Some time ago I wrote a post about how awful it is to go out with unkempt hair. But recently I found out that too much of a good thing can be bad too.Having my hair nice-looking has always been really important to me. I spend a small fortune on my hair, and when living … [Read more...]
Living out of a suitcase
I'm planning a capsule wardrobe to pack from the capsule wardrobe I took with me from London. Luckily I bought a few items in the shops in Stockholm today (more of this later with hopefully pictures) which makes life a little easier, still I'm not particularly looking forward to the next week. I'm … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 48
‘You’ve lost weight,’ my old school friend said. Her eyes were sharp under newly blow-dried short hair. We were standing in front of the hall mirror of my grandmother’s house in Tampere. She was shorter than me and had to stand on tiptoe to zip up the bodice part of my white silk tulle wedding gown. … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 43
The Padre wore a dark suit with a white dog collar. He was a tall man and his dark form loomed large over the door of the terraced house in Southsea. He offered me his hand and held onto my palm for so long I felt trapped by his grasp. But he continued gazing into my eyes and smiling … [Read more...]
Pappa’s Girl
Tampere 1971Perhaps it was the violence, perhaps the unpredictability of the event, to me at least, that afterwards totally coloured my life. Before then, I had been Pappa’s girl, in a way that my sister wasn’t. She was so difficult that Mamma always worried about her. As soon as I was born Pappa … [Read more...]
Why I can never wear animal print
Meet my grandmother, the first fashion addict I ever got to know. Now, she wasn't actually my grandmother, she was my mother's aunt. My mother and her three brothers were all adopted after their parents died by various members of two feuding families. Feuding because they didn't approve of my real … [Read more...]
Football and the elusive book deal
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy seeing Spurs play at White Hart Lane. My husband, who's been a die hard Tottenham supporter since childhood, has a season ticket at the Lane and goes to as many home games he can. It took me a couple of years to buck up the courage to go, because I hated the first … [Read more...]
Landlocked
I've always had a thing about islands. I was born in Tampere, an industrial city pegged between two of the 190,000 lakes in Finland, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. When my family moved to Stockholm, we didn't get very far from water. The capital of Sweden is made up of beautiful islands. But as a Finn I … [Read more...]