summer.

friday evening i was supposed to be on the plane but instead i was looking at sun reflecting window films online while doctor was cooking HelloFresh in the kitchen and listening to some Ed Miliband interview so loud i heard every word. politics is not really his thing so im not sure why he was listening to that. anyway id bought flights to finland in an optimistic mindset that finland would be "greenlisted" by UK in the travel traffic light update on June 3rd. well, it wasnt. no new countries on the green list, and portugal demoted to amber. i think the green list now has 11 places, including israel, iceland, faroe islands, south georgia and south sandwich islands... and bunch of places that are closed anyway like singapore and new zealand. i admit that although i definitely knew the risk of not being able to go, i was SO disappointed i cried. technically of course i could go, its not illegal anymore, its actually just that i cant do the 10 day quarantine upon return, we have stuff planned and booked with friends and just no way i could make it work. i'll try later in the summer.

later i had a zoom with Arttu, to make up for not seeing in finland i guess.and on saturday i zoomed with miss R, we had not had a proper catch up for a while anyway. but now i have like 11 days of nothing planned, cos i was not supposed to be here. i guess its an opportunity. with the weather finally being good too... eh. 

the other week when we had a week off and obviously were not able to go to turkey as planned (im losing count of all the cancelled trips in the past year?? yes my own fault for being so optimistic but i feel like i have to at least try and not regret not trying?!) we went to Hull and York instead. good to get out of the house and out of London in any case. Hull is known as pretty rough and i was excited, we went with Evelina & Mikko as Mikko has lived there a long time ago. so we basically had a guide.  but Hull wasnt so bad, sure a bit rough still but there were also hipster cafes and a lot of new development. and we visited a deep sea aquarium, nice experience. from Hull dctor and me continued on to York, which of course is this cute historical, pretty touristy town...  there we visited a viking center and museum and enjoyed the historical breeze...  i even booked a hotel with a pool, but due to covid it was less than deal, u had to prebook a 20 minute slot and arrive in your swimwear as they didnt allow use of the changing rooms and...it was not maybe not worth it? 

 

the pub with a train track up in the air, u put a 50p coin in a box and the train would make a round. Hull life. 

the smallest pub room in england (or was it UK?)

our guides to York (kindly offered at a stand at Hull train station.

Viking center.

??

a cute easy puzzle, i love puzzles like this.

ive been GREATLY enjoying dinners indoors. especially while the weather was still poor. when restaurants opened 3 weeks ago i booked dinners indoors 2 nights straight and have been going to pub too. here i am with jess in a local african restaurant.

finally a photography reality show!! BBC has The Great British Photography Challenge. what a pompous name. oh well. BUT, i am really enjoying it. it kinda helps its judged mainly by Rankin, whose book i still have on my shelf although my photography years are long gone. they really discuss cropping and the feeling and all these elements and its a kinda inspiring to look at something so familiar from so 'close'. 

ive never been big on cocktails but lately im really into pornstar martini. aperol spritz has also been a big facourite especially since our trip to italy. 

HS is doing a vote on the best finnish song lyrics of the century, the playlist is on spotify, and ive been enjoying it. personally i didnt vote as there were many of my favourites, i just cant pick one.