Mid-Summer, Compost & Light Bulbs

Today is Midsummer - well I guess that's a bit of a lie as it's past midnight and now officially Sunday.

On Friday all the shops closed early (around 12-1pm) and they were closed all day on Saturday as well. Why? Because it's Mid-Summer...Finns typically start their vacation right after this and do a lot of travelling to visit their families on Mid-summer.
And no you're not dumb if you're thinking, "Is it mid-summer already?" The answer would be "Yes - in Finland it is."
The mosquitoes are out and nipping as soon as it's finished raining (where they hide out during the rain blows my mind)....so after-bite is coming pretty handy lately with these short spurts of rain!
What's a person to do during Mid-Summer? Eat, spend time with friends and family and of course, drink.
The problem with the "drinking" part is there are many alcohol-related deaths around Mid-Summer. Lots of people are quite drunk and end up in car accidents (we heard of 2 people dead in Finland so far around 10pm this evening) and 7 drownings.
You're thinking - drowning?! Who would swim? Clearly, it's not by choice.
Typically one gets a boat and rows out and drinks with or without colleagues and then when he or she drinks too much - they have to pee. You don't pee IN the boat - that would be gross.
So you stand up and pee over the edge of the boat....ah how clever. Except you would then fall out of the boat and be too drunk to swim and then drown. Your colleagues with you are probably quite drunk too and might be able to call for help if you're lucky and they're not asleep.

By all means, I am not making light of this - I read it in the paper and was told by several people: "Do not pee over the side of the boat on the water during Mid-Summer if you're drunk".

If you're curious, we celebrated with Taneli and his family and had a lovely chicken dinner with rice, salad & vegetables. Topped off the night with a bit of a sauna...and since V�in� was quite perky and happy - Tim and I went in first and talked about various things and planning our moving....Here's some of our conversation:

"Oh gosh - it's so freaking hot in here!"- me
"We're in a sauna"- Tim
"Why are you adding so much water?! Isn't it hot enough in here?" - me
"We're in a sauna...and I never get to splash the water - usually the pros do it."- Tim
"My face is melting and my lips and eyes are hot...."- me
"Well duh - we're in a sauna"- Tim

I haven't been in one in awhile and it's about 80*C inside and it was cranked up quite high...then adding the water (Tim did 4 scoops in the very beginning!) steams up the place and increases the temperature.

Now onto compost!
In Canada (at least NS I believe - I could be wrong) - I believe it is perfectly acceptable to put meat, bones, paper towel etc. in the compost/green bin. Today I learned in Finland - it is not.
At least no bones because the birds feasting on compost could choke and paper towel takes longer than tissues to break down and decompose.

You know when you rent a flat (or apartment) and when you leave, you're expected to replace the light bulbs? That is not the case in Finland it seems.
I've been worrying because the light bulbs need to be replaced (some have burnt out) and we are too short (even on a table or chair) to replace them. So I decided to pick up a couple cheap ones as required and to leave them behind with a note explaining that we aren't able to change them.
My friend Kikka mentioned that she rented a flat and the family before her - took their light bulbs with them. Needless to say - even if we were tall enough - I don't think it would come down to that for us. Maybe if we paid for all new ones and they were the swirly energy-saving ones - maybe.....

I was going to write something else but cannot remember....until next time!
Moikka (bye)