sweden

the ferry was to stockholm was a long slow affair, weaving around the archipelago of both finland and sweden with a brief stop at marienhamn in åland. i didn't see any other 'traveller' types on the ship, reminding me that this wasn't really traveller season now... if there is such a thing. maybe tourist season was over but travellers just plod on, all year round.


it was dark when the boat docked, and i had to walk from the terminal to downtown stockholm, straight to my usual busking spot on drottingsgatan by the kulturhuset. i got hassled by a drunk there, but after i sought refuge in the coffee place for a bit, i ventured out again and got a 50kroner drop.... enough now to get the bus to uppsala.

the bus got into uppsala and i found my way to alan and åsa's place at the other end of town. it was a complete surprise for them, but the timing was spot on as åsa had just returned from the states 3 hours before, after being away on a 2-week presentation tour. so my favourite scientists were doing great, and the kids were all thriving too, and growing up fast. elsa had taken a break from the football, and god-daughter molly was more into indoor hockey and horses too, but james was still into it, and we went to see him play a couple of training games.

football politics had pervaded into the 10-year old's game: a rival team was 'poaching' the best talent from alan's uif team, and james also wanted to play for the prokion team cos all his mates were there too. apart from the busking, which was good, i got to make molly a hand-make book with her own drawing of a horse as the cover, and time also to read something from the packed bookshelves, richard dawkin's book, 'the god delusion'. agreed pretty much with his total rejection of organised religion, and his god-like reverence for darwinism (his religion?), but somehow, it left an impression that his rationality couldn't just dismiss the whole spectrum of spirituality completely.
a misunderstanding meant that i had to walk to the hitching point out of uppsala, from where i waited 30 minutes and got a lift from george and his son, originally from romania but living in sweden for 20 years or so. it was good to talk to them about their experiences, and mine, in this country. george was kind enough to drive me out of his way to the centre of town, and then slapped a 50kroner note into my hand. i tried to refuse, but he insisted: 'get yourself a coffee'.
great guy. i made my way to the kulturhuset and the library... and, yes, i got myself another library card. nice collection i have now. and yes, it was to use the free internet service they provide. then back to the corner and some drumming. it wasn't so cold like the raw weather i had the saturday before, but the skin on the hands was cracking up enough to make busking painful. i had phoned sophia from uppsala to meet at the kulturhuset at 4, and so just before, i went to get a last 15 minute session on the internet. and that's when she came up to me as i passed her on the way to the library.
we went to get my ticket made for the bus to oslo, cheaper via internet and credit/debit card, courtesy of sophia. i gave her the cash equivalent, and then we took a coffee to catch up on the news since we had last met at that gathering in that amazing place in the north of norway known as dividalen.

sophia was staying at her parent's summer cottage in the countryside, a metro and a long bus ride west of stockholm. and so i got to stay there for a day and a couple of nights. a quite and relaxing place away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. sophia is a graphic artist, studying and soon to be working on an internship at a place in gothenburg.

she was critical of my wishy-washy plans to change my traveller ways, not because of wanting to change but of the wishy-washy way of going about it. i was grateful for that, most people would just have gone along with my way of thinking, thinking that of course i knew what i wanted and where i was heading and where i wanted to go... where the wind blows... but then, only dead fish go with the flow.


back to stockholm, sophia had to get her train to gothenburg, and i had another day and night to wait for the bus to oslo. sophia was wondering where i would spend the night as nothing had come back from the requests i had sent to couchsurfing/hc hosts. "something´ll come up", i said, "it always does". there was nothing for it but to have another go on couchsurfing website.

so back to the kulturhuset library, 11 o´clock on a sunday morning, i'm surfing the couchsurfing list for stockholm, not feeling very confident. a couple had also come in, i could hear them on the computer to my right, and with half an eye on what i was doing and half an eye on them, i pointed out the other internet computer to the left of mine for them. at this point, the guy calls out from behind me, "ahh, couchsurfing". i turn around and face him. "yes, that´s right, are you on couchsurfing too?" "yes", he says. "do you live here in stockholm?", i ask. "yes". "oh, i'm looking for a place to stay for tonight". he talks to his friend who is busy logging in on the other computer, and they confer a bit, and then he turns to me and says, "yes, you can stay with us". great!! i introduce myself to alberto, originally from pulgia in italy, and maja from stockholm, and her 3 year-old daughter estelle.

