My new life in Helsinki begins humbly. The bulk of my belongings still wait in Tampere to be moved. I took only what I could carry. That means sleeping on the floor and every now and then wondering why didn’t I bring this-and-that -thing with me.

I’m writing this in a cafe, it will be weeks before I get net connection to home. Money will be short for awhile too, so I have to resist all the urges that this city offers… I live in Kallio, a somewhat infamous former, now retiring working class homestead. It has slightly rowdy reputation, there are sex shops in every corner and if your thai-muscles ache you can get limbered up in several thai-massage-parlor. One of the streets even had a sign saying it was under polices technical supervision. I feel safer already.

I like the way Kallio looks though, it has that kind of charm that a place that has been as urban as you can get in Finland for closer to 70 years. My apartment is in one of those 70 year old buildings, it has plank floors and a very well equiped kitchen. If I ever come to possess more than one plate, I never have to wash it myself!