Lucky numbers ...

A few weeks ago, I was snapped by a Finnish police traffic camera, which was in the back of an unmarked grey van parked under a bridge on the side of the motorway to the airport. I was on my way to Vantaa to fly to see our friends in Sweden; the road was clear, the weather was good and there was only one other vehicle on the same stretch of road; a taxi which I was following that suddenly slowed and pulled in to the inside lane. I mention these circumstances, not to justify my transgression, merely to set the scene.

A few days later, a letter from the authorities arrived on my door mat. It noted that the vehicle had been observed travelling at 93 km per hour in an 80 limit and asked me to confirm who had been driving the vehicle. In the UK, one can apparently decline such questions, as you have the right not to give answers which might incriminate you. This is not the case in Finland, so I sent off my details and prepared to discover my fate.

I was aware that under Finland's system, some traffic fines are salary related, determined on the basis of a certain number of days' pay. The BBC reported in 2004 that "Jussi Salonoja, the 27-year-old heir to a family-owned sausage empire, was given the £116,000 ticket after being caught driving 80km/h in a 40km/h zone". Fortunately, our family "fortune" was made from fridges rather than their contents, and I am certainly not heir to an empire, so I was confident that I would not break Jussi's record.

Colleagues at work suggested that because I was not too far over the limit, I would likely only receive a fixed penalty, so I waited to hear from the Poliisi. The second letter, shown above, arrived this week. It is a summons to present my driving licence at the local police station, between 08:00 and 18:00, any day for the week before July 27. Frustratingly, it gave no clue to what else I might expect.

So, at 10:45 yesterday I presented myself. I took a numbered ticket and waited my turn, a very Finnish way of queueing. As I was the only miscreant there, it took just a few minutes until I was shown into the office with the two-way mirrored walls and advised that my fine would be €70 and I would have two weeks to pay. I was asked if I wanted to dispute the offence, which I did not, and then was presented with the paperwork. And finally, before I left, the very pleasant police officer pointed out the section on the forms where I could make any complaint about the way the matter had been dealt with by them.

So, that was it. Twenty minutes in the station, €70 fine, no points on my license (which would have been the case in the UK) and a lingering feeling of an efficient but very human way of dealing with the matter.

I have long considered that 93 is a lucky number for me. It was the number of my Round Table club in the UK, Basingstoke 93, which I was a member of for more than a dozen years. After these events, I shall continue to believe it to be true!

Feeling connected ...

A couple of weeks ago, I passed my second anniversary of moving to Finland and starting my new job. The combination of that together with an impending "big" birthday next year has put me in rather a reflective mood over the last couple of weeks.

Living away from your home country is a great way of learning about what you have taken for granted. Of course, top of the list are family and friends; I now value the opportunities I get to spend time with both far more than I used to. Then there are more subtle things, such familiar foods and beverages; I've noted before on this blog the challenges of finding fruit cake and Pimms in Finland. Finally, there are the experiences which give a feeling of connection to what has been left behind.

This weekend was a good example. Whilst my US friends were celebrating Independence Day on Saturday, I was preparing to have a few people at my apartment for a brunch and the chance to watch the Wimbledon Men's Finals on Sunday. Last year, I upgraded my Welho cable subscription to get live coverage, but this year, the same channel was not showing the matches. Instead, I was able to add a one month subscription to the Swedish TV4 channel, so that we could see the images at least. I had this in mind as my plan B, as plan A was to watch through the BBC iPlayer, using a UK proxy service. For those not too technical, this is a way of getting round the BBC's restriction of only allowing UK based viewers to see the program. Since I do pay for a TV licence in the UK, I did not feel too bad at finding a way around that limitation.

However, in the end, the BBC's servers were overwhelmed it seems, so I could not stream the live coverage. So, we had Wimbledon Radio via the Internet, providing an English commentary whilst watching the game with the Swedish audio off. This was also instructional, as we learned that live coverage is not always live. There was a delay of several seconds between the pictures and the sound. Initially, the commentators were describing the action before we saw it happen. (If Roddick had been able to tap in to this, the outcome might have been different!). After a while though, the sound was lagging up to 12 seconds behind the play on screen. At this point, we used the "timeshifting" feature of my cable box to delay the picture by about the same time, ending up with a satisfactory pairing of sound and vision.