i got to hang out with them the whole day as i had "no plans" at all. apart from other artistic pursuits and talents, alberto had an eye for finding 'stuff' on the streets, usually very good stuff with only a little bit 'wrong' with it. it was the scandanavian disease to throw out perfectly good stuff. "it´s crazy", he said. "they throw away good things and then they go to 'trendy' flea-markets and 2nd-hand places and buy it back it again!" he had just found an abandoned bike whilst we had been walking, the back wheel was off, it was missing a brake lever and cable, but otherwise, all the other parts were in almost mint condition. we put the back wheel on and wheeled the bike off. and after meeting up with his sri lankan friend/manager at the lebanese restaurant, we met up with maja again; taking the wheels off the bike with the help of my swiss army tool and chucking it in the back of the car. and then finally to maja's place in ropsten. i cooked a pasta dinner for everyone with some leftovers from what i made at sophia's place, turned out great. and early next morning, i left the flat with those magic people still sleeping and took the metro to t-centralen, and the bus-station at city-terminalen. i was just chilling out there with a cheap coffee and croissant i got with the last of my coins when who do i see come to greet me? it's petri, from finland. he was with some friends from his yoga group ("ah, the sex-cult", i said, teasing him), on their way back to hki from copenhagen.
the busking had been good in sweden, not just for grub, but enough for the bus to oslo and also to change into some euros.

turku

i made my way to the hitching point to turku, newly attired in a second-hand combo rain/fleece jacket i had bought the day before. shame i had misplaced my gloves, cos in the hour and a half i was waiting there, my hitching hand froze in the humid cold weather. a couple of immigrant iraqi kurds saved me from becoming a permanent frozen fixture at the start of the motorway there, and drove me to salo. there i waited 5 minutes and a couple of afghani students took me the rest of the way to turku, dropping me off at the port like i asked. great guys. friday night... and the vikingline crossing to stockholm would be 3 times the normal price. no way! i walked into town and found a cosy corner at the cosmic comic cafe to stay out of the rain. couchsurfing and hc had for once come out with nothing when i left hki, so i phoned aleksi and got iivi's number. and after i called her and got a text back, i got to stay at the place which she was sub-letting to a belgian couple, lotte and nick.

who turned out to be really great. as it turned out, lotte was doing a evs stint on the estelle, a ship promoting the fairtrade ethos (and on which aleksi had also worked). and after we did some dumpster-diving and got a whole lot of bread and other stuff back to the flat, we cooked the pork chops and ate it with the organic rice i had got from alex. and then we got an invitation to take a sauna on the estelle.... a fitting way to leave finland! in the morning, i walked the short distance to the terminal and boarded the ship to stockholm. goodbye finland. until the next time.

hki blues

mata amma arrived in finland last week... this living saint, the amazing bundle of hugging energy. of course i had to go and get a hug. alex and i drove to energiarena in vantaa, and the big hall there. i queued up for my voucher and waited. alex came back a while later and as we were waiting to collect his voucher, two guys approached alex and asked for an interview. they were from bbc radio. of course, alex was delighted. and after we walked off, they followed us and interviewed me as well seeing as i was from london. can we do a before and after interview, he asked. sure, i said. so i told them i was curious to see what it was like to get a hug from amma, i had no expectations, i didn't come because of dogma or religion or to be enlightened, just curious. after some time, i joined the rows of chairs in front of where amma sat, hugging away. we moved forward at a steady pace and finally i found myself kneeling near the front. amma's attendees were asking me what language i spoke... english i said. "native language?" "punjabi". she whispered "punjabi" into amma's ear and suddenly amma grasped me into her bosom and whispered into my ear... "my son, my son, my son..." and some word i didn't recognize as punjabi but was like the english word 'more'. she thrust a sweet and a small brown packet into my hand and i clasped my hands together and bowed thanked you. and the attendees guided me away. "it was over very fast", i told the radio reporter afterwards. "yes, i felt something, i felt happy, joyful... i think i'm still feeling it now."


i went busking later that day and made the best i've ever made in helsinki, in the hot autumn sun. oh, the contents of the brown paper packet... some scented talcum powder maybe? alex and i weren't too sure what it was, only i spilled some of it into his 'new' car and he wasn't happy! "don't worry", i said, "it's been blessed by amma"!

