Young Ville climbing a tree in Latokaski, Espoo, Finland.
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Welcome to my home page!
The main purpose of these pages is to write a diary on topics of interest and of issues that take place in my life. Since exposing one's opinions to the public is definitely one of the best ways to test whether there is even a shred of rationale or common sense in them, I hope to receive feedback concerning these pages, regardless of its nature.Diary 2008
See also:Diary 2007
Diary 2006
Oulu, Finland, Friday 26 December 2008, 08:51
Christmas is over and it is time to relax before returning to work and routines. This Christmas was spent in Oulu without other relatives due to geographical distance and work reasons. However, a high school friend of my wife travelled from the other side of the world to spend a fortnight in Finland with us. Fortunately she instantly became a friend of our daughter as the following episode verifies: last night when we were going to bed, the usual thing occurred; me and my wife were tired and ready to fall asleep, but our daughter is full of energy, jumping on the bed - after listening nicely and quietly the evening story in the bed. In the end the light was swithched off and to our surprise she started crying and calling for our guest! Parents were apparently too boring company :)Around a forthnight ago we had another guest; a soon-to-be 18-year-old young woman from Belgium, Charline. She is an exchange student studying in a local high school even though she has graduated from a Belgian high school already some time ago. Charline has been a fan of Finland for quite some time apparently; she is listening Finnish music, she is interested in learning the language etc. She applied to an exchange via a Belgian Rotary club and was selected. Charline has been active in Oulu since day one; on top of taking courses in her Finnish high school, she is also studying Finnish in another institution and now she is in the process of starting Swedish studies in a Swedish high school in Oulu.
As with humans in general, all exchange students are different. Charline is an open-minded, extrovert and active person who is making an effort to integrate to the surrounding society and that is exemplary behaviour as an exchange student. Some say we make experiences, others say that experiences make us, but it is a sure thing that unless we are active and take initiative ourselves in various forms, there will be less experiences for everyone. It is important to step our of your comfort zone every now and then and question your beliefs and ways of doing things. A stint abroad is surely one of the best ways to do it, and the essence of the whole experience has been summarized in one of the sayings of the Rotarians: "If every 17-year-old spent an exchange year abroad, there would be no wars". Agree with it or not, there is a seed of truth in it.
Below is a photo of Charline as she was visiting us.
Savonlinna, Finland, Wednesday 23rd July 2008, 13:05
I am sitting on a rock in Sulosaari island nearby the centre of Savonlinna. After days of rainy weather sun has appeared today again. All my gear is spread out on top of trees, branches and the like for drying. Once the gear is dry, I will pack up and continue again.On numerous occasions I have taken the opportunity to belittle the level of customer service in Finland. You often hear comments like "it is so tough in this business" from the mouths of entrepreneurs in service business, yet they can afford to continuously mistreat customers. In other words, situation cannot be that tough, it seems to me that they are merely complaining for the sake of it. Yesterday I had a completely opposite experience and since these are so rare even in today's Finland, it deserves some recognition.
Around 19:30 last evening I arrived to Savonlinna centre by boat. In around two minutes I found myself at the door of a summer restaurant called Liekkilohi, starving. After taking my order, the waitress asked me about the trip, the purpose of stay etc. and once she found out that I was searching for a place to stay for the night with my soaked gear, she suggested few places and called to find out whether there were any rooms available. Already at this stage I was positively surprised about her friendliness and effort, and it was not the type of "if I scratch your back, you will tip me heavily" friendliness. Moreover, I had not even enquired her whether she could do anything to help me. In the end I took none of the hotel options for various reasons, but in was the thought and her action that counted, not the end result.
However, that was not the end of it. Once it was clear that I would be spending the night in a tent on a beach yet again, I got valuable advice not only from her, but from one of the chefs as well! We were looking at the map together going through different options and in the end they drew me a map that eventually led me to my final destination of the day, Sulosaari. To say the least, I was impressed with their level of customer service. It was not merely a commercial transaction taking place but rather human to human interaction. There I was, wet and hungry and not so excited about the idea to go out in the rain, erect the tent etc, but they made me leave the restaurant with a smile and feeling good. Now this was an example that I sincerely wish the other people in service business take example of. Oh, by the way, the food was delicious. Downsides? One comes to my mind; Liekkilohi is open only in the summer. Those of you visiting Savonlinna, bear in mind this place when you are considering a place to eat out at. Thanks Liekkilohi, keep up the good work!
