Present from Slovenia

Yesterday, I once again made the gruelling day drive trip to Helsinki - a round trip of 1200 km. This time it was to meet the Owner / CEO of the Slovenian group who have been working as electricians and staying in our apartments in Oulu, Helsinki and Tampere.

Mr. Darzen, the CEO of Elektro-k.a.a, the Slovenian company which is doing the electrical installation work at the new post office sorting centres around Finland, and whose staff stay in our apartments, arrived and wanted to see me.

So I did the round trip.



He gave me a present from Slovenia, which is the Kurent Mask.

Kurentovanje is a distinctive pre-Lenten Slovenian festival. The name comes from the festival's central figure, the Kurent, who in earlier times was believed to have the power to chase away winter and usher in spring.

Slovenians dress up in this costume in February and wander about to drive away winter. A tall order for the near Arctic, even with global warming, but one can hope!

Christian with a mission visits Oulu

Last Sunday, my friend Christian Thibault, came to Oulu to meet several people about spreading the word about the Liikkukaa Multicultural Sports Association.



It just happened that the club he is involved with in several ways, Atlantis FC, were playing a First Division match against our local club - AC Oulu.



I asked Hasim and Kasim, who through their company, Goreme Pizzeria & Kebab ry, are one of the largest shareholders of AC Oulu, to join us to see the game. Unfortunately, it was Hasim's daughter's confirmation, so he could not join us. But Kasim made it to the ground.

The game was reasonable and although Atlantis did not play as badly as they did against TP-47 in Haaparanta two weeks earlier, they lost 3 - 0 against AC Oulu, with Daniel Yobe scoring a hat trick for the local side.

On Tuesday, Christian had several meetings. I arranged for him to meet Jusse Kankare, the Chairman of the Oulu Cricket Club. They joined the Liikkukaa Association as a member.



On Wednesday / Thursday there was a tournament organised by Riku Kivimäki of the Oulu Refugee Centre of all the teams from Refugee Centres around Finland. There were 360 players from many countries taking part in a truly historic event. It was a grand success with the African drum beat resounding in all corners of the ground and sports hall.



It was wonderful to see the involvement of accomplished persons as Emmanuel Etchu with Nigerian roots, who, while still keeping to his love of football, has earned himself being an engineer in Nokia and also working on a programme to help the children of AIDS victims in Africa, the Finnish national basketball star with Antiguan roots, Maurizio Prates, who has now devoted a lot of his time to fighting racism in Finland, and Said Zahaf (with Moroccan roots) of the Restaurant Marrakech helping in bringing refreshment to these visitors from all parts of Finland while his wife Miriam Attias was busy acting on behalf of the Red Cross in helping this event.







See Kaleva for a detailed report about this sports event. (And what was another half of Christian's mission to Oulu - to get fit to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary in Paris on Bastille Day, the 14th of July 2009. Happy Anniversary, Christian.)

Tragedy at Välivainio

Last week, three young people, one youngster born in 1984, one young lady and one young man born in 1988 (the driver) died tragically in an accident at Välivainio, about 200 metres from my office. The doctor's report later showed that the driver had 1.5 promil of alcohol in his blood, the legal limit being 1.2 promil.



The pictures tell the story of how the accident happened.

There is a gentle curve on Sirtolantie, requiring a driver to slow down a few kilometres per hour to take it safely. The driver of the accident vehicle probably came in too fast and was trying to reduce speed to navigate the curve. He missed the brake and slammed his foot on the accelerator, by mistake. This increased the speed and in a couple of seconds the car hit the high curb. This meant that the driver's hands were thrown off the wheel and his foot went harder on the accelerator, causing the car to jump and be thrown against the tree in front of them.



The end must have come instantly judging from the state of the car.

It is possible to pontificate on this and the effect of alcohol. But when I look back on my life, 27 years ago I used to kill a bottle of rum and still drive my car. The foolishness of my actions now stares me in my face as I had a wife and four children to look after.

Not having touched a drop of alcohol for the last 27 years (80 Charminar roasted tobacco cigarettes, 20 cups of coffee, half a dozen bottles of beer and a bottle of rum were my daily consumption), I can honestly say that I have had a great life since and not missed any of these pleasures.

Many have asked why I gave up.

It was not because I saw such a tragedy, as this acciedent, ahead of me, but because I realised my brain was being affected. My super memory was being steadily destroyed.

I have recovered almost 90% of the brain cells which were destroyed because of my heavy drinking. That has taken the best part of these 27 years and a lot of help from my friends who helped me fill in different damaged areas of my brain and its memory!

Do I miss any of these pleasures?
Not really, as a soft drink and a cup of tea are equally refreshing and socially acceptable.
Was it easy to give up all these pleasure?
Not really, as I knew the alternate outcome.
Am I glad that I am not history like these young kids at Välivainio?
You bet, as otherwise I would never have been able to enjoy my children and my grandchildren.
Do I begrudge anybody else drinking?
Not on your life, so long as it is their life and not mine that is at stake.

Oulu Cricket Club leaps out

(Also posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu

The Finnish Chaírman of the Oulu Cricket Club,
Joose Kankare, takes to the crease!

Yesterday saw the first practice session of the Oulu Cricket Club. I am not a player but ready to support this northernmost cricket club in any way possible. So I turned up to show my support. Only, due to other engagements, I was a hour behind schedule.

From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu

No floodlights required here.
Plenty of Natural Lighting available till 11 pm!

I do not know what they did for the first hour, but when I arrived I saw two teams grouped together talking strategy. They were about to commence a game.



The background was idyllic, but that could not be said about the gravel pitch they chose to play on. A nasty wind was kicking up a lot of dust and playing conditions were not ideal.

From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu

There are a couple of good cricketers in the midst of the 18 persons who turned up for this first practice. There was a Pakistani, a couple of Australians, a Brit, a Finn, while the rest were a spread of Indians from almost every part of my great country - India.

From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu

With the strong wind, playing conditions were cold and quite difficult. But I saw some good bowling and also some interesting batting - which means that with this sort of talent available, Oulu may really be able to turn out a good team for the nationals in a year or so.

