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Imagine this;

You are going for a cruise, offered by your son. Yes, compliments by him - highly appreciated! When your kid is awarded with such thing as his team's Most Valuable Player -award in the biggest tournament of the season, there is no way you can tell him "Sorry man, it is a bit hectic right now so we can't go for the cruise. We must skip it!".

No way, it is a BIG thing and we are fortunate to be his parents so that we can join him :o) And naturally we get to pay for all the rest; food-drinks-candy-shopping-games etc.

You also need to somehow get yourselves to the terminal. Since we have a busstop next door and the terminal is in the heart of the city, we decided to use bus + tram. Terminal in the city means also small and relatively expensive parking.

Off we go and enjoying the ~20 min bus trip at the seaside towards the city. Do we have everything with us?

Wallet - checked
Passport or ID - checked
Luggage - checked
Kids - checked
Tickets - checked
...or at least we have a copy of the reservation and meals that I (not our son, me) must pay in the terminal.

Except...

We don't have the precious voucher!!!

*BLING* and I jump off the bus at the next stop. It was first difficult to get a taxi to a bus stop but finally I succeeded. Quick stop at home and back towards the terminal. Wife & kids I left in the bus so I was able to move faster by myself.

Like most stories, also this one had a happy ending.
Which was actually a start.

A start of a fun trip!

More about the trip itself comes later on.

PS The Crown Prinsess of Sweden is coming to Helsinki with her newly wedded husband but she has not contacted me so far. I know her schedule is a bit busy but since I have visited her castle in Stockholm, I think it would be fair for her to stop by at our castle too. 

Pihin vinkki: Hetken Huumaa! // In the heat of a moment

An elderly gentleman with a white hair walked into a jewelery shop on a Friday afternoon with a beautiful, young blond lady. He told the merchant the he wanted to buy a special ring to a special person, his girlfriend.

Merchant presented the standard range of rings with price levels around 5.000, - €. The gentleman, however, said he wanted something more unique.

After further discussion the retailer presented a special selection ring with 40.000, - € price tag.  Beautiful, unique ring with multiple sparkling diamonds.

With eyes like stars the young lady was in shock with excitement. When the gentleman saw this he said; "We will take this!"

Merchant asked how payment would be done, and the gentleman said he would pay with a check. He added immediately:
"I know you do not normally accept the check and want to secure them. Unfortunately the banks are already closed. Is it okay for you, that you secure the check on Monday morning, and I'll pick up the ring in the afternoon? "

On Monday morning, a merchant called the gentleman and said;
"Sir, there is not enough balance to cover the purchase!"

"I know," said an elderly man.
"But let me tell you about my weekend...!"

Valkohiuksinen iäkäs herrasmies käveli kultasepälle eräänä perjantai-iltapäivänä kaunis blondi käsipuolessaan. Hän kertoi kauppiaalle haluavansa ostaa erityisen sormuksen erityiselle henkilölle, siis tyttöystävälleen.

Kauppias esitteli vakiomalliston tuotteita hintatasona n. 5.000,- €. Vanha mies kuitenkin kertoa haluavansa jotain erityisempää.

Kuultuaan tämän toiveen kauppias esitteli erityisvarastostaan n. 40.000,- €:n arvoista monikivistä, kimaltavaa sormusta.

Nuoren naisen silmät säihkyivät ja hän suorastaan tärisi jännityksestä. Kun iäkäs mies näki tämän hän sanoi, "Otamme tämän."

Kauppias kysyi kuinka maksu tapahtuisi ja iäkäs mies kertoi maksavansa shekillä. Hän lisäsi heti sen perään:
"Tiedän, ettette normaalisti hyväksy shekkiä ja haluatte varmistaa sen. Ikävä kyllä pankitkin ovat jo kiinni. Sopiiko teille, että tarkistatte katteen heti maanantai-aamulla ja minä tulen noutamaan sormuksen iltapäivällä?"

