Thursday, June 24, 2004

Another Hometown Juhannus 2004

So, Finland is in for another Juhannus, or yearly midsummer festivities. Usually people head on Juhannus out of town to their summer cottages, camping sites and festivals, but probably uncharacteristically for a Finn, I'm not of countryside type, and I've seen a bit of too much that violent drunken bacchanalia side of typical Finnish midsummer "celebration", that I'd rather stay here at ghost town. And usually it rains on Juhannus, so that's another reason not to bother. The downside of staying in town is that there are few places to go here during these three weekend days; probably I'd hang as usual at Yo-Talo, but since they keep closed, I've got to find another bar to drink my boredom away. My life is amazingly interesting, isn't it?

It seems they have drained this year the Tammerkoski Rapids, the "river" flowing in the middle of my hometown Tampere (so, it's not an actual river, just a little route of water between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, between which is the isthmus on which this town is built). Well, Tammerkoski without water can be a ghostly sight, when you cross it over the Hämeensilta bridge. Abandoned bicycle wrecks and other junk people have thrown to the rapids. This year they also found loads of mobile phones there and other personal juvenalia.

More Tammerkoski pictures here and of Tampere.

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