Karin is moving into a new place today, and it feels a little more permanent than the other apartments she’s had. She and her girlfriend Nelly, and Anders moved all her furniture from the apartment she had been sharing in Malmö for a couple of months, this morning and then this afternoon, she and I took another carload of stuff. For a 21-year-old, she sure had a lot of baggage already!
It’s the second floor apartment in a quite big standalone building that has 3 other flats in it. It used to be part of an area that contained a mental hospital, psych wards and other health clinics in late 19th century. There are still plenty of healthcare related services in the area; in fact, not far from Karin’s apartment is the building where I had my gall bladder removed. The building she is moving into was, before it was renovated to apartments, doctor’s quarters.
The woman who owns the apartment left a lot of furniture and other various things, so Karin and the girls are figuring out what they want to keep and what to put in storage or get rid of. There’s a HUGE sofa that takes up an incredible amount of space; it’s a four-seater sofa with another corner seat. She’s heading back over soon this evening with another load of clothes and Nelly and her sister (the third roommate) are also bringing more stuff tonight. It will be fun to see it when they have everything in place. 🙂
I start work again tomorrow, but it’s a super soft start to the year, since I’m only working 1.5 days, then Wednesday is a holiday, and I have Thursday and Friday off. I expect to start packing up the Christmas tree and house decorations though we’ll probably keep the stars and advent lights up a bit longer since it’s still so dark. We had some sunshine today, which I was very glad to see. It’s been a long, dark holiday with very little light outside.
We got the news on New Year’s Day that Anders’ mom had tested positive for coronavirus. Considering that she had already been isolated in her room and not seen anyone but staff for the last three weeks made us very upset. Two weeks before Christmas, someone in the home tested positive (there’s since been a second), and both of those people are hospitalized. 🙁 The staff was supposed to be taking the restrictions and precautions very seriously and the residents were all confined to their rooms; not allowed in the common areas or the dining room or to have visitors.
So our tentative plans to get together with her and Anders’ sister were thrown out the window. For Märta’s 92nd birthday, which is December 23rd, since we weren’t allowed in, we stood outside her window and called her on the phone. I was especially upset because the staff wouldn’t even let her open the window, which I found ridiculous, if we stood 2 meters away, and now find even more aggravating in light of the fact that she got it from one of them! She had a corona test on the 17th and then again ON her birthday, both of which came back negative. But the one on New Year’s eve came back with bad news. So far, at least, her symptoms have been mild; a bit of fever, a slight sore throat and fatigue, and we’re hoping she’ll recover quickly.
I’ve spent a lot of time the last two weeks worrrying about mothers…both Anders’ and mine. I am so thankful that my sister is at my mom’s place helping her pack and sort, and that Martin has been there a couple of times to lend a hand as well. I keep thinking of things that they might not have thought of (set up mail forwarding! cancel the alarm service!) and texting my sister, only to find out she has already added them to the list and has everything well in hand. UGH, though. I so wish I could go.
I’m ready for work, or at least to stop being such a slug. We’ve certainly done our fair share of relaxing over the holidays but it’s about time to get back to real life and regular routines!