FLASHBACK #23: McDonalds At The Kallio Monument

The weekends in Helsinki and the late nights out continued during the dark evenings of Autumn 2002. After being told by a sexy guy that I reminded him of a dead ex-boyfriend, I was starting to realise that all of the people in the bars were either drunk or just downright weird.

One particular evening, however, sparked the beginning of a new friendship. For some reason, Bree wasn't out with us the night I was introduced to 'JP'. JP and I hit it off immediately. There was never any attraction, but instead we could talk for ages about stuff.

We drank alot, danced alot (gay guys can do this, even if they're dating!) and left the bar together when we'd had enough. JP lived in Kallio, but we both walked along Mannerheimintie, Helsinki's main street, deciding to pick up some McDonalds.

Instead of eating in, we continued walking along Mannerheimintie until we reached the statue of Kyösti Kallio near the Parliament Building. At the risk of sounding boring, Kallio became the fourth President of Finland (1937-1940), having already served four times as Prime Minister.

Anyway, the seats around the statue were wet from rain that had fallen earlier, but JP quite cleverly emptied the large McDonalds paper bag and ripped the bag open in such a way that we were able to use it as something to sit on! What a gentleman, I thought. JP had been different to most Finns I had met during my first year in Finland: he was social, he wasn't drunk and he was considerate.

JP came along at a good time. It seemed that everyone in the bars wasn't drunk or downright weird after all!

FLASHBACK #22: Flirting With Death (Literally!)

Summer was officially over and, as with the arrival October 2002, Finland became greyer and darker. It was the season for lighting candles, eating lot's of chocolate, for studying and occasionally get drunk with your friends.

Every now and then, Bree would spend the evenings studying or would visit his parents. One particular weekend, he stayed at his parent's overnight so I arranged to meet up with two friends of mine in a local bar.

We ended up in a nightclub and it was getting quite late. Now might be a good time to tell you that Finns love a good drinking session and, every now and then, tended to go a bit overboard with the booze. What I am about to tell you is a perfect example.

This guy had been checking me out for ages and, on this particular evening (perhaps because Bree wasn't with me), he was paying me alot of attention. I nodded back, smiling occasionally, but kept my distance. Sometime after 2am, it seemed like he was closer. Had I drank too much and imagined it? Or was he about to make his move?

I looked around to see where my friends had got to (they like to dance alot, you see) and when I turned around, the guy was standing right next to me! Shit, I thought. The thing was that the guy was dead sexy - he was good looking, had a lovely smile and a rough edge about him.

Anyway, he started talking to me in Finnish and I told him that I couldn't understand. He immediately changed to English (it's amazing how Finns are able to do this!) and, looking deep into my eyes, said that I reminded him of his dead ex-boyfriend!!! The thing is, I actually think he think he thought it was a good chat-up line (e.g. that he thought I was good boyfriend material). I patted his shoulder, assuring him that I was very much alive.

He was drunk, you see. And did I forget to say that Finns like to drink?