Apple Blossom

Our neighbour in Kampitie has two apple trees, one of which overhangs the 6B compund. They look absolutely gorgeous as they are now in full blossom.

Apple Tree Blossom

My camera certainly does not do the view justice.

With the grandchildren and daughter back, life is really so exciting.

Yesterday, while I was doing my morning chores around town, I received the text message from Joanna -"Kids awake, asking where is grandpa?"

My reply - "Will be there in 20 minutes!"


Grandkids enjoying their time at the breakfast table

I now have company as I scour the City for news for this blog.

Samu and I visited the Oulu Castle - which is "comparatively" the size of the postcard you print the picture on.



The view from the watch tower is interesting.





The Coffee Shop is run by two friendly people, Merja Sipola and Tuomas Ketola. Merja was more reserved (not talking to strange grandfathers!) but Tuomas was incredibly outgoing.

They should try to get the Computer Game designed by son-in-law Tony's group at Oulu University as part of their Castle programme! It would make the visit to the Castle more topical.

We went to the Thai Pailin Restaurant so that Samu could get something to eat. He ate the chicken curry and rice, which was well spiced, with great relish, even taking a second helping. I stuck to the vegetarian soup which had seaweed and no fish sauce, so I could even take a helping back for Joanna.


Pentti, Sisko and Maria

We met Pentti, Sisko and their youngest daughter Maria, who has just finished her studies and got a job at the Oulu Hospital. They were celebrating Maria's good fortune, and what better place to do it then this friendly Thai Restaurant.



Also visiting was Oulu's Harley Davidson Queen, Virpi of the Pick Cats, the first woman's Motorcycle Club in Finland!

Samu and I did an incredible amount of driving around, doing shopping for many people.

But the day ended on a note of relaxation as Samu and I watched the two Football World Cup games. The German - Costa Rica match was really terrible, with Germany winning quite easily, but not looking as a sound enough team to win the cup. The Poland - Ecuadaor game had some really good football, but the Latin American side was miles ahead of the Poles in their skill and won the game quite easily.

It looks like we are going to spend several great hours in front of the "google box" this summer!

Samu and Tony arrive in Oulu, Google Spreadsheets...

Yesterday, at about 11:30 am, after a 14 hour drive right across Sweden and over the top of the Gulf of Bothnia, Tony, Samu and Tony's dad, Seppo, arrived in Oulu. They had earlier made the crossing by the ferry between Newcastle and Gothenburg.



Samu read several books on the way and went to sleep only at around 3 am.

It was really great to see our grandson again and I am looking forward to a wonderful summer with both Samu and Daniel.

I had a circular email from Sarasu Isaac, a Maliyakal located in the US.

Hi all,

I thought I would share a few memories of Thathen with you all. It will be nice if each one of you can share memories and stories of our Maliyakal appachens and ammachies.

I do not have the email addresses of all our cousins and neices and nephews. If each of you can please take the time to get email addresses that are missing from this list, I can create a group in Yahoo and start a Maliyakal news letter.

I think, Sushil (Achayan) Matthen, Finland will be the ideal person to guide us on that .

Roshini, please get Graceykochamma to share some of the wonderful stories of her younger days with all her cousins, uncles and aunts.

Regards,

Sarasu

Yahoo Groips are good, but as we are a small group, it wouldbe much nicer to have a more intimate newsletter and there are several ways of doing it efficiently and effectively.

The blogger web site has been having problems so I was not able to update my blogs as usual.

Now the other great news.

Google has launched an online spreadsheet. You can create, share and store spreadsheets online.

Create a spreadsheet in your browser:



Share your spreadsheet online giving powers to others to view or even edit:



Store the spreadsheet for access from anywhere through any browser:



Access has been given to a limited number of people and I am fortunate to be one of them. I have already imported several spreadsheets from my computer and am sharing them with others whom they concern.

Although the spreadsheet is not operating system sensitive, as I can use it with my Camino Mac Browser, I can only share it presently with those who have a gmail /googlemail email address.

I have no problem with that as I can invite those who do not have one to join gmail.

In addition, Google has released a new feature called Personal Note, where one can save text from any web page as Personal Notes. Technically it is not supposed to work on a the Mac Operating System, but as I use the Firefox Browser, I tried it out - and it worked.