Maanantaina aamupäivällä kauppias soitti miehelle ja sanoi;

"Herra, tilillänne ei ole riittävästi katetta!" 

"Tiedän," iäkäs mies sanoi.
"Mutta antakaas, kun kerron teille viikonlopustani...!"

Paperinkeräyksen Muna-Kana -ilmiö

Espoon Niittykummussa on monta vuotta ollut pahvin- ja kartongin keräyslava, jolla Espoolaisia on opetettu/totutettu kierrättämään. Loistavaa, olen kohtalaisen suuri kierrätyksen kannattaja - ja välillä näen jopa hämmästyttävän paljon vaivaa sen eteen.

Myös monet kanssakaupunkilaiset näyttävät oppineen hyville tavoille, sillä tuo keräyslava on viime aikoina ollut varsin täynnä. Kahtena viime kertana lava on ollut niin täynnä että olen joutunut tunkemaan pahvit sisään. Aktiivisesta käytöstä johtuen maahan putoilee myös jonkun verran irtopahvia. Valitettavasti lavan kyljessä ei ole ollut puhelinnumeroa johon olisi voinut täydestä lavasta ilmoittaa...

Nooh, onneksi moinen palautekanava löytyi netistä - saa nähdä jos sitä joku joskus lukee. Palaute oli osin näin:

"Siisteysongelma on viime aikoina johtunut vain ja ainoastaan liian harvasta tyhjennysvälistä. On idioottimaista laittaa vuosia paikalla olleeseen pahvinkeräyspisteeseen uhkaus että keräyspiste poistetaan mikäli paikkaa ei pidetä siistinä. Se pysyy siistinä jos tyhjennätte astian useammin!"

Kumpi johtaa kumpaan...?
Ehkä ajattelen asiaa hieman liian kapea-alaisesti, mutta jos astiat tyhjentävä yritys tekee liiketoimintaa uskoisin että ratkaisu on helpompi kuin uskoisi.

Jos kierrätys ja Suomen luonnon puhtaana pitäminen askarruttaa, piipahda osoitteessa http://www.kierrätys.info/

...tulipahan päivän hyvä työ tehtyä...

Yes, the winter came - at least for a moment - somewhere around here!

When I walked out from the house at 6:30 this morning, we had -5C. Unfortunately I forgot to turn on the car heate and hence had to clear the windows before taking off in the morning. Luckily the roads were dry since I still drive with summer tires.

Today we got some snow also at Helsinki area, but unfortunately it didn't stay. About 30 km from here, the ground was white at some point of the day. I gotta say it would be nice to get some white stuff on the ground as it is damn dark outside. Soon the rest of the leaves will have fallen from the trees and it will be even more sad.

Let's see if I get the time to download some fall pics too - I guess the winter ones would be good ones too when I get some fresh ones.

You can follow the road weather at here. Just click one of the blue boxes.

Is the winter coming now or not?

It would be pretty good to know, in order to decide if I should change the studded tires for the cars or not.

It is right now -1.5 C and the roads were a bit wet today, so it can be icy in the morning.

We also got some snow flakes today but it was at that point too warm so they melted. They are not predicting much warmer for tomorrow so I guess the time for the change is soon...

Oh come winter come!!!

Get the damn milk yourself!

I want service!

I hate the self-service trend that has taken over particularly in Finland. Where else you have for example difficulties to find a cafe that serves in tables, or in office canteen you are expected to fully complete the work needed after the meal;

- separate the litter into recyclable and the rest
- put in the next station the fork, knife and spoon
- place the glasses in the next one
- coffee mugs in the next
- then the plates
- dessert cups and salad plates in the next
- tray in the last one

And at the end comes the service part: you can wipe your hands in the paper available...

Yes I know it is less labor intensive and hence should impact the price of the meal (which it doesn't) but this is a perfect example of where the society is going to.

