A friend once asked me to show and tell my new home. How my apartment looks like, how the town looks like and just how everything is like here. It definitely is very different from Singapore in almost every way but that doesn't necessarily mean something negative.

The conveniences found in Singapore and especially in Holland Village where I had lived all my life certainly cannot compare to Askersund. But the charm found in both places are certainly fight for top place in my heart. Holland Village has the rustic charm of a small, hip estate with its small streets and numerous restaurants and cafes (something I absolutely LOVE about HV). And while Askersund is FAR from hip and its small streets are not cramped with restaurants and cafes, it does hold its own brand of charm. It has a natural charm accentuated by the lake and sudden bursts of forest every now and again.

But I do love the location of our apartment and largely bcos of that I am not planning on buying a house anytime soon. And husband agrees with that (thank goodness!). Our apartment is just behind the town district building that faces the town square so we are really close to the pulse of town. I really like the town square with its cobble stoned streets and old style buildings. The middle of the square is now a large parking lot and it's also where the town places its Christmas tree...a huge, tall thing that reaches up to the tallest building on the square.

In the summer, there is a fountain with a big statue in the middle of it spewing out water right in front of one of the 2 town bakeries, the bookstore and a hair salon. But in the winter, they remove the statue. I didn't even know that one could do that! So now it just looks like a huge tub in the middle of town. I think they'll put the statue back come summertime and then I'll upload a picture with the fountain fully installed, water and all. We live to the right of the fountain and husband works in a store to the left of the fountain so that makes things very convenient in terms of travelling to work.

Husband dear works in an electrical appliance store called Åhlins and for such a small town, the store actually does quite well. And even though it means that he works slightly longer hours and on most Saturdays, I still like the fact that he works so close to home and he doesn't need to drive so much now. We save money AND the environment! They wear a uniform there which is the same colour as the front entrance, blue. But he and another colleague of his, Anton, choose to wear a bright red fleece jacket over the nice blue polo t-shirt which I frankly think makes husband look a tad too gay for my taste. For some reason Anton seems to be able to carry it off a little more manly-ish than Mathias can. Hmmm...I wonder why....?

Every once in a while, there is an old guy called Ova who comes in who works at the local recycling plant. He's famous or rather infamous in town and many of the stores and cafes use him when ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Ova used to work as a trashman but he's retired now and works part time at the nearby recycling plant. In his spare time (which he has a lot of), he works for some of the stores here including Åhlins collecting all the big and card board trash like boxes and old TVs or fridges. He is a very interesting character for oh so many reasons but mostly cos he's not the cleanest man in town (with horrifically gross blackish nails), his one of a kind greeting to anyone he deems deserving which sounds more like a muppet with a stuck nose and his oh so unique sense of humour.

He can go up to someone and as a form of greeting just show them his thumb and index finger like one would measure how much is an inch apart. And if that someone foolishly proceeds to ask him what that means, he casually explains that that is the distance between a woman's anus and her p**sy. And then he will laugh and walk away. Why anyone would find that funny is anybody's guess but since he (like bugs) is so vital to the everyday running of the town, he gets away with it. But nobody really wants him in their store, especially the cafe owner who quickly makes Ova his usual cup of coffee and a bag of pastries (work benefits) when he sees Ova's car round the corner. The cafe owner would then proceed to walk out to Ova even before the fellow has come out of his car to pass him his coffee and freebies. The old man thinks it's respect but everyone knows it's for the sake of their own health. Heh heh.... In the picture, he is bald and clean shaven but please do not be fooled. He is usually scruffy with messy hair under a dirty hat with a long dirty looking gray beard. Mathias found out the reason why he was so clean shaven that day he took the picture (as evidence that Ova can look relatively clean) is bcos he had some rash on his head and shaving everything off just made it easier to put the cream on his head. But that is just a temporary thing, he assures. And that is his false teeth sticking out cos when Mathias told him to pose, he ask 'Teeth in or teeth out?'. And like any normal human being husband had thought he meant to smile or not to which the man foolishly says 'Teeth out'. So of cos, with his brand of humour, Ova the trashman pulled out his false teeth and let it dangle for the camera.

Next time I will tell you about 2 other interesting characters of the town, Fat Lena and Dottie. And also feature the best part of town, its harbour! Till then....