These two takes Google so far ahead of the competition - and it leaves Microsoft and Yahoo trying desperately to catch up. I really wish Google had acquired Skype, as I had advised them, as that would have been the best possible combination. Hopefully Google will acquire GIZMO, which is also a great online Voice Over Internet Program (VOIP).

The whole computing industry is changing, so think carefully before you invest in your next computer. You could save a whole lot of money by buying wisely - and that probably means not buying a WINDOWS enabled computer!

Daniel loves Kampitie, Joanna loves home

Today morning, I managed to go and see Soda and his Tervarit Blacks side play a friendly football match against the Tervarit B Juniors trained by Englishman, Mark Dziadulewicz (formerly of AFC Wimbledon - 1978 - 1980). The B Juniors won quite handsomely 4-1, mainly because they took every opportunity to score when the ball came their way.

Soda played part of the game. He really needs to fix his fitness.

Natural talent is just not enough when going up in the football world. Players have to be where the ball is before anyone else. That depends on speed and stamina. That, unfortunately, requires very very hard work and dedication. Turning up at team practices does not provide that ingredient. Team practice is where teamwork is built, not personal performance capabilities.

It was reallly refreshing to see the young members of Mark's team sprint hard and get to the ball before their opponents. That made them a much superior team to the Tervarit Blacks. Mark knows dedicated talent when he sees it. That is why he has chosen the players for his side.

And, in football, one must love to hold on to the ball, dribble, and make the best pass at the right time. One has to draw away a defender before making a crucial pass. It is not enough to send the ball on to the next player as soon as it touches the foot!

Joanna and Daniel spent their first day in Oulu at Kampitie.

Both of them loved it. Joanna was able to enjoy the feeling of home - having her mother cook them French fries and lolling of the sofa, with the smell of "home" around her, while her younger son was busy enjoying everything, especially his grandmother carrying him all over the place and sharing all the wonderful things that she has put in place for her grandchildren - butterflies, dragonflies, goldfish and thousand and one other delights.



The ice cream was enjoyed by all. Then it was time to go shopping to make sure Samuel and Tony came home to "their home" with a similar homely feeling.

The day was busy for Joanna as all her friends sent her text messages welcoming her back to Finland. It appears she is going to have a very busy summer enjoying it in the way you only can in Finland!

Later in the evening I spent quality time with Joanna and Daniel at their home, just relaxing and enjoying that wonderful grandfather feeling! Was Annikki jealous?

Great sky last night

Yesterday, I had to go to pick up Joanna and Daniel from the airport at past midnight. On my way there, I went to pick up a Flap for her and another for Daniel, in case they were hungry.



As I drove into town, on a slightly northwesterley direction, there was a fabulous sky ahead of me, which made me take out my camera and try to capture it. Sadly, my camera is not so good, so this shot is the best that could be got.

In addition, as I parked my car to go and get the Flaps, I noted a one in a "?" chance. There were two cars parked outside the restaurant, one behind the other, and both had the same 3 digits 757 in the number plate!



I tried to capture this, but I do not think I caught is sharply enough for you to recognise the digits as they are.

Joanna and Daniel had a huge Reception Committee when they landed, as Pailin, Unnop, Soda and Kim, were also there to receive them.

Soda captured some great photographs of the arrival.

Daniel walks hand in hand with Joanna and me,
while Pailin and Unnop are in the background.


Immediately, Daniel was at home in our car - and he was ready to drive Joanna and me home!

Thanks Soda for these photographs.

Welcome home, Joanna and Daniel.

Saturday Puzzle

Many of you have been complaining that I have not been putting up my Saturday puzzle entry.

The last few weeks have been really hectic.



Here is one which I wonder how many of you can explain?

Just as we started......

I have not been blogging for a couple of days as Prof. Ajeet Mathur and Sari Joutsimäki have been here. After taking part in a discussion group arranged by the City of Oulu Business Development Office mainly composed of Chaff participants (Pentti Paakki, Matti Mosia, Masili Festo, David Okele and myself) who were keen to meet this outstanding professor and his colleague.

