Roofs and Assurance

A quarter of a century ago, Catherine and I were persuaded (coerced?) to take out a savings and life assurance policy, with 'the Pru', naturally. The monthly fee was GBP10 per month, which at the time was a quite substantial amount. For comparison, as a student my weekly budget, after paying the rent, was GBP20 per week. Nowadays, of course, you would be lucky to get half a dozen 99 flakes from the ice cream van for GBP10.

After paying for years and years, the policy finally matured, and the money allowed Elk's Street to replace the old roof on our house. Below a couple of photos.

The builders arrive - only a few weeks late.

A builder hard at work. (Photo courtesy of neighbour Kaisu.)

For the inquisitive among you, the total cost was EUR 16,170 (incl. 22% VAT). We do qualify for a tax deduction for homeowners of EUR 3,200 but the moral still remains; don't buy old houses!

Older Brothers (Part 2)

For various reasons, I was at work and Hwei-Ming had to take Thomas to his horn lesson, Henry was left alone at home for a couple of hours. Having done his homework and piano practice, he decided to give us a surprise - he decided to bake a cake.

Below, the outcome.

A Swiss roll. (It must be in the genes!)

While the cake tasted nice and was a great success, for reasons of safety, Henry has been discouraged from cooking when he is on his own in the house. Oh, and any rumours that one week later we are still clearing up the kitchen are considerably exaggerated.

Older Brothers (Part 1)

Sometimes it is better to view the bright ideas of brothers with a degree of scepticism!

Below a photo of Thomas after Henry persuaded him that it would be a good idea to fix a suction cup to his forehead.



Luckily, it didn't hurt and the bruise wore off after five days.

Autumn Colours

As the long days get shorter, the warmth of summer gives way to the cooler weather of autumn. Finland has two autumns - 'dry autumn' and 'wet autumn'. Dry autumn, in September and the beginning of October, has misty mornings, dry days, and the first night-time frosts. In wet autumn, the nights draw in, the skies darken, and the country is enveloped in a shroud of damp darkness, broken only when the first snows of winter arrive.

Below a few photos of 'dry autumn' in Lappeenranta.

Lake Saimaa, near the factory making the famous 'Marianne' sweets.

Lake Saimaa, even closer to the factory making the above-mentioned famous sweet with a "crisp mint shell and a soft chocolate filling ."

Landing stages at Huhtiniemi. (Many of the boats have already been taken out of the water in preparation for the winter.)

Sammonlahti beach. 'Compare and contrast' fans should look at July's post "Sunny Days" to see what it looks like in summer.

For the meteorologists among you, the photos were taken in the early afternoon, temperature +9 degrees celsius, and with a stiff breeze blowing.

Researchers' Night

Once a year, Lappeenranta University of Technology has a ”Researchers’ Night”, an open day for the public. The programme starts around 6 p.m. and ends at 1 a.m. the following morning. There are various demonstrations and lectures, and the night ends with a concert.

The boys and I, accompanied by Tiina, went to this year’s event.

The fun started with blowing giant soap bubbles. Henry managed to make one about 1½m long. Meanwhile, Thomas was making clouds of smaller soap bubbles using a badminton racquet.

Making giant soap bubbles (Thomas in black, Henry in stripes).

The secret recipe:

120ml water
24ml washing-up liquid
12ml glycerol (available from a chemist’s)
1.6g sugar

Mix all the ingredients carefully, making sure that the mixture does not foam. Let the mixture stand overnight at room temperature.

And you have an excellent mixture of soap bubbles!

Then it was off to the Department of Chemical Technology, where Henry made plastic jewellery out of milk, and both boys built a rainbow in a small glass, made a super bouncy ball, and got to see crystals being formed under a microscope.

Below three photos of young researchers hard at work in the chemistry lab.

Henry building his rainbow.

Researcher Henry kitted up for action.

Researcher Thomas kitted up for action.

From the Department of Chemistry it was over to the Department of Energy Technology, to grill some marshmallows in an industrial furnace, and then to the Department of Information Technology to be greeted by a talking robot and to watch a robot using machine vision to stack wooden blocks.

Some of the exchange students had stands and we dropped by to say hello to my Nepali students, below a photo of Thomas with Bishal. Thomas was very pleased to be given a small Nepalese flag.

Thomas, Bishal, a Nepalese flag and a Nepalese hat.

After watching some examples of computer animated films, it was, unfortunately, time for the little boys to go home and to bed.

And we hadn’t even managed to test quite how loud we can shout, nor use the rally simulator, nor seen the robot welding station, nor … nor…

Maybe next year!

Theology and Little People

Actors: Peter and Thomas (7 years)
Place: In the basement
Activities: Peter – hanging the clothes
Thomas – hanging around

---***---***---

Thomas: Daddy, this door?
Peter: Yes?
Thomas: Last night, was it open?
Peter: Uh, yes.
Thomas: So, there must be dwarves in our house.
Peter: Hm, why?
Thomas: I closed it, and in the morning it was open. Henry said he hadn’t been down here. It must have been dwarves.
Peter: You never know what you can find in our cellar.
Thomas: Like the Christmas dwarves.

Silence

Thomas: How does Father Christmas know Uncle Stephen?
Peter: Oh, he knows everyone.

A short silence

Thomas: You know, Jesus knows everyone and knows how many hairs they have on their head.
Peter: Hm.
Thomas: I think he must have written down the names on paper for Father Christmas. Then he can bring the presents.
Peter: Hm.

Good Behaviour

Thomas came home and said he had something to show us. It was a badge from his school for good behaviour. As proof, it is in the picture below.

This leaves us with one question; since his school is about 250m from our house, what happens between him leaving our front door and getting to his class?

Well done, Thomas!