Tuesday, April 4

 

 

I walked to Puotila again this morning, and this time I made it all the way. No buses stopped to tempt me.

I had my day carefully planned, and I began by reading all the material for a thesis that two students have worked on together. They will write separate theses about different aspects of the same problem. Just as I finished Matteo walked past and informed me that tonight constituted the deadline for grant applications for TUF. I had it down for tomorrow.

I rearranged most of the rest of my day. I had a thesis tutorial concerning a thesis that seems under control and near completion, and then I turned my attention to the research grant application. Hours passed and by 15:30 I had submitted a complete application with an accompanying essay and budget. I had had the budget approved by Sussi, to make sure that I had the correct percentages for additional costs, and that I had applied them correctly.

At 15:40 I left the building.

I have walked from Käisäniemi and now I stand in front of Helsinki Cathedral, looking up at it from the pavement. I need to find the crypt, which I will do by walking up the road and turning right. Irma and I have invitations to a so-called Town Hall Meeting organised by the British Embassy to update British citizens on the current state of Brexit. We will get the answer we expect: nobody knows anything yet.

When I arrive I will find Nathalie there, and the three of us will sit chatting over cups of tea and plates of chocolate digestive biscuits. How could we get more British than that?

As expected people will say things that don’t need saying and can’t possibly receive satisfactory answers. The ambassador will make sympathetic noises while not departing from the government script which insists that everything will turn out for the best in some way that cannot be described for fear of revealing our negotiation tactics. Code, as everyone knows, for: we haven’t a clue how we will get out of this alive.

We will give Nathalie a lift home and, to my surprise, we will get home by 18:20. I will go for a proper walk and listen to Greensky Bluegrass for ninety minutes while walking down to the gas station, up to the big woods, along to the ring road, down to Prisma, and back home.

I will have a shower when I get home.