, my host from Gnesta, was calling me around 9am, when I still was laying in my bed, but awake for a couple of hours. Furthermore I wrote about what loneliness means to me. There was a request in our magazine of the association for retired people to do so.

Later that day I tried to call my son Samuel. First time he wasn’t answering, but later that day I did get in contact with him. I also had a chat with my son Daniel, but by Signal.

At long last I updated my blog for 22nd to 30th November 2021, but before I had to repair an issue of my blog. The theme had changed – I don’t know why, but I think it has to do with it, that I use an elder theme, which is not supported anymore and I was asked to do so. Unfortunately the roll-down menu is not suitable for my blog. I had to contact the WordPress support and wait for help. I awarded me with chocolate mousse of avocados and bananas, when the change back was done.

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7th Feb 2022

It was Monday again, but I didn’t play boules – as I usually do. The overview map for the EuroVelo network arrived and I checked the routes. I found out, that I can go by bicycle along the Rhine river and also the Danube River, but then I have to go throughout the Bulgarian mountain range. Anyway, it is not so high as the Alps. Though I decided to take the route, when I’ll go to Egypt.

I also got the magazine of the Association for Nature Conservation. It came later this day, because there are different distributors for the mail.

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8th Feb 2022

I didn’t sleep well during the night, therefore I did fall asleep early in the morning and took my medicines later as usual. By that I got in a vicious circle and told myself, that I have to work hard for leaving it.

I felt like I have a pollen allergy. I have all the signs like struggle with my throat, tiredness and that my nose is running much more than I am used to. I thought, there are no pollen yet, but my son Daniel told me, there are already.

I wrote my blog for the days of 1st to 15th December 2021. I thought the meeting of our “climate group” was starting at 6:30pm, but it was already starting at 6pm. Though I missed half an hour of conversations and planning. The meeting took place online.

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9th Feb 2022

I awoke at 9pm and had an appointment at 10am. It was for a webinar called “Endlich Schnittmuster selbst designen” (Finally design your own sewing patterns). Unfortunately it was an advertisement campaign. We were told, that we need some tools, which make it easy to design and we could buy these tools by the related website. The amount for the tools started at €890. I didn’t follow the entire webinar.

I also got an information about the amount of my pension from Malta, but only for January and because I get extra money for holidays and Christmas, I had to ask, how much that will be inasmuch as I have to report it for my Swedish pension authority.

I should have had another online meeting, but I did forget it. Instead I finished my blog for the month of December 2021. The WordPress support was contacting me and I have got help to put the old theme back.

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10th Feb 2022

The sun is shining and it is +4°C, but it is very windy. I was staying at home and working with my blog for the month of January 2022. I also wrote down my thoughts about my upcoming BikingForFuture, which you soon can read at my page “BikingForFuture2”.

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11th Feb 2022

I awoke at 7am, but fell asleep again until 10:30am and was still tired. Irene was contacting me and in the afternoon even my son Samuel. These contacts make life a little more fun. I found out, that it is really working to put pizza dough in the freezer and use it later.

Samuel and Tharsiny came around 8pm, even they first told me, they will come earlier. I had prepared the evening meal, though I could serve it very fast, but before we ate, we carried my new, but pre-used desk up to my apartment. We used the elevator, of course. I am very happy, because now all my furniture matches. There is white furniture in my bedroom, but the bed. There is pine furniture in my kitchen but the cupboards, which come with the apartment and there is dark brown furniture in my living room.

We didn’t have a lot of time for conversation. We were real tired, especially my son and his wife, but we enjoyed the evening.

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12th Feb 2022

We only had smoothies for breakfast. Tharsiny asked for an Asian restaurant for lunch, though we were visiting the Lotusgarden in the center of Katrineholm. Unfortunately things has changed since my birthday party in 2020. Lots of chairs were not clean, though we needed time to find a table where we liked to sit around. The food was similar to last time, but a little less to choose. I emailed my son Marcus, asking him for the Skype chat next day. Usually we are chatting on Saturdays, but sometimes we have to change the day. After lunch we did take a short walk. It was could and ruffled, though we did not see more than the inner center. We also visited a café and had a special kind of buns with almond mass and whipped cream. There were three or four different kinds of those buns. Mostly the filling was the same, but one was filled with vanilla cream instead. The difference were the different dough. We had a look at a nearby shop for clothes, bed linen, kitchen utensils, you name it. I found a very thin elastic, which I was looking for a while ago.

After all these doing we walked a little more throughout the town and I have got a call from my friend Irene, who offered me small lamps for my living room window. I thanked her for them. Now it was time to say good-bye, but first did Samuel and Tharsiny drive me home. They were then directly driving back to their home. I didn’t do much more this day.

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13th Feb 2022

I was chatting with my soon Marcus via Skype in the middle of the day. I also made chocklad balls and chocklad drink av oats. However, most of the time I was reading on the Internet. It became late.

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14th Feb 2022

Even I was late I didn’t had a hurry to participate in the annual meeting of the association for retired people (SPF). The chairman of the municipal board of Katrineholm was a guest and after he explained, what his background is and about his duties he told us to ask questions. Though I asked him, if there will be a CO²-budget soon. He answered, there will be none.

