Wednesday, September 6

 

 

I stayed in bed later this morning because my first task involved driving to Stoa with Irma to meet Kipa and Josefin. I got up at 8:20 and we left at 8:50.

Emilia joined us from Bournemouth via Skype and we had a very productive meeting. By the time it finished the girls had clear deadlines and a clear idea of what they needed to do to fulfil the final aspects of the brief. Josefin and I travelled to Sörnäinen together on the metro, before she walked to her apartment in Kallio and I took a tram to the library in Arabia to collect two Brian Wilson cds I had ordered.
At 12:30 I met Liisa for lunch. We went to China Flavor and Jutta joined us. We discussed how to move the putative collaboration with BFM in Tallinn forward. We came up with several ideas and raced back to write a lengthy email.
I spent the afternoon planning the next two session of the CMS course. I also added a load of students to Lynda.
At 16:00 I left for Kamppi to visit Irma’s mother. Marja arrived shortly before me and the three of us sat and talked for an hour or more. I had never spoken with Marja so freely for so long, and had never really realised how drily amusing she could seem. She had had a new American woman working alongside her for ten days and so she had spoken mostly English at work, and so launched into conversations with fluent and amused gusto.
Having left I stand on the bridge in Kamppi looking down at the cycle track built on the old railway track. I remember the four of us going on one of the last train rides years ago, when the city opened the tracks for one of the annual Helsinki Day events. The track went from one side of the city to the other. Today the cycle track does the same.
When I get home I will go for a long walk, listening again to the new OMD album. I will decide that I definitely like it, although I remain uncertain about how much of this has its roots in nostalgia.