Fishing

As many Elk's Street followers may know, Henry is a keen fisherman. This summer's catch was not so good but a couple of nice fish were snared. And one 'biggie' got away by breaking the line.

Below a picture of Henry with a handsome fish he caught, a pike:

(Photo courtesy of Matias)

Summer 2011 - Part 2

Elk's Street spent this summer in Finland, which disappointed one member of the gang. Luckily, Finland had another warm and sunny summer.

After the trip to Morton, the next highlight was Miljazz. This annual tour by the bands of the Finnish Defence Forces included Lappeenranta this year, so we were able to attend. We were present for the more traditional big band performances but the more pop-oriented part of the concert was after our bedtime.

One of the MilJazz bands.

Then, it was Thomas's birthday.

For a quiet chap, Thomas is a bit of a party animal, so he insisted on having a birthday bash. This was a traditional children's party, arranged at our house (more precisely in our garden) with your correspondent organising the games - an orienteering/quiz game, badminton, and the like. The party went well; we only needed the ice bag twice, which is not bad considering there were nearly a dozen highly-charged little boys running around.

One end of the birthday table...

... and the other end of the birthday table.

This summer, as last summer, Thomas took part in the Pesä Ysit 'Finnish baseball school'. Thomas had a lot of fun and was very active. In the end of course games he played both in-field fielder and pitcher - the video below shows Thomas in action.

Thomas, in the red T-shirt and yellow Malaysia cap, as the pitcher (bowler).

Meanwhile, Henry had been invited to his friend Matias's family's summer cottage. The two boys had fun doing the usual summer cottage things. Both of them are keen fishermen, so fishing was the highlight. On their trips Matias caught a big pike-perch (a very tasty fish) and Henry a big pike (less tasty but more of a fighting fish).

Henry and a pike.

(Photo courtesy of Matias)

The next event was a trip to Hyvinkää to visit the 'Piglets'.

The Piglets are Chinese friends, but where does the name come from?

There is a Chinese superstition that small babies should be given 'bad' nicknames so that evil spirits are not interested in causing trouble for the newborn. As a newborn, the Piglets' son was called Piglet, until his rather sensible grandfather found out, but somehow the name has stuck, at least with Elk's Street.

Thomas and 'Piglet' playing a computer game.


Mrs Piglet and some key members of Elk's Street

The Piglets's rather fine new house.


Mr Piglet hard at work in his restaurant kitchen. .

The beginning of August marks various Elk's Street members' birthdays and the start of the blueberry season - and the second summer cottage week, this time in the cottage, Lauren. We were again quite lucky with the weather, as the photos below show.

View to the jetty.


Lauren - a rather luxurious cottage.


Thomas's armada.



Thomas and Henry rowing and fishing, respectively.


H-M looking for missing sailors.


A pebbly beach.


A 'laavu' shelter.


A 'laavu' is a shelter for people hiking or fishing. It is normally quite small, c.8-10 square metres, unheated, and the fourth side is left open.


A delicate flower.


Tiina, Hippo and Thomas on the terrace.


H-M, another delicate flower.


H-M reading.

Elk's Street has now tested three of the cottages belonging to Mikonsaaren Loma-Asunot; Mikko, Morton, and Lauren. And what is the verdict?

We would like Mikko's little sandy beach, Morton's fantastic location, and Lauren's comfort.

At the risk that others may book the cottages and stop us going there again, we'd like to say that they are fine places to stay and the owner, Marketta, has done an excellent job. Oh, and anyone thinking of booking a Finnish summer cottage, please remember that you are responsible for cleaning after your stay, ensuring that the next guests have a nice place to go to.

Good night!

Summer 2011

The weather is getting cooler, the summer is nearly over, and the blog is stagnant - time for an update.

The summer break began with a week in a summer cottage, courtesy of Tiina. The cottage was called Morten and was rented from Mikonsaaren Lomamökit. Of the cottages rented so far, its location was by far the nicest, at the end of a peninsular, facing roughly south-west. Lilli was sufficiently impressed to tell Tiina to ask the owner if she could buy it!