It was a good match. But the enjoyment for me was increased enormously by sharing it with friends from Helsinki. We did have strawberries and cream, as well as a few glasses of Pimms, the staple fare of Wimbledon goers. And somehow it made me feel closer to my wife back at home, who I knew would be watching the games avidly, as she always does. I look forward to the simple pleasure, previously taken for granted, of being able to share such experiences with her again when my time here is done.

Wine, Wien but no whining ...

One of the challenges of being resident in Finland is that I can only spend a certain number of days in the UK without being taxed there as well. So, the past couple of weekends have given me the opportunity to spend time with my family but without setting foot on British soil.

The weekend before last was spent in Tranås in Sweden, at the graduation of the youngest son of our friends there. Regular readers will recall that we were there this time last year too, for his sister's graduation. It was another lovely weekend and we were honoured to be part of the extended family there for the celebrations, having met up at Stockholm Arlanda airport, 45 minutes apart on flights from London Heathrow and Helsinki Vantaa.

This weekend was our annual city break with four of our longest standing friends. (As we are already in our middle years, we no longer use the pejorative term "oldest friends"). We were in Vienna, from Thursday to Sunday afternoon and have fitted in an amazing amount of walking, sightseeing, eating and, of course, some drinking. We stuck to Austrian wines for the whole trip and were pleasantly surprised.

From the cultural perspective, we visited the Schönbrunn Palace and were very impressed with what had been the summer residence of the emperors of Austria, including the parents of Marie Antoinette. Having seen the lavish surroundings in which she was raised, it is no wonder that she found it impossible to identify with the lives of the average French peasant who were her subjects. The palace is vast and well presented, the gardens range from formal planting to tree lined avenues and a hilltop Gloriette from which to observe the whole estate. We also toured the zoo, thrilled to see Pandas, great and red, as well as a host of other animals in sympathetic surroundings.

In the city centre we toured the Hofburg, as well as the State Hall, home to a fascinating exhibition of geographical books from hundreds of years ago. I came away in awe of the beautifully painted ceiling, as well as enlightened to the origins of the naval hammock, so not a bad day's study.

On Sunday, we visited the Freud Museum, in the apartments that served as living and professional quarters for Prof. Sigmund Freud before he fled to England in 1938 in the eye of the political storm facing the continent at that time. It was a humbling experience, especially as both of my daughters have a strong interest in his chosen subject.

In between, we have dined well. We were recommended to try Ofenloch and Schimanszky, offering traditional and modern Viennese cuisine respectively and were not disappointed. We also visited Griechenbeisl and Stomach, both mentioned in the Dorling Kindersley guide to the city. The first was an old guest house from hundreds of years ago and the other a more modern family run restaurant near our hotel, neither disappointed, though both were very different. The photo shows us preparing to try genuine Sacher Torte at Cafe Sacher.

Our abiding feeling after the weekend is that Vienna is one of the jewels of European capital cities and well worth a return visit.

Next weekend is the third in a row where I shall be meeting my wife in a capital city, this time in Dublin, Ireland. More on that soon.

Sticks and stones ...

I had a new cultural experience this evening, playing a Finnish game called Mölkky (pronounced merl-koo), something like a combination of skittles, darts and boules. I played with some of my colleagues on the beach in Lauttasaari, where we had an enjoyable team summer picnic amongst the rocks.

There are 12 numbered pins, which are placed together to begin and then a further piece (also called the mölkky) is thrown under arm at them. If you knock down just one piece, you score its face value. Knock down more and you just score the number of pins felled. After they have been knocked over, you stand them up again where they fell, so the target pattern gradually spreads out. The aim is to get to exactly 50 points, but if you go over, your score reverts to 25. Miss the pins three times in a row and you are out. It was recommended by a colleague for us to take to the summer cottage, where we will be spending a week of our holiday this August.

Mölkky is based on older games but this version was invented in 1996 by Tuoterengas, an independent business unit in the Lahti Region Education Consortium, which provides work training services and vocational rehabilitation. The game is manufactured in Finnish pine and you can buy it from Touoterengas' online shop. On the basis of a couple of games this evening, I think this is going to be popular with our family! It will add to our collection of garden games, which also includes the Breton Palets which we bought on holiday a few years ago.