But that will mean serious practice - not just having fun hitting the ball around.

Besides physical fitness, to be generated by jogging and running a fair bit at the beginning and end of a practice session, there must be batting practice, bowling practice and fielding practice during each practice session.

From Cathedral School, Mumbai

My cricket team, Cathedral School, Bombay - 51 years ago!

I also remember my days at St. Stephen's College where we had a a stickler for fitness as our Captain. With the likes of Siddarth Singh, the wonder from Doon School whose fame preceeded him, Prem Bhatia, Ajit Singhji, Sunil Thakurdas in our midst, it was good to have someone like Vijay Singh as the Captain. He demanded and got respect.

I turned up a few times for cricket practice but as hockey practice was at the same time under an equally fastidious captain, none other than the journalist Arun Shourie, I had to choose between one and the other - and I chose hockey!

Remember 14:00 hours on Saturday at Alppila is the next Oulu Cricket Club practice session!

A tribute to my mother

On daughter Joanna's Facebook Photo Album there is a picture of our four kids with their grandmother, my mother. It bears the caption:

"I think this was taken just before or after my cousin's wedding, when we were already living in Finland and my elder bro in England. Ammachi was the loveliest grandmother u could ever hope for - much like my Dad is to his grandkids."

Joanna pays me a wonderful tribute by equating me and my attitude to our grandkids with that of my mother to hers.

This to me is one of the greatest compliments that could be paid to me, especially as Joanna knows very little about my personal relationship with my mother.

Not once, and I repeat, not once in my entire life did my mother raise her voice at me, threaten me, scold me, beat me, dishearten me because of bad school results. There was a time, in anger, that I slapped her in her face, figuratively, but yet she only continued to show me the greatest love and affection that a son can receive from his mother. I do not think any other son can say that of their mother.

And she gave her love equally to all her children.

She was there when we were sick, when we were depressed, when we were overjoyed, and always there when we needed some help.

I was only an average student, always coming in the middle ranks in school, being good in some subjects and not so good in others. She played up the good and encouraged me about those I was weak in. I was never afraid to show her my monthly or yearly report cards - and she only had nice things to say to me about them.

I remember, when my brother failed his final B.Sc. exams in Delhi University, (he never did get that Bachelor's degree) she was so concerned about how he felt, and not that he had failed. She tried to encourage him to succeed the next time, saying failures should only help one in future life.

He never did get that degree, but it did teach him never to fool around again when it came to studies. He had wasted three years of his life, and betrayed the trust his mother had put in him! Only he has had to live with that!

Ammachi was there to encourage me in my sports, my acting in school plays, my singing in the church choir, or any other endeavour I undertook. Above all, she trusted me implicitly. I never, and I can say that honestly, I never ever violated her trust in me.

When I was at her bedside 9 years ago, the night before she went into a coma, she was waiting for me to return from a trip to Bangalore. I had found out some rather unsavoury things there about my brother and sister and a nephew, who had done things behind my back to cheat me.

When I told her what I had found out, even as she was going into that coma, she gave me the best advice that I have ever received.

She told me to trust in God and that God would look after me and my family. She told me I should not ask anything from those she knew who had cheated me and my family. She hugged me and sent me to bed.

When I was woken up about 3 hours later, she was entering into a coma.

As I sat by her side for the next couple of days, I wondered whether she knew she was going away to her Lord and Saviour. I prayed with all my heart that she would come out of her coma before I left back for Finland.

God answered my prayers and she regained her full consciousness 48 hours later, on my birthday.

I was able to leave her bedside when she was back in her senses.

She bade me a farewell that I will never forget. She knew that I would never see her alive or dead again, but she told me once again to remember what she had told me that night before she went into her coma.

In the next few months when she was still alive, my brother and sister stopped me from even speaking to her on the phone. They knew that she and I knew the truth and to them that was their catastrophe.

Later events after her death showed me she knew all her children and her eldest grandson, whom she had brought up like one of her own four children, better than we knew ourselves.

What saddened her was that, despite her bringing them up, some of them had become greedy and avaricious, something she just could not understand, as she was just the opposite.

Thank you Joanna for paying me what is the richest compliment I can ever have received from anyone!

Worst channel on our TV

I do not watch much TV as I am hardly at home.

However, I now do have a worst channel selection.

When I first started watching this channel, I thought it was great as it had a lot of humour, detective mysteries and even a quiz show. I became rather dedicated to this channel, except that the love affair lasted about a week.

From then on for the next 3 or 4 months it has been constant repeats of what has been shown during the last 3 months, only that the frequency of the repeats has increased dramatically!

The TV channel is BBC Entertainment.

I am so put off by this channel, so much so that even my dementia is not strong enough to put aside from my mind the programmes I have watched, again and again, on this channel.

Is the BBC so bankrupt that it must resort to this level of repeats?

Voted by me as the worst TV Channel on my TV - BBC Entertainment!

Dancing fountain

I was looking out of the kitchen window when I saw Annikki standing in the middle of the garden seemingly to be in a hilarious mood. I thought she was talking to the neighbour's child.

But then she moved on to the end of the garden and was still laughing to herself.

I looked at the garden a little more carefully and I saw that from the little pond that there was a dancing fountain. I wondered how she had managed that.

So I went out to take a look and to my surprise I saw what she had done.

It was Annikki's comic design coming to the fore!

Reason for excitement

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Many of you have emailed me to ask why I was so excited with the software "Cooliris".

There are many many reasons, but I will highlight the two major ones:

1. There is an old Chinese proverb which says: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
2. You can browse thousands of pictures in a couple of minutes, unlike text.

This is now the era of the photo-journalist. If he / she can succeed in capturing the truly great image that depicts an event and add a single one line caption to it, the number of hits one can get to that image or video, and subsequently the caption and then the text, even if the Google Search result was likely to be on the 50th page, is going to be amazing.

Just search for "Jacob, Oulu" on Google Search and you get 95,800 links. It will take months to through those links.

