Lili and I went on a picnic yesterday. It was an all… well, exclusive. Tobi and others were not welcome. A Lili and I event. There was some grumpy faces when we left and ever since but I am glad to report it is not Lili’s. She liked it. Tobi however was disappointed and from what I heard he has organised a rival event. I heard it has not been a great success for he managed to consume most of the food before arriving to the other place. No he throws his sorrows for that on me and Lili as well,

But to be honest, we just got to go on our own. Taking Tobi and Moses together on a picnic is like taking an entire junior high school on an outing as a single adult. Or worst, three day care classes!

We couldn’t wash our feet in the sea because it was still frozen on the beach. That was a bit of a disappointment and also that ice-cream is not sold yet on the coast. Temperature is in the plus and the sun is shining! Is it too good to be true? Are people scared to embrace spring now, after waiting so long, are people scared to put on sandals? (I am the only person in town who wears them – for the time being.

Tobi and I organize a great even for the first of may but I think it may not happen this year… Not enough people although recently we have managed to double the amount of participants, I think it may be still some time before it can happen. About a 100 years or so. We see… maybe it’s like an avalanche and the third person to ‘join up’ will be easiear to find, who knows.

Publishing will take place in the first days of May. By then it is expected to grow into a magnificent anti climax!

Song Publishing House Update

I have received, sorry, we have received requests to release the lyrics of the song Tobi has sang yesterday and I have decided it may well be a good idea. I entered negotiations with a dragon therefore, in order to achieve this - as it is his intellectual property.
We have spent the day with fruitless arguing and debating which is quite an event with Tobi, he has a soft heart for the fabric of society when it comes to public domain, a mindless little song is ok only as long as none hears it but when it becomes a top 40 he gets cold feet. Just like the traffic lights. He took some convincing to get on board with them as well.

I think the original will not become a known piece. It will never carry the print. Tobi is hiding under Lili’s bed now thinking up a song that could work on the net and still carry the same meaning. I will keep you posted.

Keys, Dinner, Beer and Sandwich

I have written about how it has been a problem a couple of occasions when Tobi left one of the keys home. Once the key to work then the house key.
I am glad to report that over the weekend he has been trying hard to make up for it and make sure that keys are in abundance.
We have taken to work my house keys, work key, Jen’s house keys, spare keys, spare keys to the bikes, some alan-keys (for assembling flat pack furniture) and from reading the Kaleva, our local /Northern Finland - an area of about 100000sqare kms/ and according to some heavily censoring Paper I found out that last night he has been around the neighbours trying to convicne them to part with their keys. I think they have not felt the drive to come and complain to me on about it.

Better lots of keys than none! Yeah?

Here is a story I made up about Lili. When she doesn’t like what’s for dinner, she knows that she just has to sit and wait patiently, occasionally poke at her food and she can get out of eating it. She told Jen about it once. Honest children, love them for it. Same story tonight so I tell her that she has no choice but to eat her dinner and if she is too tired to eat than she can find her bed. One thing in the world that really gets to me is people refusing to eat perfectly good and eatable food. But she knows that this is THE rule for me. So after Jen and I finished (Molly, Tobi and Moses were out counting colourful overalls - students) Lili said she was too tired to eat. I told her she knows the deal. With that she got her jemmies on, brushed her teeth and went to bed. 2 hours before he bed time!!! She can actually be so stubborn that she would rather go to bed early then eat at least some of her dinner. Now how scary is that?! She is 4!

Tobi taught me a song toady but I unfortunately can’t post it here because I would be banished from the internet forever. It is about the middle-class that supposedly doesn’t exist in Finland because it is a class less society and supposedly doesn’t exist in the world anymore because class mobility is such, that according to post modern thinking anyone can do whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it… So the song, send me an email if interested.
I am more just warning you because this may be a reoccurring theme… you know, Sunday afternoon, sun out, men on the veranda, beer, sandwich… all is well!

And a short short story... a beginning passage
http://valkokoivu.wordpress.com/entrance/

Green Grass

I am back on the bike, cycling to town and back every day. A healthy total of 12kms. I loath it. Hate getting on the bike every morning more than not eating lunch. last couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about how did it came to this? I remember, back in Glasgow how much I loved it. I enjoyed the ride in the morning, good 8 miles (converts to more than 12km) across the almost empty city and when coming home, in the rush hour having to slice through road traffic and pedestrians alike. 'Course I had a different job back then, different city. I got a good adrenalin level in the afternoons unnerving myself trying to survive the ride home competing my best time which is about 43 minutes for the 8.3 miles up the hill and down and up and down all the way and the traffic lights plus cars ( I know, could be better but let me have a bit of fame!). Getting home making dinner to do something actually relaxing because the job wasn't but I am getting way off tack here.