My little poster about a bicycle group (for cycling together) was pinned on the billboard. By email I have got some links for different events and I also contacted WordPress, because I didn’t understand how to open an account on Stripe, which I needed for my donation block at WordPress. I could only choose Stripe for WordPress, but there was all about selling companies. I was also planning for my bike trip to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

Furthermore I watched SVT Play (a kind of TV-broadcaster). The movie was called “Att överleva” (To Stay Alive) and was about Iggy Pop and Michel Houellebecq.

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15th Feb 2022

I continued with the planning of my bicycle tour to COP27 in Egypt, among others I checked for which countries I need Visa and if I have to apply for the Visa at an embassy in Sweden or can apply at the border of the respective country. I also was looking for the route back home again and decided to visit Greece and all the countries of the Balkans, which I haven’t visited yet. In addition to this I were dreaming about to make another trip by bicycle throughout Spain to Morocco and maybe also Algeria and Tunisia.

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16th Feb 2022

I was taking a walk of around 2.5 km. I needed 30 min for it. Unfortunately there were still ice on the path and it was not easy to cross that part of the path. On my way back I took a detour and was to a shop, where I bought a new sim-card holder. Mine was broken since a week.

The afternoon and evening I spent again with the route for my bicycle trip to COP27 in Egypt.

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17th Feb 2022

I was looking for if it is possible to go to Egypt via Morocco, but that was too difficult, because it is not possible to go directly from Morocco to Algeria for the in-unity of these two countries about the area of Western Sahara. Furthermore it is not possible to go to Mali, it’s border is closed. Libya is not an option of course. Though I would have to go more to the middle of Africa for avoiding dangerous countries as well as countries I am not allowed in and finally cross Sudan on my way into Egypt. I also checked the Visa requirements for the countries. It was so I found out, that it is not possible to enter Algeria from Morocco and to enter Mali at all. To found out all this took the entire day for me.

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18th Feb 2022

I was going by bicycle to the ICA Maxi supermarket and shopped a lot. I was surprised about all the empty shelves, but maybe, the shop is just switching around the groceries. I was happy, that all fitted in my cycle bags. On my way home I also was to another shop and bought sheet stretchers. The new sheets to my bed don’t stay around the mattress as good as I would. Anyway they are recommended for the size of my mattress.

During the afternoon I wrote an email to the Crescent company – the make of my bicycle, asking them if they will sponsor me with an extra battery. I did asked them, because I found out the year before already, that they are sponsoring people. Last year I have got the answer, that it was too late of the year, I was asking (I asked for a bicycle that time). This time, they just told me “no” after I had to remind them about my email. I think, they do not understand the potential it has for marketing, that I, despite my age, are making such a long bicycle tour.

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19th Feb 2022

I had an intro call with Torben and some other participants by Google Meet. Torben is the founder of the World Explorer Grant and the other participants were all the candidates. like me, for a grant. The first one was a woman from India, who wants to climb mountains. The second one was guy from South Africa, who wants to make a combined bicycle / climbing tour. The third one were two Canadian guys, who want to climb a whole range of mountain summits. The fourth was a man from India, who is a mountain climbing instructor and will kite surf and climb the Himalayas. The fifth was I. All these people were of course very interesting. I was a little surprised, that all of them but me are in climbing. At the end of the chat Torben told us, that the decision will be made in a few days and he will send emails to let us know about them.

I also chatted with my son Marcus this day, but as usually by Skype. He gave me a lot of tips, which TV program I could tell about my plan in the hope, that I will be invited and allowed to talk about it.

Do you remember my purchase of avocados from Spain? I did freeze the rest of them. They were all ripe now and I would like to have of them for a longer time. All of the avocados of this purchase were like painted – inside as well. The higher price in real was not more to pay than for avocados at the shop, because there one always get some bad ones.

Last time at the grocery shop I also had bought some apples. Therefore I baked a cake with apples this day as well as I had apples in small pancakes and cooked apple sauce.

This day was really a lucky day. I also got an email with an answer from the German company VAUDE asking for choosing an Teams appointment (online chat). There were a lot of hours to choose between.

This happy news helped me to be more active. Though I finished my blog for January 2022.

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20th Feb 2022

I slept over and had a weird dream: There were lots of people in my home – a house with three doors and a garage. I should pay 100 Euro and said no, though the police came, but I don’t remember what it really was about. Why should I pay 100 Euro and why was the police coming? That’s the thing with dreams. If you remember something of the dream, there are a lot of question marks, because you can’t remember the entire dream.

Because I was late I was going by bicycle to Pensionärerns Hus (House for retired people) to buy a ticket for an upcoming event. There was snow and ice on the bike path and I had to cycle very careful. Though I anyway was late. Back at home I finally had breakfast.

Later I checked Facebook, couchsurfing and more and was a lot of time on the Internet again.

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21st Feb 2022

I get a lot of information of the Guardian and also the IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Not every day I have time to read them all, therefore I had a lot to read this day and did it. Furthermore I read some interesting articles on Facebook, twitter and in a Whats App group (I am a new member of that Whats App group about the Middle East. Travelers are informing about problems with Visa or how to get Visa and other important things about the ME countries). It is amazing how much update information one can get by those groups.

