Day 18, 30 June 2014, Stockholm (East Sweden) to Gothenburg (West Sweden). Snappy 400 kms odd - only 3 hours 15 minutes on the train - be there by 12.30 pm. Easy. What is it they say about the best laid plans of mice & men? Well it started out OK. I hauled my sorry self out of the hotel, my bag seemed to have doubled in weight but I suspect it's because I was a sweating, snuffling sicky. Made it to the metro and found the lift - which is HISS in Sweden. Which might also be "Toilet for homeless men who hang about railway stations" - or simply the noise I made when I walked in to it... Jeez - as if my poor schnozz didn't have enough to cope with. Made it to Central Station with half an hour to spare. Convinced an ATM (or "Bankomat") to give me some more kronor for the next four days. And then jumped on the train. Easy. Right? Wrong! After the first hour pelting through the Swedish countryside (water, trees, grass - Repeat), we stopped at a station and let more people on. And stayed stopped - for the best part of an hour. Lots of announcements by the Swedish Chef on the PA. Curiosity finally got the better of me (though realistically - I wasn't leaving the train unless everyone else did). Apparently there was a gas leak on the line and we were being diverted. Two or three extra hours to Gothenburg. And then we were off on a scenic tour south. It probably wouldn't have taken so long if we'd been a scheduled service, but we were essentially an uninvited guest so spent quite a lot of time at stations along the way, sitting, waiting, for other trains to pass. Somewhat hilariously at 4 pm there was an announcement (woo hoo!) in English - that we were 10 minutes out.. and another announcement 10 minutes later that we were 20 minutes out. But with very little fanfare, considering, it was actually 4.30 pm before the 12.30 pm service finally huffed and puffed into Gothenburg. Debarked and decidedly stuffed, found a newsagent ("pressbyran"), bought a bus ticket and ventured out into the square to find the elusive bus #60. Wasn't too elusive once I checked at information and found it's stop was on the other side of the square. Finally at the hostel it still wasn't time for collapse. Hunted dinner at the local supermarket, cooked up ravioli, arrabiata sauce and rocket leaves and fell on it like the starving pasta-monster that I am. Bliss. Sleep. Gothenburg will just have to wait til tomorrow.
(PS - checked the news while I was on the train and found out that a freight carriage had been discovered leaking sulphur dioxide on the line ahead of us. Seriously nasty stuff. So delays happen... but better than carking it from toxic gas making train dissolve!)