In 14 hours around the world, thousands and thousands of Euros - Dollars, Crowns, Yenis etc will be literally burned into ashes on the skies. For a short moment of joy and visual art, we burn shitloads of explosives in the fireworks. Let's keep this in mind while enjoying them, we pay for the one way or another...
If you are involved with them, please keep safe, put some glasses on, keep the distance, if problems - wait for loooooong enough. And keep your head clear enough!!!
At the same time, do make sure that you enjoy the moment, think of the people you have met and moments you have had during the past year(-s) and pland many, many moments ahead. Enjoy some good food, drinks and company - enjoy the moment!!!
...I know I will...
I wish all of you the best possible year 2012, let it be prosperous for you and the loved ones!
Happy New Year!!!
Toivotan kaikille teille ja läheisillenne menestyksekästä, entistäkin parempaa vuotta 2012!
Hyvää Uutta Vuotta!!!
Helsinki at New Year
Image compliments by www.taivasalla.net with pretty nice images from Finland
I'll be surfing some waves today - not much and apparently the storm will be calmer than earlier this week so it'll be smooth... I am also likely to witness some fellow countrymen to behave badly, so let's see how good stories I will pick up.
It will be anyways several bad dressing, poorly behaving drunken rednecks who think they can behave as they wish. On the way back home, some of them will be blasted and trying to pull their shopping: 6 cases of beer, cider & Gin Long Drink (Lonkero) on a mini-size trolly that could hold half of the weight.
Lots of amusement epected, let's see if I'll be one of the ones amusing others ;o) Have a great day!
Here are few pics from yesterday's walk that the authorities didn't wish us to do.
Thrill started next door, where this poor pine tree is not up any more.
This one was just a small one at Mellsten beach
Last year at this time the sea was frozen. Now it is more than 1 meter up from regular. The pier is not usable for the moment, but the lamp & electricity is ready for the winter swimming.
At Kauppatori, down town Helsinki, the water was climing up towards the street.
The wind had made a to the X-mas trees. Two of these were down - but naturally I was a good man and lifted them up.
At Senaatintori the bigger tree was down for the 3rd time. Now Helsinki has doubts if they should get one at all in the future.
Nasty result - evil storm...
I just wish the winter would come - last year late November our car looked like this.
Welcome winter - or I'll go for New Year's BBQ...!
Sleeping late.
Washing the dishes.
Good breakfast.
Book reading.
Against the authority recommendation, due to the storm up to 35 meters/sec wind, a good long walk outside - images to follow.
Exciting moments to see if neighbors pine tree will crash on other neighbors electricity wires.
Visitors.
Great meal.
Siesta.
Kids movie on TV.
Sauna.
Beer.
...and it's only 6 pm - life is good and tomorrow the alarm clock is not on!!!
Jos tähän olis vielä saanu perinteisen Espoo-Jenkit -matsin, se olis sit ollu siinä...
Already now, I truly recommend all of you who can appreciate beauty-for-an-eye to go alllllll the way to the end.
I hope you all have had at least a fraction of the Christmas feelings and joy that I have had! This year we have enjoyed the time by ourselves. The kids realized that this was the first ever X-mas we had in Finland by just ourselves. When our first born was less than 1 year, we moved from one grand-parents to others, keeping ourselves busy.
After that, until we moved to Belgium, we were in a lucky enough positon to invite the family to our place. No limitations (to certain limit), so if someone wanted to have on the table a specific food item, she/he was welcome to bring it. Then we of course split the work - and my Mom did the ham as you might guess from the previous pig's ass -post...
Fan-tas-tic = Fan-tas-tis-ta!!!
Good food, wine & champagne, beautiful surroundings, lots of candles, nice presents, good stories, revealing seacrets, remembering stories and people we care about, good movies (Hurt Locker, Eemeli by Astrid Lindgren, 102 Dalmatians...), siesta, sauna, calls / messages / a visit contacts with the close family members. As I put it: Fan-tas-tic!!!
The only thing I'm missing, is a music performance - even a short one - by the shy kids of mine. I hear them practice the saxophone and clarinet, but I rarely have a chance to see them play. Just imagine one of these played by your kid, live;
For this one, I really recommend to sit down, put on the best loudspeakers you have, and either just enjoy the music or read also the bits & pieces of history that the script brings along.
