What is Jopo?

Jopo is a Finnish bicycle brand that was launched in 1965 and is going strong still today. The name is the abbreviation for “jokainen polkupyörä”, basically saying “a bicycle for everybody”. Eero Helkamalla had the dream of designing a bike that everybody could drive, irrespective of age, size, sex or dimension of wallet. And irrespective…

Matching architecture styles

Modern architecture in historical city centers often leaves me wondering. I especially “love” it  in articles on new architecture when they emphasize enthusiastically how wonderfully the new building ” blends in with the surroundings”, while I  rather alternate in my choice of words between “eyesore” or “barely tolerable”. But there are those rare cases that…

Eiskunst – Ice Art

Der diesjährige Winter ist ein echtes Trauerspiel. Normalerweise ist Februar/März die Zeit für Eiskunst-Wettbewerbe oder Festivals, aber dieses Jahr sind die Skulpturen gleich wieder weggetaut. Trotzdem hier ein link zu ein paar Photos von “Art Meets Ice” auf der Zooinsel Korkeasaari: Und ein paar ältere Photos aus einer Zeit, als der Winter seinen Namen noch…

What type of relation-ship are you in?

It seems that the bulk of relationship self-help advice is concerned with getting people into a relationship. The next biggest chunk of advice is concerned with getting them out of it again. Having been, to my own utter surprise, in a long-term relation-ship myself, I have been wondering about this topic a lot. The Tall…

Vanhojentanssi

Vanhojentanssi is a tradition in Finland that I really like. Translated it means something like “the dance of the oldest”. When the third grade in high school has finished their “ylioppilastutkinto” = final exams, those who are now the oldest in high school have a special dance event. They dance so to speak into their…