Back to the point. I loved cycling in Glasgow, now I am not much into it. Couldn't put my finger on it till now but I know why. But I had a coupe of insights.

First of all cycling for the past five months was mostly a variation of cycling on ice, snow, icy snow, ice, sludge, ice, icy snow, grit, snow, grit iced over, ice, grit and occasionally on ice. Yes, all these are life risking and energy consuming. The ice is gone now and the grit has been cleared off the roads. Once again it feels like cycling. And the bes bit is that when having a German shepherd size and weighing dragon sitting on the back, singing and swinging left and right one can still manage the controls easily. And when the sun is out, which is pretty much a permanent now regardless the time of the day it starts getting lovely actually!

Although this morning we nearly fell off anyway. We were darting through Tuira and Tobi suddenly stopped singing while increasing his side swings dramatically; it was starting to get a bit difficult. I was just about to complain to him when I heard this inhuman, animalistic, terrible and painful to the ears scream from behind me. I guess it's best described to say the screech a dragon would let of when in great surprise and pleasure! It may have woken many of the inhabitants of Tuira at an early hour and this was the point when I lost control of the bike for Tobi has leaned to the right beyond possible safe. He has seen a GREEN grass. A single blade in the morning breeze standing there against all odds and elements. We stopped to take a closer look and it was wonderful. Tears in the eyes and everything.

On the way home we have seen many more. it seems that a day of sunshine and warmth can work wonders on the grass that has been under snow for more less 5 months. We could point out a couple of small, sorry looking green blades of glass on every square foot in the park. People around us have not understood why were we smiling so ... lost for words... so much like mad with joy while tears running down cheeks in streams. Well, I may be exaggerating about it but I don't want to show off Tobi too much.

I think I must put things in a bit of contrast... I know of someone, friend of a friend, sort of who is 'tired of rain' in Scotland. They had their first winter in Central Scotland. I can tell you it can rain there. A year and a bit ago we had the Classic rain for 40 days and 40 nights there. True! Ark was not needed only wellies, sandbags for doors in some places and 'brollies for all (umbrellas for those of you who don't know). Rain, even if not such I have been dreaming off for some time. Months. For a couple of years we lived in a small house in the outskirts of Glasgow where we had a garden. In the winter we couldn't do anything with the grass because it was too wet not too cold. It was THE Fun Time for the grass however and it/they became a jungle overgrowing the entire country! (I make up stories here). The point I am trying to make is that for once the saying 'The grass is always greener on the other side' is truely true. Consider the other side as in the other side of the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia, Denmark and the North Sea. About 2000 miles. Haven't checked.

All the above is an insight my problem with cycling. Putting it down on paper of a sort is very helpful and therapeutic. I will sleep much better now. Tobi is already asleep on the Top of the fridge, nothing will bother his dream so don't worry for him. Lili is outsnowring him. I am about to. It is all well!
I do miss my old bike though

Late April Moments

The rays of spring sun dart trough the small round windows of the side entrance. The heavy curtains designed to shield from the cold of the night are tucked safely to the side allowing the light to travel all the way to the floor of the neighboring room. They split to a million lengthy triangles on the way bringing desperately welcomed light, real light to the space of Rock Bar in Onnela at 7:56am while Tobi and I are having our morning tea munching on bananas and dates.

That was the last of him I saw till I finished my shift. I cannot blame him. Every cell in my body wants to be out there every minute of the day, I don’t even care if the sun is out or not. It is real out there. Unlike the indoors of a night club. Simulation of a simulation. Baudrilliard, Matrix… thoughts like that. Tobi hates post modern social theorists. Each for a different reason. His choice.

When I finished my shift we met up and went for a coffee, trying to agree on writing a story in Hungarian but the terrace at Bisketi was too noisy to keep our thoughts concentrated. Headed home for the last time on the bus hopefully till December. It is cycling season now for the coming 7 or 8 months and my bus pass is finished as of today. Standing front of the front door I realised that there is a crucial tool, tiny equipment that can hide in my palm is on the other side but the door is locked and without this tiny tool it will remain so. We headed to Uni, hoping to meet up with Jen, get keys from her since Tobi for the second time within a week has not done his morning duty of picking up the keys on the way out. Today he forgot the house keys. Last Friday he forgot the key to work so we got on the bus without them, then he remembered and we got off at the next stop. The experience wasn’t too embarrassing for there were only 2 people on the bus. One of them the driver.

