While enjoying my walk yesterday, I saw this statue in the park, one I had not noticed earlier.
This statue lies in the shadow of the Oulu Castle. It is the castle plus the salmon that features on the Oulu Coat of Arms.
Annikki and Jacob Matthan live in Oulu, Finland. Annikki is a Finn, Jacob an Indian. They are the founders of the Findians Movement way back in 1967. Both are now retired. They have been married for 56 years. This blog is an account of their lives and thoughts as reminiscenced through Annikki's and Jacob's eyes.
I went for my daily walk today. It was blisteringly hot, so I changed my route to walk along the stream which runs through the town and through the main park where the City Museum is located.
As I was strolling casually, I suddenly felt as if I was in a ghostly place. Healthy trees were around me but then I noticed that several trees shrouded in a white spider web like cover which had killed all the leaves and even the bark was fully enveloped by this white thick killing mantle.
Last Sunday, Annikki brought me our local newspaper which carried a small report about the passing away of Emeritus Professor HEIKKI TORVELA on 8th June 2005. Heikki was just 65 years old, being born on the 28th of April 1940.
This morning, before I set out on my morning walk, I pottered around the garden.
There was one flower that Annikki had drawn my attention to a couple of days ago. It is a rose - except that when it blooms, in full bloom the petals look completely crumpled - "Crumpled Rose" was what Annikki called it.
La Rose Bordeaux®
Masrobo
Pale pink - isolated, rose bed - H 1,2 +++ - TR
This rose is an ode to womanhood and sensuality. Large flowers bloom in generous flowering heads or panicles on a strong and vigorous bush with medium green foliage. It is then that bloom roses with crumpled petals, rustling like petticoats, whose pale pink shade becomes more flesh-coloured in the centre, giving off a soft and tender scent all through the summer.
T. K. Kurien, known to all of us as Unni, husband of Mary, youngest daughter of Dr. and Dr. (Mrs.) K. C. Mammen (Bapukuttychayan and Kunjunjammkochamma) has been appointed as the Chief Executive of Wipro's BPO business.
The write up in The BUSINESS LINE the Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications dated Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 was headlined:
"We are pleased to have Mr Kurien lead our BPO initiative at a time when it is at an inflexion point. Given his wide experience in technology and process optimisation and his excellent track record as a leader, Mr Kurien has the right combination of experience and energy to sustain and leverage our position of leadership in BPO to broaden our offerings and further realise the emerging opportunities in this space. We would also like to acknowledge the significant contribution of Mr Raman Roy in building this business. We wish him well in his future endeavours," Mr Vivek Paul, Vice-Chairman of Wipro, said in a statement."
After one week of really hard training sessions, Samuel, along with half a dozen others, got their football ccertificates this afternoon.
I was able to watch him do the entire training programme. He has improved his game by leaps and bounds.
I was again fully engaged today. Did not get time for my usual afternoon 40 winks.
I had intended to clean up my office room, but could not get started. I took Samuel for football and then took him to town as Joanna was taking him for an eye test. Joanna was at the gym.
I bought a circular polishing and surface grinding tool as I have to clean up my old jaloppy as it looks so sloppy now.
Cleaned both the fountain pumps in the pond. The lotus stems which a friend gave us are surviving as floating plants. If they survive another week, Annikki and I intend to go out to the lake and bring some plants back which are in bloom.
Joanna and Tony had a small family barbecue to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I went a little later and shared some of the cake. Daniel kept me busy for all the while I was there. Samuel was busy reading a book.
Joanna and Tony celebrate their 10th wedding anniversay today.
I still remember their wedding day - a most unusual one, as everyone had to pay for their own meal at the reception!! Great idea and hope more would follow this rule.
In the 10 years they have achieved a lot, besides two great grandkids for us.
I am sure the next ten years will see much more flowing under the bridge of time. Samuel will then be 18 and Daniel will be 11. I will be 72 and Annikki will still be 18. :-)
Worth waiting for.
Happy anniversary to both of you!
Bought myself a new pair of sandals as the last one lasted me five and half years - I bought them in India in December 1999. Not as good as my old leather ones, but prices have slumped so I can probably get a new one every summer!!