Sari and Ajeet

Festo (Sudan) and Sari

David (Kenya), Matti and Pentti (Finland),

Ata Bos (The Netherlands, Oulu City)

Sani (China) and Festo

Ata Bos, the Organiser

Ajeet

The next day we went to Smart House in the Technology Village. I was surprised that the person who was our informant of the situation of the Village, Pauliina Pikkujämsä, Program Director, is the mother of Samuel's, our grandson, dear friends, the twins, Elias and Konsta.

Pauliina and Ajeet

We visited Oulu University, met Ata Bos's husband, Dr. André Juffer and then met Vamsi Krishna and Dr. Sebastian in the Microelectronics Laboratory and Päivi Kytömaki, the Head of the Oulu Library.

Sari and Vamsi

Sebastian and Ajeet

In the evening, Ajeet and Sari had a one to one intensive discussion with Isaac Sunderajan, CEO of Codenimicon Oy, at his residence, as he had just returned from Italy.

Yesterday we lunched at Michele's Chinese restaurant, (Michele being from Calcutta) The Royal Garden. We ended the visit with a great discussion session with Ildikó and Ilari, who visited us late in the evening at Kampitie and, just as we started this visit, a superb Thai meal at the Pailin Restaurant with our wonderful hosts, Unnop and Pailin.

Sari, Ajeet, myself and Unnop

Ajeet and Sari arrive in Oulu

Our dear friend from Tampere, Prof. Ajeet Mathur, and his colleague, Sari Joutsimäki, arrived yesterday around noon to take part in a discussion with foreigners who have some business interests.

I met them at the station.

The Pendelino from Helsinki, the superfast train, arrived half an hour late. If we had more time before our next engagement, Ajeet would probably have taken issue as you have to pay much higher rates for tickets on the Pendelino!

Ajeet, Sari and myself at
the Thai Pailin Restaurant

We went to lunch at The Thai Pailin Restaurant to what was a great buffet.

I will cover the business discussion in a separate posting.

Kannan fëtes Hannu (and me!)

Sunday was an incredibly busy day. We had our regular CHAFF meeting which was attended by so many that we were packed like sardines in the Thai Pailin Restaurant.

Kannan Balaram, our "villager" from Pondicherry,
an example of a true Indian, simple and honest.

However, in the evening, I returned to the Restaurant as I was invited to a party hosted by Kannan for his fellow students and some of his staff members. Present, beside Kannan and myself, were his Head of the Business Engineering Course, Hannu Päätalo, and colleagues Erpo Kiviniemi, Mikko Koljonen, Ville Kummu, Virpi Mehtala and Elizabeth Wang.

Mikko and I have met before when I covered the playing of snow rugby in Oulu, the northern-most Rugby Club in the world.


Kannan hosts a party at the Thai Pailin Restaurant


Kannan thanks Hannu Päätalo for his good leadership during the course.
Erpo and Mikko listen.

Kannan thanked those present for being so helpful and co-operative during the time he was in Oulu. He fêted his Professor, Hannu Päätalo, and complimented him on the excellent design of the course. He said that when he was searching for possible locations to go to study, the Oulu course stood out as it was especially meant for engineers needing a deeper introduction to Business practices from the viewpoint of engineers.


Virpi and Beth (from Phillipines)


Ville with some other guests

In the process Kannan left his script and also honoured me for "helping" him settle down in Oulu. He gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers as a tribute.

In my response I told those assembled I was greatly honoured by Kannan's tribute, but, in my opinion, I had done nothing but recognise that this young man from a humble village in Pondicherry was someone of outstanding and incredible talent. In the six months that he was here he not only worked to successfully complete his course, he obtained a doctoral position at the University of Oulu AND he obtained a doctoral position in the Helsinki University of Technology. Besides this, obtained a full time position in the cream construction project in Finland - the largest Civil Engineering project in progress in this country, as a Site Engineer. The fifth nuclear power plant will see such immense new technologies introduced into the project to safegaurad it from all forms of external attacks, natural and man-made, that Kannan will become one of the top in the field of safety in construction engineering in a short time.


Kannan and me at a CHAFF meeting in January 2006

I also introduced the audience to how Kannan got to meet up with me - the Chaff meetings geared to help Finns and Foreigners when they really need help.

Kannan has done Indians proud by his behaviour and vcharacter, and especially his simple village life honesty. This has endeared him to everyone whom he has come into contact with, and Annikki and I are no exception. We feel honoured that he is our friend.

