No photos today?

How strange ... I don't think we took any photos today. It was somewhat of a lazy day as we woke up late and had breakfast late. Linnea is the only one in this house who gets up at a decent hour and she helps herself to something to eat and watches TV or plays a game until someone wakes up. I am not sure why we sleep so late here. Maybe it is because we rarely get to bed before 1 or 2 am? Haha. I am not sure if we are just on vacation time or still whacked up schedule from all the light here?

Anyway, our grand plans of shopping have been delayed. The plumber was planning to be here around 4pm and most of the shops close at 5 or 6pm. The bank closes at 3pm and we needed to go today. I think we left the house just before 2pm so that didn't leave us much time to do anything.

We needed to get to the bank today since we have been putting it off since Fredrik got here. I need to be added to his Swedish bank account so we can pay for things easier. All of Sweden (and maybe all of the EU?) have now converted to using a "chip" in the card for extra security. If you don't have this "chip" in the card, then you need to enter your pin code. Well, we have had troubles with this ever since I got here. It would probably help to have a real credit card (I actually haven't tried it since the beginning of my trip when it was maxed out) but our debit card has been a bit of a problem. You can bypass the code part and sign for your bill but it really confuses people because no one ever uses that feature.

I have been paying cash for most things but gas is a bit of a problem. I can't pay for gas because all the stations only take cards with a "chip" or a pin code! Fredrik doesn't have a credit card so he has been paying for gas with his Swedish bank card. Oh and gas prices? Expensive! Good thing we drive a diesel car as it gets pretty great gas milage. We have driven quite a bit (from Arlanda to Jarvso was about 300 km or 186 miles, round trip to Gavle to shop at Ikea was another 300 km and twice to Hudiksvall is another 300 km) and have only had to fill the tank twice. However, the price of diesel is about $8/gal which is about double what we pay at home. I think gas prices are almost as expensive and those cars go through fuel quicker. No wonder diesel is so popular!

Ok, back to the bank ... it is a small bank and of course adding me to his account is not simple. I am not a Swedish citizen so I don't have a "person" number which is like our SSN. We had to wait for the bank manager to help us out. It took 30-40 minutes just to add me to our bank account and to create a new one to handle the rental income for the house.

Then it was time to eat lunch at 3pm! We had burgers at the place right next door and then walked down to the Tourist Agency because we need to set up an appointment with them to get our house listed for rent and also for them to tell us what else we might need. Of course, everyone is on vacation this week so they have to get back to us.

I think I forgot to mention that we met with a lady yesterday who will essentially manage our rental. She provides an on call service for any problems, issues or questions. There are many people who own rental homes here but live in other parts of Sweden who also use her services. She also provides an inspection service to make sure the rental is ready for the next tenant. If the tenant books a cleaning service, then she has a team of people who do that. Also, if the tenant books linens to rent (a fairly common practice) then she takes all the linens and washes those. There is a separate fee for each service but they are all fairly reasonable and really it is the only way we would be able to have our house as a vacation rental is to use her service or have a family member do it.

So we made it home just in time for the plumber to finish his work and we now have a working 2nd toilet! Now we have to wait until tomorrow to shop for all the fixtures like a vanity, lights and toilet paper holder. It was insanely hot at the house today. The official high was 30C or 86F but it felt much hotter inside the house. At least now we have a fan to move some air around but mostly we just sat in front of it and napped or played games on our phone. The kids eventually put on their swim suits and chased each other around the house squirting water at each other. I prefer sticking my feet in a bucket of ice cold spring water instead.