Welly-well, now that the coldest month of June in 20 years has hit us, what's there to do in Stockholm?

For one, why not experience closeness with your fellow passengers on the subway! On Monday SL, the Stockholmian public transport system, decided to let trains run 3 times/hour for the next few months because they are working on Citybanan.

This means a lot of people are crammed à¡ la Tokyo subway style, with everybody who's wearing a backpack becoming the enemy if they don't know how to wear one, i.e. by smacking old people in the face.

And I met Tamara! She was on the subway too, so meeting her was nice.

Met this little fellow in Bagarmossen.

Later on, as X and I ventured towards Debaser Slussen...

And we saw Shearwater, by Jove. It was lovely. Hearing songs from a band that X made me discover at almost the same time as Okkervil River, hearing them with her...ah. I can't describe the feeling. And we hugged and swayed.

And met Renate! Lord! We haven't met our Småland/Austin friend since going to Texas last time around. It was great seeing her again, and partaking of her lovely RUBBERNECK magazine which you should get cracking on instantly.

Well, Shearwater? Despite not playing any old songs they were really sweet to see. When a guy in the audience shouted "A Hush!" Jonathan replied that those days had been "a rip in the space-time continuum". Whoa.

Yes, the audio on those are completely shot but a lovely memory for me.

Following Shearwater we caught up with Renate and the band. It was nice to hear Jonathan had seen Jonathan Franzen birding in Central Park. And from now-on, I'll know a few things learned: that the moon towers of Austin is still in-place and that Louisiana is probably cool. And yeah, Jonathan plays the guitar a lot better than I thought he would. I've no real idea how come, though...

Now, here's to more love with X throughout rainy Stockholm. No matter how we it gets outside, the inside's always dry and safe from harm except for Blixa's coarse tongue.