Search for it on "Cooliris" and see how much more you get and you can get to even the 5000th result in a jiffy!

Don't believe me - take any random name of a friend and see what you get!

Truly amazing results. And, you can go through all those tens and tens of results in a flash.

Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".

You can get motion sickness as you race through the thousands of images.

I tried various search combinations yesterday and was thrilled with the results.

But, when I got up from my office table, I was tottering as my eyes had been working overtime going through this huge bonanza of results.

Yes, there is a reason to be excited, but also a warning that this could seriously affect your brain!

Rarely am I so excited

Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog, Kooler Talk Blog, CHAFF Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

Rarely am I excited about new computer software. Today I came across one which sent shivers down my spine in what it can do.

I downloaded separate versions for SAFARI, the Mac only browser and for FIREFOX, probably the best browser online presently till Google comes up with its Chrome Browser for the mac.

The software is called "COOLIRIS" and it allows you to see many thousands of images and videos from your computer or the web in the blink of an eye.

My time is so limited that I hardly have time to go through all my pictures on the computer. But here I could see all of them in a 3-D type motion and I could see all the top story pictures before you could say "COOLIRIS"

I suggest you enter "Cooliris" in your Google Search facility and then download the version suitable for your browser.

I found a great video called "Slam Dunk Kitty" amongst the literally thousands that came up as I flew through the selection that came before me.

And you can use this software with Facebook, Google, UTube and also your computer images and videos!

What's the bet that Google will acquire this software - which is absolutely FREE, before the lamb shakes its tail!

Watching a football match in Sweden

Thursday was a holiday in Finland - called Hellatorstai, which is the equivalent of the Pentacost, the day the disciples of Jesus are supposed to have spoken in tongues.



When Christian, my good friend from Espoo / Helsinki, called me and said he was coming to Oulu, and that he was going to watch a game between his club, Atlantis from Helsinki and TP-47, the club from Tornio in north Finland, I said I would go along with him.

He arrived by train at 15:15. We had lunch at Goreme, so that he could have a few words with owner Hasim, who is now the largest shareholder of the AC Oulu, Oulu's football team which is presently topping the FirstDivision.

Then we drove the 132 kilometres to Tornio, only to discover that the game had been shifted across the border to Haaparanta, in Sweden.

No hassle, as the field was just 3 minutes into Sweden!



The snow was still on the ground showing that even in mid May, we still have a winter /spring situation in these northern latitudes.



It was one of the worst games of football that I have witnessed in a long time. Two First Division sides were playing as if most of the players were kicking the football for the first time in their lives. One team was worse than the other.

On the Atlantis side there were four players which showed some skill and speed, but they were unsupported by their other team members. What was surprising was that Janne Arolinna, who was doing a good job on the right, even though he had no support from the midfield, was taken off. Kerry Skepple played a good game till he was injured, but again he had no support.

There were spectacular saves by the Atlantis goal keeper, who will certainly do well if he keeps up this form.

The first kick at the goal by the Atlantis side was after 56 minutes!

About 10 minutes from the end the Atlantis coach brought on a Dutch player, Jasper Velentijn.

That changed the complexion of the game as this lanky youngster was everywhere. Suddenly Atlantis looked dangerous.

It was a goal mouth melee which resulted in the only goal of the match for Atlantis after 88 minutes.

No kudos to the goal scorer, Timo Aaltonen, as he played a poor game throughout the 93 minutes.

What can be said about the Atlantis side is that it consisted of 7 players who had been playing in Division 2. They played like Division 5 players with no idea of strategy or no idea of team work. Each time they touched the ball it was more danger for the Atlantis defence. It is obvious that the Atlantis Coach, who must have coached that Division 2 side, thought he could make a Division 1 team out of his previous club players. In that he is sadly mistaken as those players have no talent!

Coaches have been fired for less. I think both these coaches should go back to coaching kids!

Vesaisentie Garden - Work in progress

Step out of the front door in Vesaisentie and you are greeted by this garden. Small and cosy, but it is still a work in progress.



Everything is dismantleable - the little pond can be stripped down in 5 minutes. It is just a large bucket which cost Euro 10 surrounded by loose bricks!



Look down the side wall towards the back garden and you see this sight of flowers along the wall. Not yet complete, every day sees much dramatic changes.



The first flowers are appearing at Kampitie - and soon the garden which Annikki has tended so lovingly will be a riot of colour again - midsummer roses, and a whole lot of other plants will start flowering. The neighbours apple trees will also soon blossom!

More from these two gardens as the summer brightens our lives.

Unbelievably Clean!

(Also posted on the Oulu Brest Buy Blog and the CHAFF Blog.)

A friend of mine had let his mother's apartment to a couple of Finnish students. They behaved badly and hence were ejected.

In the process they had dirtied all the good sofas and carpets.

As my friend was adjusting the rent advance, he asked Kamutaza Tembo, the owner of Taza TMI, a suoer cleaning service in Oulu, to take and dispose all the furniture while at the same time as cleaning up the apartment. (Mobile Phone: TAZA TMI +358 400 596317). Among their many clients, Taza TMI cleans the big electronics stores as Gigantti and Markantalo, Sanifer Scooter Factory, all our furnished apartments in Oulu, a large vehicle repair workshop and they do a splendid job.)

Kamu called me and asked me to pick up the furniture.

Annikki and I went to pick it up in our trailer. When I looked at the sofas and carpets I was ready to write them off and take them to the dumping yard.

Kamu had other ideas.

Yesterday he came to our office where all the furniture was stocked in our trailer.

From Taza TMI

Sofa on the trailer with cleaning equipment in the foreground.

From Taza TMI

Kamu gets to work.

From Taza TMI

With all the skill of a graphic artist,
Kamu ekes out the result, cm by cm.

From Taza TMI

As good as new!

The cleaned carpet:

From Taza TMI

Kamu worked on them with some special equipment .

The cleaning equipment is like a vacuum cleaner, except that it pumps out a fine spray of a non-toxic cleaning fluid onto the surface and then sucks it back again with all the dirt and muck.

