Saturday, September 22

 

 

The Car Spider, sometimes called Ken, continues to live in the nearside mirror of our car. On the way home from the British Embassy last night we watched it carefully wrapping up an insect that it had caught and then dragging the parcel behind the glass of the mirror, while the car bounced on the cobbles by the President’s house. This morning I watched it repairing its web as we zoomed down the Old Porvoo Road.

We had got up early, and we made good time, so we caught the 10: 48 ferry to Tirmo and opted to drive straight to the Autumn market to see who we could see there.

We met Marina with Lisa immediately, and then more people whom we recognised. We bought fish from Viking and Nina and said hello to Marie. We wandered around all the stalls saying hello and buying cakes and pies, and other things. Finally we went to Benita’s where we bought eggbread and coffee and said goodbye to Benita.

When we had driven back to Sundö we began the process of packing up the summer house, which we have now streamlined into a very efficient process. Irma started packing indoors, and defrosting the fridge, while I used up the rest of the gasoline by mowing the entire grounds. Since it had rained a lot recently this turned into very heavy work that required lifting the mower at exactly the right moment to prevent the wet grass clogging it.

The weather felt just right for finishing summer. The sky had become very dark, the wind had got up, and a storm threatened to break out at any moment. We got everything packed in less than three hours and, just before the torrential rain began, we wrapped the boat in tarpaulin and I tied it all down with bright yellow rope.

We then went indoors as the rain fell at forty five degrees because of the wind, and rendered the inside mouse-proof by putting all our clothing in plastic bags, sealing them with tape, putting them into drawers, and then turning the drawers upside down.

Tasks finished we sat down to eat some ice-cream that we had found in the now-defrosted fridge. Mika and Camilla came round to say goodbye and we sat talking for an hour or so.

When they leave we spend ten minutes checking everything, and loading a few remaining things into the back of the car. Before we leave for the summer we walk down to the shore and, somewhat to our surprise, wave to Mika.

The water has risen higher than it has for years. We find Mika standing on the concrete jetty, now underwater, preparing to lash the wooden jetty to some metal rings to ensure that it does not escape. The jetty normally slopes down to the floating pier at the end, but now it slopes up at an angles I cannot remember seeing before.

We will drive home, stopping at Borgå, and then, once we get to Helsinki, at Stockmann to buy cakes for tomorrow, and Prisma to buy a bottle of wine for this evening.

We will get home and into the warmth and suddly realise how tired we feel. We will decide to put the wine away for another weekend, and take some iced water from the fridge.

We will eat soup and pies and go to bed just before 21:00. I will fall asleep in two or three minutes and not wake at all until 5:00 when I will look at the clock and promptly fall asleep again.