Below, you'll find some photos so you can judge for yourself how nice it is.

The cottage.

The view to the jetty.



The beach and the rowing boat.



Thomas playing badminton...



... and his opponent, H-M.



Meanwhile, Henry is being less athletic.

Finland is the land of the midnight sun. Below, a couple of photos to prove it. For the pedantic, they were taken at around quarter past eleven in the evening.

Midnight sun 1.


Midnight sun 2.

During the day, the boys spent quite a lot of time in the lake. And the water was really quite warm - once you got used to it!

Thomas in the lake.

Thomas and Henry in the lake.

Even Lilli, aged 85, decided to take a dip. Although, getting into the water was a lot easier than getting out. The very dry autumn and spring has meant that the water level of Lake Saimaa is a lot lower than usual (c. 30-50 cm) making access to the water a little tricky.

Lilli in the lake, Henry advising how to get out.

Meanwhile, Tiina was keeping her feet dry and making sure everyone was ok.

Tiina on the jetty.

No trip to a summer cottage would be complete without some fishing. This time there were a few nibbles but nothing special, with one exception - a huge pike. The pike took the bait and Henry noticed that whatever was on the end of the line was putting up quite a struggle. He got it just to the surface, where we could see what a giant it was, when it dived and managed to break the line, disappearing with the hook and Henry's favourite lure. Well, sometimes the fisherman wins, and sometimes the fish!

Gone fishing...

A family of ducks.

As the photos show, we were very lucky with the weather, which was exceptional for the time of year. The trip was however somewhat marred by news from Malaysia of PoPo's condition deteriorating.

After a long time coping with the vicissitudes of cancer, PoPo passed away on the 11th June. In her memory, K-Ning made a collage of photos, which is given below for those Elk's Street followers who haven't yet seen it.

(N.B. Only the first 3 minutes because of some kind of restrictions.)

Growing Up

Recently, it was noticed that 'little Henry' was getting rather big.

Tests had to be made to ascertain who is the taller, Henry or his mother.

Judge for yourself!

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

So, what happened to the little boy of not so long ago?

Renovations

Recently, Elk's Street H.Q. underwent some renovation.

The idea was very simple; one room would have the walls spruced up, new flooring put in, and the sink and cupboards of what had, once upon a time, been a kitchen would be removed. A small, basic piece of decorating - nothing special. The idea was that Thomas and Henry would each get their own bedroom.

But... What happened?

"Could you just come here and have a look at this, please," said the head builder.

Yes, the builders had found some rotten wood - unfortunately, on some of the beams holding the whole house together. What started out as a minor decorating job ended up as major work costing many thousand Euros.

Where the former kitchen sink had been. Note the drain and, behind it, the grey-coloured wood.


One of the trouble-spots.


Temporary support to stop the ceiling of the living room falling in.


Some of the timbers awaiting transport to the tip. Note how little of the wood is healthy and able to support the walls and floor.



Work in progress in what is to become Thomas's room.

But all's well that ends well.

Below, some photos of the two 'new' rooms.

The 'middle room,' which was not to be touched in the original plan.


Another view of the 'middle room.'

The little bed is Thomas's former bed, which is there for the time-being and used as a sofa for the bedtime reading sessions.

View 1 of Thomas's 'new room.'


View 2 of Thomas's 'new room.'

Being a modern sort of guy, Thomas sleeps on a futon. And for those who want to know these things, the little wood-fired stove in what is now Thomas's room is from the company Morso. And yes, it is your correspondent's very own vanity project.

As regards the cost; you don't want to know.


To finish this post, a little treat for all house-owners; The Gasman Cometh by Flanders and Swann.





"Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!

'Twas on a TUESDAY morning
The Carpenter came round;
He hammered and he chiselled and he said: 'Look what I've found!
Your joists are full of dry-rot
But I'll put it all to rights.'
Then he nailed right through a cable and out went all the lights.

