Cloudbusting2-36, Skywatch Friday

People always want to go to the end of the pier, like it's good when you can't go any further. +2C (35F) and sunny today and the beach life seemed like a good idea if you had enough clothes. I always hope there is sun in the weekends when I finally have some time outside. Espoo is still a windsurfer's paradise in December even though the day is barely 6 hours long. Water was really high now and it was probably easier to go out from the pier. A loooong season this year.

That was my Skywatch Friday (saturday). See more of skies from all over the world right there.

 

SkyWatch Friday

Our World, the Moon and the Sea

The geese family is cleaning up before going to sleep

A colourful boat glides softly towards Estonia in the night

The bridge of the moon plays on the waves

Yes

Another wonderful day is about to end in Our World

 

http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/

Check out more photos and stuff from Our Wonderful World.

Cloudbusting2-35, The Birds

 

6 birds going east.

 

 More birds cruising north

 

 And then some birds going south.

Way too many birds cruising back to north again. I wish I knew what they are doing but I don't know anything about birds. Like they have a migration masterplan in the warm autumn or something. Just going back and forth. Cruising around. Probably just looking for fish in the early morning. As a soundtrack for these scenes I keep hearing The Birds by Elbow. It's a magnificent proggy new song from this year.

Cloudbusting2-34

The cyclop of november skies with a crooked smile.

I could go on and on how november is depressing and there is nothing to see. Even the sea looks like most of the days like it was immobile and heavy cast iron. Still that wouldn't be the truth. There is plenty to see and experience, it's just different. Things get done in Finland right now. There is nothing else to do. My life is good and I have many good things to look forward, because it's the time of the year when many things get done!

Cloudbusting2-33

Lately I have wondered about the angry senior citizens. Not the fact that they are angry, because there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that I often see them in the large grocery store of the mall at saturday noon. It's the time when the store is absolutely full of customers. Every parking lot space is crammed with large family wagon- and SUV-cars. There are small crying kids running and playing everywhere and all the cash registers have long cues. The parents are mostly easy with that since that is pretty much the only time of the week when they can properly spend time at the store and get everything they need. Then there are these angry retired senior citizens who are frustrated that the cue takes so long and it's crowded everywhere. Sometimes they even yell how stupid it is that they can't pay their few items fast. I just wonder why they come there at saturday noon? They could come there any time of the week and get the huge store almost all to themselves. Even at sunday 3pm it's quite easy to shop now that the shops are open all sunday. So why go there at saturday noon?

I would like to shop, say, at tuesday 10am. I don't even know what that feels like since I haven't had any time out during ordinary weekdays between 8am and 4am in the last 11 years. In the monetary situation that I have I won't probably see the light of the ordinary weekday until it's 2030 or something. Maybe there has been a few days in the summer but that doesn't count as summer is unordinary time of the year. I would feel like a king walking the aisles all by myself at tuesday 10am...or would I? Would it be creepy to be there in the huge store by myself? All surveillance cameras and store detectives looking at me. Maybe even some salesman would try to give me some advice and, god forbid, interact with me somehow. Trying to sell me these incredible new bananas or yoghurt or something. Simply because I was one of the few people around. I would like to be more free somehow to shop whenever I want but would that freedom only make me angry like those angry senior citizens? Do they come there at saturday noon just to see other people, even if it's all a bit too much and it makes them angry?

Cloudbusting2-32

The brave new Espoo
rises to the morning light of a new weekend
The fishermen are busy on the cool still sea
looking for the next catch
What a glorious saturday this will be!

Cloudbusting2-31, windsurfers paradise in dreams

Candy-colored clouds they whisper
everything is allright
to drift away
into the magic night

Endless summer days have ended
but they still fly in the sun
In the end of the day waiting for their ride
to take them home

Espoo, windsurfers paradise in dreams

Cloudbusting2-30

In the autumn mornings any kind of light is a glimmer of hope, no matter what kind of light it is.

Cloudbusting2-29

They left early on saturday morning
as soon as it was possible
To ride the horizon of pearls
To be the kings of the sun all weekend long
To live and forget

Our World Tuesday, Crusell Bridge

The pylons of a new bridge in Helsinki, Finland. In real life it is situated here, but the Google map has not been updated and there is no bridge yet in the map. The bridge is known as Crusell bridge. Bernhard Henrik Crusell was a finnish composer who lived 1775 - 1838.

The bridge has rail lines for trams to both ways. Trams will go here in spring 2012. In the background there is a business park, which is one of the more colourful ones in Helsinki. The pipe in the background between the pylons belongs to Salmisaari powerplant and it is the highest construction of Helsinki at 150 metres (492 feet). The pylons of the bridge are around 50 metres (165 feet) tall.

Side view towards Lauttasaari and approaching september rain clouds.

I think this bridge will be quite popular for Helsinki photo opportunites in the near future. In typical finnish fashion there are no people in these photos. This is partly due to the fact that the area and apartment buildings on this side of the canal are not yet completed. Rain was coming too. To be honest, there is not much people walking around in Finland anyway. They just build stuff and disappear immediately after that.

This was my Our World Tuesday post. See more views on our world there.
Even though I haven´t done many My World posts recently I still thought about it at the beginning of almost every week. If I had the time for it and so on. Many weekends I took photos of places and thought how this would be good for My World. Too bad what happened to Klaus and the ending of that era. I´m still glad that the spirit lives here in Our World.

Cloudbusting2-28

The summer horizon gets all wavy and dark blue in a hypnotizing way.

...and the udders of the sky are ready for some action. Got to go inside.

