NORMAL LIFE: Got Soul?

Finns love snow and it brightens up their day. Or so they say. As the last remnants of Summer start to fade away, people start to look forward to a nice, hard winter full of lot's of snow to brighten up the dark winter months. Unfortunately, Global Warming has had the opposite effect, leading to the arrival of snow as late as March, by which time the dark months have well and truly passed.

Regardless, when the snow does arrive, I somehow expect people to be that little bit happier. It turns out that the snow has come at a time when suicides reach their peak. Spring time in Finland is said to spark more suicides than any of the time of year as people struggle to shake off that winter cosiness and adapt to the spring and summer social scene. Some people don't quite make it back to the social mode, choosing to end their lives instead. What a tragic waste.

I was on the bus this morning. 8am had already come and gone, and so the sun was some 40° above the horizon already. I paitently waited for my bus as I stood in the four-inch high snow and observed the other would-be passengers. If each waiting person remained still enough, you could assume that they were already close to death: facial features were taut, devoid of any expression other than abject misery. Two kids - who didn't know eachother - were the only active waiters: they spat every minute of two for reasons I couldn't understand. Is it the new cool, perhaps, to spit, much to the dismay of people nearby? I felt like knocking their heads together!

As I boarded the bus and the vehicle rounded Töölö bay, I delighted at the view: snow had come to rest around the shore of the bay, you could see Helsinki's impressive cathedral in the distance and the sun glowed through the low, misty cloud, as if through crepe paper. I seemed to be the only person on the bus who seemed to notice the view - the others continued to look straight ahead, chronic depression plasted across their faces. I doubt their demeanour would change if I played YMCA on a boogie box complete with the dance routine in the aisle!

I realise that I've got soul. I love nature, photography, music, all those things that can lift your spirits. After my detox last month, I'm now learning yoga, another attempt at finding inner peace. Scrub the idea of playing YMCA (that's soooo 70s). How about Kylie's new song, Wow? That kind of song will never become a hit - depressed people are just not receptive enough. Perhaps I am being unfair towards the shy, inhibited Finns. After all, going to work isn't an activity that delights anyone, no matter where you are in the world. Perhaps I am just too happy for this place? Or perhaps I've got too much soul? Can someone have too much soul?