Welcome. Here's a list straight off to get you going. What - it's a journal, you say? Ah, but isn't a journal simply a chronological
List of Things Which Have Happened
28 July 2008
I feel at a loss today, with no more Tour de France to look forward to. It's over. But it can't feel too bad, can it, after a great Tour like that?
I went out for a long ride yesterday afternoon - I always find myself doing a little more cycling while the Tour's on - and relished it, despite the heat and everything. I seem to be a little fitter than I thought. And I love cycling round these parts. Lancashire's Ribble Valley. The hills, the lanes, the hedgerows; the scents, the sounds, all the nature. There are times, like on a Summer's evening, after a rain shower and the air is still fresh, and the sun's coming in low through the tress, when it's perfect. It still looks like the England I remember from childhood, one with villages and fields and woods you can wander off in...
Anyway, I'm a big fan of the Tour. Each year there are several big sporting events in rapid succession around this time, but it's the Tour which gives me the biggest buzz. It has so much: the epic length, the glorious French landscape, the places and people - and the spectators are a spectacle in themselves. But most of all, the sport itself. There's something for everyone, all sorts of skills and specialities get their moment in the sun - time trialling, climbing, sprinting, breakaways, team tactics, each offered up some brilliant heroics in 2008. But of course as a British viewer, the amazing and unexpected thrill was to see Mark Cavendish win not merely his first stage victory, but four of them. He had a great team behind him with some excellent lead out men, but in the end he proved his own supreme speed. Look at those fantastic overhead shots of the finishes: he was out-accelerating the accelerators. However, my abiding memory of the Tour is the front on shot of his win in Toulouse, coming out of the rainy murk, spray shimmering up from the wheels of the riders, the first of a long line of grey shapes turning into lung busting men on machines. Bizarre similarities in my mind with awe-inspiring historic pictures of lines of dreadnaughts coming out of the mist; and, a quite different one, when you looked at Cav's face, of the grimed faces of miners walking out of the lifts after rising up from the depths. Yeah, absurd and fanciful. I can't help it, the guy is inspirational and a star. I have no doubt if there weren't the Olympics coming up, he'd have made it through the Alps, to win the final sprint in Paris.
And I loved it that the ITV4 coverage finished off with a credits montage edited to the sound of the excellent C'Mon C'Mon by the Von Bondies.
15 June 2008
I've recently enjoyed my second trip to Finland, a couple of weeks ago. I expected warmer weather, but not the 24-25 degree heat and sun that we got. Extra and wet weather gear in my case remained there untouched, while I regretted not bringing a floppy hat. My first excursion out of Helsinki, to the pretty little town of Porvoo, resulted in sunburn.
View back from the boat to Porvoo. This is an excellent way to do it (coming back by bus), I may even have enjoyed it more than tramping around Porvoo itself. Though the cathedral is definitely worth seeing.
The roof of the cathedral is simple in shape; it's when you see the figures of the repairers that you realise how big it is. It was burnt down by an arsonist two or three years ago, something of a tragedy since it's one of the oldest cathedrals in Finland.
What happened the next day... well, I was pickpocketed in the restaurant of Helsinki station while seeing off a friend. I hung around for a while, drinking my coffee, writing some cards. I didn't notice a thing. It was only when I went round the corner and opened my wallet and stared stupefied at the empty space that I knew. Trust me, who's wandered around Manhattan and all sorts of even dodgier places with narey a problem, to go to one of the least crime ridden places in the world and have my cash nicked. It did make me fall out of love with Finland for the afternoon, but the truth is I got off lightly; I also had a money belt, and I didn't lose my cards or passport. Or my Helsinki card. So, shopping was off, and maxing the value of that was on. I visited as many galleries and other stuff as I could in the time, even the zoo (Why so few actual Finnish animals? I have a burning ambition now to see a liito-orava and a supikoira!). Finishing off with a visit to Suomenlinna, which is sort of a must for any trip to Helsinki. Then, it was off on a mini road trip to see Indica. Very glad I did; I like to see any band I get into play live, but now I think they really ought to be on my list of bands I've seen more than once.
Don't you think this is a nice and very clear example of the way glaciers carve rock? This is on the shore of Pyhäjärvi, a large lake in the South East of Finland, and the site of the Sieravuori holiday centre. A bit out of the way, it made going to see Indica a bit of an adventure. And it was great to see the Finnish countryside for the first time. Forests, large grassy fields, wooden farm buildings, long dead straight roads... I managed to pack quite a lot into four days, all things considered. Some of those things I could happily have done without, but I'm already looking forward to my next visit in August. For that intensive language course! :)