A new family saying.

I find that once the children have grown up you don't tend to develop new family sayings even though you cling to the ones that came with their toddlerhood; why else would we describe duvets as 'squilts' or quietly shriek 'new shoes, new shoes' when we buy - well yes, a new pair of shoes. Although that's not one that gets used that often in our house to be honest. 

But we did develop a new one in Stockholm this trip  so now if you go somewhere expecting to be able to buy something there, only to find that it is out of stock or not stocked at all any more, this is described by us as  a 'Vasa Museet Hoodie Situation.

Many years ago on a trip to Stockholm the OH treated himself to a Vasa Hoodie in the Vasa Museum shop. He loved it, he's worn it a lot, it needs replaced really, as it's at the stage of being OK to wear around the house/get in the coal and not really OK to be seen anywhere else. We zapped over on the ferry to the Vasa Museum in December to  buy him  a new one, only to find that the only ones they had in stock were Adult Small, which were no good at all. We reasoned that the stocks were low because it wasn't tourist season and that they would be stocking up again ready for summer 2024 in due course and so when we ere there in March we zapped over yet again, only to discover that the whole hoodie/t-shirt wall had shrunk and there was, if anything, even less stock than there had been in December. We have reluctantly concluded that hoodies may not be the way the Powers That Be see the Museum Shop moving forward, which is a shame. Although as I pointed out, I did buy him a very funny hoodie from Very British Problems for his birthday so its not as though he is hoodie-less. 

Also while we were  there in December we made our first trip to the refurbished National Gallery where I saw a beautiful book about European Portraiture through the Ages. It was quite large and quite heavy and we didn't have an awful lot of room in the suitcases as we had taken thick warm clothing and since we were coming back in March I said, 'I'll check on Amazon and see if I can get that at home, and if not I will get in March when we come for Parsifal. It was not visible on Amazon and so, dear reader, one morning on our recent trip we sailed into the National Museum Shop, walked to their book shelves to pull out  a copy of the book, and they didn't have  one. They had about six  last December plus two copies in their Old Library but even those, when we checked, were gone. A lesson learned I thought, although to be be honest it probably hasn't been . Not 100% anyway. I say this because yesterday in Tesco I saw some little cream jugs with some cream and  lemon artificial flowers in them; they were so pretty and not expensive and I thought they would go on the windowsill in the hall. 'If you like- get' said the OH, but a little voice in my head said 'you might like it, but you don't need it, do you?' and so I put it back and said I would think about it. I suspect the next time I am in Tesco they will all be gone. But there again, since I don't need it, I won't miss it, will I? 

So there you have it - A Vasa Museet Hoodie Situation. You have the money and the will to spend it; they no longer have the stock. 

To add insult to injury, we had planned to assuage our disappointment by having coffee and cake in the Vasa Museum's cafe, but whether temporarily or permanently this could only be accessed via the Museum itself. It's a lovely museum, don't think it's not, but I've done it twice and I didn't feel the need to do it again. 

But it wasn't all loss. We decamped to The Viking Museum whose cafe and shop you are very welcome to access without paying to enter the museum. we ordered hot chocolate and I kid you not it was the best hot chocolate I have ever had. In my life. Not discounting the one we had in the famous cafe in Vienna.

Mine was the brownie, the chocolate coconut thing was the OH's and the cookie was on the house because the girl behind the counter thought we had waited too long for her to bring the hot chocolate due to two demanding Americans who wanted one espresso and two glasses of hot water between them.  It wasn't a problem really, we didn't care,  but she insisted. We wrapped it up and took it away for later. Like the things we had actually ordered, it was delicious.