I was amazed to see the results he achieved, first on two single seater sofas and then on the three seater. They were as good as new.

Kamu changed the head on the machine and worked on a filthy carpet, restoring it to much of its original beauty.

I would recommend using this service, not only for cleaning sofas and carpets, but also doing a complete cleanout of your car.

The charges are very reasonable.

Cleaning a single seater sofa costs Euro 40, a double seater will cost Euro 60 and a threeseater will cost Euro 80. The cost of cleaning a carpet will be dependent on the size and how dirty the carpet is.

Complete cleaning of a car, seats, dashboard, all carpets, dicky (boot), will cost you about Euro 150. The car will smell as fresh as roses as Kamu uses a fragrance when cleaning cars.

VAT at 22% os applicable. You can claim 60% of the cleaning charges from your taxes, so it is really cheap.

I have no hesitation in recommending this Carpet, Sofa and Car Cleaning Service and its results as an OULU BEST BUY!

Oulu Cricket Club (OCC) formed

(Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

Finally it has happened.

Three enterprising cricket enthusiasts in Oulu, one Finn (Joose Kankare) with Australian enthusiasm, and two Indians (Prabhu Sundar and Prasadh Ramachandran), got together and quietly formed the OCC (Oulu Cricket Club) as a Registered Association.

They called the first meeting for yesterday afternoon to announce their hopes and plans starting with a summer season of training, practice and matches.

There was indeed a healthy turnout of people for the meeting - mainly Indians, but there was a Pakistani also present.

After the tea and introductions, there was a very lively discussion, showing that there are several who are keen to play cricket in Oulu.

The membership fee for a summer season is just Euro 30 (June till August).

I asked that they make a life membership category so that I do not have to pay year in and year out and the Club can drive some benefit by getting a lump sum when it needs it most.

I also drew attention to the importance of having player insurance if the Club is to avoid serious financial problems due to injuries incurred while training or in play. I suggested a similar approach followed by the Finnish Football Union, where no player is allowed to take part, irrespective of age, unless he / she holds a valid insurance from the union.

I also suggested that besides being under the wing of the Finnish Cricket Association, they should become a member of PoPLi (Pohjois-Pohjanmaa Sports Association), which is the umbrella organisation which looks after interests of all sports organisations in this northern region.

Since I did work for them (as well as the Oulu Sports Department), a good ten years ago, I did know that they would get substantial benefit in being a member.

I also suggested that they become a member of Liikkuka ry, a multicultural sports federation which is run by my friend, Christian Thibault, Executive Director, which could help them with closer relationship with the Finnish Sports Federation.

From Seventh Heaven

The Cathedral and John Connon Boy's High School (Bombay) Cricket Team, 1958-59. I am the one sitting on the ground with the score book.

Although I cannot play any more, as my bones have dry rot, and I cannot be an umpire or scorer (I have difficulty in seeing my nose, as my eyesight has failed), I still have great interest in the sport and will certainly go out of my way to see that this club in my home town of the last 25 years, the northern-most cricket club in the world, sets off on the right track.

It would be great if any of you out there from the great cricketing nations as Australia, Bangladesh, England, Kenya, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, who would like to sponsor this northern-most Cricket Club in the world. It does more than just introduce the sport in this area as it also give expats from these countries to interact with the lcal population and cause the exchange of culture.

I am, in my old doddering age, with you all the way. Good luck guys.

I was certainly wrong

(Also posted on Jacob's Politics and the Kooler Talk Blogs.)

I now realise how divorced I am from Indian Politics and especially the mentality of the Indian people.

This was just in:

Only a few results have been confirmed so far - they included a win for former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor for Congress in Kerala's capital, Trivandrum.

In the old days, an outsider would never have got in this easily as Shashi did. I remember how K. T. Chandy, who had been Chairman of Hindustan Lever, tried and failed to get into Kerala Politics in the Seventies. He was called a "foreigner" by the Keralites!!

I do hope this change also ushers in a new form of Government, especially in Kerala, where the school final failed party members have dominated the Government.

Also the antiques who have dominated Kerala Politics for a couple of decades should now call it a day.

The experience of our lifetime

(Also posted on the Seventh Heaven and the Kooler Talk Blog.)

I just loved this email I received from 49er Dawn Brown. It sums up our experience, vis-á-vis the kids of today.

My daughter explained that times are different.

True, but do the kids wish it were the same as our time or not?

To us'ns who are considered to be "over the hill" by the young uns': Huh!!!! Not only are we surviving - we are thriving and loving life. I have to admit though that my children are not in this group - the first three mentioned above!!

Blessings,

Dawn

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

AND WE ARE ALL STILL SURVIVING...................

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays.

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'.....

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

PS - The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age.

Now starts the real hard work

Oh! Not for me!!

Annikki has started in real earnest to set out the Vesaisentie garden with her vision.

First was the cleaning of the back fence area from years of accumulated rotting leaves and branches.

Then came the building of the Great Wall of Vesaisentie - a work in progress.

Yesterday evening we went to a shop looking for some garden stuff and came away with a large black plastic container.

Today it was in the garden with a circular brick wall around it. The first pond experiment of Vesaisentie.

But one pond is insufficient, so today we went to buy another pond. No doubt the ponds will find their right places tomorrow, in and above the ground.

Lots of minor works are in progress - as Annikki tries this and that. She is looking to create a garden with her stamp of design skills - and let me assure you that it will some unusual character about it.

But today was also buying day for trees. We will have two new trees, the first of many that will find their way into the Vesaisentie garden during this and subsequent years!

My suspicions now fully confirmed

(Also posted on Jacob's Politics Blog.)

Dennis Kucinch and his wife Elizabeth.

When everybody was raving about Obama for President, I kept quiet, as I knew that he would sway with the powerful tide on several major matters. I kept up my support for Dennis Kucinich, as he was the only candidate which did not move from his committed policies.

Obama did not even bother to give this man a chance in his Government to show what could be done in the interest of peace.