nea got back from her trans-manchurian trip a week ago, and i met up with her to relate travel stories. she also helped to find a job for me via the internet, but more and more i am getting wary of the impending freeze that will descend upon this place very shortly. it snowed yesterday, ok it was more like sleet, when i went to sirpalesaari to help aleksi construct a shed for his boat. some days ago, i had helped get the mast off the boat: with the help of heikki, we manoeuvred cendrillon to the crane dock and tied up. with the the stays and shrouds loosened off and the crane line hooked around the spreaders of the mast, we lowered the mast onto the two-wheeled trolley and rolled it away onto stands. then we tied her to the pier once more. banda madrugada had their cd release party on saturday, and we all dressed up for that, alex lending me some trousers and shoes to go with the shirt i got at that little 'back-yard' market in tallinn. fantastic music and my dancing skills are improving. of course, alex got to the chance to show off again!

aleksi had to be at the boat-yard early the next morning to get cendrillon lifted out of the water and onto stands. now the base of the shed has been nailed up, and a tarp wrapped around the boat as a temporary quick fix before the rest of the construction can be made. our hands were frozen by the time we finished up for the day. soon it will be time to say my goodbyes once more.

cruising the finnish archipelago 2

some rain had passed in the night, but we woke to a bright sunny morning. we got our superglue, and got the sail up. it would be a while before the glue dried and we could think to use the motor again. with the very light winds, we had to jibe a few times to make any headway. georg decided the glue was dry enough and we got the engine started... and it worked well, finally glad to get away from jussarö. we took the line through the skerries again, looking out for the port and starboard marks (red and green buoys), and also the north, south, west and east marks too to navigate us through the skerries. it was another glorious sunny day, we could see some rain clouds out to sea and some inland, but these were holding off and we were lucky to be sailing with sun all around. i made breakfast of porridge and fruit.

skipper decided to forego the easier but longer route through barösund and take the line through the skerries to the weather-station at bågaskär. here, we had to decide again which route to take, the more sheltered route nearer the mainland, or the short-cut crossing porkalafjärden. time was definitely of the essence for us, so it was the shorter, but more open route into the sea towards sommarö and mäkiluoto. george navigated us around the rocky waters around bågaskär and into 'open' sea, where in the absence of the skerries to act as breakwaters, the boat began to roll around a far bit in the bigger waves. the engine gave way again after the propeller lifted out of the water causing the motor to rev at high speed... and causing the small plastic bit to break again.

the weather got worse, some light rain, we even saw a rainbow. by now, i was definitely feeling a bit queazy, not full-on sea-sick but not far away. we had almost crossed porkalafjärden before i decided to get into the cabin to lie down for a bit. the winds had picked up, and it was hailing for a bit too, but i missed all of that; i was not feeling well, the rolling boat, too much sun on the head, too little sleep and not drinking enough water... i must have conked out for an hour or so. when i finally emerged to the deck, the weather had eased a lot... we were in the shelter of the skerries again and heading for the isle of kytö. we could see the distant skyline of helsinki surrounded by very grey skies. goodbye sun. we were heading for the low pressure system and it would not be fun. georg had got the motor going again by fixing the fuel line directly to the engine. once around kytö and the the two small skerries of södra ktökaringen, the guys decided we should make a run for it and take the shortest possible route into helsinki. this meant taking the line into open waters again and rounding the isle of rysåkari. it was dusk now, and we were following the line of the flashing lighted marks in the distance, looking out for the north marks at rysåkari to let us know when we should jibe and make the turn for helsinki. the wind had really picked up now, the engine was not needed. we must have been surfing those waves up to 9 or 10 knots. georg went to the mast and with the boat heeled over, managed to turn the boom a few times along it's axis to reduce the sail area. we were lucky the wind, and the waves, were from behind us. the situation was a bit hairy alright, and the seriousness really struck home when georg asked me to bring out the life-jacket for aleksi, and to put one on myself as well. by the time we got to rysåkari, it was night. we made the jibe pretty well, one of the lines got stuck and we couldn't secure it... and i was not up for clambouring up to the mast to free it. so georg went instead and the line was secured. i desperately had to piss but there was no way of doing it overboard, so i cut up a plastic bottle and pissed into that instead and poured it into the sea. again we followed the line indicated by the flashing marks, georg was navigating... we got a bit disorientated cos one of the marks indicated on the sea charts was not lit.

