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Pictures in the following segment are copied from a pdf file at stromstad.se [stromstad.se]
Entering the time Machine
Landing on one of the many thousand small islands in the Bohuslan archipelago always puts me in a very relaxed mood. I gather driftwood along the shore, light a fire and wade in the water and collect a handful of these mussles.
Their intrinsic saltiness is perfect, just put them on a stone next to the fire, let them sit until they open up and the last water inside them has boiled off. Still hungry? Get some more. I would take them before oysters any day. Just make sure they are growing on a stone or sandy bottom, where the water is clear.
I can walk around the whole island in less than twenty minutes. Where the beach is a bit more sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds I find low bushes and some pine trees, bent into reluctant submission, but not capitulating to the harsh conditions. Summertime this is paradise. The shallow water warms up to 70 degrees, not like the tropics, but it feels very nice to take a few minutes' swim.
 I take my boat to another island. Here I find traces of human presence, a fairly big house stood here some 150 years ago.
How did the people make a living out here? The Herring came in enormous amounts in periods back then, tons of them, literally. Quite an industry followed the herring, what couldn't be used for food was cooked until the fat separated and gathered on top in gigantic cooking vessels, where it was skimmed off and sold as fuel for lamps. Or for lubrication, or whatever use one could find for it. The remains in the cooking vessels were either dumped back in the sea or spread as fertilizer in the fields. Dare we guess that the stench was next to unbearable?
 Epidemics hit hard during the fifteenth century. This ring of stones is a grim reminder of a cholera epidemic that swept over this part of the world. The victims were buried out here, not to spread the disease further. Nobody knew that microbes existed back then, even less that they were the cause of the epidemics and not the dead.
I sit down in what once a very long time ago was a neighborhood out here, some three miles from the mainland. I believe these people were quite comfortable, comparatively, they certainly enjoyed fresh air and freedom and there was plenty of food in the sea. They probably kept a few cows and some sheep, too.
One final picture before I turn home, two small houses, I dare guess that they belong to a well off family who uses them during the way too short summer months.
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