Words for Wednesday - Using the Words.

The Words for Wednesday put up by me, did not inspire me much. Here they are:

Rivers
Heavy
Shell
Mischief
Searchlight
Yell
      And / or
Arm
East
Fruit
Languages
Voice
Thought

and a photo of a loom. 

  Then I sat surfing the 'net, swearing loudly mumbling over Facebook's new antics - they finally stopped FBPurity from working, forcing me to use the new looks. Urgh! But there I saw this photo from Helsingborg Stadsarkiv:

  This photo hails back to the days before Sweden went from left- to right-hand traffic, which I told about in my Poetry Monday :: Spaghetti post; and it made me remember the many, many times I took the trip to Sweden and back. Of course Susan went there as well. 🌝 There's no magic in this instalment, but I did not use very many words; only three actually, so maybe more is to come  ...
  I am threading a for me new territory in English: Sea-faring, duty free shops and such. Please correct any mistakes or wrong expressions.

Susan, come here!" Mum called. "What are your plans for today?"
"Nothing really," Susan answered truthfully. She had some vague ideas about drawing their cat, reading a bit maybe, studying some Icelandic and spells and NOT do her homework until tomorrow, Sunday.
  "I have some complimentary tickets for the ferries, they expire Monday. Would you mind taking a trip to Sweden and back? You can have all the tickets obliterated on the way there, and then buy cigarettes for me with all of them. They are all return tickets, but you only need to show one of them when getting on board in Sweden."
  "How can I have all the tickets obliterated? I'm only me ... one person?"
  "Today miss Hansen is at work. If you greet her from Dad when showing the tickets, she'll do this as a service for us."
  "Do I have to go back with the next boat, or can I go for a walk in Helsingborg before I return?"
  "If you have time, there's no reason why not. These tickets are good for all day once obliterated. I even have some Swedish coins. You can go and buy an ice cream or something."
  After Mum told her this, there was no doubt in Susan's mind. She loved soft ice, and in Sweden you could have her favourite variety. Pear flavoured soft-ice. "Oh yes," she said. Let me get dressed and get my book and a basket while you get the tickets and the money.
  Susan returned, fully dressed even to shoes carrying her favourite basket with the contents covered up by an old scarf. "That way no one can see all your cigarettes and be tempted to steal them," Susan told Mum, who smiled and handed Susan a wad of tickets and a big bank note, "This is enough for cigarettes both ways. Don't lose it!" Susan shook her head. Mum the gave her a small handful of coins, silver and bronze together: "And these are for ice cream and what else you can get." It was mostly small coins, bronze 1, 2, and 5 öre, and worn silver 10öre, but also some of the bigger iron 25 or 50 örer and even some large, silver 1 kronor coins. "Thank you Mum," Susan said, "I'll take good care of them." She took her small red purse from the zippered pocket in her skirt, put coins and tickets in one compartment, and the banknote in the other before putting the purse back and zipper the pocket again. "Good Susan," Mum said. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Remember that the tickets are only valid for the big ferries, no idea in you trying to go by the small boats."
  Susan smiled. "Won't do." she agreed.

Susan decided to take the shuttle bus to the ferries and walked down to the small, cosy square from where it departed. It was only a short trip to the other side of the harbour, but she would catch an earlier ferry. As instructed, she greeted the lady from her dad and had all 10 tickets obliterated. This meant she could get a whole carton of cigarettes each way. But first she had to get aboard. As Denmark and Sweden were part of a union, she did not have to bring her passport - she did not even own one - or any other personal papers. But she had to go through the customs. and as usual the customs officer looked at her and decided that she was suspicious.
  "What do you have in that basket, young lady?" he asked,
  "Oh nothing special," Susan answered. "My book, some 'godis' (Swedish for candy) and a couple of pencils." She folded back the scarf and let him have a look.
  "Aren't those extra salty liquorice?" he asked suspiciously.
  "Why, yes, of course," Susan said. "I like it. Do you want some?"
  "Oh, no thanks. I was just asking. You can board"
  Susan wondered why she was almost always controlled, and what they were searching for. The Danish customs were looking for coffee and for fireworks - but not in the summer - what the Swedish ones were looking for, Susan did not know. She was not afraid for the return journey. the Danish ones were always very lax when it was not the season for fireworks at least.

