Sunday, April 19

We got up late again today and had a long, leisurely brunch. I decided to throw away my disposable razor blade – to dispose of it, in fact – on the grounds that it was blunt. This is the second razor blade I have used this year, although this one did not last as long as the previous one. Probably because the pain was not as much fun the second time around.

In the afternoon we drove to K-Rauta to get a big outdoor vase that Irma had seen earlier. We grabbed the last one. While we were there we looked at paving stones, because we need to build a new path to the front door. The old one was home-made concrete and Irma had it taken away.

We found the stones we were looking for and bought sixty four. When we got back I began laying them, and ninety minutes later we had a new path. We will need a new, new path in a few days because the paving stones are not laid on enough sand, and thus woblle. I will need to take them up, lay down a thick layer of sand, smooth it and then lay the stones into the sand. This did for now though.

Now we have eaten, and the girls are sitting down to watch the election being counted. I decide to go for a walk again and photograph the election posters. I notice that the new Pirate Party are fielding twenty two candidates.

Before bedtime we will discover that, as expected, the government has changed. Alexander Stubb is out because the Centre Party has swept the board. “Mysterious millionaire businessman” Juha Sipila will lead the new government and Timo Soini will be in a position of power. Nobody knows whether he will form a coalition with the left or the right, or what his policies will be. All change.