Reasons to be cheerful

Nowhere and nobody is perfect, and it is easy to be negative in blogs. Or at least I have found it so recently. Let me take up the matti challenge and try to achieve some balance. It takes the form of one of those dreaded lists. Things about Finland that are just great.

1. Summer nights
A cliché maybe, but I still remember the wonder of walking down the main street in Tampere in full daylight at 4 a.m. Even now, further south in Helsinki, I get a buzz out of being able to read a newspaper in natural light at midnight. In June and July, that is.

2. Lapland blue
You stand under the clear blue sky with the temperature at twenty below freezing and with the sun just peeping over the horizon. The land is flat and open all around, and the snow is bathed in deepest blue. There is total silence, apart from the occasional rustle of a reindeer. You feel as if you are in a magic spell.

3. Smoke sauna
A rare treat these days, but worth waiting for. Wood sauna is wonderful and a distinct step up from electric. Smoke sauna, an immersion in steam and the smell and feel of wood smoke, is another world entirely.

4. Aki Kaurismäki films
I have been critical of mainstream theatre, but Kaurismäki hits the spot. This is where it's at. My current favourite is Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), which achieves an unfair amount of gritty optimism.

5. 24-hour hot running water
Any time, day or night, a hot shower for as long as you want. Air conditioning is another matter, but that's pre-empting the next list!