While walking around Prague we stumble onto the Hervis Prague Half Marathon. Each runner is given a rectangular piece of foil to help stay warm, and behold the range of beauteous fashions they conjure up:
Oversized Scarf
Double-tie Cardigan
Tube Dress with Bow
Volumous Vest. Layered Shawl & Skirt
Superman Cape
I can’t decide which one is better…
There are more immigrant mannequins than immigrants in Helsinki…
This is what Helsinki’s dance floors look like at 4am. People get hammered. Glasses drop. No one cleans. More glasses drop. The floors get crunchier by the hour. Pieces get stuck to your soles. One friend had to get three stitches after a shard speared his toe. Even in well-lit sit-down bars glasses crash to the floor, people turn their heads, people turn back, and life continues with new terrain. What’s up with that? Is it because people don’t sue here? No legal worries about someone falling onto a pile of hurt? Or because Finland has crappy service in general? We still dance hard, brushing shards away with our shoes, feeling more concerned about feeling the bass, stomping away on party jewels and leaving an apocalyptic scene behind.
“Bob, our sales are down. What we need is a sign that will freak the fuck out of everyone.”
“Thus what had begun as a man’s impression of an animal ended in an animal’s impression of a man, and a few drops of private blood gained general currency and became a great pool of public blood, and the world immediately contained more persons who had seen a lizard bite a man.” – E.B. White on television, 1948
We end another intense work week at Nokia House with a drink at the top of Hotel Torni. It only takes 14 stories to have a spectacular view of Helsinki and feel very poignant. Olly’s new album Karhu ja Tiikerini (A Bear and a Tiger) makes it even easier. Music made in and for Finland. The track ‘Break Fast’ is on repeat. Wait for the drop. A gush of optimism like the first wave of heat in the sauna. Days of hyper reflection and visceral heartache.
