Bar Kastello

Eight years to the day, I am back at Bar Kastello for a birthday coffee with Anna. Without question, I am in much better shape now, having just wrapped up a strength session at NW Järntorget. More than anything, I am grateful for what my body has made possible over these eight years – from taking up ultra running to exploring so many beautiful trails, from the Diablo Range in California to Roque Nublo on Gran Canaria.

And yet, some things have not changed. The “Death before decaf” motto still holds, and I am even wearing the same shirt as back then. What has changed is the absence of intractable internet debates, I left social media behind years ago. In any case, the most pressing topics of the day are no longer a source of online posturing but of grief: the unfathomable suffering in Gaza, and now yesterday’s terror bombing of preschools in Kyiv.