Below is a photo of the restaurant along with their lovely staff. From the left: chef Toni Kähkönen and waitress Leila Piirainen. The second chef Marja Ketolainen felt shy today and is not in the photo.
Palokki, Finland, Tuesday 22nd July 2008, 12:17
Finally I got my PDA charged after almost two days of "dead time". I am now in a commercial vessel called Puijo, travelling from Kuopio to Savonlinna. It has proven to be a not-so-smart decision to leave the mobile phone charger home since this has been only the second place during the whole trip when a compatible charger has been available. I do have a solar panel charger, but the weather has been too rainy and/or cloudy for the panel to charge efficiently enough.Contrary to what I predicted in my previous diary entry in Pyhäntä, I did not have a rest day on Sunday. The weather turned out to be better than forecast, hence I decided to pack my gear and continue. Rain turned out to be the dominating element of the day yet again, but the wind was not against me this time. I visited several villages and towns, ending up camping for the night in Siilinlahden rantauimala in Siilinjärvi. As before, I camped on a beach though a local salesperson warned me that it might be a restless place because of the local youth. Now was the time for a rest day since the place was beautiful, I needed a break and the weather forecast was gloomy.
I had the opportunity to get acquainted with a middle-aged couple in a 40-house village who have hosted a local shop for more than half a century. As one could expect, the shop was one of its kind and a cultural experience in itself already. The couple also offered me a cup of coffee and told me about the past of the shop and the village itself. It tells something about the historical value of the shop that the couple had been asked by the head of the municipality to give their input to the soon to be started history project.
More needs to be written, but I will concentrate to enjoy the views of the lake Heinävesi instead. Below is a photo of the front part of the boat Puijo where my bicycle is hidden somewhere...
Pyhäntä, Finland, Saturday 19th July 2008, 22:32
I am in my tent next to a lake in Pyhäntä. This day was tougher than yesterday. First of all, I had not recovered from yesterday that well, secondly, I had a strong headwind the whole day which was a shame since the cloudy but not rainy weather was otherwise ideal. Anyhow, I could do only two thirds of the distance I hoped for. My right knee is aching a bit as well, but it seems to be nothing serious. First time in my life when cycling has caused any problems like this.My food stock - which is very little since there is no point in carrying anything that you can acquire during the trip - started to run out totally so I wanted to go grocery shopping for this evening and tomorrow morning. Well, it turned out that I arrived to Pyhäntä half an hour too late: both the local shops had just closed. Thus I went to the local motel and had dinner. I have one sandwich until tomorrow noon.
Weather forecast for tomorrow is fairly bleak: weak rain or rain. Bearing in mind the experience of yesterday with the rain (= I got soaked) and the fact that I am tired, there is a fair chance that tomorrow there will be a no cycling day. I do have my PDA and a book with me in the tent, plus I have camped right next to a nice scenery so I might just like it here.
Below is a photo of my bicycle hidden under a boat for tomorrow's rainy day.
Kestilä, Finland, Saturday 19th July 2008, 15:03
I am sitting in a local restaurant in Kestilä waiting for my food. Yesterday I started my cycling trip from Oulu at 18:50. It rained heavily late in the evening and I got soaked. Once the rain stopped I had to change my clothes. Waterproof jacket and pants did not help that much. After that the weather was good for cycling apart from the headwind.When I was still in Oulu, a young driver all of a sudden drove in front of me blocking my way almost to the point of collision. I lost my temper and gave the guy the finger (yep, not the smartest thing to do). To my surprise, he got upset, turned his car around and came after me. He overtook me with not too much gap and gave me the finger. Talk about road rage...
Few hours after, just before the rain started, I came across with a woman who was wearing sandals, shorts and a t-shirt and she was carrying a crate of beer. She askes me to borrow my phone because apparently her spouse was drunk and he had thrown her out of their cottage - after hurling her mobile and wallet to the nearby river. While we were trying to get her a lift - it was raining a bit already - she told me her spouse is beating her. Again I must ask: what is wrong with you, Finnish man?
Around midnight there was still plenty of daylight and I got a view of a bright yellow full moon. Two hours later I arrived to my destination: a holiday camp next to Oulujärvi. It was 03:00 when I got in to my sleeping bag..
