Strange trains : 06/09/06

My childhood love of long distance train travel is still intact even after the overnighter to Lapland, naked pot bellies encountered in the corridors at 3:00 am, WCs that only work when the lid is closed and don't when it hasn't been, delays in the pitch black night for loud-voiced Finns to throw their suitcases and their voices into the compartments.Is everyone in Finland a heavy smoker, or is theirs the voice of evolution, generations of smoked herring 'curing' the throat to make those clumps of consonants.



Baltic Herrings Aida! (Yum. I ate heaps):


I wasn't surprised to learn that Lordi came from Rovaniemi, my destination city. In fact I was escorted to Mr Lord's downtown shop, just in case I might want a tee shirt bearing Lordi's beastly image. My serendipitous companion of the journey was Irma a woman in the next compartment, returning to her childhood home after a family death. She gave me all sorts of invaluable advice, and took me to the best Lapis souvenir stores. I resisted the Sami court jester like caps and coats, but did buy a splendid woolly beanie with a coloured plait which I think will be the headgear du jour next Winter on the East Ipswich platform. The Finns have a sorry history of army invasions and bombing campaigns (strangely, Finlandisation is the word that springs to mind!) although much of it has been white-washed in order to retain the Russian tourist rouble.















Where Irma now lives, close to the Russian border, she told me that a bear had been shot but had got away, unkilled. News bulletins have been warning that children must be sent to school in taxis, as the bear is still in the forest, now wounded and dangerous. I liked this story of the bear (such a change from discussions of sharks, venomous spiders and poor Steve Irwin's awful encounter with a sting ray). How like a metaphor for Russia itself I thought, not very originally. She described Russia to me herself as "rotting from the insides"and refused to go there, having memories of the bombing campaign which completely wiped the old Rovaniemi off the map. (Sorry Marina)

Travelling across Finland by train has at times seemed like an extended trip to Noosa, forests of conifers looming both sides of the track and broken only occasionally by pathways and sometimes even tiny cyclists pedalling somewhere in the shaded gloom. Looking out at such a scene my thoughts turned to woodcutters, nasty step mothers and helpless children. My second more Australian thought was of Belanglo, several people having told me of seeing "Wolf Creek". The rogue Aussie killer is always a favoured cliche alongside the venomous spider terror and shark menace. How to explain our rather bland lives in the 'burbs?



But the weather has been good, actually quite hot. Is Jenny Woodward moonlighting in Helsinki?