Finlandia by Jean Sibelius
Farti... - sorry, mistake. Let's try again.
Walking in the Air;
Yes, you are allowed to be either jealous or think that I am insane, what ever you see appropriate. What ever your thoughts are, I'm a a happy Father - Onnellinen Faija!!!
If I only had my own Santa's little helper...
I wish you all and your families, friends, loved ones, and whom ever you are interested in, the merriest Christmas! Hyvää Joulua!
Apologies for some copy-paste tech errors...
Language Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
######
Afrikaans Geseënde Kersfees en 'n voorspoedige Nuwe jaar
Geseënde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar
Akeanon Maayad-ayad nga Paskwa
Mahigugmaon nga Bag-ong Dag-on kinyo tanan!
Albanian Gëzuar Krishtlindjet e Vitin e Ri
Aleut Kamgan Ukudigaa
Alsatian E güeti Wïnâchte un e gleckichs Nej Johr
Amharic (Melkam Gena) - Merry Christmas
- celebrated on 7th January
Melkam Addis Amet) - Happy New Year
- celebrated on 11th September
Apache (Western) Gozhqq Keshmish
Arabic (Modern Standard) أجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و حلول السنة الجديدة
(ajmil at-tihānī bimunāsabah al-mīlād wa ḥilūl as-sanah al-jadīdah)
Armenian (Eastern) Շնորհավոր Ամանոր և Սուրբ Ծնունդ
(Shnorhavor Amanor yev Surb Tznund)
Armenian (Western) Շնորհաւոր Նոր Տարի եւ Սուրբ Ծնունդ:
(Shnorhavor Nor Daree yev Soorp Dzuhnoont)
Բարի կաղանդ և ամանոր (Paree gaghant yev amanor)
Aromanian Cărciun hărios şi ti mulţă-anji Anlu Nàù!
Asturian Bones Navidaes y Gayoleru añu nuevu!
Aymara Sooma Nawira-ra
Azerbaijani Yeni Iliniz Mübarək / Təzə iliniz yaxşı olsun (Happy New Year)
Basque Zorionak eta urte berri on
Belarusian З Божым нараджэннем (Z Bozym naradzenniem)
Шчаслівых Калядау (Szczaslivych Kaliadau)
З Новым годам i Калядамi (Z Novym godam i Kaliadami)
Bengali শুভ বড়দিন (shubho bôṛodin)
শুভ নববর্ষ (shubho nôbobôrsho)
Bhojpuri शुभ क्रिसमस और शुभ नव वर्ष (subh krismas auur subh nav varsh)
Regards from Joulupukki, the real one, the one that lives at Korvatunturi in Finland. For mail, this should do it; Joulupukki Korvatunturi 99999 Korvatunturi Finland
PS Regards from Heidi, fantastic Christmas - I felt myself a bit over dressed...
The pig has been in the oven for almost 5 hours - and still cooking. I'm facing midnight and still need to stay up until it is ready. Not that many degrees to heat up any more, now it is at 73 Celcius degrees and it should be between 75 and 80, depending on how we wish it to be.
Good thing is that part of the game is to enjoy chocolate, cookies and glög...
This is the first time I'm cooking the ham from start to finish - and happy to do it. Mom would be proud of me ;o) We went to say hi to her and lit a candle to warm her up on otherwise wet, gray and windy place. And same thing for my father, as well as all the others who are on top of our minds but not available for a visit or a phone call... It was still beautiful thanks to the hundreds of candles glowing in the dark.
Today is the longest night = shortest day of the year. In Helsinki, Southern Finland the sun got up at 09:24 am and went back to sleep at 15:13 pm. That makes the luxus day 5 hours and 48 minutes long. Up North in Lapland, the place where the real Santa Claus, Joulupukki, comes from the sun will rise again next year on Jan 17th.
In Utsjoki, the furthers place up there, the sun went asleep on November 26th so quite a night...
To finish off, here are some Finland facts for you, what do we close to 6 million people consume over the Christmas period;
1.500.000 liters of red wine
580.000 liters of Glögi, the sweet Glüehwein
7.000 extra overnight sleeping places in trains (that are traveling up North and back)
1.500.000 Christmas trees
Hyvää Joulun aikaa ja taikaa! 2 more nights to go before the Santa comes...