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!

'Twas on a WEDNESDAY morning
..."

Waxwings

As followers of Elk's Street know, waxwings regularly drop by on their migratory route. Below, a few photos, taken by Henry, as the birds passed by, heading north.

St. Petersburg - Part 2

Tiina, who is currently working in St. P., met us at our hotel, Hotel Vasilievsky, to the delight of the boys. Part of the visa-free deal was that we had to use one of the hotels which had a contract with the St. Peter Line.

Tiina was ready to whisk us off on a first sight-seeing tour of St. Petersburg, but with the shambles on the boat and in the harbour, none of us had had breakfast so we were rather hungry, although the men in the group had managed to snaffle quite a few of the rather good sweets in the bowl at the hotel reception.

Finding somewhere for a snack proved more difficult than anticipated, although we found somewhere in the end. The food took an extraordinarily long time to arrive; maybe because we ordered different things - blinis for some, soup for others, or perhaps to give us time to admire the decor. Tempers were getting a little frayed and smiles a little jaded when something to eat finally arrived.

Hungry customers waiting.

St. Petersburg is a metropolis and full of things to see and do, although transport is a little difficult at times. The metro is very efficient but the stops are far apart (because the metro is so deep underground as a result of the city having been built on swampy ground) meaning that there are long walks to get anywhere. The city is full of churches, some of which are shown below.

St Isaac's Cathedral.


A church near our hotel.


Another church.

Tiina, of course, did her best as a guide, including introducing the little boys to Russian-style hot chocolate.

Tiina keeping her tour group focused.


Thomas discovering that in Russia hot chocolate means just that.

Day 2 in St. Petersburg started with Hotel Vasilievsky's excellent breakfast, although with so many Finns in the hotel one had to be quick if one wanted to benefit from the Russian 'champagne' available. The morning's next target was a children's circus performance. The place took a little finding but we got there in the end. Unfortunately, Thomas's stomach started acting up so Thomas and your correspondent spent a large part of the performance in the gents. It was decided that going to Tiina's flat would be the best course of action, and the day's activities were rearranged; in true Russian style, everything that has been arranged is always open to re-negotiation.

Peter and a sickly Thomas stayed in Tiina's flat to eat porridge while Henry, Tiina and H-M went to the Korova Bar with two of Tiina's colleagues. Afterwards the girls went to the Marinkskiy for a concert while the boys spent the evening in the hotel.

View from Tiina's flat.

Although our evening was not as cultured, we boys had lots of fun.

What do little boys like to do in hotels? Spend time in a bath tub with a huge amount of bubbles. The problem? No bubble bath. So Peter and Henry set off in search of bubble bath. The local supermarkets only seemed to sell sausage and alcohol, so we went to a chemists'. There were two people there, one young women in her twenties and one older lady in her sixties, who panicked completely at being confronted with non-Russian-speaking foreigners. Peter's miming skills, plus Henry's Russian knowledge, meant that we left the shop with bubble bath, although there are probably a couple of Russian ladies still shaking their heads at the antics of foreigners.

But the evening's fun was not to end there.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, announcement in Russian. What's that? A fire alarm! Everybody out of bed and down to the lobby, to find it was a fire drill, so back up to the room again - cursing a little, although not as much as the Norwegian guest who had been caught in the bath.

But the evening's fun was not to end there.

Ring- ring, ring-ring. Call from the other room (we had two double rooms not a family room). H-M: Is there water in your room? Peter heads off down to the reception to find out what is going on - no water because of some technical problems with a water pumping station.

We love Russia. A world superpower but, in Churchill's words,"a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

H-M examining a Russian fruit stall.

Our stay was all too soon over and we had to get on the boat and head back to Finland. This time everything was very well organised; check-in - 10 minutes, booking a table at the à la carte restaurant - easy, service - swift and good-humoured.

Leaving the port. Note that the sign says Leningrad.

Henry in the jazz bar.


Sunset on board.


Sunset over the icy Baltic Sea.