Old fortresses

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Yesterday I made another outing and decided to check on the old fortresses we have in the neighbourhood.

They are part of a string of defence fortresses cut into the rock in the 1914 when Finland was still part of the Russian empire. They were built just before the WWI as Germany declared war against Russia and never used. Now they are grown full of trees, there’s all kids of junk and kids (and teens) love to play in them. Hubby used to play in them as a child in the 1970’s and he says they were quite unsafe. Some that are located near residential areas are often used as compost for garden waste which is a disgrace.

The first one is actually pretty near to our house (around 500 metres) and on the way to kid’s school. The others are on the other side of the school, about a mile from my house and I just had to take a pic of the murals too.

I hope you enjoy the photo journey 🙂

My corona

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I’ve had that song as an ear worm now for several days and it’s driving me crazy.

I’m still on sick leave all of this week. Next Monday I should go to work even as our whole house is closed and there’s no classes for adults except the Finnish courses for immigrants and their reading and writing lessons so we are quite alone there.

All the museums, theatres, schools and libraries are closed as of today until April 13th(?) but since I work for the city we’d find some substitute work if we can’t go to our workplaces. At my work we are planning to get ready for the summer as our library will be getting an interior make up with some refurnishing and there’s lots of things to get rid of or clear and the book depository in our cellar should be re-organized too. (I just can’t work there because of my work-related asthma and it’s a shame since it’s such a meditative place to be.)

Atm I’m not very keen on getting back to work especially since my boss sent a message yesterday about the three of us should work out how to do our jobs in our minuscule library and not be on the same space all of the eight hours. I wonder how that will work out.

Hubby is working from home and youngest one too.. except now he is chatting with his friends. Every hour or so there comes a message from their teachers about homeworks. Yesterday he crumbled about English teacher wanting to have an online-class next Tuesday at 9am. It’ll do him good.

They’ve also got home economics, art and PE teachers’ lessons and homeworks in the digital apps which I find interesting.

Well, I’m planning to do some sewing or something and not just sit here. In the Finnish message board I visit was panic still going strong and it gets tiring. I’m not very panicked since all of this will pass. One way or other.

 

In da woods

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Yesterday I felt pretty good after a week indoors so I decided to take a walk. I’ve been feeling a bit nauseous in my head probably because of the hospital medications still so I haven’t done any long walks.

I’ve lived around here about 5 km radius all my life except first 6 years when we lived in the city centre and yet there’s still places I haven’t been to so I decided to tackle one such place and headed to nearby sandpits.

The sandpits were created in the 60’s when the big building fever hit and sand was needed for concrete for the blocks of flats. Those apartment houses were later inhabited by country people moving to city workers and the suburb was one of the most seedy in whole Helsinki and still the people there are suffering of more unemployment and less education than other areas.

But back to the sandpits. When I was a kid the sandpits were a no-go, they were full of dirty water, kids had drowned there and they were full of old cars and other junk until in the 90’s they were just used as a park but still not a very favorable place to go to. In 2018 both Helsinki and Vantaa decided to do something since the area is on both cities concern and the residents wanted more possibilities to outdoor activities there. The water was tested and the pits were cleaned of decades of junk thrown there and now there are three small ponds for people to swim and enjoy beach with firepits and one pond is reserved for dogs to swim. They are very popular on hot summer days and since you can’t park your car there people walk or bike which makes it safer.

On the other side of the ponds is a small forest and swamp which is a conservation area and I walked through it and enjoyed the firs and pines and moss. I was quite alone even though one of the busiest highways is  just about 500 metres away, you can hear it very well and there’s also the candy factory where I emerged from the woods.

After breathing the forest air deeply I walked home, all in all I walked about 5km and an hour and when I got to our street Sirius was on our neighbour’s roof and I asked her to come home with me and she did.

The last pic is from this morning as a blue tit was teasing her and she dropped one of the flowers from the windowsill.

Hello again

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It’s been a while since I updated but something has happened.

