FLASHBACK #45: Last Supper in Tampere

And so it came, the end of my time in Tampere. Deep down, I wasn't sad to leave. My Summer Holiday was coming and, when I got back, I would be living in the same city as Bree and would also be starting a totally different job.

We had organised a night out with work. Fortunately for those of us who like a drink, Thing (the Chinese girl) and the Religious one couldn't make it! What a shame! A couple of my colleagues and I met at my place first and then Shy drove us into town in his new-acquired BMW.

We went to a Tex-Mex restaurant at Koskikeskus to begin with before visiting SUVI-laiva, the stationery boat with a bar onboard in Laukontori. There, Bree joined us and he spent some time talking to the snooty colleague I came out to in the March (read corresponding entry here). A good evening was had by all, but I can honestly say that it still didn't feel like I was actually leaving Tampere.

Yeah, my boxes were packed. Yeah, my clothes were packed for my holiday, but something just didn't register. The huge change that was about to take place just didn't feel like it was happening, you know?!

The evening wasn't a wild one and it was a good thing for it allowed Bree and I to go back home and put all the last things in their place before sleeping together, for the last time, in Tampere. I would miss this place, but I knew deep down that the best was yet to come.

FLASHBACK #44: Moment Defining Midnight Swim at Alanenjärvi

My last Summer in Tampere had been a fun-filled one, but nothing could have had a more profound effect on me than my nightly drives to Alanenjärvi. One of my colleague's (the religious one) parents live on the elongated lake and, having passed it one day during the summer, I decided to make use of having a car while I had one.

So, each evening after many hours of packing boxes, I would make the 10km journey north of Tampere. I would pull into the dirt track road, brave the mosquito infested forest before emerging onto a small sandy beach which preceded the shore. Standing at the water's edge, I would strip and lunge into the refreshingly cold water.

During my last week in Tampere, I headed to the lake, having finally completed my packing. It was gone 10pm but, standing waist-deep in the dark water, I felt something. It wasn't a bad thing, it was a kind of sensation of enlightenment. I was standing there, looking out at the lake. You could see the orange-ness of the sunset behind the trees clearly reflected on the lake's still waters. I must have been the only one in the area for kilometres around for, for the first time, the immense stillness of the water struck me.

Repeatedly, I looked at the water, then up at the gorgeous sunset, the sky now turning dark orange and, soon, to red. I must have stood there for a while and, many times, I smiled as I reflected on the many happy memories I had of my time in Tampere. If someone had passed by at that particular point, it might have looked like I was contemplating a suicide except for the smile that stretch from ear to ear.

Later, as I drove back to town, I considered how defining my trip to the lake had been. It had been me at one with nature, an appreciation that every Finn is said to be born with. As a mosquito bit at my skin, I didn't flinch. Instead, I had realised that this was where I was meant to be. I was home.

FLASHBACK #43: Sarkanniemi With Blue

I made a conscious effort to spend some quality time with my friends before it would be time to leave Tampere. The time to spend the day with Blue came. It was a warm summers day and we decided to go to Sarkanniemi, Tampere's very own theme park.

I drove to Blue's house near Pispala and out she came in her red dress (she looks fantastic in red) and her cute pink Marimmekko bag. The short drive to the theeme park only took ten minutes or so and, in the queue, we marvelled at the new ride located next to Nasineulla, Tampere's impressive tower.

In the park, we walked around, visiting the farm area before we hit the rides. For a small town like Tampere, this theme park is impressive and people drive several hundred kilometres to come here for the day.

My favourite ride is the Tornado, a 'hanging' rollercoaster. Surprisingly for a Saturday, the queues for the rides were no longer than ten minutes and we went on most of the rides.

When we decided to take a break, we grabbed an ice cream and chatted on one of the benches. During out conversation, I found out that it was Blue's birthday only recently and she hadn't said anything so I couldn't have that; we threw away our ice-creams and I treated her to lunch in one of the many restaurants. Silly sod, eh?!

After the very filling lunch, we went up Nasineulla and viewed the City from above. Once again, a sensation overcame me on just how much I would miss this place when I left. The good thing was I was only going to Helsinki and there would be nothing to stop me visiting regularly.

When we went back down to base, we visited the small aquarium before going on the ride that kind of encapsulates the whole days experience. You see, Blue is so girly. She dresses in a girly way, behaves like a girl and giggles like a girl. But it is this girliness that differentiates her from most of the Finnish women I have met.

While most women are too busy trying to find careers and competing against the men in their own teams (sad, but true), Blue is happy to be the lady she really is. And it shows! On the ride (one of those swing rides where, as the ride starts to turn, the seat you are sitting on swings further out), Blue giggled with delight.

