Leaving Finland – Reflections on Life in Ireland

This is a thoughtful weekend for me. Its now almost exactly two years since we emptied our flat in Helsinki, went through the mammoth task of re-organising tax, health insurance and the like and packed our bags in quite a hurry to leave Finland for good. I remember there was a lot of snow during our last week and we became masters in sliding down the icy courtyard, skillfully balancing moving boxes and pieces of furniture while avoiding the very slippery patches on the stone steps. We lived in an otherwise beautiful Jugendstil building with a gorgeous yard in the nice area of town, but it unfortunately proved to be rather difficult to move in and out of this flat, as cars would not be able to enter the courtyard and our flat was of course located in the stair case that was furthest away from the entrance of the yard, uphill and naturally on the top floor (no elevator).

After the moving ordeal we spent one last night a hotel excited that we soon would not have to put up with all the snow and cold any more and that moving into our furnished flat in Dublin should be a piece of cake. It actually was quite easy.

We arrived in Dublin just after the St Patrick’s weekend and lived out of the suitcase for the first month. Of course I had packed all the wrong things like a warm woolly coat: perfect for dry and very cold conditions, utterly useless for windy and moist weather;)
I think we learned our lesson fairly quickly. My wardrobe now solely consists of clothes that can be layered under waterproof jackets as the weather here changes every 5 minutes, which can be beautiful and sometimes annoying.

I am in love with the light here. Its light during the winter even on my way to and from work and we can be outside during every month of the year. We are happy with the move, but on weekends like today you come to realize that arriving might take a lot longer sometimes than just the physical move.

Oh and this is the second St Patrick’s weekend with dreadful weather. It seems to be part of the national celebration just like the fact that it almost always snows on May Day in Finland:).

KT Tunstall & the smell of sausages

I enjoyed a fantastic gig last night. KT Tunstall played in Dublin in the national stadium.

I do like her records and expected a nice, entertaining evening, but the concert yesterday evening surpassed all my expectations. It was so full of energy and life that even though I could barely walk to the gig feeling desperately exhausted and tired from this week's happenings (work and I think I am getting too old for drinks during the week;)), I woke up instantly when KT came on stage.

This small (and very beautiful) woman managed to wake up every last person in the room and had everyone on their feet clapping, dancing and whistling when she performed black horse and the cherry tree.

It was also nice to see people of all ages in the audience happily chewing away on crisps and sausages and singing along with KT. One thing though; What is it with the eating at any kind of performance in Dublin? I went to see a classical ballet in the Helix last year and felt slightly disturbed when the romantic midnight love scene in swan lake was accompanied by strange smacking sounds coming from my right featuring a fairly strong-built man chewing away on chocolate éclairs.

Back to KT. I loved every minute of the concert and will definitely go to see her again and again. The only bizarre thing for me was the strong smell of sausages (I sat very close to one of the kiosks) and I do hope that I will not forever connect KT's beautiful music with the smell of sausages.