Winter

We've had a consistently good winter in Tampere since the beginning of the year. That, in my opinion, means that skiing and skating conditions have been excellent. There are tracks for skiing on most of the lakes and woods around here and the city takes care of keeping them in good condition. On Sunday I went for a nine kilometer trip on the closest lake. The sun was shining for a change. The feeling of warmth from the sun made me think of skiing in Norwegian mountains at Easter time. Not that I have done that a lot, but those few times have been fantastic experiences. The dreams of Norwegian mountains slipped away when a woman overtook me. Slightly frustrating and I tried to blame my skis. The real reason is rather my physical condition. I'm otherwise fine but have been a bit sloppy with exercise. It also seems all those cafe visits during the autumn have had an impact and there are now some extra kilos to drag around.

Last week we had our sixth wedding anniversary. It was in the middle of the week so no big celebration. I guess the celebration was already on Saturday when we went to Vantaa Ikea without the kids. On the actual anniversary day I picked up the kids from the daycare and bought a bunch of tulips from the local grocery store. I naturally tried to hide for my wife the fact that I'd put in such little effort in getting her flowers. After the kids went in bed we ordered some takeaway food from a Turkish restaurant close by. While eating we watched Michael Palin's "Around the world in 80 days". At some point I fell asleep.