Moonlighting in Helsinki, part 2...

I've spent my first weekend in Helsinki for four weeks, having managed to escape the November weather by travelling in the US and spending three weekends at home in the UK.

Saturday was a fine day, with glorious sunshine thought it was zero degrees Celsius outside. I opened the blinds in the apartment for the first time in weeks, as it is now dark when I leave for and return from work. I had a wonderful walk around the city, doing some Christmas shopping and buying a few essentials for some DIY jobs around the apartment. On the way back to the apartment, the sky was a beautiful deep blue and the moon was visible to the side of the Lutheran cathedral, the picture doesn't quite capture how stunning the view was.

I ironed a three week backlog of shirts to the BBC's Radio 4 Listen Again service through my Internet radio and then wrapped presents while watching episodes from season 2 of House, one of my favourite programmes at the moment - I brought the DVDs back with me from the UK.

Today was a grey, drizzly day, apparently the typical November weather hated by the Finns. To me it seemed just like the English winter, so I was happy to take a stroll out for a little more shopping (the shops are open on Sundays now until Christmas) and a couple of pints of Guinness at Molly Malone's on the way home. I finished all my DIY jobs (including moving the pictures in the bedroom to where Stephanie wants them), cleaned the apartment and then cooked some pasta. A blissful wind-down after a busy week and hopefully I'm ready for the next.

Giving thanks...

I've spent the last 23 years working for US companies. This means that there are at least two times during the year when the volume of email from across the Atlantic declines; on 4^th July for Independence Day and again around the fourth Thursday of November, their Thanksgiving holiday.

Thankfully I have many American friends, some of whom are readers of this blog and so I won't attempt to show my cultural ignorance by explaining the holiday here. Wikipedia has a good article for my non-US readers.

However, I like the idea of Thanksgiving. Whatever your religious beliefs, or lack of them, the idea of taking time to really reflect on what you have to be thankful for seems a good one. In our busy lives, it is easy to take things for granted, something that living more than 1,500 miles away from the people I love most has already taught me not to do. A weekend alone in Helsinki has given me plenty of time for reflection.

For our family it has not been an easy year. In March, my wife lost her beloved Dad and our daughters lost their unique Grandad. Both girls split up from their boyfriends and now they are having to get used to not having me around all the time. And yet, we have so much to be thankful for. We are all healthy, we have enough to eat, enough funds to buy the things we need (and many that we don't) and a safe home, with friends and family who care for us. There are millions of people around the world who can't make the same claim.

At the moment, my parents are both under the weather and it is hard to be so far away from them when they are not well. I'm hoping to see them early in December when I am home for a visit and also for some time over the Christmas holidays.

So, wherever you find yourself at this time, I encourage you also to take a check on what you have and give thanks, to whomever you feel appropriate. Happy Holidays!

Diplomatic relations...

This evening, I met my first ambassador to Finland. It was a spiritual occasion -- because Jessica O'Flynn is the Jameson Whiskey Ambassador here in Helsinki, having moved here in September.

I was intrigued by the missionary nature of her work, bringing news of the Irish distilling industry to the population of a country where all of the liquor stores are owned by the state (and called Alko, which always makes me smile).

The meeting had been arranged by the International English Speaking Association of Finland, whose website I had happened upon by accident. Around 15 of us were there, for a presentation on the history of the Irish whiskey industry and the production process.

We learned that Irish whiskey differs from Scotch in a couple of ways. First, the malt is dried over an anthracite fire rather than peat, which does not impart the smoky taste of a Scotch. Secondly, it is triple distilled (once more than most Scotches, apparently) which removes more impurities.

After the theory came the practical. We had five samples, starting with the standard Jameson. This had a light flavour, fairly smooth and quite pleasant. Next came the Powers Gold Label, which has a higher proportion of pot still Whiskey and a more spicy, aromatic flavour. The third of the Jameson family was their 12 year old, my favourite. It is matured in sherry casks and has a more nutty, sweet flavour and a smooth finish.

We then compared them to a standard Scotch and a Bourbon. The Scotch was smoky as expected and not as smooth as the Jameson standard, but as a fan of the peaty, Islay malts, I quite enjoyed it. The Bourbon, made from maize rather than barley and only single distilled, was awful. No-one in the room took more than one sip, it seemed.

