Twice as ice ...

The half term holidays are in progress in the UK, so my wife and daughter are visiting me in Helsinki with one of my daughter's friends. We managed to pick the weekend of All Saint's Day, which means that the shops will be shut all day on Saturday and so we will have to do something non-commercial then.

To make up for that, we hit the shops in the city centre yesterday and today have been to Itäkeskus ("east-centre"), one of the big shopping malls. This enabled my dear wife to indulge one of her favourite tastes here in Finland, for a dippi softis from Spice Ice. Today she had mixed chocolate and vanilla ice cream, dipped in liquid licorice which then sets hard, then dipped in licorice-flavoured sprinkles. I had the same ice cream combination dipped in toffee. Daughter #2 had strawberry and vanilla dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles and daughter's friend had chocolate and vanilla dipped in chocolate. Here you see the two girls enjoying the treat, before it got messy!

What's in a name ...

Several readers have asked me whether I will continue to blog when I return to the UK and, if so, whether I will keep the same name when I am not living in Finland. Of course, mine is not one of the highest visited online brands; according to Google Analytics I have had 81 unique visitors in the last 30 days, making 207 visits between them and viewing 1.33 pages each time on average. But it does deserve some thought. So when I passed this pub today in London, it did start me thinking. It is reasonably descriptive and includes a spelling mistake, so at least matches the current name.

However, it would not fit with my newly found sense of humility (a very Finnish trait), so I think I shall have to keep searching for ideas. All are welcome, though there is no rush, as I will be in Finland for some time to come.

A manor to which I could become accustomed ...

I am back at Sannås Manor near Porvoo this week (I blogged about my last visit in April), for a Cutting Edge course for 18 of the brightest stars in our communications constellation. I am looking forward to some engaging dialogue and insights from a truly global group. I am "godfather" to the course, which I believe involves making the participants an offer they can't refuse if they don't turn up on time!

Oops, I did it again ...

My tale this time is proof that lightning can strike twice in the same place. Well, maybe not lightning. And maybe not the same place, exactly. But the same victim.

Friends and family will know that when we moved into our current home around six years ago, it needed a lot of redecorating. The only room that didn't was the kitchen. Not entirely to our taste, but it had been recently renovated. So we were going to live with it, at least until I managed to set it on fire and then blow it up.

It's a long story, let's leave it at leaving a plastic tub full of shopping on top of a ceramic cooker hob (that bit is important) and then going out. On our return, the tub had melted, caught fire, burnt parts of the kitchen units, then two aerosols amongst the shopping exploded, fortunately blowing out the fire but at the same time, blowing out the window and door. Just the memory of it makes me cringe even now. The silver lining was that our insurer paid for a new kitchen and our neighbours saw an increase in their premium costs next time they renewed.

Fast forward to 2008, last weekend. I'd spent the weekend back home with my family. I returned to Helsinki with my LighterLife foodpacks in my favourite TravelPro flight case. I took it into the kitchen area and the only place to put it to unload was on top of the ceramic cooker hob. Yes, that's right. You would think I had learnt my lesson, but I was tired and in a hurry. I must have nudged the control knob when I put the suitcase on the surface, because a few minutes later when I was elsewhere in the apartment, I noticed a smell of burning. Returning to the kitchen I found clouds of smoke and moved quickly to get the suitcase off the hob and onto the balcony.

Here you see the aftermath. I got to the case before it actually caught fire, but it is nonetheless ruined. It's a shame because it has been with me on so many trips that I shall need to find a very similar replacement. Perhaps it could go on my Christmas list?

One unexpected benefit has been in a little variation in my diet. The LighterLife chicken soups now have a faint barbeque flavour...