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22nd Feb 2022

I started the day with new News of the Guardians and IISD. At 1pm I was to the weekly boules games with people of my retirement association. My partner and I were not so lucky this day. Our result was a shared fourth place.

A little parcel arrived this day from VAUDE. It was a belt for attaching my big cycle bag on the saddle. I had asked for it, because I could not get any here in Sweden. By the way, this belt was longer than the original, because I had told VAUDEs customer service, that the original was not long enough for my bicycle. I didn’t have to pay for it.

It’s winter again and snowing at +/-0°C. I used the rest of the pancake batter and made pancakes with aubergine slices. It was delicious as well.

In the evening I started to put photos in a Google Photo map for the Worlds Explorer Grant and I also wrote an email to them. To choose and sort the photos took such a long time and I didn’t notice how time was flying by. It was 7am when I finished my work.

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23rd Feb 2022

From midnight until 7am see 22nd Feb. I tried to find some sleep, but already at 10am I continued with the email and the photos. At 4pm it was done. One reason, that it took such a long time was, that I was checking my earlier travels for deciding, which photos I would choose. When I opened and read my sites about Malta I found so many spelling and grammatical mistakes, though I had to correct them – or almost most of them.

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24th Feb 2022

What a sad and horrible day: Russia was invading Ukraine. Even Putin, the Russian president did not call it war, it was – and is. Anyway for me it was a really good day.

I have got another email of VAUDE and was reading their homepage, especially about the company. There was also a link for a Teams online chat added. When it was time and I tried, I didn’t get it to work. We were emailing some times before they send me a Zoom link instead. Then we could talk with each other and see each other as well. I have used Teams before, sometimes I have trouble with it, sometimes not and actually I like Zoom more. I never have had trouble with Zoom (so far). I had already been afraid, that they won’t talk with me because the problems with Zoom, but they tried to help me all they could and they were very excited about my plan. During the chat with the marketing team of VAUDE, I was told, that I could choose from their homepage what I need. If an article not is listed in my size, I can write it down anyway and they will try to find something similar. They also told me, that they will pay an extra bicycle battery for me as well as a GoPro action camera. We were also talking about, how to record my trip. One of the wishes was, that I keep a video diary and at the end of the days tell about how I feel and similar. I told them, that I try to find a journalist, following me during the entire or parts of the trip. They promised, to try to find one as well. When the call had come to an end I was dancing in my apartment. I could nearly not believe, that it was true. I really look forward to work together.

I also had booked the laundry room. Meanwhile I used it, I forgot the time and I had to dry a lot of the clothes I washed in my apartment. The reason for that was, that I already was thinking about, what I need and among others, I wrote down a silk sleeping bag – just such one to use instead of bed-linen. They are very handy and don’t take a lot of space as well as a headlamp, padded underpants, maybe t-shirts with the VAUDE logo, a pair of bicycle trousers, a pair of bicycle shoes, warm winter gloves and a handlebar bag with a small bag on the top for my smartphone.

While I was thinking about those, I also wrote down some other things to remember. First of all the text I would like to have on the t-shirts (one with short sleeves and one with long sleeves, both white). Depending on, how much text there is space for:

NO FOSSIL FUELS

I also was thinking, that I have to ask VAUDE if I am allowed to have that text on the t-shirts, because their logo will also be on them.

I have read a lot about best tires for bicycle, what to take with me for such a long tour etc. Therefore I will buy Schwalbe Marathon plus tires. I also have Michelin puncture proof inner tubes on my list, but I will ask my bicycle dealer about it. Maybe I don’t need expensive inner tubes, when I have Schwalbe Marathon tires.

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25th Feb 2022

I was demonstrating against climate change in Katrineholm together with Irene in the context of FridaysForFuture as GrandmasForFuture.

During the rest of the day I spent a lot of time by writing the email to World Explorer Grant. You may be wondering, why it takes such a long time, but I try to make it really good and have a lot of text in it as well.

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26th Feb 2022

I demonstrated together with the climate group of the Nature Conversation Association in Katrineholm. For that reason I had contact by Skype with Marcus already in the morning and asked him to chat the upcoming day. He agreed.

Finally I sent the email with the link for Google Photos map to World Explorer Grant.

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27th Feb 2022

Marcus and I were chatting via Skype between 1pm and 2pm.

I sent an email to VAUDE about the clothes and other things I would like to have. In addition to a pair of bicycle trousers I also ask for bicycle shorts as well as for a 3 in 1 jacket, but I also wrote with most of the things I mentioned, that it would good to have, but I understand if they think it is too much. Regarding to the shoes I wrote instead, that I really need them.

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28th Feb 2022

I played boules as often on Mondays. In the evening I should have listened to a talk about how to prepare for a crisis including, what someone should have at home of food, water etc. The organizer of this Teams meeting was the tenants’ association, but I did forget it. I had a nice evening instead. By the way, since I moved to Katrineholm I already am prepared for a crisis. Though it didn’t matter so much, that I missed that online event.