Sunday, September 13

Every autumn, everyone has to admit to themselves, eventually, that autumn has arrived. Having admitted it, people all over Finland travel to close their summer houses for the winter.

We have decided to close our summer house today and the weather has responded with a gift of sudden sunshine. Mika and I deal with the boats, which involves more than one Keystone Cops style adventure. The last of these features me, the bottom of a boat, and a leaky pressure washer that fills my Crocs with water while it hoses the barnacles off the boat.

Trulle has arrived and decided to stay with us the whole afternoon. The empty fridge proves too tempting to ignore.

Later he will start prowling round the outside of the house searching for mice: an activity both more useful and more likely to provide dinner.