Working hard against the regrets

We've worked hard today at making the most of it. We should have been in Florence this weekend, but for obvious reasons that was a no, no. A decent dawn greeted us when we sat down for breakfast, so we headed out quite early to Jätkäsaari, at the end of the Number 8 tram, and then worked our way back towards the flat along the coastline. It was quite a walk for a man in Mr A's condition, but we took it reasonably gently and had a lot of photo stops, not least because the light was amazing at some points (see extra). We were planning to find somewhere for a coffee, but that didn't quite work out, so we kept pressing on. The last couple of kilometres were done in the rain, so it seemed best to keep on, go to the supermarket and head back here for lunch. After lunch, though, it did brighten up once more, so we popped again to Arkadia, the bookshop where we were at a concert yesterday, to pick up a book that Mr A had taken a fancy to, but which he didn't want to carry around for the evening. So many steps have been taken, so I think we deserve a nice sausage pasta dish for dinner, which Mr A is now preparing.


This young fella (or lass?) was messing around on the ground when I stopped to remove some grit from my trainers, as we passed through the grounds of Lapinlahti Hospital, a former psychiatric hospital, now standing largely empty, which was designed by Engel, the architect of Senate Square and the National Library. He hopped into the tree, but then sat stock still whilst we photographed him from a number of different angles (see also extra). Eventually he got fed up and ran off higher up the tree, all the while keeping a close eye on us. I've never been so close to a red squirrel before, and certainly not when I had a pretty long lens on my camera.