NORMAL LIFE: That Bloody Banjo!

It is getting a bit predictable now. The banjo I am about to moan about is, in fact, a guitar and, while it's user may be talented, I am quite averse to the live music culture. In fact, I find it unbearable.

At literally every work event, there is a colleague who would like to mark the occasion with a spot of guitar strumming and singing. Quite frankly, talented or not, I wish he would stop! At a rather large gathering of colleagues last week, I was (not!) surprised to hear the sudden start of my colleague's guitar in the distance.

Bloody bajesus!, I thought to myself. What is this? The Sound of Music? Is my colleague a descendent of the Von Trapp family?, I wondered. In many respects, Finland is still very much a folksy country. It wasn't until after the Second World War, you see, when Finland moved on from being a peasant society to a fully-fledge industrialised one. And, when a guy like this gets his guitar out - in an office filled with computers and well-educated professionals - and starts singing like a hillbilly, you feel that there's still alot of work to be done.

The guy is in his early thirties, but he is sooo maalainen (born from the countryside)!