Little piggy, come here to eat and grow - Daddy's gonna eat you afterwards...
From piglet to Christmas ham in 6 months;
On Saturday Dec 3rd Helsingin Sanomat, THE main morning paper in Finland, had a story about a pig that they were monitoring from birth to meat. Of course the web version at hs.fi was shorter, so I should share some bits & pieces with you.
June 3rd the male piglet number 301 was born at Pöytyä, Finland
For the first two weeks, the piglet is fed with milk by the BIG mama pig that can weigh even 250 kilos
At the age of 2 weeks, the pig weighs 3-4 kilos and starts to get proper food, starting with fodder
When the pig is 4 weeks, he says bye-bye to mama pig and is separated also from the other sex. That is the male pigs and female pigs are grouped separately.
When the pig is 3 months old, it is already 40 kilos and picks up almost one kilo per day
The doom day for the pig number 301 was November 21st, while the weight was already 126 kilos.
On November 22nd the pig had transformed from a pig into meat, that was getting ready to be eaten around the world: Majority - including a Christmas ham - in Finland, ribs in USA, front claws - etusorkat - in Malesia where they are treated as a delicasy.
On December 24th somewhere in Finland the ham offered by the pig number 301 will be the centre point of a Cristmas meal
If you don't like the facts above, perhaps you should change the habit what you eat. At 2010 we Finns ate 71,9 kilos of meat per capita. Out of that, 34,8 kilos was pork = pig, 18,5 kilos chicken etc birds and 18,6 was from cows/bulls.
Is here in place the old saying "you are what you eat"?!? Here is a Finnish tribute song for a Christmas ham.
Luckily the singer, late Juice Leskinen was a handsome one.
Back to the pigs.
My mother used to stay up - or wake up when needed - to make sure the ham was properly cooked. A big one, in this case one around 10 kilos, took easily more than 12 hours. Nowadays we've had a smaller one for our family, even for a bit extended one, but still it takes hours to cook it and I have practiced it now for a couple of times. More I've been involved with putting the jacket on the ham, also a sort of an art that I am happy to practice more.
Since Mom is not around. And I miss her, of course more at this type of times where I have so strong memories connected! Joo, Äitiä ikävä...
My Mom loved the singer of this song, Vesa-Matti Loiri - who is not on top of my favorite list as a singer. Great artists and a sportsman in many areas. Another on in Finnish, enjoy.
5 nights to go before some kilos of pig's bum is on our table. Hyvää Joulun odotusta!!!
Christmas is right around the corner, 6 more nights to go. And 7 for the ones who need to wait for it until 25th.
When I was a kid, we had a tradition to decorate the Christmas tree only on the morning of the 24th, not before. We got the tree the day before from the salesmen nearby and got it indoors to melt down - as most of the time we had snow. In our family, we have together with my wife created the tradition so that we get the tree and decorate it some days before Christmas. Today was the day - and now we can enjoy it longer.
Let's be honest, we also need all the help we can to cheer us up, it feels the sun is not coming up at all and it is raining sideways. This has been the horror image I was NOT missing while we were in Brussels. There the days are at least a bit longer...
Yeah, down side is that the winter lasts normally 2 days, 1 day at a time during the "winter season". On a good day it feels like spring, while on a bad day it is a looong grey fall day.
We had a busy day, starting with an early wake-up call to watch a football (soccer) game at 8 am. Again enjoyable moments - naturally as my son was playing - and they got a tight 1-0 win. OK, they should have scored few more goals from the places they had, but no.
After a short Sunday siesta it was time run some errands - with also a tree in mind. The options are to buy a tree from one of the pop-up sales spots around the corner, or from one of the bigger stores. I chose the second option as it had been raining a lot and I didn't want to get a wet-wet-wet tree indoors. It didn't harm that to my knowledge the price was also lower in the store.
We've had traditionally the standard tree, forest spruce - metsäkuusi. During our Belgium years we got used to the Abies Normanniana, somewhat Caucasian tree with longer, thicker and softer needles. The good thing with them is that they don't drop the needles that easily. The down side is that they don't smell as good as the forest spurce...
The standart spurce costs from about 15 Euros up to I guess 50, while the Caucasian ones are from 25ish to 60. I love the plastic net that they nowadays use all over to wrap the tree for the transportation. Veeeeery handy!