Bought health medicines for Annikki and also for her mother.
Picked up Joanna's Polar Heart Rate Monitor, which was fitted with a new battery. She will use it during her restarted gym training schedule.
Took Samu for his football training. He was full of effort as usual, tackling his opponents, double his size, with great vigour.
Kamu, my Zambian friend came to repair the Electric Scooter. Still some more work needed before we get it on the road this year.
Finally, spent the last few hours listening to various reviews of pResident Bush's speech to the US Nation last night. It has been slammed universally as a piece of trash filled with lies. In one spell he made 5 consecutive statements, ALL LIES!!
It is strange that both the US and UK have compulsive liars, Bush and Blair, at the top of the political tree.
Tomorrow promises to be still another hexctic day as I plan to tidy up the office room as my mid-year resolution.
Weather is flexible, but quite summery - with intermittent sunshine and showers, but quite warm and not too windy.
The Jury of Conscience, after the final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, after 2 years of deliberation, included the following recommendation:
7. That people throughout the world launch actions against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle, CACI Inc., Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British Petroleum. The following companies have sued Iraq and received “reparation awards”: Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell, Nestlé, Pepsi, Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions may take the form of direct actions such as shutting down their offices, consumer boycotts, and pressure on shareholders to divest.
I have just discovered that I can post my entries directly from my Mac OS X Dashboard to all my blogs. No more the need to log in and enter text. I will have to work out how to manage image uploads, etc. With this development, you can expect more frequent entries to all my blogs.
Joanna and Tony had a small catastrophe on Saturday evening. When they returned from their trip to Kalajoki, where they visited Tony's parents, they found that they had left their deep freeze off for the two days they were away. Most of the stuff had thawed and both of them, being health freaks felt that nothing could be refrozen. Joanna called me late on Saturday evening to give away stuff she said we should use up quickly. Then they got rid of a lot of stuff and finally, Joanna decided that she would have a barbecue with all the remaining grub.
Mika, Annikki and myself were invited.
So on Sunday evening, Chef Tony rustled up a great barbecue of lots of chicken legs and sausages, while Joanna made some delicious baked garlic potatoes and baked broccoli with onion.
We killed the stuff in a couple of hours.
I managed to get a few pictures at the event.
Last Wednesday I had a call from Gopa, daughter of Sadhana Madhusadan (Cathedralite 54er) from Pune, from a nearby village where she was visiting her mother-in-law. Gopa suggested Annikki and I visit them as it was not a long drive (about an hour and a half).
Anniki had tons to do, so I took off in my ancient rabbit and was with them in less than an hour and a half. I would have done the journey quicker but a Police Motorbike shot past the queue of cars streaming out of Oulu, so we did not know where he was in hiding - so we had to keep our speeds to within the speed limit!!
Spent some real quality time with both of them and Timo's 82 year old mother. Although partially blind (she recognises people from their voices as she cannot distinguish them with sight) she lives alone in her home and manages everything like clockwork. A truly great lady, mother of 11 children, she recalled the names of not only all of them but also her 26 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren!!
Two of my dear elder "sisters" celebrate their birthdays today.
Accakuttykochamma, Mrs. K. G. Kuruvilla, mother of Dilip (Chennai), Susan (Ontario), Annu (New York) and Usha (Singapore) and grandmother of numerous outstanding youngsters, celebrates her 78th birthday today. Accakuttykochamma was the bridesmaid at my mother's wedding and she still looks as sweet as she did then. She is also as sweet a person today as I always remember her.
It is not often that one goes to the Tivoli, as I did with Annikki, Joanna and grandchildren, Samuel and Daniel. It is even rarer that one gets to ride in the Giant Wheel, as I did with Samuel.
It was the first time I have been up in a Giant Wheel with a cheap digital camera in hand.
I took some random shots from the cage while we were rolling around.
Thought you may enjoy what our small little town of just 100000 people looks like from on high.
Monday was away game time for the Tervarit Chelsea Jrs team, for which Samuel plays.
Samuel has developed to be a great little player. Having been tried in different positions, his unbounded energy has now propelled him into the position of centre half, playing wherever the ball is!!
And even after two full games, he was still going strong.
