Thursday, January 31

 

 

It had not snowed in the night for the first time this week, and so yesterday’s snow work still had value. Arto’s hole still stood there empty, waiting for his car to leave his house. I walked down to the gas station.

Just as I turned the corner by the traffic lights a car drew up and someone shouted for me to get in. I looked and saw Silja’s mother, Anne. She drove me to Puotila. I learned that Silja had her eighteenth birthday today, and I promised to leave her a message on Facebook.

On the bus I read about Facebook’s latest “accidental” exploit (which involved them deliberately misusing a certificate from Apple to offer a “research app” that grabbed all the data from teenagers’ phones in exchange for a few e-vouchers), and thought better of it.

I get off the bus at Arabia and dodge a large snowplough. Standing there I photograph the revolving Burger King advertisement as various local citizens trudge through the calf-deep snow to the mall. I will go to the mall too, to buy bananas, crispbread and mandarins.

I will spend the morning setting up the next episode of the Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse podcast, and dealing with a syncing problem in Scrivener.

I will spend the rest of the day preparing my article for publication.