Thank you, dear friend.

Physics takes a turn in Oulu

We may live in a high tech city, but I never thought that Physics would go upside down here in Oulu.

Saturday was a rainy day. We had a few thunder showers and quite a bit of lightning. As Kannan was driving me near the Oulu river, I noticed a streak of lightning very close to us, and the reaction was not the usual fast dissipation of the lightning fork.

I wondered why that was.

I forgot the matter, although I did say in passing to Kannan that the lightning must have struck quite close to us.

In the evening, Unnop of the Pailin Restaurant rang me and said that the lightning had caused the his card swiping machine to burn out. Luckily, the service engineer came and fixed it. It was only then they knew that it was the transformer and not the machine that had been damaged.

When they looked around they did not seem to find any place the lightning had struck but they saw something most strange.

The birch tree next to the door of the adjacent department store was burnt from the bottom up causing the tree to split along the centre.

It was not as if the lightning had hit the tree at the top, but it had hit the ground, causing mud to be thrown out of the ground and the tree to be split the reverse way - upwards.

The tree had split right through. A close examination of the second picture will show the crack down the centre on the reverrse side to the burn.

When I reached home, Annikki had some interesting comments to read me from our local newspaper. It was reported that lightning had struck the ground in parking lot, travelled along a tarmac, crept into a car and thrown the plastic bumper away from the car and damaged the electricals in two adjacent cars. Also, the lightning had travelled along the tarmac and thrown up grass from the nearby lawn.

The weather expert had commented that although there has never been a case of anyone travelling in a car being hurt by lightning, he came to a conclusion that it was not due to the rubber tyres. He compared the case of the protection being provided by rubber boots when lightning strikes near a person wearing these boots.

Sadly, the weather man should have stuck to commenting on the weather and not about rubber technology. The two cases are vastly different.

Rubber shoes are insulators protecting a light charge from affecting the wearer. The tyres of a car have a high amount of carbon black, making it a conductive mass which ensures that any charge is dissipated to the ground. That is why people travelling in a car are not affected by lightning as the lightning tries to find the shortest way to dissipate the energy.

In this particular case, the conductive tyres permitted the charge to enter the car through the tyres and then blew off the insulating plastic which developed the opposite charge to the metal body which was charged by the lightning.

Physics certainly took a beating today in Oulu!

Annikki has night prowlers

Friday night.

I went to bed at my usual time - around midnight. Annikki was still working in the garden. She must have finished well past midnight, had her night snack (a Thai Sweet Chilli Wrap from the Pailin Restaurant) and was just washing up the dishes when she saw smiling faces in the garden waving at her through the kitchen window!

Pailin at Kampitie

It was Pailin and Unnop. After closing their restaurant they decided to tiptoe into the Kampitie garden to see how it was developing.


Bath tub gets a new lease of life

Annikki went out and showed them some of the new beauty spots she has created.

After they left, Annikki had her bath and was just planning to get to bed around 2 am, when Kannan arrived from Rauma. He was surprised to see Annikki still awake! I had left the cellar door open for him, so he could get to bed in the room in the cellar.

So the second prowler got a bed for the night!

This article from 1930's is worth reading

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Politics Blog.)

On the Mike Malloy Liberal Talk Show this morning I heard him mention a web site which had an article which is worh reading. (Mike Malloy is the No. 1 Talk Show Host in the US - he offers no solutions, but he tells THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH. I listen to him daily between 5 am and 8 am Tuesday to Saturday here in Finland.))

Major General Smedley Butler (1881 - 1940)

Written by Major General (United States Marine Corps [Retired]) Smedley Darlington Butler (1881 - 1940), who served his country and was awarded two congressional medals of honor, for capture of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914, for capture of Ft. Riviere, Haiti, 1917 and the Distinguished service medal, 1919, he wrote this book WAR IS A RACKET in 1935.