Here are a few shots from his latest encounter with the Oulu Panther side.
The Suomen Tivoli is the fun fair which travels around Finland. (Suomen = Finnish) There are all the usual entertainments for children like the Giant Wheel, lots of high speed brain spinning rides, and Dodgem Cars. They also have cotton candy and delicious softee ice cream.
As Tony was away in Vancouver (Canada) for a conference, Joanna decided she would take the kids to the Tivoli. She asked Annikki and me to accompany her.
We did so with great pleasure, as it gave us a chance to be children again and get a chance to enjoy some of the things which we cannot do unless we are acccompanied by our grandchildren!!
As soon as we entered there was cotton candy for Samuel, Annikki and myself - Joanna finished Samuel's and shared some with Daniel. The process of eating was a bit mesy with my beard!!
I then took Samuel on the Giant Wheel. He scared the beejeezers out of me as he pranced around each time the wheel reached the top.
Last week has been hectic as Annikki's mother has been in the Old People's Home. We have had a lot of things to do to get ready before her return.
Also, with the great Midsummer weather, Annikki had a lot of work getting the garden ready. (And I do mean Annikki as I am only a not so active helper. I clean the pond pumps and get rid of the floating debris in the pond, but not much more. I am also the chauffer for Annikki.)
This meant a lot of shopping around for things for the garden. I sit patiently in the car while she does her buying.
In a series of posts following this, I will update you on some important and interesting events that took place during the last week.
Today is when we celebrate Midsummer in Finland which is the first weekend after Midsummer's Day (21st June).
Joanna and Tony, Samuel and Daniel, are visiting Tony's parents today in Kalajoki, about an hour and a half's drive from Oulu. So it will be a quiet day here in Oulu, allowing me to do this catch up.
Who was Hamiltion Naki?
"A man who stole with his eyes"?
Read this most moving Orbituary about this outstanding human being, the best "gardener" the world should have known?!
Many thanks to Dorota and Patrick for pointing me to this item. (The Economist Orbituary will only be available for a few days - so read it QUICK!!)
The Sunday edition of The New York Times carried an article After Sibelius, Finland's Rich Bounty of Musicians in its Travel Section called "Cultured Traveler".
The author, RICHARD B. WOODWARD, got many of the facts right but used them out of context and applied all of them to his "level" in society.
Although Woodward mentioned the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the Kuhmo Music Festival, he failed to mention the Pori Jazz Festival, the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and probably the one where most Finns take part - the Seinäjoki Tango Festival, which has drawn 1.6 million visitors over the last 20 years. None of the other festivals has this mass appeal!!
Woodward gives the prices for the expensive hotels, but in our town of Oulu, a family of 4 can live in a beautiful beachfront cottage, fully equipped for just € 70 per night!! Such fantastic offers can be found all around the country if one wants to really enjoy the sights and sounds of Finland cheaply.
Woodward makes this claim:
"Not only is Sibelius an icon on the currency but he also acts as the country's permanent ambassador by being its first, and still most, internationally recognized name."
This is preposterous.
Sibelius is only the symbol of a certain class of Finns - the ruling class and their counterparts, worldwide.
Names such as K. K. Rosberg (1982 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Häkkinen (1998 and 1999 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Salo, Kimi Raikkonen, the absolutely world renowned "Flying Finns" which include Rauno Aaltonen - 1965 European Champion (BMC), Timo Mäkinen, Simo Lampinen, Pauli Toivonen - 1968 European Champion (Porsche), Tapio Rainio, Hannu Mikkola - World Rally Champion 1983 (Audi), Pentti Airikkala, Markku Alen - FIA Cup (WRC) Champion 1978 (Fiat/Lancia), Leo Kinnunen, Lasse Lampi, Ari Vatanen - World Rally Champion 1981 (Ford), Henri Toivonen, Timo Salonen - World Rally Champion 1985 (Peugeot), Juha Kankkunen - World Rally Champion 1986 (Peugeot), 1987 (Lancia), 1991 (Lancia), 1993 (Toyota), Mikael Sundström, Tommi Mäkinen - World Rally Champion 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 (all Mitsubishi), Sebastian Lindholm, Marcus Grönholm - World Rally Champion 2000, 2002 (Peugeot), Toni Gardemeister, Jarmo Kytölehto, Harri Rovanperä, Tapio Laukkanen - 1999 British Rally Champion and Pasi Hagström - 1999 Finnish Rally Champion, are just a few who are living legends in Finland and the world.