Here is the inspirator for the title - a strip from the local newspaper;

1)
Wagner: Could I please have some sugar for my coffee?
Waitress: You can get it from the counter.
2)
Wagner: How about milk?
Waitress: That's also at the counter. Feel free to get it yourself!
 3)
Wagner: I would like to be served.
Waitress: Buahahahahahahaaa! The pig is talking nonsense...

The few times that I have been in night clubs in the past years, it seems they do not have enough people to serve the drinks. Or why else I would need to stand at the bar and wait for my turn for 15 minutes? 

A bit the same happened today when I went to the City with Mrs and we decided to "go for a cup of coffee". Well, on Saturday afternoon it easily means a place that has got some good snackfood and instead of coffee, it is perfectly fine to take a glass of wine or a beer. We ended up to go to Teerenpeli at Kamppi, Helsinki.

That is more like a pub, actually a brewery pub and a distillery, that has got very good toasts. In Finland it means you need to get whateveryouwishtohave from the counter. No service on the table. This makes me miss the little bar / cafe next to our local grocery store GB in Brussels. On Saturday afternoon last minute shopping trip I go there, take a pit-stop at the loo, sit down and the waiter is waiting to serve me with a smile. I liiiike it!

By the way, could you Finnish cafe /bar / restaurant managers somehow understand that your colleagues in many countries make good profit in drink or food sales by serving some minor salty snack with a drink? Often it is crisps/chips, peanuts or something alike, in some places in e.g. Spain it has been even more as I have said earlier.

Same thing is at the sports events;

There are too few people to serve all before the game or particularly at the half time / breaks. Sad examples have been in an ice hockey game of my home team Blues, where they could have almost doubled the sales during the breaks, but too few sales people behind the counter caused loooong queues and many people not to buy anything.

What about then the gootball game Finland - Hungary last week; I know that labor work is expensive in Finland, but this should be a simple business case calculation;

If I would sell xxx more with a new person that costs yyy, the end result would be xxx-yyy=zzz which means in most cases more cash in the pocket of the manager / owner or whoeverisincharge.

No, the lack of service is not a Finnish trend, it is happening all over. I remember going to Spain for a holiday late 1990's when in our local supermarket (same as I visited this summer too) had a lady almost on stand-by by the scale at the fruit/beggy department. She took the bag I had made, weighted it, put on the price sticker and off I go. Nowadays I need to do it myself - just like I have been teaching the kids as of day one...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My main message is that we should NOT settle with a bad service, but give feedback also directly - in addition to voting with our money.

Viva la Service!!!

Adios EuroCup 2012

I did go to the Finland - Hungary game with my son - and I guess the best thing was that he got to see pro football. +5C temperature didn't make it at all enjoyable - and neither did the teams warm us up with their performance.

Finland lost.

3 games and 3 losses makes it quite impossible to make it to the EuroCup 2012. The team has got several veterans who in worst case played their last game in the national team today. I kind of agree with such approach, since if we don't have any chance to make it to the games we should think what benefit can we get from the rest of the qualification games.

How about giving a chance for the younger players to take more responsibility and potentially make an international break-through?

We have some big names (in Finland scale) still playing;
Sami Hyypiä, former Liverpool captain, currently Leverkusen
Jussi Jääskeläinen, Bolton goalie
Jari Litmanen, 1995 Champions League winner with Ajax and former Barcelona # 10 shirt player
...and some others who are a lot smaller names and getting closer to the end of their career.

If we would have a real chance to make it to the games, I would definetely keep these guys in as they simply are one of the best (if not THE best) in Finland. If EuroCup 2012 is Adios for us, I can not blame if the guys decide to give their place to the next generation.

Another question is why Finland has lost these 3 games?
Players do the work but the coach runs the show - and players play according to his game plan. Therefor I can't that much blaim some part of the audience that was singing coach Baxter to leave: "Where's the result - Baxter out...!". The attitude or self confidence of the coach should not be an issue, that was again proven after the game, video clip from here.

