Thursday, February 13

Last night I suddenly woke at 1:50 at the climax of a truly awful nightmare. I did not get back to sleep at all, because every time I tried the nightmare started playing again. Eventually I got up at 6:50, after several unwelcome visits from the cat.

Naa and I left together. Naa had her dress and accessories with her for this evening.

I spent the morning with the first year exploring XML Foundations. They were fast, clever and amusing. We covered a lot of ground and nobody got left behind.

In the early afternoon I intervened in the Projectledning course which was, I felt, achieving nothing and leading us to a major disaster in the early summer when they work they are supposed to be doing dovetails neatly into the work of several other groups. I then talked with a couple of the cultural producer students to explain what was and wasn’t happening.

This was followed by the first departmental gathering with Nathalie, our new head of department. Cakes were eaten, coffee was drunk and the phrase “working more closely together” was used so often I began to suspect that we would be getting smaller desks. As the meeting went on I realised that this was not a joke. More people will be working in less space. We will be getting smaller desks.

Now I am at Naa’s school where the school dance is taking place. This is the dress rehearsal for the main event which will take place at jäähalli tomorrow evening. Everyone is in their formal attire, and everyone is nervous. In the event, Naa and Samppo will be very good together and the worst that I could possibly say about them is that very occasionally you can see them concentrating on getting their steps right.

They do get their steps right, though, which is more than some other couples do. There are some people who are obviously counting in their heads the entire time. You can almost see their lips moving as their brains chant, “left – 2 – 3 -4; right – 2 – 3 – 4; twirl”.

Shoes will be lost, dresses will get trodden on, and everything will be fine. At the end Naa will be beaming, and Samppo will be looking quietly pleased with himself. They will not be the most flambuoyant couple on the floor but they will be smooth and graceful, and they will work well together.

Irma’s mother and Päivi will be there, and we will drive Päivi home, before I have a shower and go to bed as early as I can. I will be asleep by 22:00 and not wake up until 5:30 when the cat will call to say hello.