We met Jen at uni to pick up a key. While waiting Tobi got into an argument with the automatic paper feed on the toilet. I will not post further comments on that.
I wrote some things there Tobi was feeding me: Tobi thinks that the wide, clean and bright corridors of knowledge are just way too intimidating for a house dragon. Too hygienic, too… academic, too smart if you ask me

On the 1st of May I have been put down to work on my own, cleaning up the mess of celebrating the whom actually? Got it! The workers. Me really. It will be a hell of a day for me, the worker.
Some says that I should have a colleague working with me that day. Would be good for me, but instead of one worker there should be two working on the 1st of May cleaning up after others supposedly celebrating the very workers who clean up after them… wonderful concept.
In the house there is a movement of solidarity though. Jen is still thinking about organising a Bolshevik revolution, storming the palace, battle cruisers on the river etc. The fish sing fishy songs of equality. Fortunately we can’t read lip. Tobi organising Molly, Moses and the others, especially the ones whose names start with M for a 1st May rally against exploitation and work for money. Don’t know how much help that will be.

low profile

Tobi has been conducting an experiment these last couple of days.
An issue came to our attention recently and we are finding it fairly interesting to investigate:

Plant life in northern Finland, like here in Oulu, is on standby for most of the time. Almost two third of the year. It is quite fascinating that trees have leaves for scarcely longer than four months out of twelve, that grass is alive also for only this short period and they actually manage not only two survive but to thrive (to some degree).

Tobi has decided that he will be a plant and every day he will simulate a year, sleeping for sixteen hours. I cannot say how nice these last days have been. Quiet and peaceful.
I fear this will not last much longer. Though. Jen is on a permanent rage now for the workers’ day is coming up and apparently it is a time for a celebration for everyone. Apart from the ones who are still exploited and underprivileged. As it presently stands large fractions of society celebrate work and workers’ rights on the expense of those who cannot exercise their rights as employees or workers.

‘If someone chooses to work on the first of May that is the choice of the person’ I have been told some might believe; because economic necessity and unfair employment contracts are a thing of the past? But I am high jacking Tobi’s blog here. Maybe it is time to think of starting up my own.

I think this is something Tobi will have a thing or two to say about. After all, Dragons are a lot more into social justice and holistic harmony than many would give them credit for. Time to revive Tobi from his hibernation. I need to get some water and snacks for him. He may be ok to have our leftover soup.

We know now that spring may not be only a fairy tale!

We had a wonderful morning for a change!
My nose has not frozen off by the time I got to work and even more importantly
- here comes the big line of the week
We saw birds in Oulu that we have not seen since September last year! Ok, I can’t say that I haven’t seen these three birds since September, Jack, Meg and Rose-Mary but the types, Migratory birds have at last returned. We noticed them just before getting to work, early morning, quiet street. They were looking around for building materials and furbishing for their old new nest. They go around inspecting things finding an old, thrown out sofa thinking ‘Hm, this would certainly fit well into our living room now wouldn‘t it?‘ and the response would come not getting to carried away that ‘Yeah but bugger, we left the van in Cairo, can’t take this monster just the three of us!‘ But then we appear around the corner and R-M says to her pals ‘Hey, we could ask those two to give us a hand..‘ at which moment Tobi would burst into the nosiest tears and sobbing in his great pleasure and happiness for meeting this three birds. I also feel that we just have met SPRING herself but at least I manage to control my emotions long enough.

He scared them off so we never got to know what kind of home is it that would take three birds and would fit the sofa, which by the way I entirely imagined for the sake of this story. There is no such rubbish in town ever in Oulu. The rest of the chance meeting is more or less true.

If one should wonder why, why on earth they have left their van in Cairo, I can speculate a rather simple and straightforward answer. They don’t leave here! Think about it, we, Europeans tend to think that migratory birds live here, in Europe, northern Europe etc and in the winter they go off so they won’t freeze. But really is this the truth?

They migrate to work, it is like seasonal workers on strawberry farms, or people working on oil rigs in the north seas. It is just a job. They come here to feed their kids - hard work - and once that done they go back home nice and warm and do f”#k all till the next lot is to be raised.

But they are here now and wherever they have permanent corresponding address with Tobi we agree it doesn’t matter. Snow melting, birds signing and chasing down furniture for the wee ones and the sun is shining.
Lili cycles home from Day Care today with a smirky smile on her face. She love her new bike, she loves her new sun glasses… I guess just the same as the rest of us, she has also great hope for spring

Road War, 'työkaveri' & persons that are not alive: Corporations

Yesterday on the way home from work Tobi and I were engaged in deep conversation talking about our newest favourite topic which is my attempt of shredding to bits the fabric of society in order to recreate something that is more just and fair, without of course going through a Robespierre phase, and is also free from corporations (will get to co later in more detail).

