Finnish Midsummer

[Pete J]

Here in Finland people are currently celebrating the festival known as Juhannus, or Midsummer as we English speaking types call it.

This usually entails the lighting of bonfires, going to summer cottages and spending time with family and friends.
This time of year is also famous for the amount of daylight we get and in Lapland they have virtually no darkness at all.
Further south (ie. where most folk live) we have only a few hours of darkness each night, which can make sleeping very difficult if you have no blinds. Which is very common here for some strange reason....
The summer cottage thing is actually pretty cool, last weekend we were at my wifes friends family cottage and it was ace, apart from the weather of course.
Which brings me to the reason i started this thread.
Today was Midsummers day, as i already explained, so see if you can guess why i am so pissed off with this country.



Yes, that's right, 15 fucking degrees. It was 11 degrees when i walked my dog in the morning.
It's been like this (and colder) for over 2 weeks now.
Incidentally June is called Kesäkuu in Finnish, which translates to 'summer month'.
However we haven't seen much of summer at all thus far.
We have had maybe 2 weeks so far this year of warm weather and if this lousy weather continues we may only get 2 months all up.
Now i know i live in a place not known for warm weather but come on, give me a break. I thought global warming was in effect yo!? Not here it ain't...
I'ts been cold since about late September last year, like colder than most places in Australia ever get. It really wears you down like you wouldn't believe.
My advice to everyone here is this:
DO NOT MOVE TO NORTHERN EUROPE, EVER!!!!

Thankyou and goodnight.

 

[mad_mike51]

Move to Australia, Bring your dog.

Problem solved


No but seriously that really sucks, I don't know how people can live like that it's cold enough in Australian winters for me thanks.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Sucks to be you Pete! It's still 12 degrees here in Aberdeen (it's 0:08hrs) and we're not that much further south!

Admittedly the highest it got today was a balmy 14, but ah well, it's still pretty cool having enough daylight to ride back from your mates at half ten without need for lights!

I actually find winters in Melbourne to be harder to deal with than winters over here though. Sure the outside air temps are nowhere near as bad and in Melbourne we don't get the massive arctic gales coming through every 2nd day but every house I've ever lived in there has had about as much insulation as a paper bag.

Surely with massive 40 degree + heatwaves in the summer and nighttime temps dropping down to zero you'd think somebody would install some double glazing and draught insulation to keep the inside temperatures a bit stable but NO! Every winter I've spent in melbourne I've had to go to bed in trackie daks + long-sleeve t-shirt just to avoid hypothermia!

I reckon I definitely prefer being over here in the summer as the days are impossibly long and it's still slightly warmer than a Melbourne winter! The beer's a hell of a lot cheaper too! (I just bought 20 x 440ml cans of Stella for a tenner - that's 20 bucks! )

 

[Doggy]

wait, its 11 degrees or 15 degrees yet in the first photo there are people in the water with no wetsuits on......wtf, are you people sick?

 

[JP]

Euro's man...what can I say?

I'm surprised more aren't huddling around the fire. I suppose they just never grew out of the choildhood skill of swimming in any body of water at any time of year, no matter what the temperature.

Aren't winters just months of depressing, suicide invoking darkness?

 

[|Matt|]

wait, its 11 degrees or 15 degrees yet in the first photo there are people in the water with no wetsuits on......wtf, are you people sick?

If not, they will be soon.

 

[Pete J]

I actually find winters in Melbourne to be harder to deal with than winters over here though. Sure the outside air temps are nowhere near as bad and in Melbourne we don't get the massive arctic gales coming through every 2nd day but every house I've ever lived in there has had about as much insulation as a paper bag.

This is a very good point indeed, living spaces here are extremely well insulated and temps inside are usually always above 20 degrees. In Melbourne it is possible for it to be only 10 degrees inside during the middle of winter, which is unthinkable even for the seemingly cold hardy Finnish folk.
I say 'seemingly' because this is actually not true, they are mostly so well insulated from the cold that they are actually quite sensitive to it. Except of course when they go swimming...

wait, its 11 degrees or 15 degrees yet in the first photo there are people in the water with no wetsuits on......wtf, are you people sick?

Yes, they are sick here. When we were at that summer cottage recently, the water in the lake was 14 degrees and people actually swim in it!!
I'm no cold sissy myself (i work outside all year round) but even i have my limits.

 

[Pete J]

Aren't winters just months of depressing, suicide invoking darkness?

Yes, unfortunately this is true.
Personally i find the darkness to be extremely overwhelming, the endlessness of it becomes almost tangible in that it begins to become almost heavy.
The thought of another winter here fills me with dread, seriously.
Soon i will have been here 5 years and my minimum goal will have been reached. 10 years is my maximum btw...

 

[S.]

F'in land eh. Must be pretty hardcore if a super positive guy like you can get dragged down by it mate... take it easy!

 

[JP]

Yes, unfortunately this is true.
Personally i find the darkness to be extremely overwhelming, the endlessness of it becomes almost tangible in that it begins to become almost heavy.
The thought of another winter here fills me with dread, seriously.
Soon i will have been here 5 years and my minimum goal will have been reached. 10 years is my maximum btw...

Which leads me to ask why are you still there? From what I've read I gather your wife is Finnish, yes? Is that it or are their other reasons?

If I took my missus to a place with winters like that it would be a murder/suicide situation!
She's struggling with rain and 12 degree days that we're having in the Blue Mountains at the moment. It is the middle of winter though. At least the night/day thing is still "normal".

 

[Pete J]

F'in land eh. Must be pretty hardcore if a super positive guy like you can get dragged down by it mate... take it easy!

