Random bag people

Seen downtown today.

There's a girl on the bin

She's stuck on with chewing gum. She's someone's daughter.

People at work 5 - watching paint dry

The other morning, on my way to work, I bumped into these two people, hard at work watching paint dry. They said it was boring, which is why they were playing around (note his black fingers). There was a reason to all this - they had just painted the Helsinki Festival Weeks' logo and motto ("Taide kuuluu kaikille" - Art belongs to all) onto the pavement outside one of the artsier cinemas.

An untitleable entry

A new view through an old wall: the Katajanokka prison has recently been converted into a hotel, and a new passageway cut through the old prison wall.

Inside the prison-come-hotel grounds, a private form of public transport, the Helsinki bicycle. Two euros will let you use one for as long as you need to, within the city. I don't cycle, but I think the idea is pretty brilliant anyway.

People at work 4 - seeing dreams come into being

Steve "Huzz" Porter shooting material for Rebecca Clamp's soon-to-be-out-on-Youtube video for her song "St Wilgefortis". Watch this space, I'll be linking to the video.

Hiroshima night

Floating candles in Töölönlahti Bay, on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I try to go every year, I find it is quite beautiful there.

Final farewell to the oldest Helsinki-ite

A few years ago, Helsinki's oldest inhabitant, a 250-year-old crack willow was struck down by lightning. The stump of the old tree was left in place in the hope that it would sprout again, but this hasn't happened. Today, it will finally be dug up, to be replaced by a young willow, grown from a cutting taken from the old tree.

People at work 3

Rowing people to and from the floating Sauna Obscura. The weather on Tuesday, July 31st was filthy, but the sauna was hot and the water in Töölönlahti Bay surprisingly clean. In the background, Finlandia House from an unusual angle.

People at work, part 2 - the Sauna Obscura ticket lady (artist?)

A floating sauna-cum-camera-obscura - the Sauna Obscura - by artist Heidi Lunabba. A couple more images on my flickr site.

Not quite Helsinki, but close enough

Where have all the flowers gone

60 000 flowering gerberas were installed on the steps leading to the Parliament House in Helsinki, as part III of Kaisa Salmi's environmental art project Eeden (Eden). The building is an ugly monolith. I felt the flowers juxtapose quite surreally with it. In another ten days or so, the flowers will be handed out to members of the public.

Cafe garden in Tamminiementie

I thought the chairs looked like ghosts of ballerinas. An angel sat in one of them, can you see it?

Manolo Valdes does Velasquez

People at Work 1 - The Bicycle Cab Driver

This is not a pipe

The tree is with child

The difference a night can make

Last night's sunset from my balcony.


The view this morning from the same balcony (spot the same treetops) - spring came and went. Never mind. It'll come again. The beauty of positive thinking allows me to interpret this as multiple springs each year.

Pictures from a walk last weekend

Time to attend to this poor site again: The Friendship Between Our Nations statue

The snowmen will get you

When you're at the bus stop, we'll be looking over your shoulder...



...and when you stagger home at two in the morning, we're keeping an eye on you.

Tree with breasts

"Sooner or later, I will surround you..."