WAR IS A RACKET - published 1935

For more information about the late Major General, please also read the Wikipedia entry about him. The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

Butler was known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States. His book War is a Racket(1935) presents a highly critical view of the profit motive behind warfare. Between 1935 and 1937, Butler served as a spokesman for the American League Against War and Fascism, which was considered by many to be communist dominated[5], and gave numerous speeches to the Communist Party USA in the 1930s, as well as to pacifist groups.[6] The following, from "the non-Marxist, socialist Common Sense magazine"[7] in 1935, is one of his most widely quoted statements:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

As I listened to the 50 minute interview of Arundhati Roy (you can either read the transcript or listen to the interview online - I did the latter) by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, I realised how much this young lady has matured from a one novel writer to become one of the leading and sincere activists against corporate power, not only in the developed world but also India, where the political, bureaucratic and judicial system, as well as the mainstream media has fallen victim to fascism. Nothing could be more relevant today as witnessed by the behaviour of the Bush and Blair Administrations as well as the Manmohan Singh Administration than what this Major General wrote over 71 years ago.

Malayala Manorama journalist irks Roman Catholic Church

Malayala Manorama is the largest circulating newspaper in India and it is where, as a child, I got my grounding as a journalist and an editor under the tutelage of my grandfather, the late K. C. Mammen Mappilai.

The Malayalam version of the 'Da Vinci Code' novel, which is a work of fiction, translated by a Malayala Manorama journalist from Delhi, Jomy Thomas, and R. Gopikishnan of Mangalam, has proven a great hit, raising the ire of the Roman Catholic Church in Kerala.

The book has been published by a company called DC Books and the limited first edition was sold out on release.

The owners of the Malayala Manorama are Orthodox Syrian Christians. Although they are not in any way associated with the publication of the book, the fact that one of their journalists is in the limelight for translating it, may raise some eyebrows.

The Roman Catholic church says the film will hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community.

The timing of the release of the Malayalam version with the release of the film and the controversy associated with it, has undoubtedly helped the book become a hit.

The Malayalam version of the book is priced at Euro 4 (Rs. 200).

How to survive a Heart Attack when ALONE

(Cross-posted on the Chaff Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)

I must thank Naval patel, a 49er from my old school, me being a 59er, having passed out in 1959, for this important post.

USEFUL TO EVERY ONE AND MAY BE FOR OTHERS AS HELP EVERYONE MUST KNOW THIS

Let's say it's 6.15 pm and you're going home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You are really tired, upset and frustrated.

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw.

You are about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately, you don't know if you will be able to make it that far.

You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.

In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

A cardiologist says If everyone who gets this information and then sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we will save at least one life.

Please pass on this information to all your contacts.

Dare to think the unthought unknown?

(Cross-posted on the Chaff Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)


Prof Ajeet Mathur has been a friend for over the 10 years he has been in Finland. Ajeet is like a younger brother to Annikki and me, and we love him dearly. Like me, although considerably younger to me, he is a Cathedralite from Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and also a graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Like me, he married a Finn, and ended up in Finland. We are the Alumni in Finland for both those institutions, so we have 100% attendance at our reunions.

However, the similarity ends there.

Ajeet is a brilliant professor with immense industrial hands-on experience. He is a prolific writer and his philosophical mind can analyse any situation down to, not just the ground, but deep into the roots. His education skills are seen to be believed as he holds his students in rapt attention. We jointly authored a paper on e-Governance a couple of years ago where he took my mundane and boring facts and turned it into a paper that even had the Indian President, Abdul Kalam, look at "us" in awe!

Many years ago Annikki and friends started a small venture called Aivoairut Oy. Annikki was one of the Board Members. Because of the involvement of members of the Board in many other creative pursuits, the company has been doing just enough to stay alive during the intervening period.


Arne Nystedt, Managing Director of Aivoairut Oy,
Annikki and Ajeet in Kampitie

Arriving in last Friday's post was the first major publishing effort of this company, a book edited by Ajeet called "Dare to think the unthought unknown?"

Dare to think the unthought known?

International Perspectives on Group Relations
Edited by Ajeet N. Mathur
Price: EUR 38 + postage
Publisher: Airoairut Oy, PL 836, FIN-33101 TAMPERE, FINLAND,

This volume, a collective international endeavour, brings together twelve influential scholars and practitioners in group relations. New ways are presented of managing oneself in groups and for the design of management processes. Developments in group dynamics and social innovations are explored at the cutting edge of practices in a variety of settings: families, schools, local governance councils, factories, hospitals, trade unions, prisons, business enterprises, research institutions, religious organisations, higher education institutions, voluntary work and international organisations. Issues are raised for consideration and interpretation about the hidden life of organisations and institutional processes. Novel ideas include suggestions for educators and consultants on group relations training and experiential learning methods. Problems that arise in teams relevant for persons in expert roles or management, administrative or governance responsibilities in private and public systems are discussed. New approaches for working with groups address unique challenges and opportunities that individuals face in stressful roles during turbulent times. This is an important book for anyone trying to understand small and large group behaviour to engage effectively with the politics of relatedness.