Thanks Steve, i'll certainly try.
Your post actually got me thinking about my degree of positivity of late...
I must say that i've been quite negative about this country for sometime now and this has been noted by a number of people. I think it's about time i came to terms with the fact that the weather here will never be like it is back home. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just different.
There are many things to be positive about here and i should focus on them more from now on.
There is a saying in Finnish that roughly translates to 'The Finnish summer is simply a question of clothing'. Which means that i should just improve my wardrobe to include more water proof items!
And when the weather gets me down, i'll just try and keep it to myself too.

Which leads me to ask why are you still there? From what I've read I gather your wife is Finnish, yes? Is that it or are their other reasons?
If I took my missus to a place with winters like that it would be a murder/suicide situation!
She's struggling with rain and 12 degree days that we're having in the Blue Mountains at the moment. It is the middle of winter though. At least the night/day thing is still "normal".

I'm here because my wife is a Finn, plus my folks are Finns too so i was able to obtain dual citizenship very easily.
At the time when i made the move i was trying to take my life into a more positive direction and i have think i have succeeded there.
We have our own place, the coolest dog ever and our beautiful 10 month old son. Moving back to Australia is definitely on the cards at some stage but exactly when is still unknown.
Winters here are very hard though, i really don't know how many more i can take! Working outside and owning a dog means that i see far too much of the inclement weather, it would be nice to work inside for a change...

 

[chie]

Sucks to be you Pete! It's still 12 degrees here in Aberdeen (it's 0:08hrs) and we're not that much further south!

Admittedly the highest it got today was a balmy 14, but ah well, it's still pretty cool having enough daylight to ride back from your mates at half ten without need for lights!

We got to about 18deg today, I'm a bit further west near Elgin. Playing tennis with some locals today who were complaining about how hot it was. Have to say I've become pretty acclimatised up here, now when it gets to double figures I'll be wearing shorts and tshirt.

Last night I rode home at about 11:30, it's about a mile, unlit for about half of it, absolutely no need for lights. I love it (it's private road so I was pretty unlikely to get run over by anyone.

 

[Pete J]

We got to about 18deg today, I'm a bit further west near Elgin. Playing tennis with some locals today who were complaining about how hot it was.

It's been rather nice here the last couple of days, 22 and 24 degrees in fact!
I've already heard people complaining about how hot it is and how they wish winter was on it's way again.

 

[scblack]

Yes, unfortunately this is true.
Personally i find the darkness to be extremely overwhelming, the endlessness of it becomes almost tangible in that it begins to become almost heavy.
The thought of another winter here fills me with dread, seriously.
Soon i will have been here 5 years and my minimum goal will have been reached. 10 years is my maximum btw...

Might be a funny question, but how well do animals cope with the extended darkness? Does your dog go batshit? Do they hibernate? Do birds sing?

As I said maybe seem a funny question, but seriously, does it affect animals?

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

As I said maybe seem a funny question, but seriously, does it affect animals?

bats probably f***ing love it!

 

[Pete J]

Might be a funny question, but how well do animals cope with the extended darkness? Does your dog go batshit? Do they hibernate? Do birds sing?

As I said maybe seem a funny question, but seriously, does it affect animals?

All the smart animals either leave the country altogether or then they hibernate all winter long.
Although there are ducks that stay here and sit out the entire winter... Apparently enough people feed them year round that the ducks decided it would be easier to not go anywhere. Smart enough i guess but not so smart when just about every lake/river/pond is frozen.
My dog copes brilliantly with winter, in fact i'd say that he struggles with the summers more than anything. He is the complete opposite of me no doubt about it! It kind of rubs salt into my wounds when we are out walking on some miserable day, i'll be drudging along cursing under my breath and there he is as happy as Larry.
The worst part is having to clean him after every walk, he usually gets covered in mud and gunk whenever it's wet outside. And for most of winter it is simply far too common an occurence.
Birds don't sing that much in winter either, well not that i can remember anyway.

 

[ilostmypassword]

Here in Finland people are currently celebrating the festival known as Juhannus, or Midsummer as we English speaking types call it.

This usually entails the lighting of bonfires, going to summer cottages and spending time with family and friends.
This time of year is also famous for the amount of daylight we get and in Lapland they have virtually no darkness at all.
Further south (ie. where most folk live) we have only a few hours of darkness each night, which can make sleeping very difficult if you have no blinds. Which is very common here for some strange reason....
The summer cottage thing is actually pretty cool, last weekend we were at my wifes friends family cottage and it was ace, apart from the weather of course.
Which brings me to the reason i started this thread.
Today was Midsummers day, as i already explained, so see if you can guess why i am so pissed off with this country.



Yes, that's right, 15 fucking degrees. It was 11 degrees when i walked my dog in the morning.
It's been like this (and colder) for over 2 weeks now.
Incidentally June is called Kesäkuu in Finnish, which translates to 'summer month'.
However we haven't seen much of summer at all thus far.
We have had maybe 2 weeks so far this year of warm weather and if this lousy weather continues we may only get 2 months all up.
Now i know i live in a place not known for warm weather but come on, give me a break. I thought global warming was in effect yo!? Not here it ain't...
I'ts been cold since about late September last year, like colder than most places in Australia ever get. It really wears you down like you wouldn't believe.
My advice to everyone here is this:
DO NOT MOVE TO NORTHERN EUROPE, EVER!!!!

Thankyou and goodnight.

I'd take a 15 degs (snake free) summer over 40+ anytime.

The summers downunder also do odd things to people. You can't sleep, eat or function.

The grass is always greener eh.