Sunday, October 5

I have come to the centre because Stockmann has an October Hullut Päivät and Power, in Stockmann’s basement has joined in again. I want a new phone. Spefically I want a OnePlus phone that has 150€ off its normal price. It will turn out that they sold out of the few they had on Wednesday morning.

Despite the increasingly heavy rain I decide to walk down to the shore where the old indoor market stands. The annual Herring Market starts today.

When I get there I look with dismay at the seven boats. Once, not very long ago because I can still remember it clearly, the Herring Market constituted a major event with accompanying sideshows.

Helsingin Sanomat will feel the need to agree with me. Their reporter also noticed that the event seems to have almost disappeared. From interviews it would seem that the coastal fishers have failed to persuade a new generation to join them in the family business, and the fishers have all begun to get to retirement age with nobody to replace them.

Another tradition fades away…

I photograph Johanna on what she has announced as her last visit to the Herring Market. The last time I did this occurred on October 4, 2000. At that time you could still see many more boats, if not quite as many as a decade earlier.