We left the park in the late afternoon, but rather than call it a day (because we had enjoyed eachothers company so much!), we continued onto my local food store where we bought some chips (or 'crisps' I should say in English-English!) and cider. From there, we made our way to the Arboretum where we swam in the lake. By now, the day had turned humid and, after our swim, we drank our ciders on my balcony.

When Blue left about 7pm, a pang of loneliness hit me. You see, I had really enjoyed the day and you know how it is once you've had a couple of drinks and then suddenly you're on your own and you want the fun to continue.

Anyway, it had been an active day on one of the last hot summer days in 2003. I will always value that day I spent at Sarkanniemi with Blue.

FLASHBACK #42: LakeSide Dinner

The weeks of the Summer were whizzing past. Sometimes after work, I would visit my Neighbour or would go cycling to my favourite place (Pyyniki) or go swimming at the 50 metre pool in Kaleva, one of the districts in Tampere.

One thing I promised to my colleagues, however, was a dinner before I left for my Summer Holiday. You see, I wouldn't be returning to Tampere after my Summer Holiday; while I would be away, my possessions would be collected and transported to my new apartment in Helsinki.

I invited three of my colleagues rounded for dinner; the religious one, the one with a Polish mother and an American accent (let's call her the Talker) and one of the guys who came to work for us as a Summer Worker. We will call him Shy because he cute in a shy sort of way. Well, they all bought their partners so it was me plus six and the theme was Italian.

July turned out to be one of the hottest on record in Finland. As my colleagues arrived with their partners in pairs, the temperature in my apartment hit 33ºC. There was only one thing for it: we had to move the dinner outside into the Arboretum. Laden with pots containing food, plates, cups, knives, forks and condiments, we all ambled through to the Arboretum less than a kilometre away.

We tucked into Caprese Salad, plates of Spaghetti Bolognese followed by the Talker's famous Tiramasu. We joked about how the Religious one didn't drink yet she helped herself to seconds of the dessert which had been laced with brandy! You are naughty, Talker!

It was during this dinner that I realised just how much I would miss this place, and the people. Tampere had been my home for nearly two years and it had been very good to me. I hadn't been mistreated, nor had I been subjected to any threat of any kind, no kind of violence whatsoever. Come on, this is Finland!

The Religious one got out the badminton rackets and proceeded to play with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Shy played a game of Petanque with the Talker's husband, leaving the Talker any I to have one of our last ever chats. I liked her alot - she made me laugh and her English dazzled me for she was actually able to play with the words. We flirted endlessly in the office, much to the annoyance of Thing and the Religious one.

The dinner ended without so many goodbyes for we would see eachother in the office tomorrow. The dinner was just my way of thanking them for their company and for their support during my time with the Project.

FLASHBACK #41: Bengtskär, Finland's Southermost Attraction (59° 43,4' N 22° 30,1' E)

There are time when we all come across as ungrateful. We don't mean to, it just happens. When Bree planned a weekend away, it started out badly when we pulled into our overnight accommodation at a Christian Hostel just outside Hanko. After a recent clash with a religious friend of mine who had somehow managed to hold me hostage at her parent's place, I was feeling a little bit anti-religious.

With reluctance on my part, we checked in late one Saturday afternoon. And why were we staying overnight in Hanko? Well, Bree had recently read an newspaper article about a lighthouse that was now a tourist attraction, 25kms out at sea. It was very difficult to summon any enthusiasm for a visit to a lighthouse, but as a loving partner, you sometimes do these things for your loved one; that's what makes relationship work.

Creating this entry in hindsight, I clearly didn't give the day out the attention it deserved. Only now am I researching this 'Bengtskär', learning what I should have learnt if they had bothered to provide a guided tour in English.

Anyway, the following morning started with a short drive to the port of Hanko, from where we boarded a rather large fishing trawler. Only when we were far out at sea did we learn why it was a trawler and not a more touristic kind of boat - the sea out here is so choppy that you should have seen us queueing for our serving of soup. Ever tried carrying a bowl of soup in very bad weather at sea? It's hilarious and unfunny at the same time! I, for one, thought I had good sea legs, but I was relieved to get off the boat after the 2-hour trip.

Having reached the spot of Scandinavia's tallest lighthouse (52 meters high), we took time to recover from the sea-sickness before learning more about the Lighthouse's history. The incidence of frequent shipwrecks led to the planning of the immense 'Baltic Lighthouse' and, at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, architect Florentin Granholm unveiled his design for the unique structure. It wasn't until the steamship, Helsingfors, foundered and sank in the Gulf in January 1905, however, that the Imperial Senate granted the materials necessary to commence construction in 1906.

