Wednesday, May 27

and then I disappeared again



This time the reason was an especially nasty cold. Just a plain cold, nothing serious, but it had me in bed for a week, and only now, two weeks later, I'm beginning to feel like myself again.

It's no fun being ill especially when the summer is taking big leaps outside and you have lots of things to do. Well, half of those things were left undone - I was going to sew a new dress for the Saturday wedding, and wash the windows of my flat before leaving Tampere. But I still managed to enjoy the early summer a bit, and of course summer isn't going anywhere. Here in Tampere the wood-sorrel is in bloom everywhere. It's very pretty, light green and frail, white flowers.





In Finnish it's called "fox's bread" or "cuckoo's cabbage".





Next, very very soon, there will be lilies of the valley everywhere. But I won't see them, I will be in London.

Tuesday, May 12











I disappeared to
study, visit Helsinki, practise a final speech for a class, spend hours finding the best budget hotel in London, visit the Boy's parents,
write assignments, have three deadlines on one day, try to plan summer, read Hamlet (for an exam), smell the spring, study more, visit Helsinki again, have my allergies kick in, have a proper Sunday roast at sister's, knit a red hat and come back to Tampere to study a little bit more. Phew.

I have no more lectures, so things are a lot easier now, though I do feel a bit disoriented right now. Might be because I feel I'm in an in between -stage at the moment, or might be just the allergies. I should plan my summer studies, but I'd much rather plan the trip to London.... (any tips, especially the kind of tips you can't find in a tourist guide, are welcome).



Random photos mostly from the botanical garden in Helsinki. It bugs me that I have not one good photo of that Forsythia, and the next time I'll be in Helsinki the flowers will be gone. Well, next year, then...