ski track ettiquette

I would like to begin this by saying stop walking your dogs on the bloody ski track!

Finns apparently have two rules of ettiquette:

1) Don't fart in the Sauna
2) Don't walk on the Ski tracks

Seems like sound social rules to me. I mean really who wants wants to be in a hot small room full of steam with a rank fart in the air.

If you go skiing (like classic or skating style) then you'll know that tracks make a big difference to doing it smoothly without tripping up. When you're training as a sport it can be annoying to trip up because of a deep foot print in the track. So of all people Finns should know better than anyone that you should not walk your bloody dog on the bloody ski track.

You may have guessed that this topic drives me insane.

The worst part is that it is plainly and unambiguously a violation of laws. To make matters worse the National TV station here (YLE) tried to present a program about it and in the interests of political correctness ended up making a case that it was some how ok.

Well congratulations YLE, you just helped their cause.

What really drives me nuts is that these responsible and caring citizens also allow their dogs to shit on the tracks and just leave it there.

On the foot path its just unsightly, but on the Ski track ...

Its stunning to me that people even let their dog do a shit right in the middle of the bloody track! I mean what normal dog shits in the middle of a path?

Then they leave it there ...

When I was in Canada the people in the towns of Alberta were much more ethical in this way and many picked up their dogs shit in small plastic bags. They even had dog shit bins at the dog walking track entrances.

Now this isn't so unique, these same dog owners usually never pick up their dog shit anywhere any time and make no effort to pick it up.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to create the impression that no Finn picks up their dog shit, but it sure does seem to be a minority looking around.

But seriously, little is more annoying than getting dog shit on your skis when its just around zero deg C.

spitting

One of the things which struck me when I first came to Finland was just how many people spit. They spit in town, they spit on the busses, they spit everywhere. It was nearly as bad as China (which seems bent on changing this).

I was particularly reminded of this upon returning to Finland from 10 days in southern Europe where I didn't see anyone spit. But its not just young lads, you walk around any place here and you'll see boys and girls lean over and spag on the ground.

Given the current fascination with averting Pig Flu here in Finland I'm surprised that noone public has yet mentioned this point.

Its a filthy and disgusting habit, totally unnecessary and helps spread disease.

stop it ... please!

Hyvaa Joulua kaikille

Thought I'd leave the last post of the year on a note of goodwill to all, so from my wife and I





best wishes to all

the bread board

Finland is most clearly not Australia.

One of the clear differences here is that the air is really dry (even though Finns will tell you it isn't).

This encourages some mighty distasteful habits from my perspective. One such habit is the "cunning top draw hidden bread board"



It just pulls out like an ordinary slim draw and allows you to cut your bread and simply push it back in when you've finished.

This does however seem to lead to many a bread board containing the debris of bread from days or weeks ...



lucky its so cold here there is no cockroaches and dry here as to not sprout fungi

Caminito: best Jäätelö in Finland

Kouvola has an incredible secret (not the railway station), it is home to the best hand made ice cream in Finland. Ice Cream or as its known locally Jäätelö

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you ...

Caminito

closing time
Kouvola is a bleak and grey Finnish town, perhaps this comes across a little in the image above, but just behind the glass windows of the store front resides an interior of colour and flavour which is a breath of fresh air in the bleak greyness of Kouvola. While Kouvola would be an ideal town for a director like David Lynch to re-shoot a bleak surreal movie such as Eraserhead, it is not the sort of place where you'd expect to find rich colours and great tasting ice cream ... but as it happens Kouvola is home to the best ice cream shop in Finland.

Certainly this shop belongs more to a place such as Helsinki, Tampere or Turku.


As soon as you walk in the door you're greeted by an assortment of excellent ice creams of the like you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Finland.

As well as taking advantage of local flavors (such as Metsamarijat) you can find exotic and delicious flavours from Mango and Banana through to the (just tried it today) Jasmine flavour.

Yes, Jasmine, just as in the Chinese tea.

Its just great.

Naturally Sergio serves coffee (both Finnish style and Espresso), hot chocolate a selection of Teas and even some home baked breads and pastries (for the genuinely hungry).

Everything is made on site by the owner Sergio (who is not a Finn, but from Argentina). So the interior is decorated in the colours of his home town, with some brightly coloured oil paintings of the region adorning the walls.

upstairs

Downstairs he has his ice cream making factory as well as more tables for patrons and even a playground for the kids.





Naturally even the reserved and stoic Finns enjoy hanging out here during the long summer days, and despite not selling beer or other booze here seems to attract quite a turnout.



Lets face it, its nice to be able to take the kids somewhere away from the typical beer selling Kahvilla (and the people you find there) isn't it...

As you may have noticed on this blog, I don't do advertising; so this isn't an ad. In fact its quite unlikey that anyone reading this blog will even be in Finland, I just thought that it was quite "hauska" to find such a Jewel in this place.

Either way I love it and I hope it continues to do well.

See ya there!

frost on the lake

Normally its snowing enough to make Skis the best bet for lake transport here in the east of Finland, but sometimes its just icy ... so with this in mind this year we thought we'd buy some "Nordic skates" (here they're called retkiluistimet).

These attach to the bottom of regular boots or in some models require you to use particular ski boot bindings. We bought a set that attach to regular boots because we often like to ski and hike in places. Ski boots aren't really good walking boots ...

They work best on plain ice, normally in Finland by the time the lakes are frozen but covered with snow, making it impossible to Skate.

This year we've had a long warm period in November with the temperature only dropping below 0°C in December.

We've had funny weather this year (by my experience anyway) with clear cloudless skies and -10 or -20°C all week, so we expected the lakes to be frozen and ice free.

So, armed with our new toys we set off for a local lake to try them.

We didn't expect to find that the lake was covered in what at first glance was snow, but we discovered to be frost.

It was quite simply the most stunning display of frost ice crystal growth I've ever seen.

We struggled with the skating a bit then gave up as it was too hard ... should have bought the skis.

As you can see above the ice was growing up in 3 dimensional sheets which looked like small ice plants all over the ground, with small leaves in all directions. This is how it looks close up



a beautiful "ice cover" of plant like ice structures.

Walking on them you could hear the smashing of the ice (as it was still -17°C), I felt like a kid breaking beautiful crystal in a shop with every step.

We dumped the skates in the bushes and set off on foot to explore and walk around a little.

Hope you enjoyed this little winter wonder here ... today its started snowing lightly so it's all going to be buried and crushed. In places they were so densly grouped as to look like snow at first.


lovely

hyvaa joulua tiimilleni

I always believe that you can never judge a person based on the perceptions of their culture or even their fellow man. My last six months of working in Helsinki has been such a night and day contrast to the Finns that I have met in the 2 years before this as to make me wonder if I have been in the same country. (Well in truth that gets sorted out every weekend when I am back in Kouvola).

My workmates at my as pleasant a bunch as I have worked with anywhere ever and certainly more pleasant than some I've worked with in Australia.

Its a little sad actually that my contract is coming to a close as (while not without some friction and disagreement) this bunch of Finns has been my summer in a winter land of darkness.

So, guys (if ever you read this and suspect its me) I'd like you to know that without any doubt you have lifted my spirit this year in Finland.

Hyvää Joulua!