when we got level with the sector lights at koirakari, we had to jibe again. we took it a bit too fast this time as the boom came crashing across, and the boat heeled over violently to one side as the sail caught the wind. i have to admit that was a really scary moment. again we followed the flashing marks to indicate the line to take, it was too dark to see the unlit direction marks. georg pointed out the coloured port and starboard marks indicating the channel to the west terminal, jibing one more time as we sailed along the mainland towards sirpalesaari. the line got caught again, but i felt more confident to release it this time, seeing as georg was busy as well with getting the engine started. skipper was at the helm all the time as we came into the port, getting georg to shine his light to show other boats we were there. i took over at the tiller while he tried to get the engine going, before aleksi came back to circle the boat for docking. it would be tricky again to dock under sail-power, and as we came up to the buoys, we stalled directly into the wind. georg had another go with the engine, and this time, it sparked into life. whilst georg and i took the mainsail down, aleksi took her out again to make another pass for the buoys. aleksi attached the latched hook to the buoy and georg counted down the metres to the pier before jumping off, indicating time to brake at the stern end. i could sense the relief in the skipper's cry of "yes!" when the boat was tied up and secure. it had been an intense last hour bringing cendrillon in but we had made it. after making her ship-shape, georg left to take the short trip by the ferry to the mainland. aleksi and i organized our stuff and then also waited for the next ferry. it felt like the wind landside was getting more blowy, and then the storm broke. it rained for the next few days. a shower at a friend's place and then straight to see banda madrugada play once more, and to dance a little.

cruising the finnish archipelago 1

after a few days of being in helsinki, aleksi asked if i wanted to accompany him to bring his boat, cendrillon (cinderella), from where it was moored near his mother's place in the countryside at västanfjärd. of course, i agreed straight away. he had already told me the story of how he had brought the boat in sweden from a ex-copper, and then sailed it from stockholm to finland... they had been four of them in the boat, alexi, georg, mikke and anna, and about half-way to marienhamn in åland, the boat started taking in a lot of water. they had to bail the water out with buckets and the bilge hand-pump, whilst aleksi had tried to plug the leak at the bow end. in the end, they had made a mayday call to the coast-guard who came with a helicopter and boat... they got towed into marienhamn where cendrillon got lifted out and a quick fix patch made to the underside at the bow end. after some months, aleksi and daniel had taken cendrillon from there to västenfjärd with the outboard motor, and this time, no flooding of the cabin!
so with this history, i should have been a bit apprehensive, but i was up for it. the weather forecast was good with favourable light winds, we just needed a car to get us out to västenfjäard... don't worry, something will turn up, said aleksi... and just like that, alex drove home that night in his newly bought second-hand car! alexi managed to convince him that it would be good to spend some time out in the countryside! we picked up the lasagnas from one of our favourite eating places, pizzeria mare chiaro, and also picked up georg, and i got the chance to drive; first, to tammasari to load up on food for the trip, and then onto västanfjärd.

aleksi's mum was fretting about the trip, obviously worried that the boat was not the most sea-worthy craft that ever took to the seas. cendrillon is a wooden skerry-cruiser. skerries are the the uninhabited rocks, islets and isles that make up the finnish archipelago. she was built over a hundred years ago, with wooden planks and a wooden mast... but has lasted the distance well. of course, she needs a lot of work to make her look her best again, and that's why aleksi wanted to take her to helsinki for the convenience of being close at hand.
we charged the batteries, filled up the petrol canister, and transported everything we needed to the boat. then back to the house to sleep. at first light, we had breakfast and aleksi's mum drove us to the boat.

the mist was rising up from the surface of the inlet, but it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. we got on board, i pumped out the bilge, we checked that the automatic bilge pump was working (this had failed on the trip from stockholm!) and the skipper took her out into the inlet with the outboard. as soon as we had cleared the inlet and had a little more open water between the skerries, we set the sail. the stove wasn't working too well, and georg tried his best with some petrol to preheat the stove fuel, but no luck. it meant we had to stop off at hanko to buy some marine oil, where in the process of docking, i got hit the mouth with the rope that aleksi threw to me. he forgot to tell me that was a large metal locking hook at the end of it!

