Outlandish

As a blogger it is vital to keep the posts coming regularly; the more often the better. Search engines and their algorithms raise active blogs in search results higher than those that are rarely updated. But the fact is that nobody can be creative 24/7. Creativeness has a nasty habit of appearing all of a sudden and then you are overwhelmed with ideas of what to write or say, what kind of photographs you should take for each blog post, etc. And then, just as suddenly, follows the period of emptiness when you can’t think of anything to say, no matter how hard you try. Creative people have different ways of dealing with the sudden peaks and lows of creativity; some write notes and make schedules, others just get to work, open a document and start spewing words onto it, or grab their camera and run outside to look for scenes to capture. I find the latter practice to suit me better. When I get an idea I have to materialize it immediately, even if it’s just one sentence. I...

It's August but the worst kind of Autumn has already arrived in Estonia. It has been raining eeevery day, just as it did in February for a whole month. And since it's raining all the time it's also dark, which is the most frustrating thing, because in reality it should still be light most of the day for couple more months. Until the never-ending winter darkness descends. And no matter how positive a person you are there is no way the darkness wouldn't affect you. Especially when I lived much more South it was easy to recognize from people's reactions that darkness was descending here, because people started to complain more than usual. The closer to the end of the year we got the worse the complaining got, and the array of issues worth complaining about went to stratospheric lengths. French are famous for being very big complainers but I think we Finns could beat them hands down every time. It's in our genes. But in the end no matter how much you complai...

Pirita is one of the biggest suburban areas in Tallinn and it spreads along the city’s Eastern coastline. It continues East-wards from the Kadriorg district, which means that it is a very wealthy area with amazingly beautiful and colourful private houses from huge manor-like houses to wooden “replicas” of small castles with turrets and towers. There also lies the Kadriorg Palace  and the gorgeous parks surrounding it. The area is well worth a visit, but because it is on the opposite side of the city from the Old Town 90% of the tourists never visit the area. I am not complaining though. It is much nicer to go for walks there when you don’t have to dodge photographing tourists every other step. The weird part is how between two of the richest districts there is the poorest and the most horrendous district in Tallinn: Lasnamäki. It is the “Russian district” where you do not want to venture. I had to get my ID card from a police station there and that was quite enough of Lasn...

I hate rainy days. They're so grey and dark and moody. Outside air feels colder than it would if it wasn't raining. And if you accidentally forget your umbrella home in the morning and get soaked on your way home from work you also freeze to the core. But I do also love rainy days. I can't think of many things that make home more cozier than a  hard-core rain  outside while you are warm inside  surrounded by pillows and drowning in your bathrobe . A cup of tea and a movie feel like a little bit of luxury then.  Rainy days do affect me a little, I always feel much more tired when it's dark and gloomy but when you're trapped inside you also get things done that you might not do if there was an option to be outside. Maybe finally grab that book from the shelf you've been meaning to read but haven't quite found the time for it or catch up with the TV series that everybody's talking about. I also like to use this time when going outside...

You know how all blogs these days seem to be full of healthy breakfasts with smoothies that include cow piss and coffee made of squirrel poo and suggestions how your life is not full without a doze of something that tastes just as disgusting as it looks. While I'm very happy that people take care of their bodies' needs, I'm also extremely happy that I don't need to eat that crap. I stay healthy and, if not fit, at least relatively skinny with a normal breakfast that my very Finnish family has always enjoyed. On a normal morning at home before work I need to have my cup of coffee and I usually make a quick bread with cheese and cucumber. Nothing special but enough for me. Sometimes if I wake up a bit earlier I make porridge topped with sugar and cinnamon. That's usually for slow weekend mornings, though. But at home I get to enjoy a proper breakkie that I don't even have to cook myself. Sometimes it's scrambled eggs and bacon British ...

Even though moving sucks big time (especially moving from one country to another!) it comes often with lovely surprises and discoveries. You unpack and discover things you didn't remember you had! I've lived in Tallinn now for two months and all this time I've had one box in the living room on the kitchen threshold untouched. I knew that it consisted of the most expensive dishes I own and they are quite graphic and deserve a good place in the apartment. But I haven't been able to find a place for them. But then the weekend came when my parents were visiting and I had to get rid of the box. When I started going through the things there I remembered why I wanted to start collecting them. They are lovely pieces of kitchen-ware with subtle mint-green edges. They definitely deserve to be used!  I drink tea a lot! I love tea, there are so many flavours and drinking tea is its own little moment of relaxation. Tea is also a genuinely calming substance, w...

As we know the restaurants in the biggest and busiest tourist clusters are usually over-prized and more than often not worth a visit at all. We discovered this last weekend again when we were craving for some simple pizza and went walking around in the Old Town. Not knowing where you're going you often end up just anywhere close in the end. We found pizza on the side of the main Square and it really wasn't worth the Finnish prices. Thank goodness we had booked a table for Saturday in a place that was recommended to us: Restaurant Kaks Kokka (Two Chefs) between the Old Town and harbour. The place was a bit tricky to find. It wasn't on the street but in the inner yard behind a parking lot. But even though weather was absolute shit this place was worth walking around a bit! The decor was pretty simple and Scandinavian, with black and white and earthy colours, and huge windows facing the street. The lights were a bit bright and in your face but that was ad...

I might have mentioned it before but I need the sea close to me. It’s one of these things you  take for granted when growing up because it’s there anyway, but as they say, you don’t know  what you have until you lose it. I have fully started appreciating what the sea means to me after  living in countries and cities far away from any sort of coast. It means peace. Here in Tallinn the sea is inevitably part of my life every day and it makes me insanely happy. I  see it from my window at work (if it’s not cloudy…) and no matter which way I walk (grocery  store, towards Kadriorg or home from work) it’s so close all the time. Last weekend I went for a  walk around the Kadriord area and there’s a really nice beach on the way. And there I saw  waves! Such a simple little thing but I went berserk. They were so beautiful and calming and the  sound is the best in the world. Just what I needed after the worst work week so far. That beach...