Light sleeper...

My Finnish colleagues had warned me that the dark here in Helsinki was tough during the winter. I dismissed this initially, as back home I was used to going to work and coming home in the dark for a few weeks, but somehow here it seems worse. Perhaps it's because I am the only one in the apartment.

For a while, I relied on the alarm on my Nokia N95. But after a couple of times of turning it off while only half awake and then falling back into a deep slumber, I decided I needed a better solution. I tried having a second alarm in the bathroom, so that I had to get up, but found that when desperate I could ignore that one as it was not loud enough.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock, which gradually lights up the room over 30 minutes and then wakes me with birdsong. It has worked really well, I then feel more awake when my phone alarm goes off and am ready for the next part of my morning ritual.

One of the things I've missed from home has been listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 in the mornings. Of course, I can listen over the internet, but at the time I am normally getting up, Radio 4 is broadcasting the farming programme, not a lot of use to me. So, I have been using the podcasting client on my Nokia to get the two or three interviews that the BBC podcasts each day, automatically downloaded to my phone overnight through the wireless LAN in my apartment.

So, my morning routine goes something like this ... tweet tweet ... beep beep ... "This is a download from the BBC". And just to make the experience as authentic as possible, I play each interview two or three times while I am getting ready for work, just like they do on the real programme!

Zero degrees sea...

I had been told that the sea usually freezes in Helsinki in winter and was looking forward to this spectacle. Having grown up by the sea on the South coast of England, this is not something I had ever experienced, though sometimes even swimming in the English Channel in summer feels cold enough to scare a brass monkey.

On Saturday, I walked to the Kauppahalli (market hall) at the South Harbour to buy fresh Salmon steaks to cook for dinner, as my wife and youngest daughter were flying over for a few days. On the way, I noticed that the water around this old sailing ship, moored at the harbour as a restaurant, was solid enough for birds to walk on.

When I looked more closely, I saw that the ice on the surface was still moving and had taken on the appearance of "crazy paving", a popular finish for patios in my youth. I assume this is due to the conflict between the tendency of the ice to freeze as a flat sheet and the effect of the motion of the water cracking the sheet. Whatever, I found it intriguing. I am looking forward to when it is solid enough for people to walk on out to the islands in the harbour. Rest assured I shall not be the first one testing the ice!

Career progression...

Well, I am back from Barcelona and the pinnacle of my career in PR, directing pedestrian traffic from another press conference to ours. Those of you on Facebook may already have seen this picture, currently my profile photo on there.

This was my seventh Mobile World Congress. Actually, technically it was the first as the name changed from 3GSM World Congress this year. Whatever the name, the show is pretty much the same; the great and the good of the mobile world assemble to share views on the future of the industry (and a few bottles of Cava). The rest of us drink beer, in my case perhaps a little too much London Pride at the City Arms, a Taberna Inglesa! It comes to something when an Englishman, resident in Helsinki, has to travel to Spain for a pint of bitter brewed in Chiswick.

After six years of duty on the batwing booth, it felt like I had crossed the floor, as the politicians would say. I saw several of my old buddies from that company and caught up on their news. To those I missed, please do drop me a note, via email or on Facebook or LinkedIn, whichever you prefer.

Soupe du jour...

If I head North from my apartment instead of South, I come to Hakaniemi, another of the major market places in Helsinki. It's about the same distance to walk, but whereas the market at the South Harbour is "touristic", as my former colleagues in Germany would say, at Hakaniemi it seems somehow more authentic.

As well as the outdoor stalls, there is an old market building, inside which are stalls selling all manner of fresh meats, fish and vegetables, as well as cakes and cheeses. A visit there today gave me a wonderful selection of fare, as I am cooking for one this weekend.

One of my friends here had recommended the soup seller Tapaste at the market. He is quite a character and has a busy business. It's a very simple setup. I had the choice of two soups, Bortch (his spelling) with bacon or Bouillabaise. I opted for the beetroot soup as I am the only one in the family who likes that vegetable and so take any chance I can to enjoy it. While I waited, a dish of olive oil with fresh green herbs was presented, into which I could dip the fresh bread until the soup was served.

I was not disappointed. Instead of the usual thick, blended soup this was a broth filled with julienne-cut beets and carrots, with a huge dollop of sour cream on top. The rich, smoky Paprika flavour took me back to our holiday with Graham, Barbara, Jim and Linda in Budapest a few years ago. It was delicious and I understood why, even at only 11 in the morning, his stall was busy. I was lucky to get a seat, as several people who arrived after me had to wait for 10 minutes or so for a table.

After that, I enjoyed choosing a Salmon steak for Sunday lunch and a piece of steak for this evening, my reward for two weeks worth of ironing. Tomorrow I will be off to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, so I am enjoying my last few hours of peace and quiet!

More free speech ...

My thanks to John, my 2.0 guru, for recommending Odiogo as an alternative to Talkr.com. It has the added benefit that if you subscribe to the podcast, the text of the post is also visible in the file. Each blog post now has a button to listen to the post. Finally, at least the gender of the voice is now correct for me (and does a much better American accent than I can manage!).

I'll cancel the Talkr.com subscription, so if you have subscribed to that feed, please switch to the Odiogo one using the button in the sidebar. I am sure it will be worth it!

Free speech ...

You may have noticed the new items in the sidebar. Through the wonders of Talkr.com, you can now listen to my blog posts as audio. For those of you who enjoy the slightly robotic twang of your satnav, this could be right up your street. Underneath the radio panel, there is a button which will allow you to subscribe for posts on your podcasting software, such as iTunes or, though I haven't tried it for this feed yet, the Nokia podcast client on your mobile device.

I've put this up really to demonstrate some interesting technology, rather than because I think it is really cool. Personally, I find it a little unsettling to hear my words spoken in a female American accent. That probably rules me out as a Hollywood screenwriter, then!

Let me know what you think... use the comments box or drop me a mail.