Thursday, March 9

Yesterday it snowed all day but nobody bothered to clear it because everyone knew that the temperature would rise today and it would all melt again. This morning the temperature dropped and by midday the new layer of snow, sitting comfortably on top of the old layer, had begun to look permanent.

After we have finished our respective work we decide we have to leave the house. Sitting indoors and moving between two chairs can get depressing after a while. We decide to walk to Plantagen. We discover that they have very few flowers because Winter hasn’t stopped when it should and Spring has not arrived yet.

We walk down Itäväylä towards the Teboil gas station which may or may not close down soon. Teboil has a Russian owner and Finns have started to boycott it, and Lukoil (the Russian owner) may soon have problems accessing any gasoline anyway. The gas stations run on a franchise arrangement so the situation has many complexities.

We discuss this as we cross the road and walk home.