I did not have to wait long to see what I believed would happen.

Obama's strategy in Iraq remains the same - keep forces there as long as possible. Give a picture of withdrawal when there is none. An image for the masses.

In Afghanistan, not only has he increased troop numbers, but he continues the policy of Bush. Obama's policy is even worse that that followed by Bush - increase forces and keep on killing innocent women and children as part of collateral damage!

Did you vote for CHANGE?

Now comes the latest - that the photographs of American forces abusing prisoners will not be released as "it would antagonize the enemy".

Any different from Abu Ghraib where it was leaked photographs that exposed the American behaviour!?

Obama, any different from Bush?

Come on, Congressman Dennis - please speak up NOW.

Great Wall of Vesaisentie

Yesterday, when I got home, Annikki had been hard at work clearing the mess at the bottom of the garden. Years of rotting grass and leaves were thrown overboard so that the back looks clean and well shaven.



When I came into the house, I sat on the living room sofa and had a great sight of the evening sun streaming through the curtain and through a couple of crystal pieces on the sideboard in front of the window. I tried, hopelessly to capture this in the camera!

Today, again, Annikki was busy in the garden. I saw her building the Great Wall of Vesaisentie with flat stones. She says she wants to compartmentalise the garden into different departments!!

When the wall is a bit more developed, I shall bring out a picture on the blog! :-)

Am I disappointed?

(Also posted on the Kooler Talk Blog.)

Being Sunday night, I watched the Fareed Zakaria GPS programme on CNN.

Shashi Tharoor, fellow Stephanian, was on.

Was greatly disappointed to hear that Shashi is standing for the Indian Parliament and that too, as a member of the Indian Congress Party.

Shashi should be an independent Rajya Sabha Member as he is a man of immense international standing and should not stoop to the level of Indian general politics.

On his politics web site he gives his vision as the following:

My Vision
An India where everyone is able to have enough food, clothing and shelter;
An India where everyone is able to receive a decent education;
An India where everyone can have access to health care, sanitation and clean drinking water;
An India that is committed to economic growth but also attentive to the needs of its poorest and most vulnerable people;
An India which is strong enough to protect its borders and ensure the safety, security and well-being of all its citizens;

Even more interestingly he gives his Credo as:

My Credo
I enter political life in the firm belief that:
Politics is an opportunity for public service, not for self-advancement;
Government exists to serve the citizen and not the other way around;
Honesty and integrity are fundamental in public life;
The principles and values I have upheld all my life should not be altered to suit the political convenience of the moment; and
My only purpose is to work for the well-being of the people of my country, my state and my constituency
I have great pride in India and believe I can work to make it an even better land for all its citizens.

Interestingly, he is standing from Kerala. That is wherein lies the rub.

Keralites with 99% literacy will not normally elect an "outsider" to represent them.

However, we will know the result in a few days.

Moving things around

I have found that moving my office furniture around occasionally drives a new sense of approach to work life.

I decided to shift my office around this weekend, but the problem is plucking up the energy to do it. Once done, I will view the same problem from a different perspective and come to a new set of solutions and / or answers to it.

More interestingly, for years and years, I have been telling Annikki that I want to always sleep in the North - South direction. My theory has been that the earth's magnetic field should be in the same direction as the body so that the body gets total rest at night. I had a sense of unrest if I slept in the East - West direction.

At Kampitie we slept in the North - South direction and I always woke up completely rested.

When we moved to Vesaisentie, the bed was in the East - West direction. When I woke up in the morning, I felt a sense of uneasiness. So I would sleep on the sofa in the living room for an extra hour as that was in the North South direction. When I got up, I had a great feeling of being relaxed.

Annikki, and then Joanna, pooh-poohed my theory. (They always do!!!)

However, when Joanna and the kids came over for Easter, we had to get some mattresses out from under our beds. Annikki agreed to put our beds in the North South direction.

My sleep has beeen so comfortable since then.

Both Annikki and Joanna were alughing at my theory.

A few days ago a news item appeared

Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer
Sabine Begall*,†, Jaroslav Červený‡,§, Julia Neef*, Oldřich Vojtčch‡,¶, and Hynek Burda*
+Author Affiliations

*Department of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Geography, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany;
§Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 60365 Brno, Czech Republic;
‡Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, 16521 Praha 6, Czech Republic; and
¶Sumava National Park Administration, Susicka 399, 341 92 Kasperske Hory, Czech Republic
Edited by Simon A. Levin, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved July 17, 2008 (received for review April 15, 2008)

that when cows rest or graze, they always do so in the North - South direction.

The original study was to see in which direction campers pitch their nets, but as the sample size was small, they shifted to looking at cows and other animals - and this "unbelieveable" answer was obtained.

To me it does not matter whether the head is pointing north or south, but the body should be parallel to the earth's magnetic field.

Am I a silly old MOO?

Driving 1100 km on the same day

(Also on the Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)

After a hectic weekend, when I went to Tampere with Sunil, in a van taking materials to set up four apartments and which included a side trip to Helsinki to check on how Raantel apartments were doing there, we left Tampere late on Saturday evening to return to Oulu so that I could speak at the Free Speech Day in Oulu Otto Karhi Park.

We arrived back at Oulu about 6 am on Sunday morning. I had a nap and went with Annikki to the public park, equipped with my speaking stand.

The opening procedure was just taking place and the Chief Editor of Kaleva Newspaper, a new person, was making the welcome remarks.

He ended by saying that each speaker would be given 5 minutes at the mike.

My talk, which this year was about "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" would have taken the good part of 1 and half hours.

Ii approached the gentleman and asked that I set up my own stand as in previous years and be allowed to speak. He rejected the idea saying he had no powers to allow that. After much persuasion, he pointed me to a lady. She said that I could do that away from the main central area.

But it was clear that they did not want to move away from their prepared script. Annikki and I decided against making a speech this year under these conditions.

In short - this was no copy of Hyde Park Corner as this was a very controlled exercise to make Finns believe that they have Freedom of Speech - which they don't.