Well, this year our tree looks like this - every year a bit different as we have shitloads of decorations. Too much someone would say. And actually has said.
Sorry about the pic quality - it was easiest to use the phone camera as it is smoothly connected via bluetooth to the laptop I use to write this. No wires - no worries (I wish)...
Come on Christmas, we will be ready to take you - snow or not, we'll just put up more candles and outdoor fire! Hyvää Joulun odotusta!!!
I have few friends who suffer from a horrible hangover. I do not envy them!
For the ones who wonder what that is, I can tell from hear-say it is a physical and mental feeling one has got - usually - the next day after having plenty of alcohol.
Now the story tells that an American non-scientist has found a formula that should cure it in 15 minutes. Apparently he has had a need to cure himself several times, as he has none formal medical background. Somehow he has managed to get a partner to bring the product to the market in US and it is expected to hit Europe next year.
Story in Finnish is in local online tabloid Iltasanomat. I bet you can get the most of it - if in need for a cure.
Toisin sanoen Ameriikan ihmemaassa on joku amatöörijuoppo kokeilujen kautta löytänyt lääkkeen, jonka pitäisi poistaa kankkunen 15 minuttissa. Eurooppaan mömmö on odotettavissa ensi vuonna.
94 years ago Finland got independent from Russia. After that we've had some a few times arguments with the eastern neighbor. Every independence day the national broadcasting company shows the old school black-and-white movie "Tuntematon Sotilas" - "Unknown Soldier" from 1955. It is about the second world war in Finland, the contingency war we had on the Eastern frontier.
To get to the mood, check out from Youtube the Finlandia by Sibelius...
Tonight is also the traditional President's reception with somewhat 2.000 guests = hands to shake by the president. It's been a fun event to check out the outfits, one more horrible that the other - and some positive ones too.
I've not been invited yet, so I need to comment it by hear-say and media experience, but the dancing is not something I'd be looking for.
The ones who wish to watch it online - like we did during the Brussels years - visit here. There are also pages with about this year's events in Finnish in here, for images later on 18:30 Finnish time (CET +1 hour), check out the "Kuvagalleria"-section.
Toisin sanoen, jos haluat seurata Linnan Juhlat 2011 online internet-lähetyksenä, se onnistuu YLE Areenalta 18:30 Suomen aikaa. Tietoja päivän muista tapahtumista löytyy täältä.
Happy Independence Day of Finland -
Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää!!!
PS I almost forgot that today is also Saint Nicholas day. In Belgium today is the main present day of the year, Christmas has come along only afterwards and nowadays kids have two opportunities for presents...
The Flying Finns is a mythe that has got some background - I'd say we have earned the sayings;
"If you wanna win, hire a Finn!" said one ralley guru once.
Teemu Selänne of the Anaheim Ducks is called the Finnish Flash etc.
Hmmm, the Finnish track and field athletic club in Brussels is called Flying Finns, but I guess it has got nothing to do with the topic ;o)
But I would say this one from Formula One podium tells a lot;
I am sure this brings smiles on certain faces particularly in Brussels, Roma, Amsterdam, and Paris...
If you have some doubts about picture manipulation, check out this news clip from HS.fi.
PS 21 nights before The Santa comes! PPS I can see the old friend from the past, the sun. Cold -1C but beautiful day...
I really hope he will have a competitive car next season, same as I wish the "other" Lotus will pick up their technology and also Heikki Kovalainen has got a chance to race for single-number positions.
Now that our American friends have finished the Thanksgiving turkey and turn the mode towards Chirsmas, I think it's time to think about what christmas lights and how we should put up. Some seem to think it is stylish enough to just throw up a line of lights on a tree, but I've got news to you: It's not!
Kävin läpi historiallista materiaalia ja siellä tuli vastaan mm. Suomen Valokuvaajain Liitto ry:n jäsenelle myönnetty
"KURSSITODISTUS
FUTUROLOGIA"
Myöntämispaikkana on ollut Aulanko Hämeenlinnan kupeessa ja ajankohta maaliskuun 19 armon vuonna 1973. Kurssitodistuksen allekirjoittajina ovat toimineet "puheenjohtaja" jonka nimen tulkitsen olevan Sirkka Kallama, sekä "asiamies", joista erityisesti tuon jälkimmäisen nimen tai oikeastaan roolin haluaisin kaivaa vähän syvemmälle.
