Thursday, May 7

As I near the end of my morning walk I see some markings on the pavement, presumably connected to the nearby house-building activities. As I stand over them I spot the graphically perfect twig and cigarette stub.

Helsinki seems full of major roadworks at the moment. Work on the track for the new light railway has almost cut off Lanterna and Lidl, for example. Where nobody can find a reason for roadworks Helsinki seems opt for large building projects.

This mania has infected Vartiokylä where many people seem to have split their plots of land into two and then starting building on the half that doesn’t contain their house. Occasionally people have opted to demolish the house itself and build apartments instead.

This is why I felt so happy when I learned that nobody can develop the woods around us because the old wartime defences scattered through them count as protected monuments.