FLASHBACK #5: Nights in Helsinki: two men on the platform

As my first winter in Finland took hold, I started to use the train whenever I visited Helsinki - I would get on the train straight after work on Friday's and return really late on Sunday. I would spend time with my friend, who lived in Kallio, and we would make food together, go to the bars and check out the local talent! It was weird because, while we did the things couples do, we weren't 'involved' in any way; it was winter and, at the end of the day, it was great company for the both of us! In the evenings, we would drink while we watched TV, played music or chatted, before heading out for a night on the dancefloor!

The more I went to Helsinki, the more familiar the faces in the bars became. I'm glad I didn't go out every weekend as I didn't want to become a 'piece of the furniture'. I got chatting to guys all the time, there was a frequent exchange of telephone numbers, but all too often that would be the end of the matter. Still, I had my friend for company. We met in the Septmber, but by the next Spring he was well and truly out of my life; we didn't fall out, I had just changed, made new friends, both in Tampere and in Helsinki. Four years later, I still think about him.

One weekend either just before or after Christmas, I had told a couple of new contacts that I would be visiting Helsinki that weekend and that my train would arrive at such and such a time on the Friday - we agreed that I would call them on my arrival and we'd sort out a schedule for meeting up over the weekend. When I arrived at the railway station, I strode down the platform: ahead stood two guys I knew (and liked!), standing on either side of the platform. I had arranged to meet neither of them nor had I told them about eachother. Not knowing what to do, I huddled deeper into my winter jacket and thrust my hat down my head as far as it would go and walked past both of them with the rest of the crowd.

In phone calls later on, it emerged that they had both come to the station to meet me because they wanted to get to know me better! Of course, I was flattered but my flirtatiousness has landed me in a tricky situation. I recovered from the situation by claiming that I had missed my train and had arrived on a later train.

Talking about the trains in Finland (I know I run the risk of sounding really boring now!), they are fab! For long distance trips, Finland's state-owned rail network uses the 'Pendolino', a train capable of reaching speeds of up to 220 kms per hour, navigating bends by tilting. As a result, the trains are quiet and smooth and, in my own opinion, utterly amazing. The trips to and from Tampere are a bit pricy though, at €55 return. More about the trains can be found on www.vr.fi