Gothenburg lies 57 degrees, 42 minutes north of the equator, and nearly 12 degrees east of Greenwich. Only a couple of degrees more south than the southern tip of Greenland, as a matter of fact. Thanks to the Golf Stream the climate is mild and life is good, mostly. It’s home to around 600 000 people, and the birthplace and headquarter of Volvo.

The downside of a being a long way north with a mild climate is it’s cold, wet and windy, …and dark. Usually no snow to light things up, and the humid cold creeps right into your marrow.

This year we’ve had a couple of cold spells, and we’ve had some snow. It was so cold, in fact, that the Sannegården harbour froze over. Made for interesting reflections in the ice. Some daredevils even made their way out on the ice to do some fishing. Nothing for me. Not sure what scares me most; the idea of freezing to death in the cold water, or getting a mouthful of Gothenburg city daywater.

The snow inevitably turns to slush as the temperature swings between freezing and a few degrees above zero. Overnight it generally freezes again and the slush turns to ice. Makes for slippery sidewalks and long queues to the emergency wards with fractured hips.

On the rare occasions the sun creeps out from behind the clouds the world lights up and it’s like waking from a bad dream. The colour returns and with it the hope of summer returning. This year with the sorry state of the world and the barberous deeds people are inflicting on one another hope has been are rare thing.