Last Thursday I had an appointment to my work doctor since I had pain in my toes and feet joints and also because I had some blood tests taken. In my bloodworks the sugars were a bit high and also cholesterol was not so good and the doctor (a very nice lady) said that if I’d lose some weight they might drop and I said I’m planning to because of middlest son’s graduation and I must fit into my dress. So I’ll have new blood tests in the fall. About my joint pains she put me forward to see a physiotherapist which comes up in April and she tought I may have plantar fasciitis on top of the osteoarthritis which makes my toe joints painful.

Then I went to work and a bit after noon my phone rang and it was the nurse from the thryoid operation. She asked if I might be able to come on Monday since I had let them know I’d be available for cancelled times and I said Yes! even as my workmate was having lunch and I couldn’t ask her. So I got all the details, had to go to another blood tests on Friday and the operation would be on Monday afternoon.

When my colleague came back from lunch I was a bit worried but luckily we have a guy called Jyrki who does 20h/week for library and he had hours left from the winter holiday week when there is no classes and my colleague, Jyrki and my boss Sirkku all agreed that I’d go to the operation now. That sorted I was a bit relieved and much more worried, operations are always tricky imo.

On Monday afternoon hubby drove me to the other side of the Helsinki metropolitan area and I got in to the hospital and so on. The operation went nicely, everybody was very nice, the surgeon was skilled and I woke up without my thyroid glands. Later the nurse told me the surgeon had described them ’quite something’ so I guess I was right in getting them operated. I spent one night at the ward for monitoring and because I’m always quite sick after operations due to my feature of motion and travel sickness. On Tuesday when the lunch stayed inside I was given permit to leave and now I’m two weeks at home on sick leave.

When I left work a week ago Thursday I joked that I’m going on a two week corona isolation by my own choice. Yeah.. Hubby is staying home to work all of next week I think, he was just putting his works together for next week and getting a laptop to take with him.

Middlest son has his matriculation exams right now, still three exams next week to do. I hope they manage to do those without trouble. The good part is that they are seated separately and everyone has their own table so I hope we’ll stay safe. Youngest one has had sore throat all week and has been at home, I’m expecting more info from his school concerning the corona situation.

I’m going to watch tv, read, write and knit and slouch on the sofa with Sirius and family. Youngest one and me already finished 11th season of Doctor Who but I’ve got all Star Trek TOS and then there’s all of Richard’s, Jason’s and Karl’s works to go through. We are well prepared.

 

 

 

 

Winter break

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I took this week off since the kids are having their winter break and I’m sick with flu, my throat feels like someone used a cheese grater on it and I have temperature rising. So I haven’t done anything I was going to do and instead I’ve been reading fanfics, doing art decos and watching tv and knitting.  (I’m knitting the cardi’s first sleeve third time since the pattern instruction was weird to say the least and I had to finally just do it after my own head.)

Last week middlest son had the traditional high school ending celebrations known as penkkarit (”benching”). The name comes from earlier days, my dad told us that when he had his penkkarit, the younger students carried them out from school on the study tables.  Nowadays the students have a carnival-type lorry ride in the city centre (it was awesome! One of the best school days ever!) and they throw candy to onlookers. It’s so much fun for everyone!

I and hubby took a few hours off from work, had a lunch together and then walked to the Old church park where it’s easy to see the lorries and kids. These days kids dress up as different characters, there was i.e. Money heist, Moomins and others. On my days we had just warm overalls meant for ice-fishing in the wintertime 😛 The lorries are also covered with sheets indicating which school it’s from, the students have done the artwork themselves.

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Middlest son is on the left side partly turned away, he has the pink Minecraft mask above his head. His best friend since kindergarten is taking pics and Julia was dressed as Little My with orange-red hair in the right side of the pic.
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Leftover candy, middlest son forgot half of his candy to school.. guess who’s been eating them.
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Birthday card for my friend Mareetta

 

On another thing, my two cents about The Stranger. I had some issues with it and I had to watch it twice to be sure they weren’t addressed. This is just my opinion; I really liked the actors but the plot was a bit meh. I must have read too many detective stories as it is.  A list of the things that really bothered me under the cut. Jatka lukemista ”Winter break” →

Considerate people

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Last Saturday I went to movies with youngest son to see Jumanji : The Next level. As we waited for the movie to begin people were on their phones, just like I was. In a while the lights went off and we saw some ads. Or would have seen but for a man sitting near me. His wife sat next to me and then him and he was reading news on his phone in the dark theater.