We went for a wander among the rocks, marvelling back at the lighthouse that just sits there, very much alone, on the granite surface of the island. 120 workers and artisans worked on the structre and, after the roof was raised in 1906, work continued on the tower and the 252 steps of the spiral staircase leading up to the reflector room. Visitors are allowed to ascend the steps which illustrates just how isolated this island really is for you can see nothing in the surrounding see. A special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower on December 19th, 1906; it's powerful beam could be seen twenty nautical miles away.

When World War I started, in 1914, the lighthouse men and their families were evacuated to the mainland and the lantern was placed in storage. During that same year, two Imperial German Naval cruisers, Magdeburg and Augsburg, subjected the lighthouse to considerable shelling, only damaging the granite structure slightly. By the following summer, the lighthouse men and their families had returned to their homes on Bengtskär. It wasn't until 1919 that the Gulf of Finland was declared safe for shipping and the lantern re-lit.

In November 1939, Soviet Russian troops attacked Finland and, by 1941, the shore of Hanko was in Russian hands. Under the cover of fog, in the earlier hours of July 26, 1941, two Russian patrol boats, with an armed force of one hundred, secretly landed at the southern part of Bengtskär with orders to destruct the lighthouse so that it could no longer play a role in hampering Russian war activities.

The small Finnish garrison of forty-one men, including four lighthouse keepers, repelled the first Russian attack and, from a distance of ten kilometers, batteries on the neighbouring island of Örö and Granholmen shelled the Soviet patrol boats and the enemy soldiers hiding in the rock crevasses on the island. Finnish gunboats and coast guard vessels arrived in the early hours while Finnish Fighter bombers flew over the island, targetting the invaders. At dawn, Finnish Commandos from the nearby island of Hitis landed and joined the struggle to repel the Soviet force.

After a hard and bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious, but at a price; the battle had claimed thirty-one lives and forty-five wounded from the Finnish ranks. Russia lost sixty Russian troops, with twenty-eight taken prisoner. In retalation, a Russian warplane flew over the island and dropped a bomb on July 27th; it struck the living quarters, killing seven of the Finnish defence force.

Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period with the lighthouse finally reopening in 1950. The lighthouse keepers returned to the rock, but this time without their families. With technology came modernisation and Bengtskär was later operating unmanned. During this time, vandals damaged the interior and exterior, and Bengtskär was leased to the Centre of Extension studies of Turku University.

Renovations were completed in 1995 and the Lighthouse was reopened to serve its new role as a tourist, conference, research and education center. The lower floor houses Finland's first Lighthouse Museum and a permanent exhibit "Bengtskär 1941", which gives a vivid account of the dramatic hours of the battle for the island. On the first floor in the former living quarters is a cafeteria, post office and a Chapel.

It's certainly worth paying a visit to this unique place. My only regret is that I didn't appreciate it's importance at the time of the visit. Interesting, Bengtskär celebrates it's 100th Anniversary in 2006.

www.bengtskar.fi

FLASHBACK #40: Viikinsaari Picnic

The Summer was now in full swing and, now that MidSummer was done and dusted, people were returning back to the city. A few weeks after MidSummer, my Neighbour and I organised a trip to Viikinsaari, an island on Lake Pyhäjärvi.

Bree arrived already on the Friday night and, come Saturday morning, we woke up to clear blue, sunny day. Bree, my Neighbour (donning her trademark pigtails, and wearing a t-shirt featuring a small Union Jack) and I headed into town in my car to meet 'Blue' and 'T', another one of my neighbour's colleague's who I had met one several occasions.

I am quite surprised that I haven't mentioned Blue before. You see, Blue is gorgeous. She's sexy, she's girly and sooo funny. If I wasn't gay, well, you know... :-) Anyway, I was glad that Blue could make it and the five of us gathered at Laukontori. It was the first time that Bree and I had been present on a trip such as this with friends of mine in Tampere, and what a lovely day it turned out to be.

Having gathered together and boarded the ferry quite quickly, the 20-minute journey on Lake Pyhäjärvi was filled with lots of 'catching-up' chat. When we arrived, we headed to the far side of the island where we found a nice patch of grass beneath some trees and right by the shore. It was then that my Neighbour presented a wonderful picnic. It was a relief that everybody got on well and, sitting down, we listened with Blue and my Neighbour dished our their usual supply of entertaining stories and funny jokes. Meanwhile, 'T' tended to be rather quiet. As a person, I quite like 'T', but her tendency to be quiet grates me sometimes. We must bear in mind, however, that silence is an integral part of the Finnish persona. This lead me to wonder, where the hell did Finland find my bubbly Neighbour and my gorgeous Blue?

