Empty the backpack and place the stuff in neat piles on the floor around it in the most centrally located room in the flat. It’s the strategy I’ve just recently developed to avoid too many unnecessary erratic trips into different rooms as I replace separate items each to their own place after returning home from a trip. Since the amount of these few day long trips has on average amounted to almost two a week, a more efficient unpacking strategy had to evolve. But then on the other hand, this is just another sign that it’s summer time here in Finland.

Each and every single day of the summer has to be carefully planned and all possibilities have to be fully exhausted as such days are of very limited kind and thus so much more precious. I’ve already mentioned this phenomenon several times, but I really don’t think I could overemphasize it. Friday afternoons and Sunday evenings are a sellout for busses, trains and boats all around Finland as people flock to their or their friends’ and relatives’ summer cottages. These days spanning from early June to late August are no different for me either.

First all the weekends are taken. It might sound a bit ridiculous, but all of my weekends during this three-month period were fully booked already by the end of May. You must wonder what makes life so busy in the summer. My diversions range from various family get togethers and birthday parties to, well, just parties for the sake of partying and all kinds of experiments, which, believe it or not, this summer among others include also a weekend of yoga. And once you figure out your plan for the summer, it’s there to stay as you don’t want to miss out on anything. If not for any other reason, then because it ain’t difficult to imagine regrets and sorrow as winter begins approaching and days grow colder and shorter. You begin to feel contrite about possible slipped opportunities, even if it’s just a mind game. There you have it.

Such regrets would be completely justified. This passed weekend I’ve spent with my relatives on the island of Tammio in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland could easily serve as typical example.

Although Tammio is really just a tiny patch of land lying several kilometers south of the mainland, its history is surprisingly colorful. It is really just a piece of granite rock sticking out of the sea, but it has been populated on and off for the past 1500 years as both strategic and commercial importance of Tammio swayed back and forth through the centuries. At six square kilometers the island is minuscule and everything from viking burial mounds to current summer residencies and all the historical remains in between are traversable on foot.

In spite of it’s importance Tammio was never really densely populated. In it’s heyday just a bit over 200 people considered Tammio to be their permanent home. One of the main reasons for such low population is of course that inhabitants couldn’t sustain themselves as they couldn’t get anything to grow on the island, not even potatoes. Of course, it was in the earnest interest of the state to keep people on Tammio and nearby islands as they served as strategic territories.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise that today the island springs to life only during the summer months when regular visitors, pensioners and very few tourists turn it into a sleepy community. And sleepiness is everything these people are looking for in the first place. The boat drifting to and fro Tammio, connecting it with civilization only a few times a week, partly attests to it’s sleepiness. Other proofs being that there is still no electricity and running water on the island and that paths crisscrossing the island are simply bedrock bared of moss which used to cover granite but long ago gave way to habitual walkers. No street noise, no cars, just squeaking sea gulls, wind in the canopy and waves hitting the shore form the sound landscape of this place.

It’s a bliss to spend a few days in a spot like this, exploring the island on foot and neighboring islands from a canoe. It’s absolutely fantastic to be away from all the noise, consume only as much electricity as can be harvested from the sun, drink water with a yellow tinge to it straight out of the garden well and forget about even such civilities as flushing down the toilet. Frankly speaking, I don’t really know for how long my central European mindset could leave behind all the comforts of life back in the civilized world. This time I returned home after just three days, but I think I should put myself on a test and see how long I’d last. But to do so I’d have to wipe clean my summer schedule first.

Mladen

What could be better than spending a warm sunny summer day picking strawberries. Picking and munching to be precise. With tens of strawberry fields in vicinity I can’t wait to get down on my knees and get my hands dirty. Picking is quick. In fact so quick that it’s relatively easy to get about two kilograms in about half an hour. It’s kind of fun, even though I have to admit that cultivated strawberry fields are more for the city slicker type of adventurers. You basically don’t even have to look for any berries as they are right there on the field staring right at you, it doesn’t require any special skill or endurance and even if you tried really, really hard it would be rather difficult to get lost. Which makes picking all other berries a completely different affair. They grow out in the wast forests and swamps, so you might want to put that emergency helicopter number into your mobile phone. If you are picking in the area with a network coverage, that is. Even though this might sound a bit strange, but they are much sweeter when picked like that. It could be more challenging and fun, but could also be too much for the feeble.

By visiting an open market in any Finnish town around this time of the year it’s easy to tell that we’re in the midst of the berry season. Strawberries and bilberries will soon be followed by raspberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, crowberries, cranberries, and what-you-know-it-berries as they gradually ripen in the weeks to come.

And people love picking them. According to some statistics I’ve stumbled upon two-thirds of Finns will pick berries during the summer. So if you spot a person standing in the swamp who appears to be loitering, it is very likely that they are literally knee deep in the berries (and water). Although this is Finland, it is not very likely that anyone would want to be killing their time in the middle of the swamp. Anyway, if you do happen to stumble upon such individuals, chances are both of you are in there for the same reason. Which also means you’re not only invading their turf, but also their privacy. Finns are nuts about their forest fruits and their personal space which can be on a clear day, out in the open within the radius of up to 80 kilometers.

