Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  121 / 208 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 121 / 208 Next Page
Page Background

121

later, it’s more coffee and perhaps some card games and

patience. This is the basic structure of their everyday life,

everything else is a variation, but the variations also have a

familiar and predictable pattern: a motorbike ride

somewhere or other, shopping trips to the village (when

Ragna is with him, these always include a visit to a café), or

surprises, such as a fishing trip to one of the lakes not far

from home. When they come back, it’s time for coffee

again. Maybe they will also listen to the radio; that can lead

to a discussion and even an argument. But after a spot of

reconciliatory activity, in either the bedroom or the

bathroom, everything’s fine again. Sometimes they can

spend the entire morning in bed, and they can stay in the

bathroom for hours. But those are the rare exceptions.

Of course they take a certain amount of time mending

things, clearing up and doing housework. At regular

intervals Ragna does the washing, while Johan chops wood.

Ragna bakes and irons, while Johan fixes the vehicles and

repairs things round the house. Just before he’s finished, he

will step into the kitchen and rub his hands, then give an

affected shiver.

‘Ah, a little coffee wouldn’t be a bad idea, I think,’ he might

say, and so he will take a well-earned coffee break.

Naturally, Johan and Ragna’s chores are seasonal. Now it’s

spring and there’s little to be done. In autumn they will

trawl the moors for cloudberries, will fish and hunt and