Giedre tyttö Ozista

Display of power

No.. No.. Malaysians haven't invaded Leijonakaupunki. Neither Japanese, nor Indonesians.. We're fine and preparing for the glorious day of the 40th anniversary of Independence. Today I got stuck in traffic for about an hour, because the bus routes were changed and some roads were closed, so that army could rehearse the parade. Maybe I'm traumatised by the soviet childhood, but I freak out whenever I see weapons and this kind of display of power.

As we went cycling in the afternoon, there were helicopters and planes plying the sky, making lots of noise. I don't quite get the whole idea of the military parade. Invest as much of your budget into military, make the country as secure as you want, but why anyone would want to show off these things? Or I'd rather say - why would anyone want to see these things? Its ugly, scary and makes lots of noise!

Our apartment is in the top floorin the picture, see our bedroom windows? Today our landlady, the agent and contractor came to check out the construction noise in our apartment. We've been complaining for several months now and were really angry with the situation, so we expected some "heavy duty" conversation - them claiming that the noise is "very bearable" or that "you're hardly in the apartment anyway", us waving fists, etc. Suprisingly, they didn't have any doubts that situation is pretty untolerable, just had a look and said that they'll try to get us "double-glazing" windows in every room! So, please, keep the fingers crossed for our noise-reducing windows to come soon... :) In here you often hear about difficult landlords that want to control your life, keep track of what's going on and never pay for any repairs. So I think that we're quite lucky with our agent and the landlord (well, lets see if we get the windows first, of course), as they somehow think about our well-being too. Basically in this country people who HAVE (or OWN), also HAVE all the rights. In reality they wouldn't need to be nice to us at all. Amazing that they were...

On our cycling trip we found a huge piece of land with only green grass in it. And a non-see-through fence around it. Why do they put the fence around this piece of land? You don't often get to rest your eye on an open view in here.. Or do people get too many ideas once they see an open view? For example, run naked under the stars.. :)? Dangerous, lah..

I guess this is how my blog reaches you guys, through space - these are the main local telecom's satelite dishes. Impressive! In two weeks Leijonakapunki will be in the media spotlight around the globe. The meeting for the Olympic commitee to decide where the next games will be located is held here. Lots of superstars and big names come here to lobby the decision. The message for the Leijonakapunki citizens - "the organizers hope that the people will get excited that the meeting is held here and behave well (be friendly and helpful) to create memorable experiences for our guests".. :D No kidding, this is not an exact quote, but very close to what was said in THE paper...

And we, I guess, will be cycling again... :)