I politely asked him if he’d be so kind and turn the phone off and he answered saying ’It’s just the ads’ and I said that yes but the light bothers me and then he finally gave up. That’s also when the movie begun in earnest.

I just don’t get it. Why do you have to look at the phone when the lights are already off instead of getting ready to enjoy the movie?

I wrote about this in FB and said that I remember the good old days when cell phones were new and in the movies people actually behaved. I remember when someone forgot to silence the phone and the phone rang and all (we) others shouted ’Give them our regards’ and the other time when someone got really angry and threw their neighbors phone towards the screen. It was awesome.

Sometimes I miss those times.

 

 

One night in London

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and the world’s your oyster.

See what I did there? A terrible earworm but wrong city. So our trip to London was quick but very efficient.

On Friday we landed at 9 am to Heathrow and then took the tube to our hotel near Tottenham Court Road. A lovely hotel I might add. We got our room right away and took a little respite to think about what to do.

Since my friend M wanted to go shopping music we took the tube to Shepherd’s Bush and found HMV in Westfield shopping centre. Oh my. I’ve never seen such a huge shopping centre and believe me I’ve seen some pretty huge ones in USA too. I was awed. It was beautiful and nice and there wasn’t the horrible background music everywhere (or at least I didn’t hear it).

In HMV I left M roam free the cd’s and browsed some BR’s and other stuff. I found Doctor Who 11th season and Prince collector’s CD box and when I had paid for them I also found the book about Prince I’ve been looking for.

After HMV was searched through we went for late lunch and then did a quick round in H&M and M&S since they were close by. On our way back to the tube we bought some nice supply of delicacies to our hotel room to eat before the theater. We had thought about meeting some other fans (R) but decided not to and rested instead.

After the play we came back to the hotel and collapsed. In the morning we had a wonderful breakfast (I’ve never had such beautiful breakfast in any hotel). Then we went shopping to Foyles and Forbidden Planet and Primark. I bought (only) six books and found some nice t-shirts and we had nice coffee break too. On our way to hotel we found another music shop and I bought two movies. Afterwards we had some fun times trying to fit all our shopping into our bags..

We had nice late lunch at TAS next to our hotel and then collected our bags and left to Heathrow. In the tube we got so sleepy we tried to find the owls in the ad (below).

We had just enough time to do some quick airport shopping and sit a while until boarding and arrived to Helsinki around midnight. Hubby was waiting for us and we drove my friend M to her parents house and then came home and I went straight to bed.

A nice little trip to London, it felt like I had been there longer and I’m quite happy now.  I’ve always loved London, when I was 17 and visited it for the first time I felt like coming home.

Vanja-eno

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Yes, that’s Uncle Vanya in Finnish. I always find it weird that English doesn’t have own word for different relatives since in Finland we have many words for different relatives, i.e. ”eno” is mother’s brother ( my sons have three eno’s :D) .

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On Friday me and my friend M saw Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in Harold Pinter Theater and it was just as good as people have said. Toby Jones was awesome as Vanya, Cieran Hinds was perfect as narcissist Professor and the ladies were great too, especially Aimee Lou Wood and Rosalind Eleazar. Richard was of course quite perfect as the melancholy and given up Dr. Astrov. The play was very Russian and also quite universally applicable just like Chekhov has meant his plays to be, showing the humanity through his characters.

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A word of the theater itself too. HP was a bit claustrophobic imo, old house with small interiors and steep stands, even the stage was quite small but it’s an old theater so we’ll forgive all that. I’m glad the play wasn’t any longer because the rows of seats were quite cramped and I felt sorry for anyone taller than me (I’m of average height and even I had trouble with my legs).

