Juha Leiviska Hugged Me

Yesterday we had an office visit with Juha Leiviska.  I was strangely surprised at his age; he was very nice and grandfatherly (complete with a very strong and necessary hearing aid) and clearly enjoyed having us in his office.  As we left he shook everyone's hands, but when he took my hand he then clearly thought for a second and gave me a hug.  Shortly afterwards he hugged Sally: just the two of us.  It was quite amusing.

As I only have two weeks left in Finland there are a few small things I have been meaning to jot down.

1. Spring (and probably summer) is clearly why people move to Finland.  The weather this week has been completely perfect.  It is somewhere between t-shirt and sweatshirt weather nearly all the time.

2. The Finns love their ice cream.  Yes, they were eating it in January but with the spring weather comes out so do tons of ice cream carts.  Nearly every corner has an ice cream stand with a long line of excited Finns.

3. Having the snow melt reveals a new texture to the city.  This is important: avoid the sidewalk if it is smooth because that is where the bicycles ride.  In many cities the cars are dangerous, but in Helsinki the streets are relatively safe for pedestrians and it is the bikes you need to avoid.