August was a month of people trickling back into the city, outdoor markets, crayfish mania, darker evenings, piles of chanterelle, chilly winds with hot sun, busy shopping streets, fewer masks, heavy rain and highly practical thigh length waterproof jackets.
Chanterelle mushrooms came into season. We saw these at a farmer’s market along with berry juices, cloudberry jam and other Swedish goodies. Pop-up fruit stands around the city replaced cardboard punnets of berries with piles of chanterelle.
The city was still full of colour. Peoples clothing, jars of Summery flowers on cafés tables, Aperol Spritz on restaurant tables, blue archipelago water and rows of pastel gelato flavours.
August was kräftskiva (crayfish party) season — a party to make the most of the last Summer days. Supermarkets stocked up on crayfish themed party products like hats and decorations, and many bakeries filled their windows with crayfish shaped bread. I laugh every year bcause the claws look like oven gloves!
People have started carrying smaller dogs again (which seems to happen with the weather gets a bit miserable).
Rain came and turned the streets into a sea of umbrellas. August weather changes seem to happen at the flick of a switch, usually in the middle of the month. We waited until August for our Summer break and for the second year running, the dry weather had passed by that point. Now we understand why most people take time off in July — August is basically the arse end of Summer before the crisp Autumn days arrive.
We used the public transport boats a few times and went out on the top deck even though it rained a bit. Nothing wakes you up quite like Baltic breeze.
That’s all for August!
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