We have seen other people following my example using their head rather than the rule that is imposed upon when crossing the road. He brought up a quite clear example for the possibility that this movement will just become another rule rather than a process of thought: we had to cross the road to get coffee, looked around, cars were far away and we had plenty of time to reach the other side. A girl on the other side some seconds later has not bothered looking around and walked across the road. She nearly got run over. There was noise and screech end everything. She didn’t seem to be bothered at al. I almost started to give ground to Tobi’s argument - something that happens rarely - when while walking on a pedestrian crossing we nearly got run down. It was a brand new and shiny four by four. I could say that my life has flashed in front of my eyes but the truth is that it was sightings of 4x4 vehicles in Oulu in recent times. The driver has not given the slightest consideration to our existence or seemingly the possible end to them by his lack of concern.

The SUVs that has no other purpose than being expensive and fancy have finally arrived here and… the attitude came with them. It used to be that when a pedestrian looks at the road drivers ready themselves to stop instantly, get out of the care and run away. But things are changing! They are getting bigger cars and they becoming to believe that anyone who is not in a car at least, is not a human being but a thing to be squashed.

The ROAD WAR is on! And Tobi is on our side!
(which may not be a very constructively useful thing but sounds reassuring when first read)

Today I worked with a guy how now is called ‘Ali the Scarce’. For the 4th attempt to phone him about getting his butt to work he finally managed to answer his phone and got to work an hour and a half late. I had to keep him at eye-sight all day making sure that he actually did work. Some weeks back I worked with him and he managed to find some nice places to sit down in middle of tasks taking good rests while I was working my socks of for he has showed up 3 hours late. You could say today was an improvement. When showing up to work this morning he asked me ‘How are you?’ and seemed to be surprised when I said ‘Pissed off’. After that I was fairly rude and bossy for the rest of the day to a degree that Tobi decided to try and teach me spit or breath (out) fire after every time I say something to the guy. It didn’t work and after hours of trying the thought that maybe it has something to do with the way my body is built started downing on him. Tobi realised that I am not a fire breathing dragon which would be essential for the ability to breath fire… would you have thought so?

Corporations

I came across an interesting movie last night. Hence no blog.
It is called THE CORPORATION. It’s Canadian made and… even if not shocking at least fairly interesting. I like the phrase ‘Which Corporation are you from?’
Here is a link
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=related
One of my favourite bits were
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=s5hEiANG4Uk&feature=related
Details in the movie

Moses, Molly and Lili are considering of starting a biker gang. I will update on that more tomorrow.

Something to write about?

I started writing yesterday and the computer crashed. I started writing today and the computer crashed… I am starting to wonder if I will manage to get through this attempt before it happens again.
I am wondering also if there is a particular reason, if there is a certain character or two playing a part. They may bee feeling that I deprive them of my precious time to write innumerable blogs about them and began sabotaging my writing process… things like a shoulder nearly bitten off (or at least it feels like), soup travelling towards the keyboard with a rapid speed, and the computer crashing.

The irony is that the more I write about Tobi for instance the less time we spend hangin’ out and the less I have to write about (same goes with the rest of the family). It came to a stage when yesterday I started writing that I have had nothing to write of! The death of the bloggist! - it sounds a bit familiar, Miller?

However, I think Galactica, the Battlestar might be the one most at fault for our sorrows. Much time spent on it so eventually last night I was feeling empty and my life appeared pointless at first glance because I caught up with the running series so I must wait a week (only 2 days now really) before the next episode will be available. Don’t have a TV yet I am addicted to TV! Pathetic.

Otherwise Oulu is a fascinating scene these days. People are going around holding their breath (not literally speaking but almost), everyone is desperate to be happy, to smile, to jump around because it does seem that snow is melting now for good. But what if it doesn’t? Hence the holding breath. But atmosphere is positive. Since Tuesday Moses hasn’t crawled back to his hideout and he even put on cycling gear anticipating getting on the road. These last four years it seems nobody told him that we are not road gypsies who stop only for the winter. I think he may just be excited with the abundance of trees around and berries to come; he is a bear after all.