Jos joku teistä mahdollisesti tietää mitään(!) erityisesti tästä futurologia-osasta niin kertokaa! Jos ette kerro, kiroa teidät alimpaan kurssitodistusfuturologiaan niin syvälle kuin objektiivi kattaa...!!!
About 3 years ago I sat next to him on a flight when he was returning to Belgium from one of the last races that season. He had already won some title and was after another. I gave my son a card with his signature and a message "he's gonna be in F1 some day". And it seems I was right after all...
Well, I guess the crash in famous Macao race didn't harm the plans but let's see if he is in already next season. Follow the dark car starting from the second row and taking 2nd position, crashes a bit on 5th lap.
Or will Kimi Räikkönen make a come-back.
One of the not-so-fun-or-enjoyable traditions in Finland is the joint voluntary day of the house community you live in, talkoopäivä. When preparing for the winter, it is quite important to clean up the yards particularly from the leaves, fix what's needed and move the necessary stuff to the storage.
Too bad the Blues lost their game against the league leading team Kalpa, where also Sami Kapanen - a former NHL star plays as a main owner of the team.
Still, it has been a heck of a day!
Groceries.
6 hours of outdoor work with 2 shirts sweated.
Common beneficial work done.
Arranged our outdoor shed and moved some stuff to indoor storage for the winter.
Espoo Blues took a nice 2-1 win from local competitor, HIFK from Helsinki - the team that beat the Blues in the finals last season. Despite of this, the highlight of the game was HIFK's only goal scored by Markus Granlund.
Howcome?
It was almost a duplicant to his big brother Mikael Granlund's goal from last May's World Championships: air hook goal that you can find from Youtube and from here.
The brunch on Sunday was great - just like the rest of the day. Sorry that the pic is low quality, the phone cam is not the top level...
PS We won the basketball game on Sun eve, which was very positive after all the hits and bruises. Also the scored 16 points helped the mental recovery from the pretty physical game :o)
Today many countries celebrate the Father's Day - Isänpäivä, and Finland is one of them. My day has been until now, midday, pretty good one. Wake up at a pretty good time not to waste time, and heading to the (indoor as it's +5C outside) football pitch for my son's football practice.
Today it was more than a practice: we played Fathers against Sons football match and I can tell you, it was FUN! The boys won by one goal, 7-6 I guess, but who cares (except everyone on the pitch) as the main thing was to get another father-son experience together. Naturally the mothers were cheering, I guess equally to both sides even though my wife said that perhaps next year they will need to start cheering the fathers as we are getting to be on the weak side...
Now after the shower I took the time to sit down on the couch while the rest of the gang are preparing a fabulastic brunch with karjalanpiirakka, munavoi and mud-cake. I guess there's some Mimosa available too, even if I target to play a basketball game still tonight.
Hyvää Isänpäivää kaikille, myös omalle Faijalleni siellä missä olet!
Kiitos paljon! Tack så mycket! Grazie 1000! Muchas gracias!Thank you! Danke schön! Dank u wel! Merci beaucoup!
Somehow you have made this 15.000 happen...
And yes, I know that for some of you the image shows a bit wide.
However, when you visit and potentially wish me to say something else or more: PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! It feels most of the time pretty damn stupid to talk by myself...
Tonight we've had the local Red Nose Day program in the local TV, the Red Nose Day as it's known on BBC. Many thanks for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, even though let's keep as a target to make it next time even a bit better!
In Finland, I'd say my favorite was the SUURI VHS ILTA 2011, the GREAT VHS evening with local insane comedy characters... Thank you for finishing it off with Normipäivä :o) It's on YouTube, but I can't link it via this laptop.
Anyways, the YLE program collected over 2.000.000 Euros so great job!!!
PS I am thrilled for Riki Sorsa for beating the cancer that was expected to a) end his singing career and b) end his existance on the planet and tonight he was singing his ass off!!! Hyvä Riki!!!!!!!
I came across with some old receipts and decided to share some price info from Andalucia, Spain with you. Make up your own mind if they are cheap, expensive, or something else...
