Off the air for a while

My current employer has written to me instructing that I may not contact any of their employees, contractors or suppliers "until further notice". I don't believe this is enforceable beyond my termination date of 15 June, but if anyone has emailed me and not had a reply, I will be back in touch after that date :-)

Thank you

I wanted to say thank you to all of my friends and former colleagues who have sent such positive and encouraging messages. Leaving a company after nine years means there is a lot of shared history and it has been fun remembering some of this with you all. As soon as I have myself sorted out in Helsinki, I promise I'll be a much better correspondent!

Cutting loose

So, I resigned yesterday from my old job and am on a month's garden leave. Lots to do now, finding an apartment, setting up banking and so on, but it all feels like a great adventure.

Weekend in Helsinki

Just got back from our first family weekend in the city. Sally loved riding the trams, we had a buffet supper at Namaskaar, Helsinki's oldest Indian restaurant, Sunday lunch with my new boss and lots of fun for the girls looking around the shops. Arrived home late Sunday evening exhausted but excited at the new opportunities this move is going to bring us. More soon!

Why Finn Mark?

When I was growing up, I remember the currency of Finland being the Finn Mark. Since my name is Mark and I am going to be living in Finland soon, I played a little "word association football" (a favourite phrase of my friend Giffin) when I was thinking of possible names for the blog. Of course, the currency was really the Finnish Markka and Finnmark is actually a county in the extreme northeast of Norway, so I may have got this all horribly wrong before I start!