Helsinki is white, but not in a racist way.

Helsinki has frozen. Today temperatures raced up to a tropical -5 but in the past weeks the average has been around -15 with lows as low as -25. And it's snowing. "Too much snow" said my retired neighbor who has been diligently clearing the paths whilst Cat watches from the window like a prison guard.

In Finland, freeze or no freeze, life goes on. Buses pick up and drop off, offices open, pubs serve, schools teach. You get the idea. No problem. But some precautions are necessary. My skin has now been replaced temporarily by a Merino base layer. Wool is the key, wool is your friend. Cotton is evil.

Before venturing out take a photo so the police can recognise the body. 

If I'm out on my bike then I'll use a total of at least three layers as well as a (synthetic) furry hat and three pairs of gloves. I cover my face up with a balaclava which then causes the water vapour in my breath to flow out past my eyes and freeze my eyelashes shut. This may sound inconvenient but blindness is better that leaving your poor nose abandoned to the elements. In the north my nose froze on a snowmobile/ice fishing trip and the skin began to peel like with sunburn. Not nice.

The other fun things about the cold are:

1. Crazy static electricty. There's some scientific rule about cold air, relative humidity and central heating causing static. I don't understand it but I do know that if I rub Cat on my jumper for a few minutes then I can stick him to the wall.
   
   

   

   Static Cat

2. Crazy headphone wires. My usually cool white headphone cord freezes and stiffens like a metre long wonky pipe cleaner. Sometimes the ear buds come out and float around like charmed snakes. 
3. Clean shoes. Nothing here sticks to your shoes except snow and that melts off when you get inside. You could eat your dinner off 'em.  

   

   Winter = Wool socks and clean shoes

4. Exploding plastics. Not many people know that at -21c plastic turns to glass. So far two zip-toggles have broken off in my hand and the lock-holder on my bike shattered spectacularly when I went down some steps. 

Exciting times.