Espoo Keilaranta / Kehä 1 Development - Kehitys kehittyy!

All the best for 2016 for all of us!

There is a saying "Silence is golden!", which is crap no matter if I have been silent! Now I have found a way to post pics directly from my mobile's camera and that makes it a lot easier to post and say what's on my mind.

Believe me, there is a lot... I am fully aware of the break I have had with posti and a bit annoued with myself, even if I am at the end happy with myself :o)

The decision made by the City of Espoo to build a new road solution and 2 major tower buildings at Keilaranta was made just before Christmas and already now the development work started. First task is to strip down the few trees from the small bush Area. Now it feels a bit naked while it will change. A LOT.

Only about half a year and then the metro line is open.

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Hyvän, syvän hiljaisuuden jälkeen olen löytänyt keinon ladata tänne kuvia suoraan luurinI kamerasta...

Kehitys kehittyy, Kehä 1 ja Karhusaarentien risteysalueella on riisuttu pieni metsäalue, jotta loppuvuodesta Espoon kaupungin päätöksen mukaisesti päästään rakentamaan uutta tiehässäkkää ja 2 ISOA tornitaloa.

Metro aukeaa naapuriin puolen vuoden päästä, joten alue tulee muuttumaan paljon!

Take the effort - it will have an impact!

As I said in my previous post, if you take the effort to notice people, help out or do something that is valuable to others, it will have a positive impact! Often it is about small things and sometimes you get something back - on top of a good mind.

Like happened to me.

The other day I was driving home and saw in front of me a car changing its lane insanely and crashing another car. For a second I wondered if they need help or if my involvement is needed, concluding that I should take the effort to help out. I made at least one person very glad!

It appeared that the quilty driver was not with Finnish origin and was not happy to admit it was his fault, as well as the innocent driver had no clue what she should do and had no documents to report the accident for insurance. I stated shortly what I saw, gave the "victim" some tips, gave the insurance form and a pen. Since I had to leave for an appointment, I gave her my contact details and asked her to contact me if needed.

Well, she didn't contact me directly but a courier rang my doorbell two days later and this is what I got:

It was quite a big packet as you can see from the tennis ball comparison. And this is what I found from inside:

The "victim" lady had sent me a flower and a thank you -note. Apparently my little effort was very valuable for her so it paid off. Small input, big positive impact...

While we are on traffic topic, I want to share a picture and the feeling from the shortest days of the year.

Today it felt that the sun did not raise at all (and actually it didn't in Lapland at Northern Finland). It was gray and rainy all day, hard wind and sooo sad looking pre Christmas day. Perkele. Most of the time people post only the shiny, nice images and tell positive stories - just like I prefer to do as I try to act via positiveness. But if something is shitty, I think it's ok to say it.

Luckily the gray day was gray only at weather, joyful Christmas is 2 nights away :o)

Have a great moment, soon the Santa, Joulupukki, is here! Hauskaa Joulun odotusta!!!

PS Be aware of the fake Santa...

On the Road

In my Friday post I estimated the number of deaths in Finland for the Midsummer weekend to be 10. I'm sorry to say I was wrong: according to Iltalehti, the number is 15 at the moment, 7 in traffic, 7 on water and 1 killed. The return traffic is still on so the numbers might still go up... Let's be careful out there!!!

Here are few captured moments from the road. Too bad I didn't have a camera available when I passed an electronic car with a licence plate "CO-2", but I found a pic of it on www.eltelnetworks.com;

I wonder why these guys were not driving the one they were carrying...

Is it Bond?

James Bond?

No, it's triple-o'-seven!

Smoke on the water?

Well, too bad I didn't take a pic: it was a female member of romani people in full costume and as always one that takes good care of the car...

Olutta on...

Kohta Kustavissa on...

...olutta. Jonkun lasissa. Sen jälkeen olutta on kustavissa. Minä en ole siellä.

Translation for the ones with a bit weaker Finnish skills;

• SIGN: "Men, sit while peeing! Regards, Cleaning Lady"
• COMMENT: "Again women's logic... And this should reduce the need for cleaning?"

Hauskaa Juhannusta meille kaikille

-

Happy Midsummer for us all!!!

PS My unfortunate guess is that due to our habit for unwise behavior and alcohol consumption, 10 people will die in Finland this weekend, drowning, in traffic, or killed by a "friend / family member". I hope I'm 10 heads wrong...

Njet Parkering

If someone has thought the Horror Story -series has made someone feel bad, I'm not sure how this one will impact. Who knows, I might be invited to the Russian Embassy...

I came across with a blog that is very local at Lappeenranta, Finland. It is a small city next to the Russian border and hence they have many Russians visiting. It has got some veeeery positive impacts on several areas - and on the other hand it also enriches the local parking culture.

Good or bad - you can judge yourself. One example was today at Helsinki City centre, where always-busy-street Northern Esplanad, Pohjoisesplanadi, had a Range Rover from beloved neighboring country double parked in front of the Stockmann book store, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa. Busy-as-standard street became even more busy...