After a couple of hours, we decided to walk around the Island and it wasn't long before we came to a stony beach. I couldn't resist the water so, having stripped to my underpants, I waded slowly into the bloody ice-cold water. One thing about Finnish weather is it can be very deceptive - while the air temperature can be reasonably warm, the lakes retain a chill reminiscent of the long winters. It was refreshing, anyhow.

As we headed back towards the jetty, we came to a Villa which had a play area. The children that we are, each of us tried our hand at walking on stilts. On each attempt, I burst into a fit of giggles, unable to take the activity seriously. Blue, however, showed a talent for walking on stilts and, let's face it, it's a useful skill if you decide to run away and join the circus! As she waded across the grass on the stilts, her pigtails swayed cutely.

We waited for our ferry at the jetty. By now, it was probably about 5pm and I could remember feeling the heat on my face. When we got back to Laukontori, we all had an ice cream from the Ice Cream Parlour. It's interesting to note that Finns eat the most ice-cream per househould in the EU and I have to admit that they certainly know how to make it. Yummy!

It was when we said goodbye to eachother that I realised that the process of saying goodbye to not just friends, but also to Tampere City, had begun.

FLASHBACK #39: Trapped By The Religious

Ever felt like a hostage? Ever visited a friend, found yourself in an awkward situation that seemed impossible to get out of? Just after Midsummer 2003, the religious girl in the office (click here to see January 2003 entry) invited me around to her parent's place one afternoon after work for a coffee. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and I had spent enough of the warm, sunny evenings on my own so I felt honoured to be invited into a Finnish family home.

After work, I followed my colleague in her car to a small village, just north of the City of Tampere. When we arrived, I was greeted by an angry German Shepherd who barked agressively as I approached the house. Unchained, the dog continued to bark, making no physical attempt to prevent me from entering the house. All bark, the dog was!

As we entered the wooden, detached house with it's own grounds, I was greeted by my colleague's parents, their other daughter and their son, who was the youngest at 18. I felt like I was a new boyfriend, meeting his potential future in-laws for the first time.

They had prepared a wonderful dinner and I was very impressed. After the main course, the three siblings got up from their chairs and positioned themselves around a nearby piano. My colleague manned the piano, and began playing away. As a trio, they sang what could only be described as a series of religious songs. Totally disinterested in religion in all of its forms and a hardcore fan of Ministry of Sound music, I just didn't want to listen. Nothing can put into words how relieved I was when they finally stopped and, gracing what must have looked like a false smile, I applauded them.

As the children returned to their places at the dinner table, I looked towards the parents, each of whom were sitting at either end of the long dinner table. They glared at me, knowingly. It was then that I knew what my colleague was trying to do. She was trying to guide me back onto the path of goodness. Clearly, I had lost my way and was in dire need of guidance. I was furious inside, but I let it go, taking the time to enjoy the dessert that was now placed on the table.

As soon as the dessert was consumed, my colleague appeared behind me. I looked up and she announced, oh-so-proudly, that the family had something for me. Seconds passed and, on the dinner table, appeared the gift; my very own personal copy of the Bible. I don't know why my heart was beating hard nor why my hands were sweating. All the people around the dinner table looked at me earnestly. I backed away from the table suddenly, asking if I could use the toilet.

Downstairs, in the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I knew that they were good people, but what was unfolding upstairs was orchestrated intimidation. When I returned to the dining room, I thanked them for the Bible. My colleague told me I hadn't looked inside the cover and, still standing, she held the cover open and showed the first page to me; the signature of each person in the room was cutely scrawled across the page. That was enough! These people weren't friends and I wasn't going to be 'recruited' or 'welcomed into the fold' under duress.

Shortly afterwards, when my colleague and I were alone, I cast her a nasty look. I asked her what the hell she was doing. She said I need to be guided back into the light, into the goodness. I told her that I respected her view, but I didn't want her faith to form a part of our friendship. Likewise, what I do in bed or how I get my jollies isn't part of our friendship. I could see from the look on her face that she knew she had failed to get me on board. For sure, I knew then that that had been her intention.

It was a very character-defining experience. The mix of emotions I felt, the embarassment, the rage. I always respected her views, but her faith proved to be so strong and I knew she was never going to accept me. When I left Tampere to move to Helsinki little more than two months later, we never spoke again.