Treading the boards again...

Today I attended my first auditions for a serious acting role. Of course, I have auditioned before for our village pantomimes and spring shows, but those are rather more light hearted. It was a more daunting process than I had expected; after performing for a panel of three experts, I now know a little more about how the X-Factor contestants must feel. I was also pondering on the differences between auditions and job interviews, since my contract at work expires in June next year. The latter combine describing your vision for a role with examples from past experience and achievements. Auditions are totally in the moment, with no ability to say "I got wonderful notices for my last role".

The happy news is that I now have a part in a rehearsed play reading, which I hope will be a good introduction to straight drama without the intense stress of memorising an entire script. We will have rehearsals in January and then perform once at the end of that month and then once more in February. The play is "Open Circuit", the latest work from Jakob Holder, an award-winning young playwright who will also be directing us, giving a wonderful chance to get a real insight into the characters from the person who created them. I will be playing MAN, so I shan't need any of my pantomime dame costume or props, either.

More details to follow, once we get confirmation on the dates. But for now, I have my bedtime reading set for the next few weeks!

Visitations ...

A few weeks back, my wife, together with our daughters and their other halves, came over for a weekend. We ate well; on Friday it was the tasting menu at Farang and on Saturday evening, menu 13 at Luomo, our neighbourhood restaurant which recently won its first Michelin star.

To balance out the gastronomic indulgence, we shopped on Saturday and on Sunday, visited the squirrels at Seuurasaari and grilled some sausages at the firepit there. Then, before departing for the airport, lunch in the apartment with take out from my local pizza place, including the classic "kebab pizza", an artery hardening combination of pizza with doner kebabe meat and fixings!

This weekend, my youngest daughter is with me, the first time she has flown on her own, so a bit of an adventure! She arrived late on Friday, then Saturday was packed with a stroll around the market at Kauppatori and the Kauppahalli, Glögi at Kappeli, lunch and hot chocolate at Gran Delicato, more shopping in Kamppi, then dinner at Il Siciliano and a movie at the Bristol. Sunday was brunch at Primula, then a stroll around the shops before putting up the Christmas decorations in the apartment.

I have one more group of visitors planned before Christmas, my eldest daughter and her fiance, with her future in-laws. I hope we'll be able to plan a suitably entertaining time for them, too!

Two tips from Amsterdam ...

This week started in Amsterdam, a work trip for the Symbian Exchange & Exposition. Though it was a busy few days, we managed to get a little time off and so I wanted to share a couple of things.

First was this beer, a most excellent one for those like me with a palate conditioned for English ales. And two cost only around 7 Euros, about half the cost of drinking in Helsinki. Heaven knows why the locals and tourists feel the need to seek other indulgences during their evenings!

The second tip was the Tapas bar we tried for dinner, Tapas Catala, reviewed here on tripadvisor. We stumbled on it by accident and had a surprisingly pleasant and good value supper, this time accompanied by an Amstel.

And, at the risk of ruining the headline of this post, my third tip is to visit Amsterdam itself. I've been a couple of times, but only on business. Perhaps this would be a good candidate for our weekend away with friends next year.

Oh, and I came home with a couple of new friends too, two of the large Symbian ducks (non-robotic variety). Packing them in my suitcase was somewhat amusing! My thanks to our friends at Symbian for these, mine is now sitting on my desk in Finland, looking out of the window wistfully towards the Baltic Sea.

28 years later ...

My youngest daughter is in the process of applying for a university place next Autumn and last wekend was the second visit I accompanied her on, to the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. It was a nostalgic trip for me, as I graduated from UEA in 1982 and this was my first trip back to the university since then.

After a horrendous journey involving a delayed flight, the M25 and South Mimms motorway services, we arrived in Norwich around half past midnight, which gave little opportunity for anything other than sleep. I had booked us into the Maids Head Hotel. When I had been a student in Norwich, it had been the most expensive place to stay and I vowed I would come back one day and try it. You can see it in the phot, on the left of which is the former Samson & Hercules nightclub, venue for many student parties when I was studying. It appears now to have been redeveloped into apartments.

The following day, we planned a brief walk around the city centre, before driving to the UEA campus. After a rather more expensive than expected visit to Tombland Jewellers, we headed towards the market and then through some of the backstreets. The market still has an impressive range of stalls and seeing the names of the pubs around the centre felt like being reminded of old friends!

