back. more pictures here:2005.06 juhannus

its funny because its true

off in the morning for a weekend by a lake. a different summer cottage to last year, but by the same lake. hopefully it will be as good as last years (+ extra). a small part of me wants to stay in helsinki, to walk around the almost empty city and to see the place quieter than usual. but, im gonna be drinking and shouting by a lake. back monday.

(update, im still here.. we’re going a day late due to a 24hour bug thingy)

some pictures of when i was (proper home) home a few weeks ago here: 2005.05 limerick. the picture above is of some people waiting with my good self and several dozen others at limerick junction train station, which isnt in limerick at all, but in county tipperary. when i was younger i heard that it had the worlds/europes (i cant remember) longest platform. rural irish legend there. another one is that the town i grew up near, bruff, was the recipient of a police station (garda station) design that was actually meant for another british “colony” of the time: india. so they got ours and we got theirs.

“hidden cameras” tonight, the fantastic “husky rescue” tomorrow night and “kent” in a tent in käpylä on friday (im not going to that one though).

yann arthus-bertrand: maa ilmasta (earth from above) opens this friday in the square behind lasipalatsi here in helsinki. i saw them installing some big dolmen like structures the other day and i was wondering what they were for - now i know! english | finnish | swedish info

madrid pictures are online now…. go here: [2005.05 madrid]

the new main escalator down to the metro station at the new kamppi bus/metro station in helsinki city centre that was opened a week or two back. its cordoned off to stop little kids/drunks/teenagers from trying to climb it.

the wedding in madrid a few weeks back had two parts to the guests. the spanish part (about 60%) and the irish part (40%).

the grooms father gave a speech during the afters that was in english with bits of spanish and irish aswell. at one stage he used a funny irish phrase to which a few people laughed, then he translated it into spanish and lots of people laughed. then then english speakers waited for it to be translated into english, but it wasnt. at that moment i looked around and could see a lot of irish people my age whispering to themselves. i could hear what a few of them were saying: “my irish is really bad, its junior cert level [irish state exams for 14year old] at best”. it was a slightly funny/surreal/tragic/sad moment.

anyway, irish is now an official eu language:

the irish language is to be given official and working status in the european union. eu foreign ministers meeting in luxembourg today supported the proposal, which is now certain to be formally adopted this afternoon. irish is to be become the 21st official language of the european union. this will mean that from 1 january 2007, all key eu legislation will be translated into irish. plans to extend this to other legislation will reviewed four years later.

current exhibitions on in korjaamo

9.6.-4.8. unelmia - dreams galleria 1: c-lab galleria 2: anteeksi - kalliolainen suunnittelukollektiivi vierailee töölössä

looks interesting. c-lab have done lots of interesting stuff recently, including lots of things for “art night” last year. anteeksi did took part in the icff furniture exhibition in nyc last month and do lots of cool things around the place too!