Cloudbusting2-27, SkyWatch Friday

Yesterday I had to take some time off to admire the low hanging big fat august afternoon clouds. It is dark underneath them but there isn´t much rain really. 5 o´clock traffic is still quite easy in the second week of august, but it will change next week when the schools start.

See more skies from all over the world in SkyWatch Friday.

Cloudbusting2-26 Hanko In the summer

Hanko is my summer town. Every year I visit there for a day or two, sometimes 3. Only in july when the sun shines all the time. This year there was a lot of construction sites going on. The shouts of estonian construction workers was all over the beach. These days estonian workers are everywhere, as finnish labour is too expensive.

The prices of the new apartments are a bit hefty. 5500 euros for 1m2 is what something costs in a big city like Helsinki. Hanko is just a small town with a population less than 10 000.

Hanko watertower and church. Eternally sweeped by the fresh sea air and basking in the sunshine of the sunniest place in Finland.

Everybody´s gone from the beach in midnight. Only swans remain.

Cloudbusting2-25

First of July
Life speeds up fast
Summer full of promises
Last day at work
A finishing touch here and there
New things ahead
Old things ahead
Water
Skies
Rain
Sun
Today and tomorrow

Summer in the city

They are everywhere
tourists, families with baby buggies
Young people drinking
celebrating the end of school
Lying on the grass with bare feet
Summer turns to high any day now

Cloudbusting2- 24

Why is it that always when a bus comes, then the "amateurs" rush in to the bus first? If there is a group of about 10 people waiting there is usually one. You know, those people who don´t know what it costs, where they should leave and they don´t even have the exact money ready, but they start searching their wallets at the counter. Meanwhile there is a long cue behind them standing on the platform in rain or shine as the amateur can´t give room for "professionals", who only need to show their cards to the machine. Where these amateurs come from? Why don´t they go in last?

Cloudbusting2- 23, Tallinn

Kadriorg Palace.

The old city of Tallinn.

Near by the harbour.

The many faces of Tallinn.They have buildings that Finland just doesn´t have. Palaces, raw concrete houses, very old houses, flashy luxurious houses, ruins etc. They have plenty of variation.

Cloudbusting2-22

I bought a new satchel, wallet and a jacket. The old ones were all so worn out that they had holes where the coins dropped and all the zippers were broken. It was like I had made a museum of myself. A shabby neglected character lost in the darkness of winter, more interested in his books and music than his appearance. Now I have to make an effort to create the new energized me. All those places to visit now that the days are long and warm, you see. Maybe I get new shoes some day, now that I have developed a taste for reckless shopping.

Cloudbusting2-21, foggy weekend

The fog has landed in Finland and it will stay here whole weekend. People wander in a grey cloud on the streets in between the melting snow piles. I can almost hear the snow melting away exposing a heavy and wet carpet of gravel scattered all over the place during winter.

Today is the time to practise the use of fog lamps in the sea of road signs. For me it´s the time to put the paparazzi-tele-lens on and hope for the best.

Two bicyclists simultaneosly. The season has started, no doubt about it. Soon I should take my bike to get it fixed. I usually do small repairs on my own but now it needs the attention of a professional.

Cloudbusting2-20

In the morning everything faded in to the golden fog. I remembered a magician who lives in a breathing forest of wild flowers and I wanted to capture something in that direction. This was the best I could do from the fog that was available to me in the last day of march.

Cloudbusting2-19

I have been waiting

for a divine inspiration

like a sun coming out behind a dark forest

It´s not coming and I´m too fixed on my ways

like a bus on it´s route

endlessly going the same round every day

So I might as well do what I can do

Sunday walk

Sunday walk out on the sea ice. Still holding well in the end of march. It will be strong enough maybe a week or two.

Cloudbusting2-18

I always have to wait for the bus
but the bus almost never waits for me
Luckily in march
it sometimes feels good to miss the bus

Cloudbusting2-17

The fleet of thin red fiery dragons.

Cloudbusting2-16

I haven´t really gone anywhere. There is clouds now in march and I´m more than happy that they appeared and made me itch for the camera. These are just okay but I have to start somewhere. Judging by this blog it seems I haven´t gotten much done in the winter, just thinking about my old car. Where did the last months go? Just a long dark tube without breaks.  

Old car

So now it has started. One day the cops followed me to the parking lot of my home. Then they asked me to blow to an alcohol meter. Then they told me some rules that I thought I had obeyed all right. Then they asked my drivers licence and registration. Maybe they thought that the car must be stolen since the owner drove to the parking lot of his own home. The car is 12 years old and it has some scratches on the side. Tiny accidents happened when I moved a lot of stuff around. Sure, I must be an alcoholic since I have scratches on my car. All the window watchers probably had a good show at my expense. I read that this police attention starts to happen on regular basis when the car is old enough. Especially at nights. The car is old but it doesn´t have much mileage behind. I think that there is a few good years ahead since the repairs were quite low this year. If I can only tolerate the embarrasing attention, or start saving now for a new one. Cars are an eternal money hole.

Cloudbusting2-15

The evening is very soft
Even the lights in the crossroads
the busses, vans and the cars
they all have a new pace
They want to stay there a second or two longer
for no apparent reason
It´s not all about surviving
rushing to the next point like there is no tomorrow
There is a small empty space
where you can stay really still
for a second or 2
maybe even 3

Cloudbusting2-14

The first sun I have seen in a long time
Strange
Marvellous
Unreal
Finally something to do
for the camera that I have been carrying with me all this time
Even the dirty dark grey car pollution snow looks brilliant
in the sun
in the sun