It has been another special day

I had the gentlest morning of all for a long time...
The house was empty. I mean empty and quiet and it was late. I slept in and everyone was away.
It was wonderful, something that has not happened to me for a long time. It took me almost an hour just to get out of bed.
I warmed up some milk for Moses but when I searched his hideout, the pile of dolls and fluffs and raggedy rugs I realised that even he was gone. It came to me that of course everyone is gone because today was Lili's official or 'real' birthday and at her day care there was somewhat of a celebration and pink ice cream for everyone. We brought in 30 for the 21 kids and few more members of staff, Tobi, Moses, Molly and a few others jumped on the pray I guess. Although I heard that they rather spent most of the day outside looking in the window only going in when the ice cream came for they had no desire getting into a room with 20 odd screaming and running around children. I don't blame them. Been there, done that.


In the afternoon I went to Rauni's class, Philosophy and Ethics. She once again wasn't the teacher for the occasion but some of jen's classmates. It was a fairly interesting presentation but when the girls started talking about the need for some centralized monitoring and evaluating of teachers' performance in delivering Human Rights Education as part of the curriculum I started twitching for they freaked me out a bit. No, actually quite a lot, but I managed to moderate myself thinking of Tobi and the Accident and Emergency.
(this is referring back to my first time visiting Rauni's class which was i think around 3 weeks ago on a Tuesday or Wednesday)

So Lili is officially four now. It doesn't make any difference though; for months I have been treating her like one would treat a 4 years old person. She defies me though, this evening she has been experimenting with building a lego car that on its box has the recommendation for older than fives. Tobi was in tears with pride for this young person, I was mostly biting my tongue trying to exercise patience.

And I have been getting some comments on Road Crossing, especially. It was a good read... Nothing like in Oulu, I suppose I take your point, it is rather easy to make a revolution here, after all, one needs only to step on the road, all alone, and all cars and vehicles in a 350m radius will instantly stop, drivers jump out and run with fear 'cause a pedestrian defied the rules. I don't promise I will work on the revolution in places where this would be deadly (for any of us). There I will find other ways - without getting killed - promoting common sense. I promise!

Oulu Time Slip!

In 47 days it will be officially summer. With everything a summer should be and will be. Today, exactly forty seven days before summer it has been snowing for most of the day, the temperature lingers around zero and the wind is having an inner debate between North-East and South-West.

You may think it sounds like that 47 days is a long time to reach that ideal of the summer but 47 days means that we are half way through the spring! (Remember, a season is officially 90 days)
Conclusion of this brief introduction:
Summer: 80-90 days, autumn: 40-45 days, spring: 10-11 days, Winter: all the remaining days (which is 219-235 days) 65 degrees north on the Baltic coast.

Moral is low among the troops. Lili is the only hyper. The aftermath of the Saturday Party.
Molly mostly crawls around on the floor moaning something about flowers, Tobi sits on the top of the fridge, head hanging and every time I open the fridge when closing the door his head somehow always gets closed inside and this always ends nasty… or comic. Moses (teddy bear) has built a nest and is on constant sleep, I sometimes bring him some warm milk. The battle daleks have lost all will to Exterminate!’

The list could go on.
Jen and I are a constant moan and are creative in finding new ways of complaining about snow falling.
5 or 6 months back things were different… that was then,

I am grumpy and it shows when I talk to people. I had an argument with Tobi today. He claimed that our conversation exploded because I suffer from a ’mild case of sleep deprivation’ (I am too busy to sleep) and that I should take Moses’ lead. But I don’t; it may well be some sort of experiment, or a bad habit. Anyway, our discussion was about traffic lights. And a rather heated one for that whatever silly it may sounds.

When crossing a road, no matter the time of day and the moods of the nearby birds’ one should always excursive rigorous attention! One can never know when and from where, a car can appear from nowhere… So the pedestrian crossings have been invented, with the little green and red man stuck up on top of a pole.

In the city of Oulu this totem enjoys great respect and when the red man is alight, people grind to an immediate halt and are more unwilling to take another step further till seeing the green man again. In the contrary, I don’t give a damn about this wicked form of worship and simply look around the road to find out if there are cars coming or I can cross. Regardless the colour of the lights.

Today, for the first time in the 9 months and a bit I have been here I have seen the first other person who has followed the same principle! I was delighted with joy and couldn’t but share my joy with Tobi during my lunch break. He I must say did not share my enthusiasm; in fact he has been deeply unsettled by my reluctant revolutionary actions tossing this city towards its doom or at least some sort of sensible anarchistic rethinking of the social contract! He was outraged.

We began a heated debate and I must say that dragons appear to have a chunk of granite for brain… but according to him so do I in my present conditions for in live speech I’m -according to him - unable to chain 2 sentences together about the weather (which should be easy after a lifelong winter) (or maybe that should make it difficult) not to mention a comprehensive in depth analysis of my and others’ actions.

