I visited Stockholm for the first time ever this weekend, which was a great delight to me on several levels. Firstly, I had the opportunity to stay with dear friends of many years standing - Jan-Olof and Britt- Marie Boden; secondly, I had the chance to meet the Star Wars fan community in Stockholm, when signing autographs at the Science Fiction Bokhandel in gamla Stad on the Saturday; and thirdly, I enjoyed the company of the members of the Nordic Garrison of the 501st, who shared a very delicious Indian meal after the day at the book shop!
I had flown the day before from Heathrow Airport, London and arrived in scorching heat! This was totally unexpected, as London had been wet and chilly. As usual, I was taken through passport control and luggage retrieval quickly and was outside in no time at all to be met by Jan-Olof. Our trip through Stockholm towards the South was fast and uninterrupted.
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| The narrow,old street intersecting the street where the book shop is situated, to the left of the couple in the middle ground. |
On the Saturday morning, my friends drove me into old Stockholm and up to the crossroads closest to the shop, from whence I walked in and introduced myself. Sanna, who had been emailing me with arrangements, was welcoming and bubbly and introduced me straightaway to the members of the Swedish members of the Nordic Garrison, who were going to troop the event. I must say, I am full of admiration for these guys and girls, as the temperature in the shop was at least another 5 degrees Celsius higher than outside, which was already in the late 20's and humid! We were very soon at ease with one another and dripping in equal degrees!
Amongst the first to say hello was a Facebook friend, Mieszko Kenic, a young man who has been particularly active in keeping everyone informed of my visit and who had gone to the trouble of having a t-shirt printed with my compliment card! Mieszko came with his sister,Miriam, and filmed our conversations and posted them to YouTube... Mieszko had been very busy. He arrived in a t-shirt he had had printed with my image and website and had printed out a picture, which is now on the Facebook web-page he set up as a fanpage in Sweden
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Mieszko and me and the t-shirt! :)
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The day was hot and quite busy and other friends turned up, notably Robin Arvidsson, who had previously sent me several very nice drawings worked from my photo selection. Robin is a quiet and thoughtful film fan and I was delighted to finally meet him in person!
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| Robin Arvidsson and me. |
During the late afternoon, Sanna conducted a competition open to all for lightsabre air duelling!!! I had not seen this done in this manner before and it was great fun! There were a half-dozen or so entrants from 6 to 26 years of age! Of course, the children tugged at the heart strings, but of course, the cutest kid won! LOL!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=isMxsoLuTWM#at=78 this is the link to the lightsabre competition with Sanna compering! Enjoy!!! :)
Eventually, the day was closing and we did a brief Q & A for the packed crowd of onlookers in the shop.
I am so grateful to Sanna and the staff of the book shop for their care and consideration for our comfort during the day and for the dinner later that evening.
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| Two daft 'Vikings'! |
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| The nutty and fun members of the Swedish division of the Nordic 501st Garrison in the Indian restaurant. |
