Saturday, August 16

Sometimes you have an empty calendar and then two things arrive for almost exactly the same date and time, and you have to make a choice you don’t want to make. This happened today.

This afternoon we drove to Porvoo to participate in Ann-Sofie’s wedding to Oskar. They both sparkled. However we could not join everyone for the reception at Pellinge, even though we would have dearly liked too because months ago, before we knew anything about the wedding, we had already decided to celebrate my birthday and our 25th anniversary together by getting VIP seats to Katri Helena’s final ever performance.

Irma had bought the tickets as my birthday present.

So we raced back from Porvoo to get changed and head to the Olympic Stadium. We saw the support bank, Komiat, and now we watch Katri Helena herself.

To my surprise I can see her clearly from our seats, and even take the occasional picture.

She performs for an hour and forty five minutes, accompanied by a twelve piece band, and four backing singers who smooth any roughness in her voice.

Tomorrow she will celebrate her eightieth birthday and after tonight, she promises, she will never appear anywhere as Katri Helena again.