Tuesday, March 27

 

 

I woke in the night to hear what sounded like more snow sliding off the roof. I groaned and went back to sleep. In the morning I realised that I had heard the cat knocking over a vase filled with glass beads, which had scattered all over the floor. I picked several thousand up before breakfast.

I left slightly late and therefore skipped the 97V and walked to the bus stop on Itäväylä halfway to Alepa. I calculated wrongly because I stood there watching the 97V approach the traffic lights and turn left. However I also had the chance to test a theory of mine, which proved correct. I waited another five minutes for the 93, which takes a more direct route to Itäkeskus, and it arrived at exactly the same moment as the 97V.

The sensible traveller therefore takes the 97V on cold and wet mornings and the 93 on warm dry mornings when waiting outside feels pleasurable. Why, you might ask, does the sensible traveller not leave the house a little later and get the 93 whatever the weather? The 93, like the 841 and 97, takes a flexible view of the timetable and may arrive several minutes early or several minutes late. Missing one might mean a fifteen minute wait. The sensible traveller therefore heads to the stop with most buses in the cold and wet and prepares to take a more relaxed view in the warmth of summer.

At Arcada I spent the first four hours of the working day leading a workshop for the Structuring Information course. The session began with a revision exercise in which the students built a web page using what they had learned in Block 1. We then moved onto tables and I walked them through the principles of creating and styling tables and finished by introducing the nth-child pseudo-class.

What fun we had.

After a quick lunch from a box Irma had given me I wrote up the session for the students who have asked to participate from a distance, and then began to make detailed exercises for Thursday’s session. I had already built these some weeks ago, but I wanted to go over them in the light of this morning. I added and tweaked, and worked out how to step through the examples in a logical order.

Laura and Nathalie arrived and we went through the presentation that they will give tomorrow at the Migrant Youth Helsinki steering group. Their presentation looked good but I pointed out some places where they could strengthen it, and spotted a couple of ambiguities in their text. We went through the presentation itself and I felt confident that they would do it well.

Irma had attached a note to my lunchbox that said HDMI and nothing else. I recognised this as an instruction to buy the HDMI cable we need to attach the new Blu-Ray player to the television on my way home.

Arriving at Clas Ohlson to buy a cable I get swamped with unnecessary choices. I buy the shortest and cheapest. Having left Itis, I stand at the bus stop waiting for a 95 to take me somewhere near home. I watch a woman walking towards the bus stop while I wonder whether I can photograph anything. She answers my question for me because I photograph her as she moves from the semi-transparent cover of the glass into plain view.

When I get home Irma will not have arrived and so I will let Sunshine out, and clean up the rest of the glass beads he scattered in the night. I will then do some ironing, put the snow shovel back in the garage roof, in the hope of encouraging Spring, and attach and test the dvd player. It will all work as expected.

Irma will arrive home at about 21:00 buzzing with preparations for tomorrow’s official visit.