i finally got around to uploading my camera obscura pictures from last august onto flickr. (set here)

taking the principles of camera obscura (small lens which projects an external view into an internal space upside down) and a sauna (a private place for sweating out the stress and getting a re energising feeling) and a boat (something that floats easily enough) all combined to provide an absolutely magical experience. having a sauna in the middle of helsinki city, the wind causing the sauna to move in töölönlahti (a bay) - the light refecting off the sea, the images from outside projected onto the walls, the scenery. fantastic.

some images from the artist (heidi lunabba) when it was in strömsö are here.

heading home to ireland on saturday for ten days. been a tough winter.

a long planned tunnel underneath helsinki city centre looks unlikely now to be built because of a change of heart of one of the main parties in the helsinki city council. i wonder if audible gasps were heard from members of the other parties when the decision was announced yesterday.

the tunnel was due to cost about 500million euros and would have stretched from ruoholahti to the west of the city and go to just north of sörnäinen.

helsinki city planning department: central tunnel website (in finnish)
helsingin sanomat: proposed helsinki tunnel unlikely to be built (in english)
also an anti-tunnel site by activists: keskustatunneli.fi

at the same time there is some doubt about the metro extention westwards to espoo - rising costs (going from 430million euros to 800million euros). hopefully now that the central tunnel has been (most likely) cancelled resources can be put into the metro extension. (yle.fi story).

there was a story in helsingin sanomat a while back about the high rates of lone drivers in cars coming from espoo to helsinki.

a dog waiting in a shop door on iso roobertinkatu. its leash in its mouth, waiting to be taken for a walk.

anna emilia has launched her new site. go and look and then go “ooohh” and “aaah” cos its all so nice.