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After the play we went outside to the stage door to wait for Richard. We had a small gift for him: some Finnish chocolate and a contemporary Finnish novel “My Cat Yugoslavia” by Pajtim Statovci which is pretty good. First out came Rosalind Eleazar who was very sweet and thanked all us fans as we praised her performance (she looked a bit overwhelmed). Then came Ciaran Hinds ready to sign the hand programmes and he was very nice also. While we waited for RA to show up we noticed Anna Calder-Marshall to go to the other way not wanting to walk through the fans and other people waiting there. Then came Richard and he started from the back of the line which was really nice of him. He was very quick and we barely managed to thrust our gift bag to him but we got autographs and it was all good.

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We had agreed with R to meet afterwards and we saw them in the queue after RA left and went to a nearby pizza place to sit and talk (and to eat late dinner).  I felt like I had known R for years instead of just reading her tweets. It was so much fun but in the end we really had to go get some sleep.

I’ll write another entry about what else we did on our trip to London.

 

 

 

Halfway

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through January already. I feel like time is going faster but it might be because I’ve had busy times again.

At my work the courses have begun again and so we’ve got lectures and classes in the library almost every day too. Also finally on Tuesday they called me from the University Hospital about my thyroid and I had an appointment on Thursday with the surgeon. She said they’d like to operate it during this spring and I said that suits me well. Then the nurse interviewed me and I told I’m available for cancelled times so it may be I’ll get the operation quickly but latest in June. She praised me for having filled the pre-questionnaire very effectively and when she asked my BP I had it ready on my journal since I’ve been trying to keep track of it and she was so happy. It was funny. The trip to the hospital isn’t funny because it’s on the other side of the metropolitan area and it takes about one hour and a quarter to get there by public transport but luckily now I can at least take the underground train half of the journey.

On Friday I had two meetings at work, first was for all of our full-time employees and later I took part to the Union reps meeting where I signed the papers to be available in the reps elections. I had thought not to take part but otoh I find it interesting so I said yes when they asked.  After the meeting I met my friend Heidi in the city centre and we had nice coffee and cake.

On the next Friday I’ll be in London to see Uncle Vanya. I’m already so excited that I try not to think about it so I can sleep during the night. My friend said just the same today as we talked about the trip. We’ll be in London only one night but it’s nice to have a mini-holiday. I already have plans for doing a bookshop-run and also some clothesshopping.

I’m knitting a pair of socks to give to Toby Jones, I really liked him in Marvel movies. I have already knit a pair for RA and he has said he doesn’t want them anymore which I can well understand. He only has two feet after all. I’m thinking about buying a copy of Uncle Vanya in Finnish and take it with me to London and get RA’s signature on it, it’d be nice since I have his signature on my The Crucible too.

I’m watching Money Heist while knitting, it’s very good. Only I don’t like they’ve dubbed it in English because their faces don’t match the sentences and it bothers me. We are having dinner soon, I’m so glad middlest son and hubby are cooking because I don’t have the energy right now and middlest wanted to do chicken curry which is his fave dish to cook and he does it well.

 

 

Lazy days

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are over and it’s back to work again tomorrow. I did absolutely nothing of the things I was going to and had planned to do all fall and just enjoyed reading, knitting and watching tv and movies. I’m a lazy one. On the other hand I think I needed the quiet time after the hectic fall.

Eldest son comes home from Japan tomorrow evening. I hope he has had good time with his friends there. His new studies into games coding begins right away, in fact he misses one day since he didn’t know he’d apply for the school when they bought the trip. Luckily it’s all right for the school too but I don’t know if I see him before the weekend.

Middlest son has the Army medical tests on Friday and I suppose they’ll too take few hours at least. If he gets through them we’ll probably have a pilot in the family. When he applied into the Air forces they asked if he’d be willing to do a career for 13 years onwards and he said yes. It’s always been his dream to fly a plane.

I finished watching GoT finally, the last season was available now on the Finnish Broadcast company’s site. Since I really loved the novels it took me three tries to get into the tv-series and I’ve never considered them as good as the novels, so much is left out and the plot goes dramatically different (on purpose) after third season. Anyways I thought the ending was good and done in the Martin-way. Now I just need to wait for the last novels to come out (one may hope..).

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Well I should go pack my work things and lunch ready for tomorrow. meh.