In the field of Winter Olympics, Matti Nykänen is an unsurpassed name. Finnish javelin throwers have excelled through generations and their names are on the lips of every sports fan which far outnumber those few classical music enthusiasts.
Here is a picture of great football star in the making - Samuel Benjamin Matthan:
Our very dearest of nieces, she was such a chatterbox when she was a little girl, Nirupa, passed through Oulu - Monday to Thursday. Flying in from Boston for a conference at the eastern city of Kuopio, Nirupa took a couple of days off to visit family. We all were greatly pleased to see her.
She stayed at Joanna and Tony's place but visited us and spent a lot of quality time with Annikki, Mika and me. Mika recognised Nirupa although it was over 11 years since they had both met.
Here are some photographs of Nirupa in Oulu.
I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered the identity of one of the 100 most influential people in finance as was published in the publication
Treasury and Risk Management.
Seems to be a problem with the link above so enter this URL in your browser to reach the site:
http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/issues/2005_06/careers/416-1.html
The name I came across was Sara Mathew. It sort of rang a bell. But I could not place it exactly. Then, surprise, surprise, a faithful blog reader, Shalu, wife of Anand Matthan and daughter of the late Dr. Nainan Varghese, wrote and asked me whether I had read about her sister, Siloo.
It fell into place.
Siloo did her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Madras, India. She then got her graduate degree in Accounting from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants, also in India. This was followed by a MBA in Finance and Marketing from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Siloo joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1983. It was a meteoric rise up the corporate ladder. She progressed through finance, brand management and customer financial service roles. In 1995, she was named Assistant Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. In 1997 she became Comptroller for the Paper Products division and in 1998, was named Comptroller and CFO of the Global Baby Care business unit. Siloo was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2000. She was responsible for the ASEAN region including Australia, Asia and India. In this capacity, Siloo led all aspects of finance for the region including Profit and Cash Management, Tax and Treasury. She was also responsible for strategic planning, organizational development and training.
In August 2001 Siloo joined Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) after her 18-year career with P&G. Dun & Bradstreet is the world's leading provider of business information. It has been enabling business-to-business commerce for 160 years. D&B's information and technology solutions help businesses reduce credit risk, find profitable customers and manage vendors efficiently. Businesses also use D&B's information and technology to authenticate and verify potential trading partners online, increasing their trust and confidence in e-commerce transactions. Over 90 percent of the Business Week Global 1000 rely on D&B as the source for information they need to make their business a success.
This new award shows that Siloo's performance at P&G and D&B were not just flashes in a pan. Well done Siloo. You have done Mallu ladies proud!
Siloo is married to another high flyer in the corporate world. Jacob Mathew (Renjy) has had a great career with P&G through a range of assignments in finance and finally as head of strategy development. He then started his own consulting practice. The mission of his “The Strategy Company LLC” is to provide strategy development and shareholder value services to large and small companies.
Renjy’s background in a large consumer products company allows him to facilitate strategy development at the business unit, sector, and corporate level. Within small companies, the focus is primarily on business development, with technology licensing being an important part.
Siloo and Renjy have two boys, Rohan and Nikhil. Rohan is in college and Nikhil who is six years younger, is still in School. Siloo is Shalu’s “kid” (Siloo - not my description!!) sister, as she is 8 years younger than her!!
Kodin Kuvalehti is Finland's largest circulating women's magazine. Malayala Manorama's women's magazine, Vanitha, although it has a circulation of almost 0.6 million copies fortnightly, can certainly learn a lot from the quality of this Finnish publication.
About a year and a half ago, Annikki wrote a small piece and submitted a couple of photographs for a reader's contest organised by the magazine. Annikki wrote about how she had designed the garden at her mother's home around an old metal bath tub which did not find its way into the skips when we were clearing and renovating the house, and how she had created almost everything by recycling materials found in the compound.
Tanya is the daughter Arun and Yasmin (née Shah) Matthan.
