Still on the phone

You would have thought that with a photograph taken in the hotel room this morning, I might have used the camera. Na. Still on the phone.

Actually, it was not easy at all to take this photo, as when I woke up this morning - after the best sleep I've had all week but it still was not fabulously good - I had a muscle spasm in my back that rendered me almost immobile for some considerable time. None the less, I sacrificed myself in the name of my art and when I opened the curtains thought that what I could see was too good to miss.

I think it must have been the bed that caused my back to protest so much. I don't get on with those really soft mattress toppers so beloved of Finnish hotels. With the aid of some drugs, the back has gradually got better during the day, and it seems generally ok now, although I will take some paracetamol when I go to bed just to help me relax. But when I was moving around the hotel room this morning trying to pack, the pain was making me sweat profusely and I was seriously worrying about getting myself home.

Anyway, I coped. Train from Kupittaa (Turku station being out of commission at present) to Pasila, and then commuter train to the airport. A long wait for the flight (I miscalculated the time of the train I booked....), a very straightforward flight and on time landing, long walks in the airport but no queues thank goodness, and then on the tram into Edinburgh (I really cannot be doing with trying to organise a city cabs taxi from the pick up point, and when I phoned to book one from Helsinki airport they were practically dissuading me from doing so....), before I swapped to a number 14 bus to take me along Great Junction Street. A walk up the road. The only thing that would have made that easier would have been catching a number 10 bus, but I narrowly missed one.

We've just watched the Ireland v NZ rugby match after dinner. Sad for Ireland. They were psyched out of it by NZ in my view. Some idiot on the BBC sports app predicted it would be a northern hemisphere whitewash in the quarterfinals. Hmmmm. That's so far Southern Hemisphere 2 Northern Hemisphere 0. Let's see tomorrow.