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susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
Hello and welcome.

Until I read your translations I thought you were a butch female...

, not a wolf! :D :joke:

Sounds like you live in a nice part of the world, I envy you!

Simon

Hehe, yeah I did wonder if I would get hit on as a "Suzie" - made me laugh like a banshee!

It is a nice place to live, I have to say. I'm a mix of English and Finnish, so am lucky to have the choice. Still lots of stuff I miss about blighty though!

It's not all roses though. In December it gets vaguely grey for 4 hours before it is night again (the forum guy up in north Norway will prolly have a couple of months of constant pitch darkness).

It feels very dark until the snows come (and then it can even drop below -40°C in the depths of winter, even moisture in your nose freezes to the point where you can squeeze your nose and hear a crackle :) ).

On the flipside, every place on earth gets exactly the same amount of sunlight during a year, so this means that during the summer it doesnt really get dark, you can happily read a newspaper outside between midnight and 1am, which is novel, until you want to sleep :)

One of the best things here is "Everymans Rights", which means you can go pretty much anywhere you please, as long as it isnt someone's garden. Of course you cannot damage crops, chop peoples' trees down, etc., but otherwise you are fairly free to pitch up a tent anywhere you want and stay a night. You are also free to fish with a basic rod/hook/worm anywhere on practically all of the 188,000 lakes. In my area the population density is about 20/km2 (compare to Lincolnshire which is about 150/km2), and up north it is less than 2 people per square km. So you can see, there is plenty of space to do what you want. None of this Lord and Earl business, keeping the prols off their land :)
 

susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
Terve Bod,

Luhanka, I know there is one a bit south of Jyväskylä, was it the same place?

Much has changed since '91... you should visit :)

May I ask if your mother was Finnish?
 

kancho74

Member
Jul 28, 2008
12
0
Norway
Hehe, yeah I did wonder if I would get hit on as a "Suzie" - made me laugh like a banshee!

It is a nice place to live, I have to say. I'm a mix of English and Finnish, so am lucky to have the choice. Still lots of stuff I miss about blighty though!

It's not all roses though. In December it gets vaguely grey for 4 hours before it is night again (the forum guy up in north Norway will prolly have a couple of months of constant pitch darkness).

It feels very dark until the snows come (and then it can even drop below -40°C in the depths of winter, even moisture in your nose freezes to the point where you can squeeze your nose and hear a crackle :) ).

On the flipside, every place on earth gets exactly the same amount of sunlight during a year, so this means that during the summer it doesnt really get dark, you can happily read a newspaper outside between midnight and 1am, which is novel, until you want to sleep :)

One of the best things here is "Everymans Rights", which means you can go pretty much anywhere you please, as long as it isnt someone's garden. Of course you cannot damage crops, chop peoples' trees down, etc., but otherwise you are fairly free to pitch up a tent anywhere you want and stay a night. You are also free to fish with a basic rod/hook/worm anywhere on practically all of the 188,000 lakes. In my area the population density is about 20/km2 (compare to Lincolnshire which is about 150/km2), and up north it is less than 2 people per square km. So you can see, there is plenty of space to do what you want. None of this Lord and Earl business, keeping the prols off their land :)

Same here in Norway, go where you like and when, I read on here about having a knife on your person and all the new laws in England but here its quite natural to see people with a knife, I love it! My missus is from Finnmark where there is only ca 56000 people but its not far off the size of Ireland, great if you want to feel alone in the world, only problem with Finnmark is a lack of mountains and damn bugs.
As far as the light in winter goes it gets dark pretty quick and as you say 24hr darkness for a couple of months but then thats balanced with the midnight sun...
I'm travelling to Finland for a wedding next week so looking forward to hearing Finnish, always makes me laugh how different it is from Norwegian!
 

BOD

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Terve Bod,

Luhanka, I know there is one a bit south of , was it the same place?

Much has changed since '91... you should visit :)

May I ask if your mother was Finnish?


Yes. Jyväskylä is north of Paijanne, Lahti at the bottom end of the lake and Luhanka is somewhere in the middle.

Yes my mother was Finnish. Her family farmed in that area. Actually, I have not been to Luhanka since I left Finland in 1962. I last visited Finland in 91.

Wonderful place but too cold to live there!

Welcome to BCUK and hope to see your posts on Finnish bushcraft.
 

Doc

Need to contact Admin...
Nov 29, 2003
2,109
10
Perthshire
Seems like there's a lot of interest in Finland and this is turning into a very long welcome thread - nice one, Susi. :)

My friend (she's a she) is not so far from Helsinki but I'll have to ask her when she gets back - she's over there just now.

Finnish is very different from the Norwegian etc. English has more in common with Urdu than it does with Finnish.
 

susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
Finnish is very different from the Norwegian etc. English has more in common with Urdu than it does with Finnish.

