‘Oxveckorna.’ Now there’s a word I needed, but didn’t know existed until now. ‘The ox weeks.’ The long, dark, featureless weeks between New Year and Easter when there are no public holidays, and everything’s dull, and the weather is harsh, and you just trudge to and from work, day in, day out. The weeks when you slog through every day like a toiling ox. Tack, my Swedish friends, for naming the concept.