Old Finnish People With Things On Their Heads

Yep.

I’m not feeling great. A viral thing and a lack of sleep due to said viral thing are conspiring to bring me down. At times like this, as a daily blogger (and having not yet daily blogged), one heads to one’s Pocket.

Here’s one of the things I found therein:

Says Lara Sanchez:

I’m Lara Sanchez, communications designer. I love traveling, yoga, paper crafts and lemurs. I am also addicted to milk.

Right. And then once we’d been introduced, this:

Photographers, Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen came up with something truly peculiar and special, in their photo series “Eyes As Big As Plates”. Their subjects are old, super serious and Finnish, all while wearing ridiculous “organic” head pieces and attire…need I say more?

Nope. I think we’re all done here.

See more OFPWTOTH by clicking through to Lara’s site here.

All that’s missing is any sort of explanation.

Finnished…

I learned a new word today. It’s not a word that I’m going to use very often, because it’s a Finnish word and Finland is a long, long way from here. But it is a great word, and it may come in useful for times when you have a few hours alone. This actually makes it even less likely for me to be using it, given that “a few hours alone” is  generally an alien concept to most parents of young children.

Still, it’s a word worth knowing, just in case.

The word is kalsarikännit. Say it with me:

Kalsarikännit

And it means “getting drunk alone at home, while wearing your underwear”.

Mitä aiot tehdä perjantai?
Luultavasti vain saada kalsarikännit.

Well, obviously. Friday’s going to be the main night for this sort of thing to happen.

Look, I have no plans to go to Finland anytime soon, but I can already tell you what I’ll be doing for at least one evening of my stay, should I ever end up in Helsinki or Jyväskylä.

The opportunity to practice at some point in the near future would be much appreciated too.

If this bar bill was real…

…it might be the best bar bill ever.

Here’s the story:

Paavo Arhinmäki (Left Alliance), Finland’s Minister of Culture and Sport, has apologised for his conduct in Sochi on Saturday, conceding to reporters at the Helsinki Airport on Monday that the evening had got out of hand.

“Naturally, ministers should be able to control their partying in order to prevent it from going so far. It went too far,” he admitted when asked whether Saturday’s events were fitting for a minister. I haven’t passed out before. I use alcohol with moderation, but this time the party got out of hand,” emphasised Arhinmäki.

In addition, the minister reminded that the party was a private function with members of the Finnish ice hockey team. “Of course, it’s part of my official duties to also take part in such parties,” he added.

And here’s a cleverly-made mock up of the bill. It’s very amusing.

BhYhhxRCQAAEz7r

My favourite item has to be:

1 Sircus Midget With Hula Hoops

But wow, that’s pricey for a small person. You can get a couple of Blonde Excort ladies for less than that (see a couple of lines above) (although Whipped Cream is extra) (obviously).

To be fair, if it wasn’t for sending out for the Karjala, it would have been a more than reasonable evening to celebrate the Finnish ice hockey bronze medal.

Wait. What?

After I joked just yesterday about launching a Pirate Party for the upcoming elections, the results of the Finnish general election arrived in my email inbox with a small “ding” earlier this morning:

And, as you can see, the vote was fairly evenly split between the top three parties, including the somewhat defeatist National Coalition Party (motto: “We’ll never get enough votes to govern on our own”).
Mind you, they were right.

There are a couple of other interesting points in there too: the dramatic collapse (81% in the number of votes) for the Senior Citizens Party, presumably due to the deaths of most of their voters since the last election in 2007.
Also note the stability of support for the Swedish People’s Party. It seems that there are still approximately 126,000 Swedes living in Finland.
Change 2011 didn’t get enough votes to force through their election promise to “change 2011”, though analysts believe that this was mainly due to a concerned public not knowing what they were going to change it into. Watch and learn, Helen: communication is everything.

But look there: slap bang in the middle with 15,164 votes – an incredible 15,164 more than they managed in 2007 – is the Pirate Party of Finland. And as their leader, Pasi Palmulehto says:

Tervetuloa tutustumaan Piraattipuolueen toimintaan! Olemme pyrkineet kokoamaan sivuillemme mahdollisimman kattavan paketin tietoa ajatuksistamme, toiminnastamme ja tavoitteistamme. Kuitenkin paras tapa piraattien pääkopan sisälle pääsyyn on tulla käymään piraattien paikallisiin tapaamisiin ja vaihtamaan ajatuksia verkkoyhteisöissämme.

Toivon ajatusmaailmaamme tutustumisen auttavan kutakin kyseenalaistamaan vanhentuneita käsityksiä ja löytämään oman sisäisen piraattinsa.

Indeed, Pasi – I will be looking for my inner pirate!

They even have their own Youth League – the Piraattinuoret. I wonder if they like sushi?

You couldn’t make it up. And, let’s face it, you wouldn’t even know if I had.

(which I haven’t)

Going Postal

Incoming from The Telegraph:

Finland’s postal service is to begin opening household mail and sending scanned copies of letters by email to cut down on costs and pollution.

Yep:

Not even the most intimate love letters, payslips, overdue bills and other personal messages will be spared under the controversial scheme.
The service, aimed at cutting the number of postmen and reducing CO2 emissions in the sparsely-populated country, is being offered on a voluntary basis initially.
Volunteers will receive an email or a mobile phone text message as soon as their paper mail has been opened, scanned and sent as an electronic image to a secure digital mailbox, to which only the intended recipient has access.

This is nothing new to us in South Africa. In fact, it seems to me that this Finnish system is based on the SAPO setup which has been running for many years. Our local version is  less helpful and more annoying though.
Here, letters and parcels are scanned for any items of value which are then removed to cut down on deliveries and recipient happiness. Nothing is spared this treatment: birthday cards, cash, kid’s presents from overseas etc.

Further parallels with Finland’s trial exist as the sender will send emails and text messages to the recipient complaining about the thieving bastards at the Post Office.