Friday, August 10

 

 

I got up at 7:20, got washed and dressed, and cycled down to near where Naa lives, to have a massage. Sami had recommended Jukka Åström to Irma, and she had gone to see him earlier in the week.

He gave me a massage for an hour and at the end I felt very well indeed. Specifically, my calves which had ached a lot while waiting in line for my Moomin mug no longer ached at all.

On the way home I stopped at Prisma to look at painting rollers. I decided not to buy one, but I did buy the latest issue of Monocle, the quality of living annual summer edition. Helsinki came in at tenth this year. Monocle judged Munich the world’s most livable city, followed by Tokyo and Vienna.

I sat outside in the swing chair reading Monocle until Irma woke up.

After breakfast I began painting the ceiling of the takkahuone, using one of the existing rollers we had in the shed.

While I painted Irma failed to start the car because, all of a sudden, battery had no power at all. She borrowed a charger from Minna to no avail and, in the end, one of the young men from Teboil drove round and started it with his battery. Irma then drove to Motonet where another young man installed a brand-new battery.

I finish painting at about 17:00, and sit down for a minute before I put the Indian icon back in the little recess in the front of the fireplace. I will photograph it as a celebration of fresh shiny whiteness.

I will spend an hour in the sun cleaning the brushes and roller before we decide to sit on the newly glassed terrace and drink a cider or two. We have discovered that Rainbow Dry Cider (S-Market’s own brand) tastes better than Upcider, so we will sit on chairs with our little tins.

Heavy rain will appear in the evening and send us indoors.