Tammerkoski rapids in Tampere: my last normal business trip before the COVID-19 crisis. Soon my airline miles will expire and I fall from the gold class back to basic. O, woe is me. 😭
Happy anniversary! It’s over a year since I started working from home. Crazy times. As a “person with a predisposing condition for severe COVID-19”, I am fortunate that I can work remotely from my own lair and minimize all unnecessary contacts. Instead of early mornings and endless travel, I get to slouch on my own comfy chair, wear fat pants and munch snacks in meetings. Life could be worse! Like it probably is for those people whose work actually matters – i.e. health care, public safety, transportation, logistics etc.
It’s easy to sum up a whole year with two words. Nothing happened. The honeymoon period of remote work ended fast, and days have blurred together ever since. It’s like living the Groundhog Day again and again. The only variation are the lunch menu and the direction of our day walks. One noteworthy thing did occur, though: we finally bought a house. Spending all the time at home listening to the noisy upstairs neighbours drove me ̶a̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ completely mental. In the end they got evicted (after trashing their place) and we ended up buying a place of our own. There’s only two ways I’ll ever move back to an apartment building: either I go deaf or dead. Now my only upstairs neighbours are magpies and squirrels: oh the bliss!
Although I decided to share the accumulated photos in two batches, I haven’t taken this few pictures in a decade. All the sitting at home has somewhat smothered my passion for photography, but also rekindled my love for first-person shooters. Perhaps I should start a blog about schooling the (mostly Russian) youth in the ancient art of Counter-Strike instead. Ence (and others), I’m still available! 😉
I got to visit Tampere just before the lockdown started to participate in a training: the trainer came from Italy who definitely showed flu-like symptoms. At that time, it was very scary stuff. 😱
Winter of 2020 was special: it never came. I’m not a fan of the global warning.
Some flowers were already blooming in April. Then the snow arrived.
My friend lent us his summer cottage, which was conveniently located in Uusimaa region. Uusimaa was in lockdown during the first wave since most of the Covid-19 cases were here, and travel outside was restricted.
Far away from our apartment building and noisy neighbours.
Spring is here! The forests near our apartment were covered in wood anemones.
Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl? Chérie is a good girl! She’s my auntie’s Irish Setter and an absolutely adorable goofball.
Daywalk in the neighbourhood: this is an ancient Bronze Age barrow on top of Sundsberget, Espoo.
Wild strawberry flower.
Another day walk: lake Meiko in Kirkkonummi.
This is Caramia, my auntie’s other Irish Setter. She’s a beauty queen: Caramia has done very well in dog shows despite her young age.
Caramia is a great swimmer…
…while Cherie is more like me, and likes to just rest in the shade.
We did again a midsummer night drive across Kemiö/Kimito Island. The photo is taken from Rungonsalmi Bridge.
Kissankello (bluebell) basking in the (almost) midnight sun.
Midnight of the midsummer at Strömma Canal.
F-F-F-Falling
We went blueberry picking in Porkkala Peninsula.
My wife did all the berry picking…
…while I sat on the rocks, drank beer, and took photos of the birdies. 😳
The summer of 2020 was excellent for berries. We picked a bucketload of raspberries from a local farm.
Day walk in Espoo Central Park.