Beautiful sunshine

What a lovely day! There is no wind, its not raining, I can see the blue sky, the sun is out and the birds are singing. Such a contrast to yesterday, when a tornado slashed through London of all places. It has been mad.

I read the other day about the traditional military parade in Finland in honour of Independence Day. This year there was an incident, which has left a bad taste in peoples' mouths, mainly because no one can really understand the reasons. During the parade, when the tanks of Parola, the place where I did my national service were driving past the podium where the Army commander was receiving the salutes, an old decorated war veteran stood up from his seat, started walking against the direction of the parade and finally threw himself underneath one of the passing tanks. In the television footage, its quite clearly seen that the 55 ton tank drives over a bump, stops dead and reverses. The old man died despite the efforts of the medical staff on stand-by. I know something about these Leopard 2 A 4 tanks that the Finnish Defence Forces use. The driver had the hatch open as they were driving along, but the seat is pretty low, leaving only the head to stick out of the hatch. As you are driving from such a low view point, all you can see is straight ahead and the front corner of the side of the tank your driving position is situated. You cannot see the other corner, nor anything else really and thats why the driver depends totally on the intructions given by the tank commander, who is standing up in one of the toreents has a 360 degree view, if necessary. What a horrible feeling it must have been to come to realise that all is not well, that a bump like that was not supposed to have been on a straight road. The tank crew is receiving crisis counceling.
What made the old man do such a thing? It was no accident, it was premeditated suicide. When my mother first told me about it, her reasoning was that this decorated war veteran, with a chest full of medals, had come to the end of his road and perhaps wanted to die, like many of his brothers in arms, in a military fashion. When one walks in front of such a beast of a machine, there is no chance of survival, as these tanks can crush trees down to a fine splinter.

I am going to go out now, take a walk on the beach, hear the crunching sound of broken sea shells under my feet, with the waves crushing in the distance. Today Swansea is a beautiful place to be and I intend to make the most of it, between writing my last essay before Christmas, of course.

Have a sunny day back in your neck of the woods.
At least the old man chose his own time and place and did not have to watch himself waste away in some hospital bed with tubes and wires sticking out of every possible place in his body. He pulled the plug himself, even if it was the wrong place for others, at least he maintained control over his life till the very end. That is saying something.

December 6th 1917

Its Independence Day back home today. I was thinking about putting on a tie, but as there are no other Finns in the area, I do not think today will turn into a big celebration. Its sunny though for the first time in weeks here in Swansea, so at least that is something to smile about. And believe me, I am smiling about that.

The story of how Finland 'won' her independence is a classic Finn-Russo affair. The Delegation had travelled to see Lenin, to present their declaration and hopefully get it signed and approved by the big man. The story goes that the Delegation sat in the waiting room to Lenin's office in their black suites for a very long time and that Lenin, impressed by this signed the declaration. I don't know how accurate this is, but it sounds like a nice story. Anyway, what is very well known is that Stalin, after killing all his competition, was not a happy bunny about Lenin giving Finland her independence. He considered this a big mistake and figured that Lenin had grown soft and weak in his old age. Looking back at this story, of how the delegation sat patiently in the waiting room, does have some similarities to how the Russians dealt with the Finns after the many different wars they fought against each other during the Second World War. Parts of Finnish Karelia were lost and other significent land areas, especially near St. Petersburg, so that the city was better guarded against attack. Also a militarily significant port area, Porkkala, near Helsinki was 'rented' for 50 years. The Finnish President was expected to liason with the Soviet Embassador in Helsinki on a regular basis, which meant that an old man had to drag himself up several flights of an old spiral staircase to talk to the Soviets. Apparently the embassador took great pleasure in making a president submit to his power in such a manner. So looking at the story of Lenin making the delegation wait, its possibly true, just the amount of time might have been extended over the years to form the legend.

Today all the fancy people will make their way to the ball at the President's palace, all dressed up and watched on TV by the people. Tomorrow we can all read in the papers who had the best outfit, the worst outfit and who messed up by acting like a town fool under the influence. Also the scandals will be talked about, like the Finnish woman singer a few years back, who came dressed in a beautiful dress, which showed her perfect breasts and especially the protruding nipples. It was quite a shock for the cold nation. So Central European. Its rumoured that 'Lordi' will not come, as they have never appeared in public without their masks, and even though they have been invited, they are not allowed to come in those masks. Its all so exciting!

I spoke too soon, should have known better, its raining now, really hammering it down with a strong wind. This bloody island.

Anyway, I am happy today to be from a secluded small Nordic country. No-one really knows about the place and what they do know is usually positive or at least not too negative. Nobody wants to kill me for being from there. Excellent.

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää Suomi, 89 vuotta on kunnioitettava ikä!