Below is a photo of me just before I departed from home.
Oulu, Finland, Thursday 17th July 2008, 18:59
Today I got an e-mail from the university I graduated from, Warwick, asking my opinion about their alumni activities and related issues. One of the questions was about alumni donations to the university. Unlike in Finland, these kinds of methods are widely accepted and employed in numerous locations in the world. Upon the kick-off of the forthcoming Aalto university in Finland similar approaches might start appearing here as well. There are billion examples worldwide of societies, organisations, institutions etc. that finance part or all of their operations with the donations of e.g. their alumni. Why this has not been employed in this country?Today is the final day of preparations before the start of my bicycle trip from Oulu to Helsinki via eastern Finland. The purpose is to depart late tomorrow afternoon once my wife has come back from work. Until then I will spend the day packing my bicycle and playing with our daughter. I wanted to go cycling with my women but they were not interested. As a compromise I suggested to my wife that I will go with our daughter. She said no :)
This July has been exceptionally rainy, and even today's nice weather turned to rain eventually. Here is our daughter in her baby cart after a rainy walk.
Oulu, Finland, Monday 14th July 2008, 20:44
One of the great things about Oulu is its suitability for cycling. If my memory serves me well, Oulu is currently the only town in Finland that is considered as a "cyclist town" and that is no wonder. You can easily e.g. go to the town centre by bicycle, do your chores and come back. "How do you carry back all your groceries?" I hear you ask. Well, add to that the need to transport kids as well in case you live in a household without car, like ours. The answer is: bike cart. We bought a bike cart approximately a year ago and it has worked well. Our kid likes the cart and she usually falls asleep in it. We bought an XL model so cargo is no problem either. You can carry all the toys etc needed by your toddler and the groceries. We also bought a front wheel for the cart so that it can be used as a normal baby cart when necessary. Our cart has also a number of useful features such as mosquito nets all over the cart and a rain cover. A selection of pockets within the cart for the toddler does not do any harm either.About the downsides of a bike cart, if anyone knows how to secure a sleeping child's head in a sitting position so that is does not move around wrecklessly thus possibly causing injury whilst the cart is in motion, I would interested in hearing your solution. Cycling slowly is an option but probably not the only one. Secondly, if you plan to use your cart actively, be prepared to invest to new tires since at least the ones we got with the cart were of poor quality. Ours lasted around nine months after which they were completely torn. Thirdly, selecting between a cart with or without suspension is not only a matter of comfort since the former ones are considerably cheaper than the latter ones. Then again, if you plan to be an active user, we consider the suspension to be a worthwhile investment.
After today's visit to the town centre our daughter fell asleep in the cart, as usual.
Oulu, Finland, Saturday 12th July 2008, 17:40
Me and my wife are sitting in Cafe Sara in Oulu after a day of cycling around the town. Weather has been gorgeous - finally, I might add - and we took off early afternoon. After having pizza outdoors we headed towards The Beach of Oulu, i.e. Nallikari, that is populated my foreigners in the summer. Our daughter had her first touch of sea water and she hated it! She could not wait to get away from water so we ended up spending most of the time sitting on the beach watching the waves.Before heading back home, we stopped here for a cup of coffee and our daughter is sleeping outside the cafe in a bike cart right next to us. Every now and then someone passing by sees her and seems to be wondering that "has someone left a child alone?". Glad to see people care about such issues.
Below is a photo of our daughter throwing stones in Nallikari. She decided to find out as well how good sand tastes...
Oulu, Finland, Friday 11th July 2008, 19:30
Provided no problems surface, I am going to cycle from Oulu to Helsinki at the end of July. The purpose is to update my diary during the trip, but we will see if that happens. I hope to cycle in the countryside - or basically anywhere except on the highways - and the mobile network coverage can be a problem although it should not be. Remains to be seen.Below is a photo of our daughter today right after her afternoon nap.
Oulu, Finland, Thursday 10th July 2008, 19:00
Diary is back in business again after a loooooong break. As I wrote in my last entry for 2007, the change of my PDA was the reason; it simply takes too much time to configure a new device - let alone to download and configure all the software that is needed. Therefore I try to use a device as long as possible before changing to a new one.See also:
Diary 2007
Diary 2006