Wednesday, July 30

We will not allow the weather to prevent us from swimming so we head north to Tampere to visit Åke and go swimming in the lake by his cottage. The water has gone from very hot to very cold in 48 hours as a sudden wind has blown all the warm water away. As a result Irma swims and I don’t.

Shanti gets very excited when Irma goes swimming and watches from the jetty. We she gets too far away she jumps unbidden off the jetty and swims up to her. They then spend a long time playing with her floating toy. For the first time ever, Shanti swims to get it when Irma throws it, and then swims back to Irma to give it to her.

Afterwards we go to visit Kaj and Terikki. I look at Kaj’s 1990’s BMW motorbike with its enormous, long-distance fuel tanks. Next week he will join 35 men on similar motorbikes to drive from Oulu deep into the Arctic circle, with a tent, some water, and some engine oil.

I photograph the bike as best as I can while it relaxes in the garage after a thorough maintenance.