Saturday, October 31

I woke late in an interesting state. Since I had finally submitted my chapter for Alison and Gerri’s book (before any nagging letters arrived) I felt no pressure. I had nothing that I was supposed to be doing for the first time in a long time. Because of this I missed Auo a lot. I wanted to tell her the chapter was finished and that we could do anything we wanted today.

This might have been exacerbated by the fact that today is Halloween, Naa is in Chiang Mai, and we have absolutely no excuse to dress up or watch other people dressing up.

Eventually Irma woke, we got up, and I went for a short walk. The wind was stonger than it has been for weeks, my legs were aching, and the walk was therefore pretty short.

This is one of those holidays in Finland where all the shops except kiosks are closed, and so after brunch we set off to visit Irma’s father. We are talking with him and I am watching one of the two caged budgies by the table.

In a short while we will drive to Kamppi to collect some laundry, and after that we will drive to Vuosaari to rent a movie. As we wander round the shop I will manage to guess the movie that Irma is looking for with no clues at all.

We will sit and talk while Irma makes a delicious dinner, and then we will settle down to watch The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The story will be perfunctory but it will be a delightful masterclass in comic acting and we will enjoy it. We will eat chips and guacamole to make it even more exotic.