Some restaurant prices;
6 portions = raciones of different seafood, bread, 8 x soft drinks, 4 x water bottles, 2 x 0,75 liters of Rioja wine, all together 67,80 Eur in our favorite restaurant
Pizza in a bit better restaurant with wooden chairs etc 8,90-10,50 Eur
Pasta in the same place +/- 9 Euros
Similar pizzas and pastas you can get for 5~6 Euros in a restaurant with plastic chairs
From grocery store;
2 liters of Pepsi, Pepsi Twist that we don't have in Finland, for 1,19 Eur
6x2 liters of still water á 0,23 Eur = 1,38 Eur
Irish Cream 0,7 liters 4,88 Euros
12 x 0,33 liters of San Miquel beer á 0,49 Eur = 5,88 Eur
Rioja wines from ~1,5 Eur up
Philadelphia fresh cheese 150g 1,48 Eur
Oven pizza 2,49
Not much different from Finland
Plastic bag 2 cents
Yep, much weaker than the Finland 20-40 cent versions, but still
Yep, the fall is here - with many beautiful features as well as some gray moments. Today was the day when we have had in the past our yearly End of the Summer -party, but unfortunately the BRU years have made the change and we have not been up to get back to the routine. Today we would have had a halloween party - a tradition for the hosting family - to go to, but that's totally different from having your own the eve before you turn the clocks back for the winter time.
Oh boy, we've had some seriously fun time along the way and I trust the moments will continue. Not that I've not had fun today - it's been just different. Some gooood home arrangements, yearly car technical inspection, grocery shopping, gym work out, transportation logistics for the kids' sports & fun, cheering our sports star in her game, hosting 2 teenagers for a sleep over with pizza & marshmallows, baking the best pizza in town for ourselves, and relaxing. Not too bad for just another saturday...
I've got some snapshots here to amuse you, sorry about the bad quality of the photos. The phone cam is not the best one for ad hoc snap shots...
Bushes turning red about 2 weeks ago.
Home sweet home
Great view to the house. Makes you wonder how is this possible...
Too bad I didn't have a proper camera with me. This guy is driving a 1930's motorcycle with a cap on - which is a nasty crime in Finland. Taken today in Espoo, Finland.
There is a gold pot at the both ends of the rainbow: in both goals of the football pitch in this case...
Light the fire babe and get the marshmallows out!
There are many tacky things coming from the good ol' US, but this is a tasty one!
Suomessa on tällä hetkellä maamme taloudellisen selviytymisen ja tulevaisuuden kannalta merkittäviä yrityksiä vajaatoiminnolla. Syynä tähän on mielestäni käsittämätön lakko. Jos on saatu aikaan jonkinasteinen keskitetty ratkaisu, ei meidän pitäisi päätyä lakkoon...
Kyllä, jonkun yrityksen pääluottamushenkilö tai vastaava laukaisi uutisissa tyyliin ”nyt me teemme tulevaisuutta” ja olen todellakin samaa mieltä: Olette riskeeraamassa omien työpaikkojenne tulevaisuuden Suomessa!
Muutama muu totesi, ettei tällä lakolla saavuteta positiivista tulosta kun otetaan huomioon menetetyt tulot lakon ajalta. Niinpä, miksi sitten mennä lakkoon...?
Ai millä perustelen että olette riskeeraamassa työpaikkanne Suomessa???
Nooh, jos ajatellaan vaikka sitä että me joudumme maantieteellisellä sijainnillamme antamaan manner-Euroopassa toimiville yrityksille etumatkaa maailman päämarkkinoille. Tämä tulee esiin osin toimitusaikojen ja osin logististen kustannusten osalta – vaikkakin niiden osuus kokonaiskuluista on melko marginaalinen. Lisäksi meidän kustannustasomme on suhteellisen korkea – katsotaan sitten mitä mittareita tahansa. Olemme pystyneet toistaiseksi aika hyvin pysymään kilpailussa ja jopa perustelemaan hieman korkeamman hintatason korkealla laatutasolla ja luotettavuudella.
Laatutaso ei tässä tapauksessa toivottavasti kärsi, mutta lakkoilemalla viillämme luotettavuuteen ISON haavan ja näin vaarannamme Suomessa toimivan tuotannon kilpailukyvyn.