I wish all the best to the team for the rest of the games, not least when we go head-to-head with Sweden next year! I hope the defense keeps Zlatan the Viking Ibrahimovic in control - with or without Hyypiä! I'd like to express my thank you to team Holland for today's win against Sweden - our love & hate neighbourg ;o)

Football EuroCup 2012 Finland - Hungary 12.10.2010

Should I go there...?

Finland has started (again) the football (soccer) EuroCup qualification games with 2 beatings. It is not that surprising that we lost against Holland at their home arena, but loosing against Moldova is not what we expected.

On Tuesday the games continue when Hungary comes to Helsinki. The game is naturally on TV too, but since I have one young football player in the family it might be good to go there and watch the game at the stadium.

Yep, I know it will be freezing as the temperature will not be above +10C but still, dressing warm and warming yourself with overgrilled sausage that is frozen from inside should do the trick to enjoy the somewhat 2,5 hour session. I might not get the overpriced 125 Euro tickets but on the other hand I'm not that keen on trying to see something from the last row in the 40.000 people stadium.

Sorry folks, we don't have a bigger stadium - and this one was built for the 1952 Olympics. It would need a renovation - or we should build a new stadium in Helsinki.

GO FINLAND!

PS If you are visiting Helsinki, you should go to the Stadium Tower for a great view over the city!

Winter extreme in Finland

I live at the moment far away from most places, up north in a strange country called Finland. This is the same place where the REAL Santa Claus lives in.

As I've told earlier, the winter times are pretty harsh, dark and cold. In south the sun is up max about 5 hours and up North in Lapland the sun doesn't come up at all in 6 weeks. No wonder people become crazy - just like the Dudesons.

No, it is not pitch-black but the sun doesn't come above the horizon and hence for example the street lights are on all day long. On our ski trip up in Lapland over last New Year I got a reminder why the slopes in Central Europe do close at around 5 pm; the sun sets and they don't have lights.

In Finland all the ski slopes have lightning - and therefore they are also able to keep the slopes open until late, normally until about 7 or 8 pm. Well, I guess it is fair to say in Finland the slopes are soooo tiny that it is easy to set the lights. However, at the Alps it would be a bit different story to set light posts for all the 100's of kilometers of slopes.

Winter in Finland - it is something toenjoy. Close to the Arctic Circle we have a place called Kemi that is worth a winter visit. They have a snow castle that operates as a hotel, all icy and cold so be prepared for a nice warm sleep on a reindeer skin. I really mean it, when you are out there and enjoy the nature - and after a good dinner with for example reineed meat you set yourself in a sleeping bag over a reindeer skin. Niiiiiice!

Like stated in the pic below, Lumilinna means Snow Castle - right next to Kemi by the sea side (that is frozen at winter time).

The town of Kemi is the same where a former world class shot put man, World Championship silver medalist Mika Halvari is from. His nick name was the Fairy from Kemi (name of home town) - Kemin Keiju... He is a good person to combine with winter: he is indoor shot put World Champion and those games are at winter time.

 Back to the other winter activities;

As you can see in the pic above, you can put on a rescue suit and jump into a frozen sea - broken apart by the ice breaker vessel Sampo you are onboard. That might feel like a joke, but the suit and activity is something the ship crue needs to practice now and then.

Most of us pay to do something like that, but my cousin was lucky enough to be on a shift onboard a ferry that had an emergency practice; He volunteered to be rescued form onboard to a helicopter floating above the ship. He enjoyed it!!!

Here are few main tips if you are interested in swimming in an icy sea or to sleep in a snow castle;

• Tours and ice swim from the ice breaker http://www.sampotours.com/ 240 Eur, kids 4-11 years -50%, but you gotta be above 145 cm tall to swim.
• www.snowcastle.net/fi double room 140 Eur / night / person

Since the summer is not here any more, I can say "come winter come, I'm ready - as always!"...