vastad

I'm writing this from a beautiful sunny afternoon in Tampere, Finland, a city of 200, 000 souls. I'm actually suprised how many more immigrants there are since 3 years ago, the last time I was here. Finland has one of the toughest immigration policies and is very difficult to become a citizen of. They have on of the lowest quotas for refugees and political asylum seekers. (Can Pihka or Ingrid confirm this?) Tampere has essentially remained the same though.

Janne - my best friend from way back - had 2 of his friends meet up with us: Elias and Olli. The 4 of us borrowed a car from another friend of theirs and we drove to Janne's summer cottage. Janne's summer cottage is located on it's own private island shared with only maybe 20 other households. You have to take a boat there. I love riding boats!

The lake is one which a town called Kuhmoinen(sp?) is situated. This is for any of you who dream about travel and want to look it up on a map.

It is, by far, the most beautiful place I have ever been. There is a very different character to a Finnish inland lake. It is like something out of a old-world John Bauer fairy-tale inspired postcard. It's basically northern temperate rainforest, so it is fairly spread conifers and temperate trees with forest floor thickly covered in moss, lichen, ferns and blueberries. Ice-age crushed and smoothed granite pops out everywhere.

The water was deep blue and calm, sometimes so calm it looked like a perfect oil mirror reflecting the sky.

You have no idea how breathless I was to see the hour long sunset turn pink and orange behind picturesque silhouettes of conifer forest.

The air is incredibly fresh.

I had a sauna with the three friends and it was my first time taking a sauna nude. It was sort of liberating. I did have an eentsy weentsy bit of shyness and homophobia, but it quickly passed. It's perfectly possible to be naked with friends. I am proud of myself for being better than my fears.

Once I was comfortable I thought of what a great love pad my friend Janne had. I said so to him and he didn't deny a few stories about making love in the sauna and in the lake as well as the cottage (which has to be seen to be believed....it is VERY much the Ultimate Shag Pad!).

I was proud of myself for resisting an erection at an innopportune moment.

Note To Self: Add "Have Sex On A Finnish Island In A Lake, In A Sauna with a Shag Pad Cottage" to little black book of fantasies.

Note To Self: Add "Invite Friends For An Orgy At Location Above" to little black book of fantasies.

The sauna was very healthy for me. I sweated so damn much. I was dripping like crazy from my skin, especially my fingers. I could feel the sweat from the first sauna, especially my face, exude particularly greasy and gross. Then we all went out to the private pier and swam in the icy-cold scrotum-shrinking lake. I said 'Fuck!' an awful lot for the first 5 minutes in that water. It was COLD!

Then we got up, and got in the sauna again. It is unbelievably hot in there. My pores opened up and gushed out even more sweat. I couldn't believe how much water I could sweat! The second time round was so much hotter that I felt dizzy sometimes. But the sweat was 'cleaner' somehow.

Throughout this we were pounding beers. OLVI Export 5.5%. Silky smooth beer with no aftertaste. It's almost the only beer type I can drink. Anything with an aftertaste puts me off. SO no Guiness for me. Guiness LOOKS good, but I can't stand it.

Then we all went out on the pier, shampooed our hair, soaped our skin and took a bath in the freezing lake water again. The second time wasn't so much of a shock.

My friends went for a third round but I couldn't take more so I split for the cottage, took a nice country dump in an old fashioned outhouse.

Watched a little TV. Ransom with Mel Gibson was on.

Then the boys came up, and we began the barbecue. We have honey-marinated chicken, garlic bread and some fruity-marinated steaks. Elias loves to cook and he made us a rich salad with his special blend of nectarines, mozarella cream and reindeer meat!

Delish!

It was such an awesome meal. I would have slept very well but for the fact that beer screws up my sleep state.

***

Around 215am, Janne woke me up and ask me if I wanted to see Mars and the Northern Lights.

I got dressed quickly. I have never seen the Northern Lights before.

So we went down to the peer. Mars was bright and low in the sky. The moon was intensely bright and on the incredibly smooth lake, there was what the Finns call a 'moonbridge'. A solid white path on the surface of the lake.

It was very weak and faint, but sure enough I saw SOMETHING waving in the sky like curtains made of smoke and cobwebs. I just couldn't focus or discern the light effects, but I could definitely see something amazing and magickal happening up there. It was so portentious. It was in the newspapers the next morning, because it was at an unusual time of year.

I felt very, very touched that early morn. Here I am about to make one of the biggest changes in my life. leaving my old life in Sweden, closing one chapter and beginning a new one in Reading. Forgive one for reading something into it, but I have NEVER seen the Northern Lights and for it to appear just when...some very...special, some painful, some..

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I don't know how to express myself. I couldn't help, but feel very....in AWE of...things...god that's so fucking clumsy...but yeah..things...just things...