I had promised to meet Ajeet on Monday in South Finland. He and Sari are on a flying trip here to take part in a couple of conferences. So our Alumni meets were scheduled for Monday at 10:30 am, and this time in Toijala, wher he was staying.

I left Oulu by car at 3:50 am and because of the GPS Navigator (the cheap one), I did the trip to Tampere in just 5 hours (477 km). After attending to some Raantel Oy work there, I drove on to Toijala to be greeted by Ajeet and his wife, Sari.

Our joyous Cathedralite and Stephanian Finland Chapter Alumni Reunion was a working one. 100 % attendance as usual!

I exploited the combined legal expertese of Ajeet and Sari.

Ajeet confirmed he would be in Bombay for the November 12th Cathedral Founders Day event. After my 50th year Golden Reunion Celebrations are complete, Annikki and I will go to Ahmedabad where I will give a talk at the Indian Institute of Management about the new developments in technology taking place and their implications on world society.

Then we would all spend a few days at Mount Abu, where Annikki and I have never been.

I left at 14:30, stopped at Tampere to attend to some more Raantel Oy work, left Tampere at 16:30 and arrived back in Oulu at 22:30.

A 20 hour round trip of 1100 km - and because of the hectic weekend of travel and work, this one partially knocked me out.

I got a good scolding from Annikki who thought I was on a leisurely train trip to Tampere!!

Tom Tom vs Grammin

Another trip to Tampere and Helsinki. This time I had two Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigators.

The first was a super-duper one called Tom Tom, rated the best of the type, and loaded with the latest software and updates. This one must have cost a few hundreds of Euros. The other as the cheapest available Grammin on the market, about Euro 80 and with no frills, bells and whistles.

I decided to do a small comparison.

While the Tom Tom gave me all sorts of information as to when I was approaching a church and tons more, all of which were of least interest to me, the Grammin was a clear 250 metres ahead of warning me about a speed camera. This meant I had more time to bring myself down to the correct speed.

At times I found the position of the car on Tom Tom was off the screen and at times it was giving conflicting instructions and I was quite unable to follow the directions.

I got so angry that I switched the Tom Tom off as I was not interested in non-essential information but only what was related to my destination and the corresponding driving instructions.

The Grammin software had not been updated and it was indicating some wrong one way street instructions, etc.

In short, I gave the Grmmin 80 marrks as against a measley 40 for the Tom Tom.

Off to Tampere

No blogging as I am off to Tampere to equip four new houses, sort out some problems, probably make a quick trip to Helsinki and get back well in time to prepare for the Oulu Free Speech Day.

From Jacob's Blog

On my rickety platform speaking on Free Speech Day in Oulu in 2007.

For the last two years I have been making a spectacle of myself by speaking from my own podium in the centre of Oulu. Last year I touched on 35 subjects in about an hour.

This year I have a long list of subjects but will probably confine myself to a dozen hot topics.

The event starts at 13:00 hours. I will set up my rostrum and go at it for a couple of hours.

Last year Annikki was able to help me answer a few sceptics. This year I will not produce much paper evidence to support my statements -or maybe just a couple!

Using a GPS Navigator - Good or Bad Development?

Yesterday I went to south Finland to unknown territory. I borrowed Sunil's Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigator. It is not an expensive one, but has all the basic functions.



After my trip I sat down to analyse whether using the GPS Navigator is a good or bad technological and social development.

It was absolutely superb in that I lost no time finding the half a dozen places that I had to visit. I just followed the voice which told me exactly what to do, and the map on the small screen with the picture of the car pointed exactly where I was.

This development of a couple of metres accuracy for this system had been held back by the Americans for quite a few years as they did not want the general public to get this technology for common use.

The other great feature was that it had most of the fixed radar cameras listed on the highway, and it also warned me if I was above the speed limit when approaching them. I could see which cars had the GPS Navigator fixed, as they would be zooming along, and then suddenly they would slow down from 120 kmph to 60 kmph!

Considering I got a Euro 115 fine a few weeks ago when Annikki and I were on our way to Helsinki, as I could not see a snow covered speed sign, investment of Euro 70 or 80 in a GPS Navigator is certainly paid for in just this as well as the amount of petrol one saves when driving around a new city looking for a location.

I remember on my last trip to Helsinki I drove around 350 km looking for places and spent the good part of a day just missing the right locations!

However, using the GPS Navigator has very serious social implications - - bad ones.

In the old days I had a fantastic sense of direction. I could look at a map and find the location almost with a sense of smell. And once I visited a place, I could go back to it again and again as my brain had registered the coordinates.

That is a human trait which has dwindled over the years. Animals have retained this intelligence, as also many other traits which humans no longer possess. That intelligence will be even further degraded as kids start to use the GPS Navigator as their mode of locating places rather than their brain and the Compass.

The great sport of "Forest Navigation", which is extremely popular in all the Scandinavian countries, will lose its significance and importance as more and more youngsters take to using the GPS Navigator.

The second serious implication is that speed limits on the roads will lose their meaning. As more vehicles get fitted with GPS Navigators, and the speed trap cameras with their radar system are logged on to the system, motorists will drive at whatever speed they want to and slow down when the GPS Navigator tells them that they are approaching a camera and radar installation.

Not only is this a dangerous development but it shows a class divide in that those who are wealthy and technologically savvy enough to get hold of a GPS Navigator will avoid the penalties while the poor will have to be punished, for what sometimes may be just a genuine mistake.

In short, less money for the Government, more danger on the roads, and probably a higher accident rate on the highways!

Technological advancement or a retrograde step in the development of mankind?

"Mysore Matthan" Community on Orkut

I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Helena (Maria) Matthan, granddaughter of the late Kuriyan Matthan, one of my very best friends during my professional life in India, that she had started the "Mysore Matthan" Community on Orkut.

She wanted me to be the Moderator of this Community. I informed her that someone younger should have this responsibility, but I would certainly contribute to its development.

Mysore Matthan was also a Kuriyan Matthan, Dewann Bahadur and First member of the Council of Ministers of the Mysore Maharaja, and was the uncle of Helena's grandfather.