Whether you be an individual living in isolation or a person in constant contact with a huge cross-section of people, this book is one for you. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. It is 250+ pages of sheer ecstasy, as Ajeet, along with 11 other brilliant minds take apart the words of the scholar Gouranga P. Chattopadhyay (M.Sc., D.Phil, (Calcutta University), FRAI (London), FASC & T (West Bengal), FAISA (Melbourne), Professor Emeritus of Academy of HRD & CEO, Chattopadhyay Associates: Organisation Consultants &Personal Counsellors.) who proposed a few years ago that spirituality may be used to overcome hate and to understand our lives better. The other contributors are Alaistair Bain, Allan Shafer, Anil K. Sen Gupta, Bruce Irvine, Colin Quine, Jane Chapman, John Bazalgette, Sally Eastoe, Sari Joustimäki, Susan Long and Shelley Ostroff.

Approaching group relations from a series of different angles with a series of conversations, never before published, this book is historic in that every sentence is deep in meaning. It is impossible to review this book without virtually quoting every printed line.

The authors differ from each other on various dimensions. Seven men, five women, six nationalities, from five continents, twelve professions. But two things are in common - all have been students of group relations and they have all known and worked with Gouranga Chattopdhyay.

In the first chapter written by Ajeet, he says

"Groups are created, sustained and accepted not because they are necessary evil residues of the group mentality. Without groups, complex transactions of society that require open systems, porous boundaries and the bridging of frictions of space, time, technology, task and sentinece to enable flows of goods, services, capital, people and ideas would not be possible."

Ajeet is explaining what life and after-life could be all about. Whether it be a pack of wolves or a flock of sheep, these principles hold good, although this book is limited to homo sapiens!

May I suggest you get hold of this book as it will not only change your life but it will open up an entirely new world to you that you never knew existed.

Ajeet will be chairing a group discusssion in Oulu next week geared for foreign business owners and investors to share their experiences. His skill in group discussions will become obvious to all attending. (Contact me if you want to take part in this event.)

Thank you, Ajeet, for giving birth to this book, which Annikki and I will treasure.

By the skin of my teeth...,

Last Monday, 15th May, I had an inkling that all was not well in the worldwide money and share markets. I had noted a slight but significant fall in the entire group of mutual funds where I have my small long term pension savings. It was not as if one or two of the funds were dropping, but all of them were showing the same signs.

The pension amount is not very much, but enough to give me a small additional pension to my state pension in a couple of years.

When I went into this private pension saving system many years ago, the stocks fell so that my initial investment was actually almost halved. But, I stayed in the funds and over the last 3 years the value first equalled and went above my initial investment.

So, at this juncture, when I am about to cash in on this pension, I did not want to take a chance, as I am not going to wait another 4 to 5 years to recover any substantial losses.

As I looked a little deeper into the world markets last Monday evening, I saw in the figures around the globe that something radical was happening in the share markets. First thing on Tuesday morning, I called my financial adviser in my bank and asked her to move my whole pension funds into a safe fixed interest account. Since I have had this pension fund for many years, I can transfer freely without incurring any cost.

I was out the whole day, so when my adviser called Annikki, she said that if she did not hear from me by 15:00 hours she would carry out my instructions.

I got home after 15:00 and found an email from her telling me that she had executed my request. Luckily, I had not had a chance to reconsider my decision.

The following week has seen share markets around the world in a nose-dive, with trading on the Mumbai exchange being halted for a period yesterday after the BSE fell 1100 points from above 10,800 - but it seemed to have recovered 654 points during the day. (I do not have any investment in the Indian share market.)

