Saturday, February 29

On the way out, heading for my first morning walk of the weekend, I stop to look at a flower bed. It contains some very early buds and flowers. They should still lie underground sleeping, but since the brown bears in the zoo have woken up after barely two months hibernation, why should these behave any differently?

I listen to Jack Johnson and Lullatone as I walk through the bright cold.

Jack Johnson’s All The Light Above It Too must count as one of my favourite albums from the last couple of years. Certainly I keep coming back to it, and certainly it always leaves me in a good mood.

I walk down to the sea, where the water has risen to a level I have never seen. It has drowned the paths and the street furniture.

I walk along to Puotila Beach to find the children’s playground cut off by an unprecedented lake that has partly frozen over in the recent cold.