Obviously this whole ordeal is about much more than just berries. It’s about being out and about your favorite swamp, enjoying silence and hopefully solitude too, taking in fresh air, getting a snack on the way and saving some for later. And taking pleasure in such activities is deeply rooted in cultures of all the Nordic peoples. All with the exception of Danes who live in way to densely populated areas to have developed such primal urge for the untouched nature. And the attitude of being one with flora and fauna is also a part of everyman’s right enjoyed by these peoples.

However, even before it was codified into law, which happened in the Nordic countries mostly in the 20th century, everyman’s right was a generally accepted custom. At least in Finland everyman’s right guarantees everyone the right to roam freely in the countryside, without the need to obtain permission from the owner of the land.

This custom has been an integral part of Nordic cultures where people have enjoyed it for hundreds of years. However, everyman’s right covers much more than just free roaming. One of the basic premises of this right is enjoying the fruits and joys of nature as long as you don’t cause any permanent damage. Not only are you allowed to pick berries and mushrooms, and fish without permission to a certain extent, but can also traverse the land at will and camp on it freely. And all this comes without the fear of getting shot, as might be the case in, for instance, the US where it is advised to take the ‘No trespassing’ signs with utmost seriousness. Here, the case is exactly the opposite: it is illegal to put up a ‘No trespassing’ sign and build a fence, even on your own land.

As if it wasn’t difficult enough to wrap my central European mind around such concept of practically boundless freedom, there is still more to these comforts. If you want to sell the collected fruits, not only are you allowed to do so, but are almost encouraged as you do not have to pay any taxes from the sales. Generous? If you consider that Finns annually collect more than 50 million kilograms of berries, I think it is not only generous, but also very tempting.

Even though I am pretty sure that most of berries end up being consumed before they are sold, the volume allocated for sale is still far from negligible. For some this means big business, while for others it can provide a livelihood. What has become a constant in the recent years in Finland are seasonal workers from Thailand who come here to pick berries during the summer months. They usually number in hundreds and in the matter of several weeks they pick enough berries to earn a living until the next season comes about.

Of course, these professional pickers are a bit different than you and me. First of all they have their own areas and know when and how to pick. Secondly, the work might not really be appreciated or even endured by many. The most praised and consequently the most expensive berry in Finland is cloudberry which grows only in swamps. I spoke to a salesman on the local market who buys cloudberries straight from pickers and he told me that on average these pickers pick anywhere from 100 to 150 kilograms of cloudberries per day. And during the high season cloudberries can easily reach prices of about 10€ per kilogram. However, I can’t really imagine that carrying a bucket of berries on my back and wading through the mosquito infested swamps would be fun for more than half an hour. So, I am pretty sure that every cent these people earn is well deserved.

But before you start packing your things and heading to Finland to do some lucrative business consider that this year the season has been worse than usual.

Mladen

Helsinki’s public transportation recently got a lot geekier. Buying tram, bus and metro tickets by sending a message from your handy is so passé. Especially after last year when HKL introduced wireless Internet access on some of the trams and buses traversing the city at no additional cost to users. You can surf as much as you want for the 90 minutes the two euros ticket is valid.

If you’re using the public transportation to get to and from work, this is excellent. It’s so convenient to browse the Web and read your email. So whoever thinks that Google’s employees have it good because they have the access on their shuttle bus between San Francisco and Mountain View should think again. Having the access in this country is definitely a commodity, rather than a privilege. And Wi-Fi on public buses and trams is just another proof.

However the latest improvement is about much more than just the access. From the beginning on June anyone can track public transportation in Helsinki on the Internet in real time. By visiting HKL’s Public Transport Map you can follow individual GPS outfitted trams and buses as they roll down the streets of Helsinki. And this is just the beginning.

The sweetest thing happens when you click the icon of a selected vehicle on the map. As a result a table listing the upcoming stops with estimated times of arrival for each of them pops up. Now, that is not just geeky, but also extremely useful. In addition you also get to see the exact location of each stop on the way and can tell the map to follow the selected vehicle automatically.

Currently only several bus and tram lines are shown on the map so Helsinki looks deserted like Chernobyl. However, according to HKL this will change in the near future as they plan to add all trams to this service by 2008, while by 2010 you’ll be able to follow the complete public transportation network in Helsinki. Quite nifty.

I can easily imagine that from that point on every resident of Helsinki will know exactly how many seconds it takes them to get from their computer screen to getting to that stop.

This just makes me wonder how much more will they be able to encourage the population to use the public transportation with a service like this. Already now for 64% of all motorized transportation within Helsinki people use public transportation.

I encourage you to go and check out the Public Transport Map even if you do not live in Helsinki or Finland. Write to you mayor and ask them to beef up your buses, trams, boats or what you have it with a similar system. Meanwhile I’ll go and get some paper towels to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

Mladen