Five Ideas to Change the World: Little Boys Love Tents

Five Years Old Boys Love Camping - Even in the Backyard.

Will found this tent at a local shop for 99Kronor (which is super cheap). I found out why when I tried to sleep in it - they removed the last 6 inches of room that would make it habitable by adults of average height. That aside, we set up a pretty good bed in there with a blow up mattress, doonas and sleeping bags (really roughing it). I wouldn't say it was the best sleep I have ever had but Will had fun.

Willem preparing to be a beaver. I had not realised that a pack (?) of beavers can take down 400 trees in a year.

After looking at all the beaver trees Will got a bit of a taste for the outdoors. Lili was at a sleep-over so some 'boy time' was called for, we missed out on killing a buffalo with a stick but this was alot of fun. Here is his tent (found at Rusta for 99Kr ~ $15) pitched about 4.31m away from our backdoor next to the deck.

I wonder how many
trees a pack of
Wills can take down
in a year

Lovely scenery near the beaver area.

Swedish Allottment Houses and Plots.

The tent and the summer weather made me think about all the vegetable gardens you see around Stockholm. In 1895 the Swedes established allottment gardening as a concept in a town in the South of Sweden. This became so popular that there are now around 26,000 allottment gardeners in Sweden - with their own association thank you very much. The Swedish allottment consists of a small area of land (maybe 250 sqm) and a small house (maybe 40sqm) amongst other similar houses and gardens. In hard times it has been common for people to remain in these allottment houses for up to 20 years. The view expressed by a Swedish social democratic leader, Anna Lindhagen was that:

For the family, the plot of land is a uniting bond, where all family members can meet in shared work and leisure. The family father, tired with the cramped space at home, may rejoice in taking care of his family in the open air, and feel responsible if the little plot of earth bestows a very special interest upon life.

I love these allottment houses. Could you imagine how simple life
would be if you could spend all your time in the garden?

I can relate to that - especially when everything is in full bloom around you. I just want to be outside in a garden growing things (except at this rented house - I mow the lawn though).

We Have Proof!

Well actually this is the second proof of my book. We changed some layouts, paper colours and found some errors that have been fixed up. I thought it came out pretty well except some of the internal images so I need to fix that. I also found one line that was missing a bold font so, it looks like we will have proof 3!

Maybe, if I can finish the updates this week it could be available on Amazon before next week or the week after. I was pretty impressed with Amazon - I ordered the proof one day and was signing for it from a UPS delivery guy the next afternoon.