Yeah, now I am falling asleep while typing

Up for comments?
Questions?
Curses even?

The day after

We had, at last the birthday party that Lili was so much anticipating. It came to be a fine event. Lili had a wonderful time and I think some of the other children did too. Or maybe most of them, eventually. The funny thing is that it really was three parties rather than one.

The participants:
Lili’s Päiväkoti friends
Lili’s friend from Australia whom she met here in Oulu
Some of our brand new or not so brand new Hungarian friends also known form Oulu.
The ‘Hungarian Fathers Club’ as Jen branded most of the parents who were here. The girls known from Päiväkoti were just thrown in the door, the parents didn’t stay.
Dan was a bit left out with Jen

The non participants:
All imaginary friends and house dragon(s).

3 Parties
After everyone came, Lili settled to hang out with the only other girl who spoke English, the Finnish speaking girls were another click and the Hungarians the third. Individually she would have managed any of these cultures without problem. She can and would fit into either of these cultures but she is as yet unable to bland them well, to interact in the 3 simultaneously. I think we will have to wait around 3 years for that to start taking place. And it will be amusing to watch, the level of intercultural competence she will have acquired throughout the years.


My baking went down well, so did Jen’s. From leftover we had a charity dinner for the neighbourhood (all of northern Finland).

The imaginary friends disappeared for the day. When they saw the list of invites - for they were helping me with the preparations a lot (although often with holding me back rather than…) - they decided to stay away. I guess they were competent enough to judge that their intercultural competence was just no match to the occasion. Or they just wanted to make room for the real people. Don’t know. But they had a nice gesture sending some flowers to Lili. They guessed fairly well that she would appreciate them. They are back now. Even Tobi. Which means that the left over cake that we still have some of will be gone in another 3 hours. Top.

On the way back he took the train. So I guess he is learning something from arguments and my shouting. And he is learning something good. But I promise I will not take it as a guidance to my teaching ethos.

This is it, I still haven’t rested enough to be rested after all the events of the week.

There is reference to Tobi in the Honouring the Wolf Blog which you can find on my profile or at:
http://honouring-wolf.blogspot.com/
There is also a short short story that has gone up on several sites:
http://valkokoivu.wordpress.com/green-flag/
http://gaborwrites.spaces.live.com/
There is link to it on my profile as well


One more thing… I don’t know while, but I like crunching my teeth. Jen sometimes wake up early in the morning, by which time Lili has crawled into our bed. She wakes up to the sound of both Lili and I crunching our teeth in our sleep… spooky.

When time is precious and a Wednesday is like a kind of Sunday ( a busy kind)

Lili's birthday party seems to be consuming me. Jen is way to busy to be consumed by it, uni is something consuming for her already already and Tobi has buggered off couple days back. (I will get to that in a moment.) I have not heard of Molly for some days, I think she might be mad at - mostly - me for throwing away her sledge (the old severely broken one).

This leaves Lili and me to be consumed. Shopping, Cleaning,... for now it is all in repeating loops (remember we don't have a car). Some baking to be in the coming days but before that a bit more shopping. Anyway...

My absence from this blog is due to the above mentioned serious consumption. (I feel a bit obsessed with the word consumption just now)

And Tobi isn't here anyway to write about. As I said he left few days back. I was, and I mean WAS so angry at him that I cannot find proper and decent words to emphasize it. He flew, which dragons do, but he flew on a plane. He claimed it was too cold to fly on his own so he took a plane. Do not ask 'how?' I guess he bought the tickets online and probably presented an ID when boarding the plane. I have no idea where he got it from but maybe I don't want to know. And as for the dragon boarding... I guess this day and age as long as one presents a photographic ID the rest they don't care. All kind do all kind of stuff publicly nowadays. People got used to it.

But he traveled by airplane!!! Because it was 'too cold'! He is a magical creature... and... he has wings! and he can fly fast or he could just get on a train at least. Save on CO2 or something.
***
Don't worry. I am sure he will be back by Saturday. That is when Lili's party will be on. The one that is consuming us. People will come, unless there will be too much snow to leave their houses. To which there is a real chance. Seriously.
Bluntly: here you will have a chance to spend 3 months in a year not having to wear gloves!

A sunday that was sunny and had some encounters

Today has been an annoying day thanks to our supposedly imaginary companions. And some real people to.

