05 October 2008
When our ship comes in
11/10/08 09:05
It’s Dom here. Things have been good here, although
it does feel a long way away when you get important
news from home.
Autumn is late, but it has started, and it is beautiful. Evergreen really means something here - the other trees have turned red and gold, and the leaves are covering the ground. We went to the summer cottage (autumn cottage?) last weekend and the countryside was very pretty.
People are hoping for a good winter. When you ask what a good winter is, they mean “more snow”. Last year was too warm and snow only really came in February. They do qualify that with “we could do without the -30° temperatures though”.
The good ship “Lions Gate Bridge” has now sailed from Melbourne to the Baltic and should be here in a couple of days. Finland is far away by air, but even further by sea (see Felix’s helpful map below). It’s late. I can’t really remember most of the stuff that we packed - it’ll be like Christmas when we open the boxes.
It’ll be nice to have some books. I read more than most people, and there’s not enough reading material here for me. I can’t read the newspapers. I get a couple of magazines delivered, but I burn through those. I can read websites, of course, though it’s a bit distracting having FInnish advertisements appear around the page. I can normally ignore English ads well but I find myself puzzled by the Finnish ones and trying to work out what they say.
Some photos for you - still worth a thousand words, no matter what the Dow says:
A small bay near the summer cottage.
Viivu walking the boxers.
The boys run out to meet me.
Coco and Roald both covet the same comfy spot on the rug at home in Yliskylä.
Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails, that’s what little boys are made of.
Felix’s Cartesian projection of the world. Major shipping routes marked. Some help given with labelling, under instruction.
Autumn is late, but it has started, and it is beautiful. Evergreen really means something here - the other trees have turned red and gold, and the leaves are covering the ground. We went to the summer cottage (autumn cottage?) last weekend and the countryside was very pretty.
People are hoping for a good winter. When you ask what a good winter is, they mean “more snow”. Last year was too warm and snow only really came in February. They do qualify that with “we could do without the -30° temperatures though”.
The good ship “Lions Gate Bridge” has now sailed from Melbourne to the Baltic and should be here in a couple of days. Finland is far away by air, but even further by sea (see Felix’s helpful map below). It’s late. I can’t really remember most of the stuff that we packed - it’ll be like Christmas when we open the boxes.
It’ll be nice to have some books. I read more than most people, and there’s not enough reading material here for me. I can’t read the newspapers. I get a couple of magazines delivered, but I burn through those. I can read websites, of course, though it’s a bit distracting having FInnish advertisements appear around the page. I can normally ignore English ads well but I find myself puzzled by the Finnish ones and trying to work out what they say.
Some photos for you - still worth a thousand words, no matter what the Dow says:
A small bay near the summer cottage.
Viivu walking the boxers.
The boys run out to meet me.
Coco and Roald both covet the same comfy spot on the rug at home in Yliskylä.
Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails, that’s what little boys are made of.
Felix’s Cartesian projection of the world. Major shipping routes marked. Some help given with labelling, under instruction.