What's going on?!

Just checked the current weather for Finland. Unfortunately it's unseasonably mild and set to continue that way for the forseeable future. +8 in Helsinki and even in Rovaniemi, at the arctic circle, it's +5 with no snow, almost unheard of for this time of year.

The Russian spy stuff was all over the news last weekend with most journalists blaming Putin, though he's never exactly been flavour of the month with the Daily Mail readers. I'd be surprised if Putin was behind it though, as he would probably go after bigger fish like Berezovsky. And to poison someone in such a bizarre way is calling out for media attention. Much better to shoot them in a bungled robbery or to have a nasty car crash which might make the bottom of page 16. I've never really understood why Putin gets such a bad press while Abramovic is portrayed as a decent and upstanding guy.

A cup of tea - Big Pete style

Me and Big Pete went round to Mark's - the now firmly established Sunday routine, which also involves playing Goldeneye on Mark's creaking N64. Russ don't laugh!

Rather surprisingly Big Pete offered to make the second cup of tea. As this is such a rare occurrence, Mark immediately agreed to proposal. After a full 15mins had elapsed with no visible sign of progress we went upstairs to investigate. With a 7 year old, most parents are a bit concerned about accidents, but surely a 26-year-old man wouldn't find the task too challenging? Pete was pouring out 3 cups of tea (we'd previously had coffee and the mugs hadn't been rinsed, but maybe to mention that would've been unnecessarily critical. There was something that was slightly odd though, as there was no steam coming from the kettle. The tea's were stone-cold. The tea was then poured into some hot water that Mark had deliberately poured out for washing up. The result: 3 wasted tea bags along with milk and a rather stressed Mark vowing never to allow Pete near his kitchen again. Told you our Sunday afternoon's are full of excitement!

A good time to be a smackhead

Even in this current Politically Correct climate there was an odd decision this week. Some bigwig lawyer decided that convicted criminals with heroine addictions currently in prison were given Methodone without the prisoners’ consent. This, therefore, was ‘assault’ by the government, degrading treatment/torture, breach of human rights etc etc. The govt paid compensation without a fight.

Am I totally out-of-touch or do people genuinely believe prison a gross violation of human rights. Maybe we should close all prisons and release all prisoners with the most violent and dangerous inmates given huge amounts of compensation and released first….

Winter

It's about this time of year that I start wondering if we'll have a cold winter with some snow (and hoping we do). The last couple of winters have been very disappointing and it is now a rare event to get lying snow for more than a day. The last winter this happened to any extent was 1995/96 and the last properly cold winter 1986/87.

Anyway I'm fairly confident I'll see some snow in Finland in December. Even in Southern Finland snow isn't guaranteed in December (but it's about 80% likely). Average temperatures in Tampere are -2 day and -6 night and Helsinki a degree warmer which is actually slightly warmer than Vilnius and certainly warmer than Moscow at -5/-11 where December snow is guaranteed.

Travels with the Pig man

All being well next August should be the first time I will have ventured outside the shores of the UK with Big Pete. Will this be an experience to look forward to or dread?! Come to think of it I don't think I have been outside the UK territories with any of the BRFC crew (with the exception of Shiz and Mark). What sort of traveller is Big Pete? A high-rolling-5star-luxury-$200-a-night-only-the-best-will-do (Russ), a scrimp&save-thrifter who sleeps rough in graveyards (Mark) or a middle-of-the-roader staying in hostels (Shiz)...

₤2.49. Can't complain.

With it's bizarre pricing policies, Ryanair has now reduced the cost of flights to Finland to 2.49 each way, 15quid with taxes. Probably about the same price as two beers in Helsinki. I fail to see how this stands up in economic terms when it costs about 1.70 to go a couple of stops on the 378. Seems to go completely against all global warming concerns and govt policy, but enough with the moralizing, I'm there!

Only a morbid and sadistic soul like myself (and it looks like you may have to include Shiz in that category!) would get any pleasure in braving the potential sub-zero temperatures and darkness that Finland has to offer in December...

green taxes

So these 'Green Taxes' that are going to come in. Does this mean that I'm not going to go on my annual 5 foreign holidays a year (think I've been abroad 10 times since start of 2005) and every time by plane. A trend I intend to continue. Or is it all a load of guff/hot air?

I better get that Tampere/Oslo/Venice/Rome flight booked pronto! I must say Tampere is turning me on the most at the moment, although Oslo is still in with a good chance.

Oh, and just a minor grumble, I've noticed that people are sometimes writing 'alot' when they mean 'a lot'. I've noticed this creeping into a few of the blogs.