Life in Helsinki - Part 2 (The Vappu Special Issue)

Dear Fans, Enemies, Randomers.
It's been a while, and for that I apologise. I could come up with some ridiculous excuse but the bottom line is that I just haven't sat down to empty my mind onto a screen since April 19th. Fear not though, I am today seeking redemption.

Two events have taken place in Helsinki since then. The first was rather predictable, given that it lands on the same day every year. April 30th and May 1st were a celebration of Vappu, the name given to Labour day here. The second was slightly less predictable, given that we are subject to the evil temper of the northern European climate up here. The sun is shining !!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, I'll explain to you, in a nutshell (or in a pint glass), what the concept of Vappu entails. Like many countries in the world, Finland is ironic in its honouring of the workers of the world, by declaring the day a bank holiday. This, in Finland, is the green light for students, workers, and general human beings alike to pour out into the streets and parks of the city, and proceed to get royally drunk until late at night. Like last year, my boss had given me a shift until around midnight so I did the honourable thing and took a pre-mixed bottle of viina-cola to work and cracked it open as soon as I got out the door, joining M amidst the amassed throngs of partiers getting sauced up in a park. I call it a park - it's actually a cemetery where the Finnish victims of the Great Plague are buried. Anything goes.

Another feature of Vappu is the wearing of overalls. This is reserved for students (although no one really goes around enforcing any type of rule so if you're not a student any more you can, in theory, get away with it. Just.) and each all-enveloping jumpsuit is coloured and designed differently according to what school you're in. Mine is red, M's is green. She could find hers, borrowed a red one off a friend, and was absolutely horrified that she would be going out to Vappu identifying herself as a chemist. We got home around 5am, went to bed, and M woke me up at 11 by planting a can of cider onto my face, and off we went again ! Went to work at 3, pretty tipsy, got off work with a free bottle of wine from the boss and started again. Drink, work, sleep - that's Vappu in a nutshell. It's fun, and probably scares the crap out of tourists who find themselves in Finland on that day by accident, but probably useful that it only happens once a year...


The second event, as I've written, is the emergence of the sun over the weekend. This leads to another couple of typical Finnish activities. Firstly, crazy golf. The courses are dotted around the city and I've always liked that. Secondly, something which the Finns love nearly as much as beer - ice cream. Anyone who comes will be amazed by the amount of ice cream on display - life is normal here but decorated by ice cream. So for example, when builders are taking a break from work, they won't be standing around smoking a cigarette like in other countries. They'll be standing around, smoking a cigarette, and eating ice cream. Businessmen will walk around in suits, briefcase in one hand and ice cream in the other. And Finns, given their immense knowledge of all things cold I'd imagine, make some seriously good ice cream. In a few weeks two more features of the Finnish summer will arrive. Finnish strawberries (yes, really !!) which are big, juicy and tasty, and Finnish mosquitos, which are also big and juicy. I love the strawberries, the mosquitos love me. What goes around comes around. In conclusion, as short as it is, I like the Finnish summer. And I'm going out to enjoy it now.