Talvi tulee

If I haven't written much recently that is because (as usual) nothing much has happened. Helsinki had degenerated into a closer-to-winter state. It's darker every day when I leave for work, and it's darker every day when I leave to go home. If it wasn't for fag breaks I'd never see full daylight. Yesterday was M's birthday so we went to Manhattan Steak House (I mention the name in case anyone was thinking of going there to have spare ribs - don't bother). I went to the States 10 years ago but if there's one thing that stands out in my mind there it's that, if you go to a restaurant, they make sure that you'll roll out rather than walking. The Americans haven't got absolutely everything right in life but feeding people is certainly something they do very well, and Europe could do well to follow suit. It might even get me eating out a bit more.

This weekend saw the delights of Finland combine to screw things up somewhat. I'd got M a skydive for her birthday, which was promptly cancelled because of crap weather. The restaurant was quite an experience - on the walk there I'd decided that I wasn't expecting much conversation from the others and when I got there and saw I was up the end of the table this suspicion was strengthened. M's friends, I'm assured, have nothing against me and I do like to integrate into the culture I'm in and accept that things are how they are. However when only one of the 7 says hello to me and the same is the only one who says goodbye at the end of it and that only 2 others actually say a word to me at all, I'm struggling to keep myself from thinking that I could have evaporated at some point during the meal and no one would have noticed or really been bothered. There are some things that I'm going to miss when I leave Finland but the social scene and the weather are not among them.

Winter brings with it the threat of illness, of course, and this is something that Finns are very well prepared for. I don't think I've ever come across any nation of people who have so many drugs in their closets or know so much about what every single medicine does - it's a wonder there are any doctors at all in Finland when everyone knows exactly what kind of medical complaint they have, and probably have the cure at home somewhere. When I arrived here, I realised that I had a bad reaction to mosquitos and I was actually given a choice of two antihistamines and asked which one I preferred. People ritually take painkillers whenever they wake up hungover here, of strengths which no one else would even consider touching. When I had mononucleosis, I took 400mg pills to handle the infection and the huge angina that came with it. People swallow 800mg here after too much beer the night before. I'm actually scared of sneezing on the streets here in case I spark of a stampede of people running to offer me part of the first aid kits which they lump around with them in case of a major medical emergency - coughing, having an itch, being splashed by a passing car and so on. With my ex (who I was with for a year and a half or so) I had about 5 MAJOR cancer scares ! It must be horrible to live in a way where you're constantly on death's doorstep but, just like the weather and the difficulties experienced with communication, the Finns have adapted. This combined with their dramatic intake of coffee makes me wonder what the people in this country would be like without any medicines/stimulants (lactose-free of course)/vitamin supplements or anything. I'd imagine they'd all be dead or, alternatively, normal.