Thursday, February 23

 

 

It snowed hard all yesterday evening and, the evidence suggests, all through the night. I woke up to see the snow twenty centimetres deep or more in some parts of the garden and drive.

I had breakfast and then donned my outdoor gear, put my rubber boots on, and began snowblading. After about an hour the snowplough appeared in our street and cleared the road. I still had half of the drive to do. The driver stopped his snowplough just by our drive and signalled for me to push the snow into the road. With five minutes of mighty effort I got it in front of the blade and he pushed it all into the woods for me, saving me about thirty minutes hard work. We waved to each other and off he went.

Irma then left to collect Niilia and Naa and then drop the car at Itis. From there they will get the metro and tram to the ferry for their 11:30 boat to Tallinn. The three of them have planned a cruise and so off they will go.

I worked from home in the morning, finalising plans for the three courses that start soon. This proved a good idea: I got a lot done with a pen and paper pn the kitchen table because I had no distractions and, equally importantly, I could walk up and down while I thought. By midday I had two of them locked down.

I celebrated by digging a special path for Sunshine. I had seen him coming and going and he always tried to go the same way. Sure enough, when I went back in he wanted to go out again; and when he did he used the path.

When Sunshine returned (up the new path) he went to sleep and I left for work. I had some forms I needed to fill. I paused at Burger King for an experiment and now, having eaten my Veggie Burger, I walk through the square to the Metro station. On my right, three metres of snow; on my left, a tent selling coffee and cakes.

I will fill in my forms, chat with Fred, and leave at 15:30 for a Pixelache board meeting, which will slide into a truncated session of Convivial Mechanics, Aga, Mikko and I talk by Skype with Oliver in Tornio. I will be home by 19:30.

Irma will arrive back shortly before 22:00.