Arun is the youngest in the Matthan Martthan (Babyappapen) family.
I received information today of a truly outstanding performance by this Shah-Matthan prodigy.
Tanya got 95,55% in her ISC 12th Standard Board Examamination. Tanya stood 1st in her school. She is also in the first 15 in the country.
Tanya will be trying for an Honours course in Lady Shree Ram College, Delhi.
Congratulations Tanya and hope you do well in the next phase of your education programme.
I do not want to put the graphic details of this gruesome event on the blog so I give a link to the newspaper article on line
News -- Bangalore: Two Brutally Murdered in Broad Daylight - One of Mangalore Origin, Daijiworld News Network - Bangalore (GA), Bangalore, May 17 2005
Dear Maliyakal and Kandathil family members,
I have, with great regret, to announce the demise of two very dear members of our family.
On Wednesday May 11th 2005, Dr. M. V. Kurian (Thambichayan), husband of Graciekochamma (Accahi), father of Padmini and Mohan, left us to await his meeting with our Maker. Son, Mohan, in Canada, who attended the funeral, sent me the news on his return to Canada.
Thambichyan was "one of us" when we were children. I will miss him dearly.
On Sunday May 15th 2005, Babykochamma, wife of K. O. Kuriyan (Vellichayan), mother of Ashok, Rajeev and Pratheep, also left us to await her union with her Maker. Georgie in Madras updated me on this information.
I was a little boy when I attended the wedding of Vellichayan and Babykochamma. I always considered her as one of our most beautiful sisters-in-law. Quiet in word, she had an enormous sense of humour which was ever-present with that slight smile on her face. And she always had a kind word for anyone that crossed her threshhold.
I have conveyed our condolences to all family members via the appropiate channels.
Late this evening, just around 11 pm, I was expecting a guest from Bangalore, India. "Tiny" S. Mazumdar, formerly of Hindustan Lever, a friend of Ashok Kunte, who is a IIT classmate of Cathedralite 59er Elijah Elias (Ooky), my long-standing family friend from my Bombay days.
Tiny must have been just planning to leave his Bangalore office en route to the airport to fly in to Helsinki. He would then have proceeded to the Helsinki Railway Station to enjoy the train trip to Oulu.
His visit to Finland was to see for himself conditions here as his son has been admitted to Kuopio University in Eastern Finland to do a course in biotechnology.
Tiny's stopover in Oulu was to meet me and see what my opinion was about his son's stay in Finland, and to possibly help Tiny get a leverage into the Gherkin market as he is a large exporter to Russia. I had organised lunch at a friend's restaurant along with other friends of mine in his line of business.
This morning, just as I visited my email site, there was a message from Ashok Kunte in Thane telling me that Tiny had been murdered in his office yesterday afternoon.
I had just had an email yesterday from Tiny that he had managed to get me some home-made Kerala papadams.
Over the last few weeks we had become quite close friends as we had spoken on many issues for many hours using Skype Voice Over Internet. He had become an avid reader of all my blogs.
I will miss a good friend I made in the recent weeks and it will take some time for me to recover from this shock. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Jitendra Sachdev is an old friend from Bangalore. I was a Director in one of his companies. Although I have been speaking to him, on and off, on the phone, and visited him on our infrequent visits to India, I had not met him for the last 13 years.
He decided to make a visit to Finland. He is here for a week. He is staying at the beautiful Beach Cottage camp, but unfortunately, due to very heavy booking I could not get him one of the self-contained cottages. We meet daily and I have been able to show him around. I drop him back around sunset, which these days is around 11 pm. He has been able to get a few colourful sunset shots at that time.
Last week was the Great School Children's Exhibition in Oulu where over 40,000 children from all over Finland have been entertained to the best that Oulu could offer them. In our Oulu Sports Dome there were several booths with all sorts of handicrafts and ultra-modern technological events for the children to take part in.
Son-in-law, Tony, had a set up where his team has designed an interactive game where each participant is given his own avatar and they play an interactive game centered around the Oulu Castle. 30 children, each with their own computer station equipped with sound are able to interact and play this game which including the introduction time, takes about 2 hours. They see on the computer screen exactly what their avatar would see.
