I spent the early part of January this year in Sweden. This is not something I would generally recommend doing. The cold isn’t the main thing, although it is certainly cold. The problem is the dark. Sweden is a beautiful country, but you wouldn’t know it for half the year.

I lived in Stockholm in 2017 and 2018, with my then boyfriend. I moved there with him and for him – he had got on a master’s programme in the city and I was trying to be a writer while doing odd jobs, both things I could do in Sweden. I had never lived abroad and wanted to. At first, it was difficult. I had no friends, I missed home, and without colleagues or fellow students to mingle with, I was lonely.

It got good, though. It got really good. I made great friends, grew to love our little flat and running around the island of Södermalm, past the little boats tied up along the shore, jumping in the water when I felt brave, learning enough Swedish to tune into conversations in the street. I loved living there, and I loved living there with him. We moved back to London once his course was finished; then the pandemic came and we broke up in the spring of 2022,........

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