As winter approaches

Its half past two in the afternoon at the moment and I think that the sun has already set. I say think, because I never saw the sun today it's been so grey and overcast. And while so far the snow has mostly stayed away, its starting to get cold. But to all you people who keep complaining about the cold in the UK and saying that it must be worse for me - so far it hasn't been. It has been strange reading about Britain freezing while I'm wondering if it might be a bit early to wear a winter coat but eventually I suppose it will be colder here than the UK. It is meant to be minus degrees all this week so that might even have already happened.

Yesterday it was Independence Day. There is a party thrown by the President which the nation watches, although I have to say I don't know why. Essentially, about a million people (it seems, although it might be less than that) walk past the President and shake her hand. It takes about three hours, with a half time break during which they have the news - lead story: party at the presidents palace. By law, all cameras have to be taken out of the room by 10pm so it ends there and everyone settles down to watch the Unknown Soldier. Which is actually quite a good film. I didn't watch it though since I didn't understand what they were saying, but more importantly because Erittäin Salainen was on the other side. Not that I watched that either, in honesty. I went to bed instead.

But I thought that I would get into the spirit of Finnish independence by taking a cheap shot at the Russians. The Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen, is a very tall man. Vladimir Putin is a very small man. He's also a very tough man though, so I'm not going to tell him. The two men met at some European summit the other week. The difference in size is quite noticable. He's even shorter than Tarja Halonen, the president. I'd say that it might be because Tarja Halonen is wearing high heels, but he probably is as well.