My brain can barely process that it was already a month ago that I was in Finland.
Correction: it seems like it shouldn't be a month ago, but simultaneously, it already feels like a year.
A day before I returned, I started coming down with a head cold. By the time I boarded the plane in Helsinki to return to London, my nose was dripping like a tap.
I felt much worse than most colds would usually hit me the day after I returned, but we were migrating our CMS to a very tight deadline in my day job, and I had to battle through. So I did.
I ended up taking one sick day after the contract with our previous web agency ended, because I was still struggling, and I woke up with a fierce headache. I'm still a bit sniffly and coughing on and off, even now.
Alongside feeling poorly, my day job being hectic and putting out fires related to that, I've been working on a website for a former manager of mine, around my day job, pet-sitting and life.
I'm pleased to announce that it went live on Sunday evening!
It was a collaboration, with Julia bringing the logo she'd previously commissioned, drafting the content and providing an idea of the style, imagery and colour scheme she wanted. I worked with her to bring that vision to life, providing technical expertise and advice, and my design sensibilities. I also designed business cards and a service explainer for her (digital and print).
She was very patient with me, as I was working on the site around my day job, pet-sitting, and life. I would have liked to have published it earlier, but in any case, her overwhelming emotion when I finally hit publish was such a lovely thing to share.
If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have seen some (but not yet all!) of my mobile photos from Helsinki and Tampere. Life has delayed me from sharing all my pictures so far, with most of them shared as 'latergrams'.
I had a lovely time in Finland, despite developing blisters on my pinky toes from new trainers and falling ill towards the end.
I had wonderful hosts in Tampere with Pia and her four-legged friends. Pia performed exceptional tour guide duties, including taking me to a local cemetery and introducing me to leipäjuusto (bread cheese) and its delicious accompaniment, lakkahillo (cloudberry jam) (which I had unknowingly savoured the first night in Helsinki with my cheese board dessert). I might also have guzzled large quantities of blueberry juice alongside the cheese and jam.
I've just seen the additional methods of serving leipäjussto in the Wikipedia article, so you know I have to buy some to experiment further, barring the coffee options (I don't drink coffee).
We enjoyed the option in the third bullet point: served as diamond-shaped pieces, roughly 5 to 7 cm long and a little less wide, with cloudberry jelly, the cheese briefly heated in the microwave to make it slightly runny.
I found a jar of lakkahillo in a boutique market near my hotel in Helsinki on my last day, which I carefully wrapped and stowed in my suitcase for the journey home. I devoured it in two sittings with blue Stilton because I hadn't got around to seeking out bread cheese locally. I will have to source more, though it seems somewhat elusive. I really should have bought multiple jars in Helsinki!
I took these photos from Palatsinraitin silta (Palatsinraitti Bridge), which crosses the Tammerkoski (Tammer Rapids), during my walk with Pia. In the first, fourth and fifth photos, you can see the Museokeskus Vapriikki. We didn't visit the museum during my stay. However, when searching for information about the building and a link to the museum, I discovered they currently have an exhibition about Manserock.
In addition to asking Pia to introduce me to local (non-animal) delicacies during my stay, I enquired about bands she might recommend from the Manserock movement, as I read about it in the Tampere article on Wikipedia.
Consequently, I listened to and enjoyed the sounds of Aknepop by Eppu Normaali and Raswaa Koneeseen by Popeda while researching things to see and do in Tampere on my first night in Helsinki.