During the last week Helsinki fell 12.5%, Frankfurt fell by 9.1%, Tokyo fell by 8.3%, and Paris by 7.9%. London fell by 7.8% while New York fell by 4.9% but I had moved out of all UK and US Stocks and Shares as a protest after these Governments illegally invaded and occupied Iraq.

It is interesting to see how the OMX Helsinki behaved since last Monday:

Monday: 9400
Tuesday: 9400 (Here is when I moved from the market to fixed interest)
Wednesday: 9800 (+400 from Tuesday)
Thursday: 9500 (+100 from Tuesday)
Friday: 9600 (+200 from Tuesday)
Saturday: 9000 (-400 from Tuesday)
Sunday: 8400 (-1000 from Tuesday)

I had stopped the loss of my small investment by the skin of my teeth.

As my present investment value is above what I originally invested, and although I will get just 2.5% p.a. return, it is better than a possible 30% loss which I see ahead in the general fund market!

Warm Sunday, Sweltering Monday

We continue to enjoy a very early onset of summer, although we did have a light snowfall a few days ago.



The reindeer has found its resting place for summer in the greenhouse.





Several new plantings have been settled in by Annikki.



Annikki is working round the clock, such as repairing the pergola. She is a real monkey when it comes to getting things done. I just stand and watch, and take photographs! :-)



The flowers are arriving in different strategic places.



The fishing nets at the beachside are now in place.



The umbrella now provides some much needed shade from the hot sun.

On the whole I can safely predict that the Kampitie garden is going to be even better this year than last, and that may be an understatement, as Annikki has some exciting plans on paper!

Dead bird on Oulu thoroughfare

Usually, when an animal is dead on a major thoroughfare, it is reduced to pulp by the passing cars in a matter of a few minutes, or at the most an hour.

Yesterday, the main road linking the north of Oulu to the south had a dead bird, in the smack centre of the road. I noted it on my first drive through about noon, but I was surprised to find it still intact and lying in the centre of the this busy road, even as late as 6 pm. I had passed it a couple of times during the day, and took care not to run over it.

Why?

My first thought when I had seen this bird in the middle of the street was that, if it was an animal which had died from bird flu, I did not want the infection on my tyres. So, I was particularly careful to avoid running over it.

It occurred to me that almost all the motortists that passed that spot, and there must have been several thousands of us, yesterday, must have had the same thought cross their minds.

Unfortunately, as it was a busy thoroughfare, I could not snap a photograph of the bird in the middle of the street.

I wonder if anyone called the police or the health authorities to come on check on it?

It is very very unusual for a dead bird to be lying for many hours in the middle of a busy road in the centre of Oulu.

Not in my 22 years here have I had this experience.

Shocked! Finnish entry wins EUROVISION Song Contest

Both Annikki and I are absolutely shocked and horrified that the Finnish entry won the Eurovision Song Contest a few minutes ago. It certainly looks as if the outlandish is what people like. I know many who appreciate the music of Lordi, but I am not one of them!



The Finnish "horror rock" band Lordi who dress in monster costumes pulled off a surprise win at the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. Lordi's masks, armour and jets of flame attracted widespread attention before the contest - but many thought they were too outlandish to win.

Usually Finns get just a couple of votes or sometimes none at all. European viewers voted for Lordi's song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in a show that is normally associated with catchy pop and big ballads. Russia came second with Dima Bilan's Never Let You Go.

The band members wear scary masks, which they refuse to take off, and the lead singer wields a chain-saw. Finnish online chatrooms are full of comments from people concerned about Finnish reputation. Some Finns asked President Halonento intervene.

But Lordi was a people's choice: their hit got more than 42% of the votes cast by televoting in the Finnish final. Lordi, which has been influenced by the American hard rock band Kiss and its lead singer Gene Simmons, has not escaped allegations of links with Satanism.

Rumours have been fuelled by the group's refusal to give television interviews, to take off their masks or reveal their real names.

But in other media interviews, the rockers have stressed their tongue-in-cheek attitude to entertainment. As if to prove the point, they had a hit in Finland with a song called "The Devil Is A Loser".

Coming from Arctic Lapland, not very far from where we live, Lordi became a phenomenon in Finland with a platinum-selling debut album, Get Heavy, in 2002. Their compilation album "The Monster Show" has been released in more than 20 countries.

What is world coming to when people need such horror shows to make their lives complete?