22nd July 2009 – Weight problems. (As well as space problems.)

I have previously complained about the Göteborg shopping (in general) and the summer sale (in particular). Since then I’ve changed strategies and focused on funky small shops on obscure backstreets as well as small town shopping. And it turned out to be a very clever move. I have during the last week found lots of gorgeous clothes, mostly Scandinavian design (I had almost forgotten about all the really cool Scandinavian brands and I must admit that I’m actually quite proud of our fashion industry). I’m back at my original position claiming that shopping IS much better in Sweden than in Australia and I will bring this reestablished opinion back with me to Sydney and go on and on about it and bore you all.

Yesterday, which was actually the “Johanna Day” in Sweden, I peaked my consuming curve (so far) when shopping in Laholm, a small city 20 minutes from my parents’ place. There are two stores in Laholm (not counting the one for ladies over 70). And they are both actually pretty good. And they both had massive sales on. Well, I will say no more…
I guess everything would be fine if the story (and my consuming) ended here. I did indeed count on doing some shopping in Sweden, so I’ve only done what I'd set out to do. But on the way back from Laholm I went past my auntie’s house where my cousin Lotta had dumped about six bags of clothes that did not fit here anymore, and some of them ended up in my bag. And today, when starting operation “sorting out all Henrik’s stuff left at my parents’ place”, I realized that I had left loads of clothes there that I had completely forgotten about! So, the pile of “new” clothes to bring back home with me has now grown completely out of control. And I have not even started to look at all the extremely important things I have in the storage space in Göteborg!

So, I now put all my faith in Tim. I have told him he does not need any clothes in Sweden (Swedes are not too fussy about nakedness anyway) and I’m counting on being able to use some of his kilos when he flies back. What he might not yet have realized is the more long-term effect of this almost self-growing pile of clothes – they will not be satisfied with only arriving in Australia but will try to find their way into our apartment, into our bedroom, and finally into our wardrobe. I have now given Tim about 30x30x30 cm space in the wardrobe (should be enough for his four t-shirts one would think…) So, by bringing all these clothes back with me I am sort of committing (at least to myself) to buying a new wardrobe which suddenly increases the price per garment in a very unexpected way.