Days 10-11: Malmo

---

There’s really not much to write, because we treated this time unashamedly as R&R after what was always going to be the most tiring part of the trip. I was starting to become very noisy with coughing fits, and spent a lot of time doing very little. Thought about visiting a local doctor but was pretty sure that this was a virus, so what can you do? A couple of walks around their neighbourhood and a family cycling excursion down to a waterside café (past the park where Matt plays footy, goalposts still up and perplexing the locals) were about as active as we got. Matt and Nelly were so welcoming, setting up their living room as our bedroom each night, feeding us very well and letting us play with their children (!) Gracie and Mike were a joy to have around, and we learned a little bit about Swedish children’s TV, from a pair of men who looked like a super-low-production-value Wiggles to a rabbit-like cartoon, ‘Bingo’.

It was great to be with family and meet Nelly’s mum and sister. We joined Jerker, Freya, Carl and Jerker’s mother Gunvor for dinner on Sunday night and were given a beautiful antique double Swedish wooden horse. Helen had been wanting one for years and the simple but gorgeous workmanship on the piece was exquisite.

---