Universe will provide

This is a sentence I hear many times every day when with Hannah. Initially when we first met I found it slightly tiring. A year later, I even agree with her. But still somehow find it exhausting at certain instances. Like yesterday at around 4 p.m when I went outside to see if the car would start. It always has. It was -35 degrees C and the battery died instantly. Slight panick. My daughters will arrive to Malmö tomorrow and we have 10 hours of driving. I went outside the car, dressed in all my Arctic pro gear, looked up on a sparkling starlit sky and thought:

“Where the hell is the universal provider when you need it?”

Suddenly at that exact moment I see headlights from a car turning in on my road. There is hardly ever any traffic around the house. I had only seen the snowplough man the past month.

“Is it Strandberg himself?”

It was my only neighbour, who I hadnt seen for over 50 years.

“I have seen you have been here over the last few years and wanted to come and say hello.”

It took -35 degrees C for him to make that move. We chatted for awhile about the last 50 years. It took us two minutes. He had starting cables, helped me start the car i love and he said when I asked him advice about the return journey south.

“It will be even colder tomorrow. I doubt your diesel car will start once you turn it off. You better go back to Malmö.”

So we quickly packed up the car to the brink with Greenland kit and sat off. I wanted to do at least 4 hours in the hope it would recharge the battery and start the following morning. So we drove through this Frozen land until temperatures went up at least 10 degrees. We stopped in Åmål. -23 degrees C.

I am going to start the car in 20 minutes. Let us see if Universe will provide!