Saturday, May 12

 

 

Early to bed, early to rise: we got up early this morning, opened the curtains, and blinked at the bright sun. We let the cat out and had breakfast before packing the car with things to take to Sundö. Sunshine disappeared and had not reappeared by the time we wanted to leave. We presumed that he had gone to Kepa and Selja’s to sleep in their garden, so we locked the house and drove away.

We drove through Borgå and onto Mikrokulma, where we stopped to see if we could find any more of the wicker baskets that we gave mummi yesterday. We could, so we bought three more. We also bought an illuminated white iron tree to stand in the garden, in what little spaces still remains for this kind of thing.

We drive from Borgå to Tirmo where we wait for the ferry. We both notice the bus stop where someone has unpiled the chairs and set them out for use by weary travellers. Last year we rescued these from outside the waste bins and I carried them there, as a kind of private joke. They seem to have proved useful, and I now hope we have secretly started a local tradition.

Interestingly, we have completely opposite memories of how this occurred. I clearly remember noticing the chairs and saying that I would make seats at the bus stop, while Irma looked embarrassed and wanted me to stop. She clearly remembers noticing the chairs and telling me to take them to the bus stop as seats, while I looked embarrassed and didn’t want to do it. We both agree that, one way or another, we both took part in this enterprise.

Once we cross to Sundö we will stop at the ice cream kiosk for the first scoops of summer. We will then go to Erika’s shop, Ann-Maj’s nursery, and Benita’s cafe in rapid succession.

I will deal with beds. First I will make our bed in the main house. I will unpack the duvets and pillow, unpack the sheets and covers, and then put them all together. After this I will make Naa’s bed. This time “make the bed” will mean assembling it with allen keys. We had packed Auo’s old hand-painted bed into the car in pieces. I will unscrew Naa’s current bed and take it outside. Then I will sweep the floor and clean the walls to remove all the dead insects and antique spider webs. Finally I will assemble the new white bed.

Mowing will take place while I do all this. Irma will march up and down the garden cutting down all the grass and weeds before they get too long. If we had planned on staying here they would not need cutting yet. Since we will not return for three or four weeks they must certainly do.

Camilla has gone to Helsinki with Ann-Sofie and Mika has gone somewhere else. We will, however, see Johan and Tanya in various tractors and on various quad bikes. Mika’s had his birthday earlier this week, so we will leave some flowers in the house for him.

We will return home via Prisma where we will buy some roses. We will plant these in the long baskets that we bought in Mikrokulma, and then take them to Kamppi, to Irma’s mother’s surprise and delight.

The evening and some of the night will disappear watching the Eurovision song contest. Finland will come second to last. The British performance will get disrupted by a man leaping on stage and grabbing the microphone. Israel will win with an exceedingly irritating song called Toy.

We will get to bed at approximately 2:00.