Son et lumière

Yesterday was opening night for the Finn-Brit Players' double bill of Harold Pinter plays, Moonlight and A Slight Ache. I have to admit to being rather unfamiliar with Pinter's works before I joined the Players and, at my first run through, wondered what I had let myself in for.

I didn't study drama or literature very much at school and have done little to further my education in that area since. My performances have been in pantomime and musical entertainment with our local drama group in the UK. The Finn-Brit Players are a rather more serious group and so it was probably a blessing for all concerned that, on this occasion, I have been working on the technical side of the production, as the lighting operator. It has been a hugely insightful experience, which will help me when I return to the UK and our village amateur dramatic group, TOADS.

It was back in April that I joined a technical workshop organised by the Players and volunteered to operate the lights for the show. Since, then, I've been calling the lighting cues at rehearsals, but on Monday this week, saw the theatre where the show is running for the first time. Working with Antti, who designed the lighting for the show, we set up the different lighting scenarios for each play; A Slight Ache runs first and has 17 changes, for Moonlight there are almost double that. Each of these lighting combinations is then programmed into the lighting desk together with timings for each transition, so that on the night, I should just have to press one button and the change happens.

The other element is synchronising with the sound effects and music for each play. The sound operator is also a newbie, so Susan and I have been learning together. Susan is a freelance journalist for the Helsinki Times and this week's edition included her piece about the show.

I've found that as the rehearsals have gone on, my understanding of Pinter's approach has developed and I have been formulating my own theories about both plays. I have also been impressed by the performances of all the cast members, as well as the professionalism of everyone else involved. Last night, with an audience in the theatre for the first time, was a very moving experience. If you are in Helsinki, there are still some tickets left for performances next week, you can book at the Finn-Brit Players website. I hope to see you there!

En famille ...

This weekend, my wife and daughters have been with me here in Helsinki, the first time that all four of us have been here together. We were also joined by our eldest daughter's boyfriend, on his first visit to Finland too, so we had lots to celebrate.

On Friday evening, we walked out to Kappeli for drinks before dinner at Farouge, where we had their excellent Lebanese meza.

Rotten weather on Saturday meant we had a rather more relaxed day than I had planned. We wandered around the city centre, shopping and then lunched at Norisushi in the kauppahalli. Back home for a rest before heading out for a superb Italian meal at Gastone, stopping only for Mojitos at Kappeli again!.

This morning, we packed the car and headed to Seurasaari to feed the squirrels (and ducks, birds and a few thousand pigeons). The picture shows the younger ones feeding the last squirrel we found, who was burying one peanut at a time for later. I hope he can find them without a GPS! After the encounter with Finnish wildlife, we went for the Reggae brunch at Nolla, before heading to Linnanmaki for an afternoon of amusement park rides, including two goes on the wooden rollercoaster, which I love.

By then, it was time to head to the airport for my visitors to fly home. Now I am back, on the third load of laundry, thinking that even with the washing machine and tumble dryer on, the apartment seems rather quiet again. At least I will see my wife and youngest in three weeks time in Sweden, when we celebrate Ludde's graduation from gymnasiet. And, excitingly, we have booked a kesämökki (summer cottage) in Finland for a week in the summer. I will look forward to reporting on that later in the year!

Vappu in Helsinki...

Last weekend, we celebrated Vappu, or Labour Day, here in Helsinki. My wife flew in on Friday, May 1st and we joined an alleged 50,000 people in Kaivopuisto, one of the big parks in Helsinki, for a picnic. The picture shows the view from our spot.

Almost all of the Finns were wearing their student caps, which are rather more practical than the mortar board I graduated in. Current students also wear coloured overalls covered in sponsor's logos; the colour denotes the subject they are studying, such as burgundy for law. I suspect the practicality of overalls when drinking for a sustained period of time is not to be underestimated.

As is to be expected at any party in Finland, alcohol is consumed, champagne being popular with the picnic. As a result, with so many drinking all day, the temporary conveniences became quite busy. I did add to my Finnish vocabulary, as can be seen from this picture, taken while I was queueing. I think you can probably deduce what it means - the French word is quite similar!