Mysore Matthan helped Kuriyan Matthan obtain his job in Mandya Sugars.

I have promised to recount the story of Helena's grandfather a long time ago,. One day i will keep that promise.

However, may I ask you to join the Dewan Bahadur Mysore Matthan Community on Orket.

What is talent?

(Also posted on Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)

I usually do not have much time for TV except to throw off my shoes, put my feet up, watch a comedy or detective play and sleep through half of it!

One programme, however, that I have come to like is GPS hosted by Fareed Zakaria on CNN International, late on a Sunday evening.

Zakaria has some fascinating guests. He runs his interviews which do not show his personal bias.

Today was a show in which he had a discussion with an author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell has written a book called "Outliers". Although I have not read the book and will probably never will, I was fascinated by the discussion and interview.

The main thrust of the view of Gladwell was that "Talent is the Desire to Practice".

I immediately sent this message to several young friends of mine. I wonder how many of them will see this message in all its significance and glory.

The key word is "Desire".

To succeed in anything one must have that "Desire".
To reach that "Desire" one must "Work Hard".
The Hard Work is what we call "Practice"
And Practice leads to "Talent".

Gladwell gave the example of the Beatles, who in 1959 worked 8 hour nights in a strip club in Hamburg playing music. This is enormously hard work. It was this hard work which resulted in the moulding of the most famous Pop Group in the world.

Gladwell made very significant points about the influence of culture on failure or success and also about the development of reading aboilities at a young age which results in the possibility of success.

This statement took me back to the days when Annikki was writing her thesis about the Montessori System of Education. What I heard today was the restatement of what Maria Montessori said 7 decades ago when she noted that a small child will continue to repeat a task till he / she masters it. The outcome is talent, in small steps.

I go back to my school days where I used to watch a dear friend, Elijah Elias, more commonly known to all of us as Ooky, come to school at some unearthly hour and keep on bowling at the nets to achieve pace and direction. That was the talent of Ooky in cricket! But it is this Talent born out of Desire and Hard Work achieved by Practice which has made him succeed in his career in later life.

I take the example of our grandson, Samuel, who at the age of 12 simply loves reading - a book a day.

If his reading is focused correctly, Samuel could be outstanding in his career.

I only hope that in his school in England they realise this. I hope at least one of his teachers has read the book, "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell or knows the principles of the Maria Montessori Education System!

Thank you Mr. Fareed Zakaria.

Guess what? I am not the only one who has been skiving!

I took a look around a few of my regular blog bookmarks - after a long recess.

What did I find?

I am not the only one who has been skiving. The last entry by Susanna was on April 10th - a good 14 days ago!

But my most favourite blogger, someone I inspired into blogging, Abe Tharakan, has been going strong.

Today he has some absolutely superb photographs of wildlife by KO Isaac from the Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India.

It revived fond memories of the trip Annikki and I made in 1989 to the Park where we had some glorious experiences.

On our very first day in the Park we had two experiences with the wild tiger. The first was unique as a huge specimen came wandering down the centre of the road towards our car. Our driver stopped the car and we waited till the tiger approached us, growled at the obstruction, walked around the car with its face not more that a metre from mine, passed us by, came back onto the road and strode off. As we got out after it had passed by and gone a safe distance (safe for us), it turned to look at us and then went on its way.

The second encounter was more forced as we took an elephant ride to a lair where a tiger and its cubs were quietly enjoying themselves.

I wish I could lay my hands on the superb photographs that Annikki took during that visit.

We also visited Jabalpur on that trip and discovered the marble canyon, something I had never heard of during my history or geography lessons in an Indian School. Truly marvelous.

I promise to bring you some of these photographs in my next spate of blogging.

After this period where I suffered writer's block, I have been greatly inspired by Abe to get back to blogging.

Thank you Abe.

My iMac died, Viva la Mac Mini!

(Also posted on my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)

My 10 year old iMac finally died. I tried to revive it. Failed.

I went back to my older macs, the Performa 6400 and tried to use that, but it was tooooo slooow.

I decided to splurge and get a new Mac.

I have a perfectly good Samsung SyncMaster 900 SL Monitor. I have many USB Keyboards and Mice, all in good condition. I have USB headphones, a dlink wireless USB adaptor, a La Cie Firewire / USB DVD / CD station, so I decided to buy the Mac Mini.



A difficult decision whether to buy the basic version mac Mini costing Euro 599 with a 120 GB Hard Disk or a 320 GB Hard Disk with 2 GB of memory.

As most of my work will be network computing, the extra hard disk was not important. Also I have many hard disks lying around, from 1 GB up to 60 GB.

I checked the memory prices and found that a 1 GB memory costs just Euro 30 while a 3 GB costs just Euro 60. I will have to determine whether it is user installable and then upgrade. So I spent just Euro 599.

Considering I got the new Leopard system, which costs Euro 128 and also the latest iLife software, which costs Euro 78, Thew Mac Mini actually cost me just Euro 400. Foor a 2 GHZ Core 2 Duo, with a 8 x Superdrive station which is a DVD±R, DL DVD±RW / CD RW, and with a NVDIDIA GeForce 9400M video card with 128 main memory with a DDR3 SDRAM, etc., etc., this must be one of the best buys that I have made in a decade.

On my way to the office I picked up Annikki from home to drop her at church. She was amazed to see the size of my new computer - 16.5 cm by 16.5 cm by 5 cm.

The whole computer set up was done in less than an hour, upgraded to the latest system and it is working just fine. The speaker system is a bit tinny, but as I usually used head phones, this is not a drawback for me. The Mac Mini recognised all the hardware I connected and went to the internet without any problem through the dlink adaptor!

Sunil, who has been commenting on my attachment, sentimental, to my iMac and eMac boxes which occupy almost all the space under my office table, may be quite pleased with the size the new Mac Mini box!! :-)

Felled tree

(Also posted on my Seventh Heaven Blog.)

Have you ever thought how it must feel if one falls to the ground just like a felled tree?