Indeed (not sure of spellings):


German: Fisch
Swedish/Norwegian: Fisk
English: Fish
Finnish: Kala
 

kancho74

Member
Jul 28, 2008
12
0
Norway
Where's the wedding? :)
Turku, 2 planes and a ferry from here. My 'mother-in-law' was born there but moved to Norway when she was 6 so she has a connection with the place. I'm hoping to get my hands on a quality rucksack while i'm there, Turku (although we tend to say Åbo) is alot bigger than Tromsø....
 

susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
Turku, 2 planes and a ferry from here. My 'mother-in-law' was born there but moved to Norway when she was 6 so she has a connection with the place. I'm hoping to get my hands on a quality rucksack while i'm there, Turku (although we tend to say Åbo) is alot bigger than Tromsø....


Any particular brand you're after?

To be honest, for smaller packs I've just ordered karrimor from the UK, but if you're after something bigger, then partiokauppa/partioaitta/partiopatikka are the shops to look out for. I don't know which one is represented in Turku, thought. Am just about to take my wings out of the oven, but let me know if you need to know an outlet address and I can have a shufty for you :)
 

kancho74

Member
Jul 28, 2008
12
0
Norway
Any particular brand you're after?

To be honest, for smaller packs I've just ordered karrimor from the UK, but if you're after something bigger, then partiokauppa/partioaitta/partiopatikka are the shops to look out for. I don't know which one is represented in Turku, thought. Am just about to take my wings out of the oven, but let me know if you need to know an outlet address and I can have a shufty for you :)

I'm on the lookout for two really(45L and 100L ca), not too bothered about brand as long as it is quality, there is choice here but you are talking alot of money, Norwegians tend to buy quality so there is alot of Bergens and Norrøna gear here which is ridiculously priced! I have to fit shopping around the wedding so if you could point me in the right direction that would be great, I have searched a little but most sites are in Finnish or Swedish which is a pain.
 

robin wood

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 29, 2007
3,054
1
derbyshire
www.robin-wood.co.uk
Hi Susi,

Wonder if you can help with this one. I just found these rather nice videos of old finish crafts.

http://www.kansatieteellisetfilmit.fi/puukolla_wmv.htm
http://www.kansatieteellisetfilmit.fi/haaparuuhi_wmv.htm

I would like to buy a copy of the DVD but don't speak Finish. I guessed at tila dvd then there is a choice of 1,2 or both and I think I would want both but then I lost it. Could you help find what the price would be on both DVDs posted to the UK? and if it is possible for me to pay with visa or paypal.?

I would be interested in any other info about the site or if there are other videos, etc.

Hope you can help. Cheers Robin
 

susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
I'm on the lookout for two really(45L and 100L ca), not too bothered about brand as long as it is quality, there is choice here but you are talking alot of money, Norwegians tend to buy quality so there is alot of Bergens and Norrøna gear here which is ridiculously priced! I have to fit shopping around the wedding so if you could point me in the right direction that would be great, I have searched a little but most sites are in Finnish or Swedish which is a pain.


OK this place in Turku could suit you:

http://www.partiovaruste.fi/

You can see the address on the right, including a picture of the shop front.

Copy/Past this "Lantinen Pitkakatu 13 turku" into googlemaps.


They say this:

Laskimme, että sesongin vaihdon myötä saimme Turun liikkeeseen esille yli 30 metriä reppuja ja rinkkoja: kolmessa tasossa!


Which means they have over 30m of rucksacks and backpacks (on 3 levels), so you won't be short of choice.

On this link are further links to their brands:

http://www.partiovaruste.fi/ajankohtaista/2008/huhti/kymmenia-metreja-reppuja/
 

susi

Nomad
Jul 23, 2008
421
0
Finland
Hi Susi,

Wonder if you can help with this one. I just found these rather nice videos of old finish crafts.

http://www.kansatieteellisetfilmit.fi/puukolla_wmv.htm
http://www.kansatieteellisetfilmit.fi/haaparuuhi_wmv.htm

I would like to buy a copy of the DVD but don't speak Finish. I guessed at tila dvd then there is a choice of 1,2 or both and I think I would want both but then I lost it. Could you help find what the price would be on both DVDs posted to the UK? and if it is possible for me to pay with visa or paypal.?

I would be interested in any other info about the site or if there are other videos, etc.

Hope you can help. Cheers Robin

I can try :)

"Tallenna" means save, so if you go to this page you might be able to download them for free!

http://www.kansatieteellisetfilmit.fi/videot.htm

The "Tilaa DVD" page seems to suggest that the DVDs are available free of charge, and all you have to do is type you name, address, post code etc in to the box (without any other text) to receive a copy (this may be funded by some cultural organisation). However, it does also suggest that the DVDs are made during July and sent out in August, so I'm not sure if a dadline has beeen passed. Either way, it seems well worth a shot.

If that fails, you could go here:

http://www.skr.fi/default.asp?docId=12256

where they have English language pages. I'm sure if you email the address at the bottom, they will try their best to help.

As sad is it is true, an English speaking foreigner will get much better service in Finland than a Finnish speaker, so much so, that I often just use English when shopping....

Let me know how you get on! :)
 

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