So, we were left to muse on the challenge of Jessica's job. There are apparently 331 Alko stores in Finland and 329 of them sell Jameson products, so it appears that at least part of her role will be trying to find which 2 are not doing their bit for Irish exports. I wish her good luck and Sláinte!

New York state of mind...

My second visit to New York started better than my first, only 10 minutes to get through immigration and then a car ride downtown.

I had dinner with Valerie, a former boss from my last employer who is also enjoying life after the batwings and living back in her beloved NYC. We met at Cipriani Dolci on the West Balcony in Grand Central. I note from the website that Grand Central is a terminal, not a station, as all the lines terminate there, so that was my learning for the day, as everyone seems to refer to it as a station. It was great to catch up over some oh-so-healthy salad and a where-did-they-put-the-tonic G&T, not to mention some good Italian red.

After that, 3 days of meetings and training at our offices in White Plains, all very interesting. I got to the airport in plenty of time to check in for the return flight and there was space on the earlier flight, so a real bonus. On the plane, watched Grow Your Own, a charming film about a group of immigrants given allotments to help them come to terms with life. Absolutely delightful, strong performances from some solid British character actors.

Now at home, catching up with the family for my last weekend here until December. Christmas shopping and a curry, not necessarily in that order!

Into the Valley...

After 23 years in the high tech industry, this week I finally made it to Silicon Valley. It was an interesting experience from the moment I stepped out of the airport. I got in a cab and told him the name of the hotel. Through the journey, one song was running through my mind, the one by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; "Do You Know the Way to San José". The cab driver clearly didn't. After several hand-held calls on his mobile (which didn't have GPS) he resorted to winding down the window at intersections and asking adjacent drivers for Market Street.

After a motivational two day session with the new leadership team I'll be supporting, I had the chance to visit our research center in Palo Alto. I met a bunch of researchers and leaders with two things in common, a passion for what they are doing and a strong belief that they are shaping the future. A compelling demo detects phones passing by a 46 inch touchscreen on the wall (if the owner's Bluetooth signature is registered) and then automatically pulls photos from the owner's Flickr account and displays them on the screen. It makes a real conversation starter when you are having a coffee! You can just see the picture of Ellie and Sally on screen.

Outside, I saw this beautiful Mexican Lavender, a huge shrub that apparently copes well with the Californian climate. We have a bank of Lavender at the bottom of our garden at home, but the plants are nowhere near this size.

All in all, a great week. Even 10 hours flying back in economy didn't dull my enthusiasm.

Gunpowder, treason and plot ...

En route to the US for a week of meetings, I have managed to spend a weekend with the family. Though the flight from Helsinki was delayed taking off, an unprecedented combination of tailwinds, air traffic control "cutting corners off the journey", as the pilot described it, no queue into Heathrow and a stand right by baggage reclaim meant I set a new personal best time for getting home. Even the Hertz bus was waiting for me at the terminal and I was through the front door just after 8pm, having left the office at 3pm in Helsinki. What a great way to start the weekend! Stephanie, Sally and Ellie (home for the evening) had even saved me some of the takeaway curry.

One of the unexpected outcomes of moving to live in another country is that you then see your homeland through different eyes. As I drove down the M3, I saw several fireworks displays lighting up an ink black, clear sky. British readers will understand why; at this time of year we celebrate bonfire night, in memory of the foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November, 1605. The most notorious plotter (though not the leader) was Guy Fawkes, effigies of whom are burned across the land atop bonfires of all sizes, together with pyrotechnic displays to enthrall the adults and startle most of the small children and animals.

On Saturday, we were preparing for our own village fireworks. I was due to be flipping burgers with other members of our amateur dramatic group. But before that at home, I cooked six litres of Broccoli and Stilton soup. This weekend normally marks the turn in the weather towards winter, but it was unusually mild and sales of soup were down, though surprisingly the mulled wine suffered no similar reduction in popularity!

It was a great way of catching up with friends from the village. And now, I am in one of my regular blog writing spots, the BA lounge at Heathrow Terminal 1, trying to record my thoughts before my flight is called. Next weekend we're going to Bath to see Ellie's new digs and celebrate her birthday, the second of three weekends in a row in the UK. I can't wait!