I thought Finland would be a gloomy kind of place. In winter dark and unpleasantly cold. I absolutely did not expect it to be so beautiful; or that winter would be so amazingly diverse a season. With the temperature one day at minus fifteen, and at plus two the next . One moment snowing the most magical flakes of snow; one moment grey and rainy; one moment intensely bright and still.
The first time I went to Finland bought home to me just how close we are to places that always seemed so far away, St Petersburg just over there. I was offered the chance to visit Russia a couple of years later but the visa application form was so complex, and they sent it back asking for more details like; where did my father go to school? I decided it really wasn't worth the hassle. Maybe one day I will visit Finland and look at the sign saying St Petersburg and just be able to pop across on a whim with no border guards wanting to know where my dad went to school. That prospect seems a long way off today.
The first time I went to Finland bought home to me just how close we are to places that always seemed so far away, St Petersburg just over there. I was offered the chance to visit Russia a couple of years later but the visa application form was so complex, and they sent it back asking for more details like; where did my father go to school? I decided it really wasn't worth the hassle. Maybe one day I will visit Finland and look at the sign saying St Petersburg and just be able to pop across on a whim with no border guards wanting to know where my dad went to school. That prospect seems a long way off today.
I'll dance to that dear Jo x
Oh dear Jo . It is a joy to read and somehow inhale your beautiful crystal clear wisdom breaths in these dark days of horror .