Before the ferry left the docks Susan was already in place on the smallest, topmost passenger deck. She loved to stand there, in the prow of the ferry, with the wind blowing in her hair and the sound of the big engines in her back. Smoke billowed from the smoke stacks, and a lout HOOT sounded from the whistle. The ferry slowly left the pier. Susan stood rooted in place, watching the hustle and bustle in the narrow strait. 11 ferries in each direction every hour, plus fishing boats, big and small vessels passing through and the even smaller sailing boats also passing, or turning into marinas on either side of the Sound made for a very crowded waterway. It was like a ballet, nobody was ever close enough together that they looked like crashing, every boat, ship and ferry seemed to know exactly when and where to sail. The blue sea and the blue skies above and the tiny white clouds and white sails gave a festive, dreamish look to the whole scenery. The Swedish coast quickly grew closer, she saw the roofs and greenhouses of Sofiero Castle glittered in the sun before they were hidden behind green trees. She remembered that she had to buy cigarettes for Mum and hurried down the narrow staircase to the shop.
  "A carton of cigarettes, King's, please." Susan said and gave the tickets to the shop lady who stamped all the tickets without batting an eye, took the bank note, and gave Susan the carton of cigarettes and her money back
  "And nothing for yourself?" she asked.
  "No thanks," Susan said, "I'll save my money for a soft ice in Helsingborg."
  "Enjoy!" the lady said, and Susan hurried out into the fresh air once again to watch the ferry docking.
  Soon the ferry glided between the stony arms of the breakwaters outside the harbour and slowed further down to glide into its place. Not quite 4 kilometres in 20 minutes was not an awesome speed, Susan could have done faster by bike if she could have biked over the waves.
  Susan did not hurry down to stand and wait with the others to get off the ferry in a hurry, all that crowding was not necessary The voice in the loudspeakers announced that the ship had arrived, and everybody was kindly asked to disembark using the doors in the right hand side of the ferry. She reached the door as the first passengers were already getting back onboard. A lot of people only took the trip to be able to buy duty free tobacco, and took the same ferry back again. Susan debarked, went down the stairs and stood on Swedish ground. She turned left and followed the fence to the big road.
  It was really big, three lanes in each direction and a train track. And of course the traffic lights were red. Finally they turned green and Susan crossed the large street very quickly. If you were slow, the lights changed again and you were caught in the middle. Susan stopped outside the town hall. It looked as if it was built from giant LEGOs, but in a pretty way. As always she patted the big, black naval mine outside the town hall. Its many horns gave it a look not unlike some strange udder. Her granny had told her that it was placed there as a memorial for WWII together with a relief depicting some men and a boat. For Susan this was something that had happened long, long ago, but it had become almost a ritual for her to pat the mine whenever she passed it. Having done that she sauntered up towards the loomig tower at the end of the street. The tower stood on its hill; a heavy, squat figure contrasting with the elegant towers, bows, buttresses and fountains supporting and flanking the staircase leading up to it.
  Today Susan did not climb the staircase to the medieval tower, instead she turned left into the central shopping street of the town. Her target was the ice shop a few houses down the street. She studied the price list and counted the coins in her purse. Yes, she had enough for a big soft ice, and even more left over. Mum had been in her generous corner. She ordered a big vanilla-and-pear ice cream in a cone and admired the way the soft green and white waves of icecream crossed and doubled back before finally taking the first delicious bite. While licking and biting the ice cream, she continued down the pedestrian street. Many different shops tried to tempt her into using her money, but most sold either clothes or groceries or jewellery. Not really tempting. When she reached the small square, she turned back, ice almost eaten. She considered going into the big shop just to ride the escalator up and down again and buy some candy, but then again. This was a special trip. She wanted to buy something lasting, not only Swedish candy - even if it was tastier and cheaper than its Danish counterpart.

Part 2