We then headed out to the university, aiming to get a tour of the accommodation and see some of the campus first. After parking and walking onto campus, the first familiar sight was the Square, still the hub of social activity on campus, a student band was playing (very well) as we arrived. The grin that this view triggered didn't leave me for the rest of the afternoon!

After a quck look round the LCR (large common room) we were taken to see a couple of student rooms. Waveney Terrace, where I spent my final year, was demolished to build newer blocks recently and my first year home off-campus at Fifer's Lane, former officer's quarters for RAF Norwich, has also been demolished, now replaced by a housing estate. But the rooms in Nelson Court seemed fine, with en-suite facilities. How times have changed! We also visited rooms in Norfolk Terrace, a very 60's looking block which is now, apparently, Grade II listed! When I had been there, they had been the most desirable blocks, with views over the broad. You can see Norfolk Terrace on the right of this shot.

We then moved on to the Queen's Building in the School of Allied Health Professions within the Faculty of Health, none of which existed as part of the university when I was there. My daughter's desired subject is Speech & Language Therapy. UEA runs this as a three year course, whereas most other universities are delivering it in four years, so it was interesting to hear more about the differences. Suffice to say, the professional qualification at the end is the same and their experience is that around 80% of graduates find work within six months of completing their degrees, which is encouraging.

After a good grounding on the course, we went in search of a bite to eat. What was the Refectory in my day is now Zest, we had a good value and tasty lunch, rather more healthily prepared than in the 1980s. And then, our final stop before leaving was the Union Bar, where my baby bought her Dad a pint of Greene King IPA, a reassuring constant from my time, though the bar itself looked very different!

All in all, it was a great day. I can't believe it has been more than thirty years since I went up to UEA as a fresh faced undergraduate. But it was, and here is my student ID photo from the time, showing not just a fresher face, but rather more hair. So now, fingers crossed that my budding student gets the grades she wants and makes the right choice, for her, of where to study. But after last weekend's visit, if she chooses UEA, it will be fun to go and visit her there. Though for her sake, not too often!

Ersatz Oktoberfest ...

Tonight I enjoyed an impromptu evening out, thanks to friends and the Helsinki Social Club.

The latter organisation had manage to arrange vouchers for free beer and pretzels at Rymy-Eetu, a German bar in Helsinki. My friends had managed to get some of the vouchers and texted me just as I was leaving work. Half an hour later I was stein in hand, with the only slight disappointment being that rather than a litre of a delightful German brew, it was Koff, a very ordinary Finnish lager. But without doubt, worth every penny (or Euro cent) that I had paid for it. And the pretzel, soft, salt crusted and still warm from the oven, helped soak up just a little of the beer.

After around half an hour, the oompah band began to play. It was the first time I had seen seven Finnish men in lederhosen and, though they were entertaining, I wouldn't recommend that they give up their day jobs.

I sought escape in the men's bathroom, but even there I was not safe. Instead of piped music, a loop tape was playing useful phrases in German, then their Finnish counterparts. So, "ein bier bitte" is "yksy olut, kiittos". Though I have not done so well in my language studies here, that one, at least, I knew in both languages!

The photo, by the way, was taken on my new Nokia N8. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, it's the best phone I've used so far and we just started shipping them today. Just in case I needed another reason to celebrate over a beer!

How to lose a loyal customer ...

Over the last month or so, we have had two separate incidents which have made us think hard about why we choose to do business with particular firms. Both cases caused considerable upset at the time to me and my family, but with different responses they have led to rather different outcomes for the companies concerned.

The first was at the start of our family holiday, probably the last we will take for some time with our daughters, as they respectively prepare to get married and go off to university next year. We organised this through James Villas, a company we have used several times before. We arrived at our villa in Umbria to collect the keys and were given an unexpected demand for 500 Euros as a cash deposit, which we knew we did not have to pay as James Villas had already charged us a non-refundable breakage charge.

The owner was very difficult to deal with, claiming to speak no English, so we spent two hours on the phone to the local rep and her boss and trying to get anyone from James Villas in the UK to resolve the issue. We finally got access only after the domestic partner of the local rep spoke to the villa owner. Apparently the local James Villas reps knew that the owner was (in their words) "a mental case" but continued to put their customers at risk by placing them in the villa.