Even during my boxing days, when Neelam Lakhaney (also a Mumbai Cathedralite 59er Savageite), half my size, was whipping me in the Heavy Weight category, I never fell to the ground.

Today, I was on my morning rounds on my scooter. I got home around noon. I got off the scooter, and as is my common practice, I turn around, take of my glasses, then remove my helmet, put on my glasses, hang the helmet over one of the rear view mirrors and then trot up the stairs, home.

Today was a bit different.

As I got off the bike and was wheeling around, it was as if my feet were stuck in a place while my body tipped over and crashed to the ground. My helmeted head thumped onto the cemented section, just a few centimetres away from a huge cement block.

I tried to figure out what had happened. As I twisted around, I saw that the bottom of my track suit had hooked into the metal stand on which the scooter is put to rest.

As I had tried to move away, one feet was pulled away from me and I crashed to the ground, straight as an axed tree.

As my head smashed into the ground, I was ever so grateful for the glass-fibre reinforced helmet which surrounded my head. I was badly bruised on one knee, while the other was just grazed. The palms of my hand were bruised, as was one elbow.

But my head was intact. Was I grateful for the plastic helmet!!

Felt good to have been a plastics technologist which subject and material have no doubt saved many lives in different environments!

Another accident

This time of the year I am usually on my scooter.

Today, just to save a few minutes, I decided to go to the office in the car!

I did not get very far. At the first roundabout near our home, I slowed down and then, as I entered the circle, I was blinded by the ultra-bright sun straight in my eyes. Before I realised it I had hit a car which was in the circle.

The fault is mine, but there were mitigating circumstances. I called the Police and they wrote the report. Although I am the guilty party, they did not charge me.

I needed to report the accident so that my insurance will cover the damage to the other car. There was virtually no damage to mine.

The main outcome is that I will lose some more of my no claim bonus which I had built up over the last 25 years. Sad, but it is true that old age is creeping in and I am no longer very safe on the roads.

Serial postings!!

It is indeed a surprise to put up a series of blog postings in just a couple of days!.

From Joanna returns to Newcastle

Events however dictated such action as Joanna and the grandkids left for Newcastle early today. Annikki bade farewell at Vesaisentie.

From Joanna returns to Newcastle

From Joanna returns to Newcastle

From Joanna returns to Newcastle

I accompanied them to the airport.

From Joanna returns to Newcastle

Ani was dropped off by her parents as she went with Joanna to help out with the kids. She has become part of Joanna's family. Ani has finished her high school, and was doing nothing important till graduation day at the end of May, this was a nice chance for Joanna to get some help as all the children and Joanna really love her. Ani will also accompany the family to India in July / August of this year.

Yesterday was also a strange day in Oulu - weather-wise! (Am I using this word wrongly?)

We had bright sunshine, then cloudy skies, a fierce wind, followed by a snow blizzard, and then tiny hailstones followed by a brilliant sunny evening. The temperature fluctuated between -5 C (-15 C when the wind was blowing) to + 20 C. One does not know whether we are having winter, spring or summer!!

Surprise Party

In Finland, the 40th birthday is usually well celebrated. Tony will be 40 on the 23rd of April.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Chief mischief maker! Joanna with Maria and Tony.

As Joanna had to return by today, 19th April, Tony's company, LudoCraft Oy and Joanna organised a surprise party for his work-mates and his family.

Tony objects to such events, so the secret had to be total.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Birthday boy with Samu.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Cutting the delicious cake.

How Joanna and his work colleagues managed this, I do not know. But they lured him to the party place on Friday evening. He was surely surprised to find all his colleagues and his family assembled there for a great event.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Brother-in-law, Teemu, sister, Heidi, father, Seppo and mother, Maire.

An Indian meal (Chicken Biriyani, Vegetable Pulav, Rogan Josh, Dhal Makhani, Garlic Nan and Nan with Raita) was served up by The Royal Garden, Indian Cuisine Section. As they promised, the food never ran out although everyone ate more than enough.

The three cakes made by the Huovisen Leipomo (Bakery) with a toffee topping and especially meant for allergic eaters, was outstanding.

There was plenty of coke and orange fizzy drinks as well as fruit juices for everyone. Joanna had brought plenty of spicy Indian Bombay Mixes from Newcastle. Crisps were very popular! The alcohol flowed like water, with champagne, whiskey and beer topping the table.

There were plenty of computer games for the addicts - which is everyone in Tony's company.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Annikki and Daniel.

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Daniel.

Annikki and I made a soft exit at around 10 pm along with the two younger grandchildren. With the help of Ani, Joanna's right and left hand, we managed to get the two little ones to sleep.

Joanna, Tony and Samu returned just after 3 am, and also just about 15 minutes before little Maria woke up. Daniel obviously ate too much at the party, mainly crisp. When he got home and had a couple of slices of pizza, he had stomach pain and cried in his sleep till he threw up the excess, without waking up!

From Tony's 40th Birthday

Ildikó and Alma.

Altogether a very exciting 40th birthday celebration, and we have to wait for the next one when Joanna turns this age, about a decade from now! :-)

April snowman

The childhood spirit was reignited in Annikki the day Joanna and her kids arrived for the Easter holidays. Daniel (5 in May) was Annikki’s constant companion. They were very busy in the garden.

Many of you will remember how Annikki produced this snowman to greet me on my birthday in 2006. The childlike spirit lives on, especially when the grandchildren arrive on the scene!!!

There was a little snow on the ground.



When I came home one evening, there were a couple of snowladies (identified by the sprigs of twigs on the head) in the garden, one being pulled on a sleigh by the reindeer.



Last night, as Joanna and the grandkids are due to leave for Newcastle on Sunday morning, Annikki decided she would put some colour into her snow scenery and had a plethora of candles burning with her snow friends.

The picture does no justice to the radiant colours that we could see from the kitchen window. The candles have been burning right through the night and will do so till the family depart at 06:45 am this Sunday morning. (Unfortunately, I could not capture the true beauty of the scenery with the digital camera.)