from hanko, we took the line through the skerries and around hästö busö, and then onto the island of jussarö, which was to be our intended port of call for the night. the skipper let me take the tiller for most of the day, the winds were light, and we had to use the engine for some time, until a piece from it broke off.

aleksi asked me to tell georg the story of my last sailing adventure, those 5 days at sea between gibraltar and olhao, when one of crew went a little stir-crazy! so whilst georg cooked us a nice pasta lunch, i recounted my tale of woe, when instead of sunning on a beach in the canary islands, i ended up being witness to a a guy just losing it on a boat in the middle of the sea, and it was just a miracle that no-one fell overboard for at that speed and at that hour, for sure they would have been lost forever. i'll still save writing this story for another time.

we had to sail cendrillon into the bay at jussarö, and docking with sail power is not easy, that's for sure. aleksi missed the buoy on our first pass, and as we got cendrillon over to the pier, i jumped out whilst the guys took her out again to make another pass, georg later told me that he got the skipper to take the outermost buoy this time. with the stern end secure, georg jumps out onto the pier and with him, i help to brake cendrillon before she hits the pier. with the boat secure, we take a look around the island. georg tells me the history of the place... it had been home to many miners and their families, mining the iron-ore there. and then the army took it over, and used it for urban-warfare training. now there was just a coast guard station, and a boat-building yard there. we walked over to the beach on the east side, scrambling over the beautiful boulders there. by the full-moon light, it looked just amazing. we could see the cruise ships in the distance sail by. aleksi made contact with the kiosk owner on the mainland, and she agreed to come over the next morning with some superglue to fix our engine part. with georg, i made a big dinner of mash potatoes and fried veggies, and took to our berths. it had been a nice day's sailing.

helsinki

helsinki, finland. many many memories from this place. since i first got here some 6 years ago and found the social centre siperia, and then by chance got involved in the squatting action at töölöönkatu... that was my first, but by no means last, run-in with the helsinki pigs. now i am back again. and staying at the wooden house at vellomankatu, at aleksi's place.

him and alex i met a few years ago... again by chance, i was at the right place and the right time... they had just squatted a new place in katajanoka... 'karkku'. so i helped out there with the bar and stage and barricades, and cooking etc. and we had a gig with a band called banda madrugada... it was one of the best small gigs i ever had the pleasure of being at, and also participating cos alex gave me the djembe and i played along with them on our 'stage'. everyone was dancing like mad... so much so that we were afraid the floor would give way! and we hung onto karkku for ten days before the pigs came... and took two hours to break through our barricades and arrested the ten of us holed up in there. but it was a great action, and the energy and friendliness of the young activists impressed me a lot. i stayed for a month altogether... we squatted another place at piritta, for a gig and party... and just as i was finishing off the stage, the pigs came and arrested us... and this time kept the four of us overnight. again we squatted another place after this, but this time i kinda kept a lower profile.

yeah, helsinki... and the busking has been as good as ever despite a slow start. when the sun has been out, it has been like summer... but when the wind hits, it's freezing cold and no chance to play the drum. time to look for something else to do. and yeah, nice to enjoy the soya ice-cream again!

goodbye tallinn

my last hosts in tallinn were four music students, living in a nice flat on uus street in the old town. i had been to their house-warming party a week before (by way of jimmy and trinn) and got on well with them, and so when i contacted mari again to see if i could stay there for my last days in tallinn, she agreed. she was studying piano and bagpipes, and was also busking now and then when time allowed, but we never managed a drum and bagpipe duet on the streets.

i hung out with them at another of their friends' house-warming party... some of them sure can down a lot of vodka and still stay on their feet! silja was breaking up with hendrik and we tried to console him as best we could, though he was trying to drown his sorrows with vodka.
the last day was pretty hectic, i had to get to the printers to get the books trimmed, one of which i gave to mari.

then to the hare krishna place to have a last delicious lunch there and say goodbye. i did a last busking stint on viru before i met up with katrin... she had got into town in time to see me off on the ferry. eckerö lines were doing a september special price of 150eeks for the crossing, half price from normal.... which for the length of the crossing is still overpriced.
so goodbye tallinn; aitäh!