The second was my daughter's recent eighteenth birthday party. We organised this in a local village hall and contracted with The Naked Grape, our local wine merchants, to run a cash bar for the evening. We've used Naked Grape for around 8 years, since we first moved here and, as with James Villas, have regularly recommended them to friends. Sadly, we arrived at the hall for the start of the party to find no bar had been set up.

In the case of the holiday, I wrote to their founder and chairman, James Needham, whom their website claims is "still at the helm" of the business. We got a badly written letter two weeks later, from a junior person, not really accepting any failure on their part and offering vouchers for £200 against a future holiday. So, an offer that costs them nothing if we never use them again and represents less than 2.5% of the cost of the holiday. When I pointed this out to them in further correspondence, their customer relations supervisor replied "in this instance I am unable to offer any further gesture or recompense. I am sorry if you remain dissatisfied and we are unable to restore your faith in James Villa Holidays". So am I, though I am prepared to offer them a gesture. I shall never use them again, nor recommend them to anyone I care about. Reader, beware.

By contrast, The Naked Grape's response was immediate and effective. Despite having been working themselves all day at the Alresford Show, they came to the hall, setup a bar and did not charge us a penny for the drinks consumed. Such customer service is rare and deserves recognition. Mark and Simon have worked hard to build up their business, now with shops in Alresford and Four Marks. They don't stock anything which they haven't tasted and specialise in good value wines from small producers and family estates. Before this incident, I regularly recommended them to friends and am very happy to continue to do so.

It seems that James Villas think they are big enough that they don't really have to take customer complaints terribly seriously. But in today's world, where I can get great deals online and quickly research reputations, they really ought to think differently. At least for one customer, they have made a big mistake. If you are reading this, Mr. Needham, you can take me off your mailing list.

Tonsorial timewarp ...

Today was haircut day. This is my first weekend back in Helsinki after two weeks of holiday with the family in Italy and likely to be my only chance for a few weeks to attend to the barnet, as next weekend I shall be back in the UK for my daughter's eighteenth birthday.

In Helsinki, I have my haircut at Salon Nadem, at Kolmas Linja 1 in Helsinki. A colleague recommended Nadem when I first moved here and I have been going ever since. Originally from Tunisia, he married a Finnish girl and has built up a busy little business in the Hakaniemi area of the city, which is also home to a wide range of "ethnic" shops. For the Asian community, these shops offer a range of spices, vegetables and Halal meats which allow them to keep culinary contact with their roots. For the Brit, they offer such rare treats as Bird's Custard Powder and tins of corned beef, not easily sourced from the regular supermarkets. But I digress.

I am usually greeted on entering Nadem's place with "hei, English guy!" I don't book an appointment, so though occasionally there is no-one waiting, more often, I'll need to sit and wait while he finishes up a couple of previous customers.

The clientele is very diverse, from English speaking foreigners like me, through ranks of other nationalities as well as native Finns. Listening to him chat in a mix of English, Finnish, Arabic and French (Tunisia was a French protectorate from 1881).

I also enjoy my time in the chair. Having never been a fan of fancy hair salons, I enjoy the simplicity of his set up. From the moment the cape is fastened around my neck, I am transported back to my childhood and memories of schoolboy haircuts. The earliest I can recall was in the barber's shop at the railway station in my home town of Bognor Regis. I would sit on the board resting across the arms of the barber's seat, in order to get me to a height to prevent back pain for the tonsorialist, then while he was fixing the cape, my Mum would give the instruction "a Boston please and not too much off the crown".

Sadly, I can find no Internet reference to this particular style, though the modifier was designed to avoid my double-crowned hair from sticking up, which would now be considered quite stylish.

Today's cut tends to be rather faster (there being rather less to remove) and rather simpler; number 3 clippers at the side to keep the hair shorter. My reasoning being that it is harder to see the grey when the hair is seen end-on. And, compared to the hairstyling of other family members, rather less expensive at €15.

But after it all, I am reminded of the old chestnut about "what's the difference between a good haircut and a bad one?" Surely you know the answer? "About two weeks."