Saturday, November 19
Sundo, 16:30
We got up late and ate brunch. I arranged to meet Bryan at 15:00 to show him round Stoa and east Helsinki.
Irma pointed out that the Youth Department had a games festival at Stoa, and so we headed there as soon as we found each other on the metro platform.
The room contained a lot of different games machines and consoles from the eighties onwards, including almost every generation of Nintendo consoles.
We played several versions of Super Mario Kart, including the N64 version that Luke, Jack and I used to play. I play Batman Returns from the original NES, along with an adventure game that feels wonderfully slow and relaxing. I remember the feeling of trying to work out what to do next to make the computer respond in some way. Finally I find a cartridge containing several of the Super Mario games. I start with the original and then play a couple of levels of Super Mario 3, which I start to remember again as I progress through each level.
Bryan will find a table of board games and an instructor and spend an hour or more learning to play Caracassone.
We will eventually leave to catch a bus, and arrive home shortly after 18:00. Naa and Roosa will already have arrived and the five of us will spend a happy evening together. Eventually Irma will drive Naa and Roosa to the metro, where they will leave for the centre to go clubbing for ten minutes. Bryan will leave for his hotel shortly afterwards.