It´s another strikingly sunny morning in my life, in Mid-July, in a town where 18-year-olds drive their cars around the two blocks the town centre consists of and then gather in the carpark of the local Siwa.
I can't complain. Staying at your parents´ place in the middle of nowhere can be a nuisance. But here I have both physical and metaphorical space to roam around and wind down by delving into Scandinavian short stories and the contents of my old “memory shoe boxes”. However, with a mum whose daily exercise reminds me of Alexander Stubb and a dad who thinks the telly must be switched on around the clock I start to feel like an angst-ridden teenager in a soap opera.
We´re going to head to the remote lake surrounded by bogs. With me I take a real angst-ridden teenager Eppu, a knife, some lunch, a towel and mosquito spray. It´s a hot day - perfect for rowing and diving into the lake, sunbathing and cooking food outside on a fire!
We´re off with our bikes. It´s about 3km on a dry dirt road, then a few hundred meters down the path through the cruelest Finnish nature. We reach the lake, as remote and isolated as ever. There´s nobody there, just some birds flying about and a dozen of down-facing rowing boats. We choose one and struggle for five minutes trying to turn it around. I kick us onto the water and start rowing like I´d never done anything else in my life. It´s getting a bit windy and some clouds are gathering. I row a beautifully formed circle. Eppu starts steering with a spare oar and we start moving in slight curves towards the cottage.
As we hit the shore we see the rain coming down on the other side of the lake. We run before the rain and reach the cottage just in time. It´s really pouring down now. We go inside and make a fire. We cook potatoes and onions wrapped in foil. It´s hard to keep the ember going on. Finally we eat some partly uncooked potatoes and it tastes great.
We spend time eating and lying around in the cottage. The rain stops eventually but it´s still kind of too cold to swim. The lake is a bit rough, too, and we don´t want to row around the lake. We put down the fire and start our journey back. As I row, we notice more malicious-looking clouds rising above the horizon. They´re approaching quickly. The way back is like a high-speed video but the rains creeps upon us anyway. It´s coming down big time! We pedal and pedal and get soaking wet. There´s no point to hurry anymore as we´re soaked to the bone.
The water is dripping down my cap, down my nose and I can feel how my trainers fill with fresh rain water. We get back home and it´still raining. I tell Eppu I want to peel off my clothes and go fooling around in the rain. I dance outside in my bikini. Eppu stands on the porch and looks at me for a while. I see disbelief (or is it pity) on her face and I stop. We go in and decide to make hot chocolate.
The kettle is on and we´re wrapped up in dry towels. Then a loud lightning rumbles and cuts off the power for hours. Talk about proper summer days!
