I Don't Remember

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I DO remember the last time I was in Sweden, but as it was (I think) in 1978 I don't remember everything about it. It was our last family holiday and we spent 2 weeks camping in southern Sweden. Some of this holiday has become legend in Risby family history.

The main thing I recall about the trip is that we had been told that bread was incredibly expensive to buy in Sweden. We therefore decided that we would take our own "crispbread" supplies with us from England, as well as most of our other food for cooking in the campsites (eating out was not thought to be an option if we could not afford bread!). To make our diet more interesting we purchased a wide variety of crispbreads so we would not become bored with eating (say) Riveta every day. In the Summer of 78 I had also just finished reading Chris Bonnington's "Everest The Hard Way" book and had read that he had decided not to label the food packs they transported up the mountain to prevent people from selecting their preferred meals, and thought this such a brilliant idea that I persuaded my parents we should replicate this in our meal planning for Sweden. Therefore our daily crispbread/cold meat supplies were clean packaged so we had no idea what we would have until we opened it on the day. In hindsight I'm not sure this was such a brilliant idea.

Apart from the food logistics I also remember most of the places and towns where we stayed and that overall it was an enjoyable holiday. The Swedish campsites I remember were excellent and from memory very similar to some places we have stayed at on this trip.

In another bizarre Risby tradition my parents purchased some furniture in Sweden which was probably slightly too large to fit in the car so my brother and I had restricted movement in the backseat of the car for our journey home.

The bread story is not as crazy as it might sound. Even today bread is - by comparison with countries like England - quite expensive. I never tried to buy alcohol in 1978 so can't compare the prices but low alcohol beer (3.5% or less) isn't too expensive and can be purchased in supermarkets. We haven't yet seen a shop where you can buy wine though I'm sure they exist somewhere.

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Photos

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Forbidden food from 1978

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Swedish bread - expensive stuff

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Our wine supplies are self imported!

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Our cabin in Karlstad