At work Tobi drove me mad with a song that he has made up, killing time - because to this day it has not occurred to him that he could just give me a hand. He sang today. He sang endlessly. It was terrible and it goes something like this:

I like cats
because
they're nice and tasty
but should take care
don't be hasty!
One scratched my nose
with its
sharp and sharpy
things
at the end of its paws...
...
but I like cats
much 'cause they're
nice and tasty
they're nice and tasty
and that's what cats
I think aaaaare!

Maddening! Truly.
I came home and found out that that Molly has been a true match to Tobi. She would not let Lili do anything, always getting in the way, being annoying and disturbing and not letting Lili play or tidy. Jen eventually had to tell Molly to go and play in the other room and leave Lili alone.

I like the resonance... simultaneously Lili and I have the same annoying problems with creatures that should be... well in my head I am getting into metaphysics. leave it just like the sociology of the 62 Bus.
Although I might come back to it tomorrow or so. I will see. There is a party to organize for next weekend will start consuming time.

A dialogue from work:
TK 'What else still needs to be done?'
G 'Washing the floor with the machine in that room, start washing the corners by hand over here and finishing off in the VIP. I will start with the machine and you can start here because I am a bit bored of mopping the floor today' ... pause of about 3 seconds or maybe 4
TK' Ok, I will start with the machine over there and you cans start here'
G 'No, I think it would be best if you started to mop the corners here I start with the machine. I am bored of wiping floors today' TK in the past 6 hours managed to evade having to pick up a mop, which is amusing because it is the bulk of the work. The rest is preparation (or other 'dirty tasks that he has also managed to evade) So he says
TK 'I will start with the machine in there -'
G 'NO! I will, I had enough wiping floors!' and with that I walked of to get the machine, he mumbled something about going to have a cigarette break...

Some people I just like to work and converse with

I have written this entire time without looking at the keyboard! I am becoming Kara. Although I still need some practice but getting there. She would be proud of me!
Molly - Lili's imaginary friend, companion, child, partner... it depends
Tobi - our house dragon, supposedly imaginary

The 62 Bus

Yesterday, standing in the bus stop the most fascinating thing has happened to me. Us. A number 62 bus came. It was destined, according to its sing to end up in Ylikiiminki, which is a place somewhat past Kiiminki about 25 minutes drive from Oulu and its name shows that back in the old days, for Oululainen people anything 'ylikiiminki' meant that it was far enough not to have its own name. Probably Helsinki was called the same. Or Europe or pretty much anything, although this is a speculation, I will have to check the city archives.

Back to the story line, which will require some explanation.

When we were living in Glasgow, to be more precise in the West End, on three separate locations over the years, wherever and whenever in town we took a 62 it took us home. And I am not lying, One only needed to get on the 62 and like magic, you would be home. Until yesterday I never, and I mean never considered the possibility of getting on it going the opposite way to some - to this day for me - specifiably destination with unmemorable name, somewhere East, beyond town. (Ok, Airdrie isn't that hard to remember but it sounds so much better when I say it is)

The 62 is like a magic bus and this thought gave Tobi some ammunition to the following madness:
He started to insist that we must get on the 62, here, in Oulu because it would take us to Victoria Park, West End Glasgow because the 62 is not only like magic but it IS! Victoria Park nowadays is nice. The sun is shining, the daffodils are flowering madly, ducks and swans do their duck and swan things and children playing on the grounds wearing nothing more than their summer outfit (give or take a couple of jumpers and/or sun hat). Sounds like a dream.
I tried to reason with Tobi but my efforts were fruitless. He was going to get on the bus and for some reason I thought I must stop him from making a fool of himself. I certainly managed to make both of us look like idiots while arguing and struggling with each other at the bus stop. Some people were pointing fingers and laughing so I sent them to a 'warmer climate' (Hungarian paraphrase) Then many started to cry that 'oh, they would so much like to be in a warmer climate! Be somewhere nice!' The crying crowd was a terrible site to look at and it even put Tobi on a bit of a hesitating halt. He wasn't so sure anymore because there was the 62, people could just get on it and be right there The Bus left.

I thought that the topic was closed but when our bus came he didn't want to get on. I left him there, fed up with arguing. I thought he would certainly be home latest for dinner, probably bringing with him an imaginary cat or two he picked up on the way to add to the feast. Hi didn't come home last night. He only got in about 5 minutes ago, now at the table having, actually 2 dinners, a lunch and a breakfast making up for skipping them. He has been to YliKiiminki 6 times this last day and a bit because every time he got on the bus it took him right there instead of Victoria Park. Bullhead.

You may wonder why, why did he not just fly to Scotland but this isn't this simple. Although he would be there in a day if flying, he wanted to have something simple, something local to change climate here, or something like that. He is chewing and talking the same time trying to explain this.
Basically he is a house dragon and our house is in Oulu so he has to put up with it.
That's it.
Next time I may write about the sociology of the 62 bus in Glasgow. Or I might save the world from it!

