I believe in angels
I answered the door to find a tall blond man on the doorstep. ‘Hello’, he said, ‘You are wife in the north, ja?’ ‘I’m afraid not’, I told him, ‘and you are..?’ He held out his hand. ‘I am Sven Svensson from Sverige, pleased to meet you’. ‘Ah’, I understood now, ‘you must be from the car company about the missing keys’. ‘No’, he said, ‘I am from the Nobel Prize committee. The panel thinks that anyone who can write three blog posts about losing their car keys can give JK Rowling a run for her money this year.’ I looked puzzled. ‘Only joking!’ he laughed, 'yes I am here about the keys'. ‘Wife in the north has found hers’, I said, ‘but I could do with your help here’. I led him to the car. He looked inside and saw Tilly trying to guess what ‘S.W.’ was for the fiftieth time in her one-girl game of eye-spy. ‘I thought the custom in England was for the parents to lock themselves in the car with the children all bank holiday weekend’, he said. ‘This has changed now?’ ‘We’re downshifted’, I told him. ‘We like to be a bit different’. He studied the lock. ‘Actually’, he began, ‘My brother works for the car company but I asked if I could stand in for him as I am such a big fan of wife in the north’. ‘That’s nice’ I said. ‘Also, he was a bit confused by the directions to her house.’ ‘Oh?’ I said. ‘Yes, he thought wife in the north must be in Lappland but then he found out she was in England and he said ‘but England is in the south! These English are crazy! I am not going there if they are all so strange. I will stay in Sweden and beat myself with birch twigs like any normal person!’'. He fumbled in his pockets and produced an allan key. I was sure that wouldn’t open my super high-tech Swedish electronic locking system. He stuck the allan key in the lock and the entire car door fell off it’s hinges. ‘Are you sure you’re from the car company?' I asked as Tilly looked up and said ‘Mummy, are we nearly there yet?’ Well, actually...’ he began, 'I work for Ikea but it’s the same principle’. I nodded in understanding. ‘That’s done then’, he said. ‘You don’t mind if I use your sauna do you?’ 'I'll get you a towel', I sighed. Soon Sven would go back to Sweden and I would be left alone again, oh Sven, when you're gone, how can I even try to go on...
