Quick trip to Helsinki

I took the Blue1 flight at 09:15 to Helsinki (€ 54 was return fare!). It was bitterly cold, -32 C, and with the slight breeze, it was about -38 C. Helsinki was like summer as the temperature was just -8 C. Finished work and got back to the airport by 15:00 hours; flight at 16:40 and home by 18:00. Temperature was still hovering around -28 C but as it was not windy, it was bearable. Hope the temperature starts to rise and we hope it is sunny bright days ahead.

Oulu, a wonderful city

Many of you have asked me what attracts me to Oulu.

This is difficult to define.

Although I am an Indian, I would no longer consider it possible that I could, in my lifetime, return to live in India.

I have other options.

As three of our four kids are settled in England, maybe I would like to move there.

Having lived in England for 6 years, from 1963 to 1969, been married there in a sleepy town of Shrewsbury, and having had two children born while living there, there are many sentimental attachments to considering England as a possible home.

Given the choice of England and Oulu, with its extremes in climate, a difficult language, the high degree of corruption in all levels of life, our existence in Oulu has been a wonderful experience, and one which I am unlikely to trade in my lifetime.

Maybe I will visit India more frequently. Or maybe I will take more time to spend with our grandchildren in England.

But when one puts all the pros and cons in a balance, Oulu is still my Number One living choice!

How many of you readers think me crazy to accept living in this ultra deep freeze? As I drove to work today it was just -3 C. As I drove back this evening it was -13 C!

But the cold is not the reason for running to another place. It is the quality of life that counts. And the quality of daily life in Oulu for us will remain unmatched by any other location.