Topsy Turvy

Kudos to anyone who thinks this is going to be about Gilbert & Sullivan. It's not.

Had a busy but mostly enjoyable weekend! Went out on Friday night to the most famous Irish bar in Helsinki, Molly Malone's (wouldn't it be great to see an Irish bar abroad called "An Teach Tabhairne" or something, rather than the usual old "Kitty O Shea's etc) for some free live music. At the door the band had a poster advertising themselves "All Fired Up - Tonight!" It proclaimed, above a caricature of Mephistopheles, you knew the kind, smirking, pointy goatee, the works. So a hard rock band then. Inside, after a good hours wait, the band took the stage, and the assumption seemed vindicated: they came replete with long hair, tattoes, and inverted-crucifix pendants. This was going to be hard: "Good evening, ladies and gentleman," said the lead singer, a little too, well, Swedishly, "We are All Fired Up!". At this the drums kicked in, and they launched into a redition of... Breakfast at Tiffiny's... followed by some CCR, Brown Eyed Girl, and everyone's favourite piece of cheese, "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", which they performed without shame, in fact proudly proclaiming afterwards "Bachmann Turner Overdrive!!" afterwards. Disappointing.


The next day I went to IKEA in Espoo to buy some lights. A surreal experience, I got the same bus I used to travel home on last year, got off at my old apartment block at Kiltakallio, and surmised that nothing had changed. It felt like something should have changed. In any case the rain drumming on the shelter, and radiohead drumming in my ears made for a thoughtful sound-track, and I sat there pondering mutability until my connecting bus arrived.

IKEA is a scary place. A vast, sprawling, warehouse disguised as a department store, milling with 30-somethings seeking home improvement nirvana. I found the set of lights I'd been looking for, and headed to the check-outs, which were literally hundreds of metres away. Waiting in one of 20 queues started me pondering materialism, consumerism, and modern society (I guess I was in a big-thoughts mood). I may rant about these issues at a later date.

I came back to the office to pick up my amp, and do some downloading, and got a text from Agathe - herself and Gilles (the French contingent) were off to play some pool, was I interested... The Corona Bar is an excellent spot a few steps from Kamppi metro station. They have about 12 pool tables, a moderate going rate (€8 an hour) and play good music. In short it was a great night.

Agathe is an aspiring pool shark, and Gilles isn't too bad - plus he likes to indulge in a bit of gamesmanship in the form of laughter inducement:

Are you sure? You have the angle right? Really sure. Ok. Certain?... So the games were challenging. After a couple of rounds Agathe's roommate and his friends showed up. It transpires that Agathe's roommate is Deimar, a Russian programmer who came on our paintball trip last year, so we knew each other! Talk about a small world!

Anyway, he is a true poolshark, and with 6 people in total we could play winner stays in pairs. After performing embarresingly at the onset of the evening, I started to warm up and strung together one 4 ball run I'm really proud of. I'm telling you now, and one day, I shall tell my grandchildren all about it. Fluffed the black though, but there you go. I got to pedal Agathe's bike home after all was said and done; she preferring to drive home with Diemar quand elle a trop bu. I have got to get a bike, it was great!

The next day, I foolishly decided to go to Linninmaki with Tove

since it was on her shortlist of things to do before she leaves. Linninmaki being the amusement park close to where I live. Right. I was excited, because I'd never been on a rollercoaster before! After paying €24 for a day pass, she talked me into two violent rides (no, amusement park rides, behave!) consecutively - the pointless kind that just spin you around. After the first I was a little queasy, but during the second I acquired that special kind of naseousness where you wish you were dead. I sat everything out for the next two hours (walking made me feel ill) but went on a couple more rides as the day progressed and my stomach calmed. I even managed three of the four rollercoasters, but they weren't really as pleasurable as they might have been. Oh, and at the top of the ferris wheel I took some photos of my Apartment block: mine is the middle one.


We traipsed from there to central Helsinki for some food (Mexican, of course, she really should move there instead of Ireland!) Then I came in to work to pick up my lights and my amp, which I was itching to play! Got home around 12, realised that installing the lights is going to require some equipment and time, found that the amp is a joy to play, and went to bed. Pretty damn good all in all :)