Grandson Samuel was anxious to take Grandpa around the exhibition. He had a pass, which he was very proud about, but we had to get the assistance from Tony to get in to see the insides of what was happening in the Sports Dome. Samuel had great pleasure in taking Jittu and me around the exhibition to show us what all the children were up to. It was extremely interesting see children using not just computers but using all forms of traditional equipment, as leather stitching machines, etc.
LudoCraft in Brief
LudoCraft studies games and applies the theoretical knowledge into game design. The approach combines theoretical, technical and artistic expertise in serving both the academic and the practitioner communities. The mission of LudoCraft is to distribute the knowledge of analytical gamers and game designers for the benefit of wider audience.
Ludo - Theories of game and play
Craft - Art of game design and development
LudoCraft = The Art of Designing and Creating Games and Play
There was a small get together on 23rd April to celebrate son-in-law, Tony's birthday.
Dearest Pappa, Mr. K. M. Philip, oldest surving son of the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai, is 93 today.
Please join Annikki and me in wishing him a very very happy birthday and many many more.
Here is a recent picture of Pappa in Chennai addressing the gathering at the 70th birthday of Mammen Eapen (Kunjumonchayan).
Now that the weather is really great I have started walking. In so doing I came across the first flowers in the city.
Date | Distance | Total Time | Efficiency | In Zone | Average | Calories | Fat | Walking Rate | Total Calories |
km | min | % | min | Heart Rate | kcal | % | min / km | kcal | |
16.04.05 | 8.00 | 124.00 | 100 | 56.00 | 132 | 1872 | 40 | 15.50 | 1872 |
17.04.05 | 8.00 | 117.26 | 105.44 | 69.10 | 135 | 1832 | 40 | 14.66 | 3704 |
18.04.05 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3704 | |
19.04.05 | 8.00 | 104.18 | 115.98 | 75.29 | 140 | 1739 | 30 | 13.02 | 5443 |
20.04.05 | 8.00 | 100.38 | 119.05 | 69.59 | 140 | 1748 | 25 | 12.55 | 7191 |
Please join Annikki and me in wishing a wonderful lady, known to most of us as Pallammachi, a very happy birthday today. She is a very graceful 86 years.
Yes, we are celebrating something that probably of least interest to most of you.
Our local Ice Hockey Team, Kärpät, has just won the National Ice Hockey Cup for the second time in a row.
I went over and watched the match on TV, which was being played in Helsinki, with Samu. Samu is not allowed to watch TV on his own.
It was a great game for Kärpät in that they did everything right and won 2 - 0.
The opposing team was called Jokerit and it is the top team from Helsinki.
There will be a great home-coming at the Airport for the team when it returns late tonight. Oulu will probably celebrate through the night, so it is better for us to stay at home. Finns and alcohol are not the best combination to mess about with.
I am sure very few of you may know anything about ice hockey. I, too, know very little except that I do support our local team.
Kärpät won the championship way back in 1981, before I moved to Finland. So it was nice to see them win it last year. They played good ice hockey for most of this season. There were a couple of bad patches, but they topped the League.
Then in the Play-Offs, which is between the top eight teams, they did not have much problem and won most of the games quite easily.
Well done Kärpät.
I was quite well, thank you.
Many of you emailed me because I was not active on the blog last week. The reason was not me, but grandson, Samuel, was not well last week. Nothing serious - a bad cough, but enough to keep him away from school. Joanna was also a bit stressed and tired and grandson, Daniel, was overactive - so I was there to entertain Samuel.
I created my new "Ram and Krishna Indian Magic Forest" series for him. Three new stories - the Bubbles, the Bamboo Pipe and the Well. He was enthralled by these that one day when I had to go for a meeting for just 40 minutes, Samuel was not very happy!!
All are well now.
We had a bit of winter again last week as, last Wednesday, when I came out of Joanna's home, I found the car covered with an inch of snow. I had just changed my tyres back to suummer ones, but luckily the weather was warm the next day that there was no ice on the road.
We are back to bright spring days and I have started my walking. I am using my SIMPUTER as the mp3 player and listening to a collection of songs from my iTunes library as I walk the 10 km. Also I am using my new walking shoes!