Teaching driving

Ashesh and Indu bought Tony and Joanna's virtually unused car. Before I handed it over to them, I thought I would let Ashesh drive the SAAB for a few tens of kilometers, especially on a highway and a small town, so that he got a feel of the road and the flow of traffic.

So we took off to Raahe, about 80 km west of Oulu, as I had to return the projector I had borrowed for the Indian Evening from Lauri, and also a power adaptor which had been left behind by Mani Bhowmik. Tero Raiskio was with us, as he is Lauri's childhood friend, and he wanted to enjoy a drive while he played with his Geiger counter measuring some radiation on my Leather coat I had bought from the Flea market! :-)

We had a lively evening with Pooja, Mani and little Anusha. Karthik enjoyed himself playing with Anusha's toys while we warmed ourselves with some great tea brewed by Mani, while Pooja regaled us with her scintillating company.

Ashesh handled the SAAB delightfully, so I was quite confient that he could start driving his new car. On Saturday I went to deliver the car, but there is an Indian saying not to get anything new which is metallic on Saturdays. So, Saturday was driving familiarisation day for Ashesh on the streets of Oulu and he found the car to be just what he wanted. At times he had a problem to hear the virtually soundless engine.

The children's seat was too small for Karthik, so we will have to pick one up today.

I was driven all around Oulu by Ashes. Although Indu started off as a back seat driver, dreading how Ashesh would handle the car in the icey conditions, by the end of the day she was really comfortable to sit there with Ashesh driving.

In the bargain, I got a great vegetarian Indian meal cooked (rice, chapti or roti, dhal and a dry spicy vegetable served wiith sliced tomato, onion and apple, by Indu, and I got to play for a few hours with little Karthik. Karthik is truly a clever child and match you word for word with his logic.

Today, we will visit a Flea market and then I will be off to the CHAFF meeting where we will, very sadly, say farewell to our really wonderful CHAFF participant from Poland, Kasia Mazur.