There is a great deal of speculation in the midst of the global Corona crisis as to how much our world and the way we see ourselves will change at the other end of the pandemic tunnel. Hopes are high on there being favourable political spin offs affecting anything from the environment with a greater understanding that we share the same planet to more dialogue and less sabre rattling. I think it would be quite safe to say that there will be no reset button when all this is over, the rest remains to be seen.
As I mentioned earlier the immediate changes to our lives were subtle rather than dramatic. Nonetheless realizing that weekend family gatherings would now have to be consigned to the outdoors and whittled down to fair weather day visits brought on a crazy idea that suddenly morphed into reality. If an over 70 and his shielder spouse are deprived the hospitality of their children´s and grandchildren´s homes why not BYO, an often seen acronym in Australian restaurants lacking a license to sell alcohol. Bring Your Own! In our case BYO home. Driving home from Köping where our youngest daughter lives takes about 40 minutes and in this time we processed the BYO idea that had popped up earlier in the day.
Caravans and mobile homes were soon rejected as too cramped and of limited use as a family asset in the long term. Before reaching home we were in complete agreement that a typical Swedish ”stuga” (hut) at the bottom of the garden would see us through the Corona summer and who knows for how long afterwards?
From then on it all went very quickly. Planning permission was not required due to the rural location but Swedish law is rather pernickety when it comes to exploiting land within 100 metres of open water, in this case a small river running past the property. We refrained from starting our beat the virus building project until after receiving dispensation from the local council´s building committee but after detailed research of earlier and similar committe decisions we did actually order our building kit in anticipation of a positive reply.
On the 18th June the lorry from Sorsele arrived, carrying the timber and all the other bits and pieces required, on the same day our dispensation request was granted. Work began just after the Midsummer weekend and although a considerable amount of work was carried out on a family basis including the children, our son in law must be given the credit for the carpentry and technical solutions.
Nestled in between a river on the one side a swimming pool on the other with a large verandah facing onto open farmland our ”BYO stuga” was completed on the 4th August. A wonderfully warm and sunny August complete with family barbecues will be an August 2020 not easily forgotten.
