NORMAL LIFE: Finns And Their Babies - Part II

Again, Finns & Their Babies are giving me grief! Not so long ago, Popeye at work had an issue with the fact that I had told some of our US colleagues that he was suddenly called out of the office on paternity leave with the arrival of his son and would thus not be able to help with some projects we were working on. Later, Popeye would express his concern that I had revealed part of his private life to his colleagues stateside.

Today, I was in a meeting only to discover that one of our engineers - who I considered myself as being quite close to - had been called off to hospital since his wife was about to give birth. I took a deep breath as deja vu overwhelmed me; my first thought was an acknowledging 'okay..' followed by an immediate though along the lines of: what is wrong with these people?

I once wrote that 'Finns have a very obsessed-bordering-on-secretive view about the way their free time is shared/communicated with others', but what I still don't understand is that, if having kids is so bloody fantastic, then why are Finns so bloody unwilling to publicise the imminent arival of their bundle of joy?

From a business perspective, the valued Engineer's absence will leave a hole in our ability to get things done and, bearing in mind that he can be away for us to eight weeks, I am thinking: how selfish can you get when you can't even be bothered to tell colleagues that you might - or might not - be away for someof April, all of May and maybe some of June?

I wonder what the child's name will be. In line with Finnish tradition, the child already has a social security number, but will be denied a name for the first two or three months of his life which his 'parents take time to decide'. No one knows why it's such a hard decision, it's just 'tradition', you see! Phrt!

I am so lucky that biology has denied me fatherhood. It makes me a more reliable employee, enables me to hang onto my individuality, prevents me from putting on weight, allows me to continue saving for that rainy day, helps to avoid confinement to child-friendly holidays in the Costa del Sol or equivalent for the next ten to fifteen years.

And if anything, I can still plan my amazing travels to Australia which, just four months away, fills my hear with glee! Fatherhood? No thanks!