Anyways, check out the blog from Lappeenranta and make your own judgements.
http://njetparkering.blogspot.fi/

...here is a taster borrowed from the site.

As said, make your own mind about these, while I'd say park nicely as the Santa's helpers are on the move! Let's see if the end of the world comes today as estimated. I hope not, as I have not yet eaten enough Christmas goodies...

3 nights to go!

Lapland - on the Road

I was in Lapland for a holiday trip, with a main target to enjoy skiing and of course the Lappish environment. Here are few tasters from the road.

Some of you might recognize where this is from. It has been there "always", even before the new highway.

Sometimes it is worth getting your bum up early. Beautiful sunrise.

You better pay attention where you drive as you easily slip away from the road. Good thing is that the snow is soft, but getting back on the road is tricky.

The trees and the tracks were pretty here and there. Art of the winter...

Particularly further up the country.

They had a new way to show that certain places on the road signs were across the boarder, like Kostamus in Russia. Did you know that Finland has got the longest land boarder in EU to Russia, over 1000 km?

On the way there is still the dead chopter with an Ukkohalla ad.

The kids were wondering what were these white things in the middle of the pic. Phone lines that you don't see that much any more...

The snow art changed now and then into a bit more ugly fall art.

The speed measurement reminded everyone about speeding, even if you were 1 km/h over the limit.

There was a rally race somewhere nearby and tens of cars came across. Not fast as they were not racing at that point...

One thing I must complain is the stupidity of most drivers that think the road parts with the second lane means everyone needs to pick up the speed - and drop it again after that part ends. NO, it is meant for taking over slower cars that should not speed up when there is the chance to take over.

Hope you understood, I did at least :o)

Safe on the road as always. Bum tired after hours of sitting, but still happy to travel with the family as we all are used to driving long distances. Lots of stories, laughter, music, talking and silence. Fun moments together!

More Lapland to come, stay tuned...

Kilikolutusta tarvitaan - Languge training needed!

We Finns have been extremely supportive towards the Swedish language for a long time. There are historical reasons and laws that nowadays secure that swedish speaking minority of less than 5% gets all services in Swedish, all material is produced in two languages and even all road signs are in both Finnish and Swedish.

Just like in Belgium they produce everything in French and Dutch. Hah, of course I know it is officially Flemish and not Dutch, but let's face the facts: Flemish is a dialect of Dutch.

I visited Stockholm, Sweden and in the ferry terminal spotted a fantastic typo that is of course impossible to translate - but if I'd try it would be something along the lines of "Salt free sanding blinding" instead of "Salt free sanding try out"...

On aivan loistavaa että myös Ruotsissa on aloitettu avainpaikoissa suomen kielisten liikennemerkkien tuottaminen, mutta olisiko mitään ideaa vaikka kilauttaa kaverille ja tarkistaa tuliko tuo sokeilu juuri oikein kirjoitettua...?

Check the Checklist

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. 

Don´t get a flat tyre in Brussels!

I have a tip for you;
Do NOT get a flat tyre in Brussels!

This needs to be taken into account particularly in following circumstances;
- It is rush hour

- It is +3C and raining sideways

- You need to stop at a busy highway where is only a narrow shoulder before a metal fence

- You drive a car that you have no idea how to change a tyre

- Calling your insurance company´s 24/7 emergency call service you can not get through even you try the following queuing times:
30 mins, 27 mins, 22 mins, 1 hrs 30 mins, and when you after another try get them to answer you are, without a proper reason, connected further to 6 different people in "customer service" (as an assumption do not expect to get a proper customer service in Belgium).
You should also prepare as an outcome to call another number to get the help you need and are recommended to call in case of issue.
...Oh, you wanna know what company?
AXA

- Search of towing service from yellow pages offers you tyre shops and repair services, not towing service

- The only towing service you reach gives you 2-3 hours waiting time for anyone to arrive

- If you ask a local "AAA" road service car (Touring.be) in 50 meters to help you, you are told "NO I can not help you because you are not a member" (and no, do not expect to get any further advice or options, even if you would find out later they do serve non-members, just for an extra fee)

- Law says you have to leave the car and put on a yellow vest and stand behind the fence waiting for the help (for obvious safety reason), and you can not hear a thing on the phone over the traffic

- You are not prepared to spend 5-6 hours to with a tyre problem


However, there might be also some positive things to smoothen such situation;

- Do not wear a suit, but sports outfit for morning exercise
- Charge your mobile overnight before leaving
- Have a big umbrella in the car
- Don´t book meetings for such a day
- Have a good network for plan B´s, C´s, D´s and E´s

- You know the company Standard Pneu nv

...Remember that you are lucky to drive a car, it might be tougher if you would ride a donkey that looses a leg and you don´t have a gun...

PS Yes one needs to feel lucky that tyre doesn't explode at speed of 120 km/h but flattens somewhat smoothly!