There and back again

I'm awake now after spending quite a lot of time asleep, following my return from Finland last night.  It was actually a better trip than I'd feared; the first leg in Finnair was crowded but I had a bit of extra space because I'd paid them for it.  Then when I switched to the little 737 Qantas plane in Changi, I'd feared the worst, but no.  The plane was not full!  It was six seats wide with one narrow aisle in the centre, and I had three of those seats to myself.  Promptly stretched out and crashed.  There was a bit of a rush just before landing because of me being asleep during the passing out of immigration cards but no trouble, filled it out and got through pretty fast, thanks to a new e-passport and automatic systems.

I have lots I want to say about my trip and experiences in Finland, which I will do when I've had a chance to recover and go through my paper journal.  It's a beautiful country, very well organised, even though the authorities do expect a certain basic intelligence from the populace, meaning you can get into trouble as a clueless tourist if you're looking for big, obvious advertising and signage!  It's there, just a tad more restrained and tasteful than it is at home.  Since the language is not gender-based, that meant I was much more comfortable with the way people talked to me, whichever gender they thought I was.  I decided early on that I could easily stand living in Finland, even if that meant I would have to learn Finnish.

I very much enjoyed talking to the Finnish fans and hearing from their writers.  There was even a meet up of the Supernatural fans at Worldcon, most of whom were Finnish.  I had never heard of Johanna Sinisalo (GOH) before, but now I will look for her books and watch Iron Sky, which I also haven't got to yet.

Now I need to go grocery shopping.  I may be back with English Breakfast tea, but it's actually all I have here in the way of food.

The houseplants have all survived also.

con crud

I thought these achy feelings, sniffle and scratchy throat were due to ignoring my diet and travel fatigue, but I think I actually have a cold.  I've certainly had enough sleep and didn't feel bad at all after waking up on my first morning in Helsinki.

There's a growing list of those who have suffered "con crud" and I think I must add myself.  Oh well, got a few days to get over it.  Today's activities were much more mundane than on the trip:  just went to get some groceries as there was nothing here to eat that wasn't a Vitaweat or a cup of English Breakfast tea.   Also am doing laundry.  There are more t-shirts than there were before.