As the editor of the only English-language section of a Swedish newspaper, I get a little fed up of the canard that Sweden endures six months of darkness every year.
Imogen West-Knights implies that this is the case in her article (After a painful breakup, I dreaded returning to Sweden. Then came a friend’s quiet act of kindness, 28 December), by saying: “The problem is the dark. Sweden is a beautiful country but you wouldn’t know it for half the year.”
Even up north in Skellefteå, the green industry capital of the world (we have that wooden skyscraper, too), we only have three not-so-bright months: November, December and January.
But even during those months, we have four to five hours of sun every day, and the light reflecting off the snow makes it seem brighter. By mid-February the days up here are sunnier and longer than those in London and Stockholm.
In truth, Stockholm can be pretty drab for a few months at a time – they get the same drizzly, damp winter weather as the UK.
Paul Connolly
Bygdsiljum, Sweden
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