When it hurts on a Thursday

my day was, whether I liked it or not, very much focused on a single event:
'at the dentist'
It has been so consuming for the whole family apparently that when I got home finally, after a day's work and an enhancing experience while sitting with my mouth wide open for a bit over an hour, Jen almost immediately fell asleep on the sofa.

The story from the dentist is worth a mention here, so I will not robe myself from the please of sharing it with all those who would bother to read.
(see March 17 entry for the beginning) so here goes today:
A follow up on root-canal treatment. The fun really just began today. I have been told that I done very well handling the pain so I almost said 'I do this for a hobby you know'.Which would have been a false statement of course. Naturally it is a matter of perspective. Mine is that this is not my hobby. The irony is that going to the dentist here is practically free compare to what one should pay in the UK. whatever you pay here, the islands between us and the US one would pay 4 to 7 times more. Depends on the circumstances, or how well one handles the pain. I don't know. But theoretically it could be a cheap hobby ( as opposed to archery, mountaineering, etc)

Had a bit more pleasant conversation this time. well, actually, we didn't have much of a dialogue, it was straight down to business but at least I couldn't day anything offending about the snow.
At some point they lost something. They spent quite a bit of time looking for it, even on the floor. That was interesting, my jaw dropped! Or wanted to but my mouth was already wide open and at the time I couldn't have closed it to drop my jaw because the doctor kept her hand in so I wont close it even by accident. A sensational feeling. I closed my eyes and wondered if I was in a makeshift back alley dentist somewhere in Peshawar. Wondered if they would replace the missing instrument with a hammer. fortunately they found it so I never came to find out.

My favorite part was receiving the anesthetic direct to the nerve system of the root. I have anticipated some serious stuff. The nurse put her hand on my shoulder in support. Quite firmly, should I jump. Tobi sat on my legs on the doctor's instruction. He picked up some instrument from the floor to chew on. I don't think he would have been much use to hold me down but fortunately i was pleasantly surprised, the pain... well, I lived to tell the tale. such an anti-climax.

I promised to tell about the school experience I had on Tuesday but I forgot what I wanted to tell. All I can remember that Tobi didn't need to come to keep me at check. (which saved a lot on the invisibility cloak-see entry from Tue or Wed last week) He would have found out sooner or later anyway and then ... Accident and Emergency... So I controlled myself....
I remember now! Context isn't so important. Theorist's ideas presented by teacher. Question flies wondering how on earth could this be implemented. As if the theory was total madness. By that time I already devised a system in my head how to do it building on the existing infrastructure and resources of secondary education system. What I am trying to say is that I am really really clever!

Lili told me to brush my teeth properly.

Just like a nice Sunday

On the way from swimming pool to the bike shop where we decided to find a bike for Lili, we saw Molly's real bird. A wonderful, beautiful looking grey-black crow. Molly often rides/flies on it.

It flew off and Lili addressed her concern that we don't know where the bird went. And Molly will be missing it.

On our way to her day care for parents' night we saw it again but it flew off with its pals. It was so that it went for getting some dinner. Good on him.

We had french toast for dinner.

When Lili finally crawled into bed, Tobi was already snoring deep under the duvet. He was also exhausted from swiming poor, delivering birthday invitations, going to library, keeping Lili company at parent's night and running off to the shop with me to get some bread for the toast.

A busy day indeed

Yesterday I sat in one of Jen's class again. It was the continuation of Ethics in Edu. Uni could be fun.

Molly: Lili's imaginary daughter, partner, fairy
Tobi: our house dragon

Life is back in business 65 Degrees north! - sort of

On our balcony I saw a half finished spider web this afternoon. The spider was nowhere to be seen. I wonder...
What happened to it?
And I came to the conclusion that since winter was long, hibernation was long and the poor thing must have died of hunger long before managing to even finish producing its means of getting food.
But it tried. Viva la Hungry Spiders!

I would have a question to this early, hungry predators out there: Even if you finish your web? where are the flying insects to be caught? I haven't seen one yet.

Spring is in the way, snow endlessly melts and our neighborhood smells of dog shit! There are some woods around us and now that the snow is melting, six months worth of dog shit is dissolving in puddles all at once emitting all the stanch they can muster! Fantastic experience to step out the door during the day.

Lili and Tobi enter the house wet to the neck every time they go out! Those puddles, deep as Loch-Ness or some similar glacier lake and... too much temptation.