Jos joku vielä epäilee tätä, miettikääpä mitä tapahtuikaan ah-niin-tuottavalle ja kallispalkkaiselle lypsylehmälle paperiteollisuudelle? Haluttiin aina vain lisää etuuksia ja palkankorotuksia – tehostaen vaatimuksia myös lakkoilemalla. Pikkuhiljaa paperitehtaat ovat sulkeneet ovia Suomessa ja siirtäneet tuotantoa edullisempiin maihin – joissa ei välttämättä lakkoilemalla riskeerata luotettavuutta.
Mediassa on esiintynyt yritysten nimiä kuten Wärtsilä, Konecranes, Metso, Kone – joista kaikilla on täydet mahdollisuudet siirtää Suomessa olevaa tuotantoaan ulkomaille. Toivottavasti näin ei käy! Yritetään siis ottaa käytännön läheinen suhtautuminen tilanteeseen ja miettiä ratkaisut joilla saamme hommat käytiin.
Heti.
En lähde penkomaan yksityiskohtia ristiriidoista, mutta jos show-stopperina on muun muassa tulkinta kolmesta koulutuspäivästä niin kannattaisi ottaa järki käteen ja ajatella pari askelta eteenpäin. Koulutuspäivät eivät tietenkään voi olla työntekijälle vapaapäiviä – ja toiseen suuntaan yritysten täytyy kantaa vastuunsa koulutuksista. Molempien osapuolten kannattaa muistaa, että osa kouluttautumisesta ja valmennuksesta tapahtuu työn ohessa, oppimisen perussuosituksena voi pitää pyramidi-jakoa:
10 % luokkahuonekoulutusta (jonka jo pitäisi olla aktivoivaa),
20% esimiehen / kollegan / spesialistin valmentamista ja
70% oppimisesta tapahtuu työn ohessa.
Ottakaa järki käteen ja tavoitelkaa kohtuullista ratkaisua!
I was wondering if I should nag about the insane strike that just started in Finland, or to talk about positive thing. Yep, I agree with you: Let's go for the positive one as I know there has been too much to bitch about recently...
I got an email, that got me to remember some fantastic moments from few years back. It is the Brussels times, where you have fabulous chances to make tourist trips around Europe with only few hours of driving time. This is one of them;
Champagne Julien Chopin
During our few trips to Champagne area in France, we visited Champagne Julien Chopin twice. It's a small producer, that makes on yearly basis about the same than for example Moët Chandon makes in a day. And that is about 40.000 bottles. Mr Chopin told us that the champagne production is more of a hobby for him, he makes the living from selling the grapes to the BIG champagne houses.
I've visited the cellars of both Chopin and Moët Chandon - and some others on top, and I can tell you the Julien Chopin ones in Monthelon were the most interesting ones. It was also very interesting to see the corking and labeling line in the garage of theirs.
Yep, the Moët Chandon ones were fantastic too, kilometers of tunnels under Épernay. Not to talk about the moment when I passed a cage full of Dom Pérignon bottles. Must have been close to 100 of them, next to me in an cellar where rest of the group had already moved on. Great moment that I took a pic of.
Sorry, it's on the other pc, not available for the moment...
L & D,
I know you are out there occationally - and with this posting I'll make sure you will see this.
Even if we have been living far apart for some years now, I know the Champagne moments will continue when we will get together next time! Who knows if for our next Monthelon trip the next generation Chopin, the one who peed in his pants during our visit, will be hosting us.
Oh, interested in the quality or price levels of Chopin champagne...?
I can tell you I have had the pleasure to taste close to 50 different champagnes along the road and not a single one of them has been "bad". The thing is that when you have a chance to taste several ones at the same time - a proper tasting that is quite normal when you go around the area - one tastes better than the other.
Sometimes it is due to what you had in your mouth just before, sometimes just about the taste...
Few years back the prices started from ~13 Euros up. The Millesim ones that have been waiting to be drinked for 10 years were from less than 20 Euros, if I'm not mistaking around 17-18 Euros. Surely the inflation has made some changes, but if you compare it with any price around, it is competitive.
The quality - well, if a normal person would need to taste Chopin against the big houses, I can claim it is a matter of taste, not quality.
Damn, I miss many things about Belgium and surroundings - not least the people involved!!!
PS I still owe you some pics - and I would have a word or two to say about the strike in Finland so let's see if I'll have the time & energy tomorrow. Anyways, have a fantastic weekend!
