Handicrafts 2

Henry is not the only one who brings home examples of his handicraft work.

Below one of Thomas's artworks

A peacock made of wool and felt.

1st May

The first of May is, officially, the students' and workers' day; a day when students don't study and workers don't work. While in the past 1st May had considerable political meaning, with marches and demonstrations, it has now become merely a carnival. The eve of 1st May is a big party day all round, and on 1st May itself, Finns nurse their hangovers with students putting on their white caps and having champagne parties in public parks. A few die-hards still march behind the red flags, and politicians make speeches that few people take much interest in. Below a few photos of Elk's Street's 1st May celebrations.

Both Thomas's and Henry's class had a fancy dress party.

Thomas having breakfast wearing his frog hat.


Henry having breakfast wearing his spider hat.

Elk's Street is not very good at fancy dress, there is always a scramble at the last minute to find something vaguely suitable.

While students may drink champagne, the traditional Finnish drink for 1st May is 'sima' accompanied with doughnuts. Tiina was in town, so she and Lilli dropped round for afternoon coffee and the above mentioned 'sima' and doughnuts.

We also had another special guest, Simo the hedgehog. Simo is a toy that each child in Thomas's class gets to take home for a couple of days. They then either have to tell the class about what Simo did, the activity for the autumn term, or write an entry in Simo's diary, the task for the spring term.

Simo enjoying some chocolate cake.

With 1st May falling on Friday, people could enjoy a long weekend. Elk's Street used the Saturday to visit Anttolanhovi, a resort/spa near Mikkeli, about 100km from home. The idea is to spend a few days there to celebrate H-M's 'round' birthday in August, and the aim of our quick trip was to check the place out.

The restaurant has one of Finland's better chefs, and while the à la carte menu looked very good, we took the cheaper buffet menu, which was traditional Finnish fare but done very well.

The chalets are award-winning designs, although to my uneducated eyes they do look a little prison-like. The inside of the chalets makes Elk's Street's normal run-down living conditions look a little shabby.

Chalet from the road side.

Chalet from the lake side.

Thomas throwing stones off the jetty, Tiina and H-M in the background (H-M in her Paddington hat to protect herself from the sun).

On the way home we stopped off for ice-creams in Puumala, the 'Gibraltar of Saimaa' and the location of the fourth longest bridge in Finland.

An empty Puumala marina waiting for the summer guests to arrive.


Thomas and Henry on the bridge lift.


The steamship Wenno moored at Puumala jetty. (To see Wenno 'live' click here for the 'Wenno Cam' webcam, for more information about Wenno (in Finnish) click here.)

As can be seen from the photos, the weather was excellent, blue skies and warm temperatures, rather unusual for 1st May in Finland, when there are often grey skies and driving sleet.

Easter Trip

Courtesy of the incompetents currently running the university, the situation at work is horrible. But some relief was provided by a couple of days in Helsinki.

I had some time on my own so after having visited the bookshop I made my way over to a very windy Suomenlinna. Below a few photos.

The bridge at Tykistölahti Bay with the Visitors' Centre on the right.

View of some houses (looking back from the ramparts of Kustaanmiekka).

View from the ramparts of Kustaanmiekka (looking towards Helsinki).

Suomenlinna fans will find some further photos in the posting of July 2008, and for a fly-by view of the fortress in summer go to the interactive aerial photo here.

I was really spoiled that day as in the evening I managed to see a hockey game, the SM-League bronze medal game Espoo Blues vs KalPa from Kuopio. After a first period when they were comprehensively outplayed, KalPa managed to pull themselves together and win the game 1-2. Unfortunately, SaiPa didn't make it that far; having come last, they were involved in the playouts.

Below a photo of the winning team.

SM-League bronze medal winners 2008-2009.

And Stephen gets extra points if he can spot Sami Kapanen in there!


The next day included a walk at Laajalahti Bay near Otaniemi. Below a few photos.

H-M on the bird-watching tower.

Henry and Tiina taking this bird-watching lark in a more relaxed way.

Thomas with his binoculars.

After spotting a few seagulls, hardly exotic, the healthy members of the group set off on the nature trail towards Villa Elfvik. Henry, who was a little under the weather with 'flu, went by car, chauffered as usual by his private driver, Tiina.

Thomas on the nature trail through the reed beds.

Villa Elfvik is a restored Jugend-style building with a small exhibition and a small café. For a little more information, click here.

Of course, no trip to Tapiola is complete without one festive meal, accompanied by a glass of red wine from oenophile Tiina's exclusive collection.

To finish a photo of one of the cooks in action - Thomas on guard duty, making sure the food doesn't get burnt.

Handicrafts

One of the delights of having school-age children is that at regular intervals you are surprised by home-made artefacts.

Henry's 'technical work' class has moved on from the autumn term's sewing to woodwork this term.

Below two photos of his efforts.

A sailing barge.

A smiling giraffe.

May the giraffes of the world smile on you!

The Pianist 2

Returning from work last Monday afternoon did not go well. I opened the house door to be confronted by a barrage of noise as Henry raced to reach me before Hwei-Ming did. The cause of the kerfuffle? A message from Henry's teacher - in the last 4 weeks he had managed to 'forget' his homework ten (!) times. Not good, and a sign of some serious memory problems - particularly since I'd been regularly told, "no homework today."

Ten was the number of the day as Henry managed to hand me his science exam results, 10, before giving me the note from the teacher, which mysteriously had been written already in the middle of last week and which, as a result of Henry's poor memory, he had forgotten to show me.

The day ended with Henry performing at another concert for the music school.



Decide for yourself a score for this performance. Maybe not ten (I'm still annoyed about the homework) but perhaps 8+.

Music class concert

Yesterday Henry took part in his first more serious concert with the music class. The event was held in the Concert Hall of the Lappeenranta Town Hall and was the now traditional concert with the Dragoon Guards Brass Band. The soldier boys played wearing their normal army uniforms, but to see what they look like when wearing their dress uniforms click here.

The themeof the concert was "The Animals' Excursion," so all the songs were about animals. The hostess for the evening was Sanna Kemppainen from the local theatre, Lappeenrannan kaupunginteatteri.

The songs that Thomas, who was in the audience, enjoyed most were:

• Inke tinki minki
• Teddykarhujen huviretki (known in English as 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic')
• Karhunelämä (known in English as 'Bare Necessities' from the film The Jungle Book)
• Neljä kissanpoikaa (a nice song composed by Georg Malmsten)

Below a couple of photos.

The concert programme

The choir waiting patiently for the concert to start

The choir, grade 3 to grade 6 children, is colour-coded with the pale colours being the younger members. As with the post "The final countdown - Part 1," points are awarded for spotting Henry.

The song "Neljä kissanpoikaa" is about 4 kittens who don't follow their mother's advice. They go onto the ice, which in autumn and spring can be very treacherous. Luckily, they are all saved by the dog, Halli. The moral - do what your mother tells you!

Spot the difference

The Chairman of the Board decided that it was time for a radical change and a new image. So, it was off to the hairdresser and back to a short hairstyle last seen over ten years ago. Below photos from then and now!

1996

2009