Today we visited the Helsinki Science centre “Heureka” with Monika and Olivia. The science education value of this section was unclear, but it contained some fun activities. The first event on the list was curling, and here Olivia shows us her technique. Whilst Monica had a go at the sweeping task. Note that there was no actual ice and the stones ran on casters of some sort so the sweeping activity didn’t seem to make any difference. The next event
First day in Adelaide
Well, here I am at the start of my third trip to Australia and ready to spend five weeks in Sunny Woomera. Since I will be driving up to Woomera and it is a long drive, I have two rest days to enjoy the delights of Adelaide (or at least as much as I can as I recover from jet lag). Opting for a nice easy start I visited the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. These come highly recommended and what’s more,
Anti-Spice
Nowadays, everything is very spicy. It is practically obligatory to like everything chilli, cajun, everything hot, VERY HOT etc. On some days, the menu in our daughter’s school canteen looks something like this: chilli con carne pepperoni pizza spicy lentil veggi chilli I was once served a fish soup containing, by my modest evaluation, the entire content of the pepper mill. Makes one think about those Olden Days when spices were allegedly used to hide the taste of food that
2015 Trip – Day 6
Distance Average Speed Maximum Speed 59.6 km 12.5 km/h 29.2 km/h Sophia and Marina spent a day at the farm, but not before Sophia had helped to harness my dogs for a day of solo driving on more difficult trails. First drove toward Tilsa, but took scenic route via top of Koivuvaara, down bear canyon and then along canyon trial which starts where power lines cross Tilsa road. Coming back along that trail saw day trip teams coming up power
2015 Trip – Day 5
Distance Average Speed Maximum Speed 41.4 km 10.8 km/h 23.0 km/h Morning spent visiting nearby Reindeer Farm. Quite interesting, but doesn’t mean that I will now be happy to meet reindeer in the forest as they will still cause problems controlling the dogs. For afternoon trip, six dog team provided for me and the same four dog team as before for Sophia. Headed for Kylkeinen via swamp south of farm and then (after briefly turning round) downhill to power lines.
2015 Trip – Day 3
Distance Average Speed Maximum Speed 30.9 km 9.9 km/h 26.2 km/h Left farm at around 1100. Similar teams to Monday with seven dogs for me and four for Sophia. Weather good, but probably a little warm (perhaps 4°C). Fallen snow was getting heavier and tending to jam in the brake mechanism. Sometimes almost impossible to release brake and Sophia found this particularly difficult. Drove to North edge of range near Road 20 and then back toward Janisvaara on main trail.
2015 Trip – Day 2
Today we had a day off from Sledding to visit Ranua Zoo.
2015 Trip – Day 1
Distance Average Speed Maximum Speed 27.4 km 14.3 km/h 24.4 km/h Arrived late last night, and after seeing Timo and eating Salmon soup went to sleep in hut next to sauna. Perfectly acceptable accommodation with bathroom and ‘one up – two down’ bunk bed . Whilst eating, Bent made some disturbing comments about the future availability of lead dogs suitable for me. As will be seen, these concerns are likely misplaced. Got to breakfast just after 0900. Agreed that we
Russian Proverb and Riddle of the Day 1
When a Russian Mum tries hard to teach her English family something about the Russian psyche, it often comes to trying painstakingly to render Russian sayings, proverbs, film quotes etc. into English. It is never enough just to translate it, though, because they never make sense just like that. Look for yourself: Here is a riddle: What has two ends, two rings and a nail in the middle? (The correct answer will follow in due course.) and here is a
Elasti-fork
We often hear these days of the perils of obesity and that everyone needs to take more exercise. High tech solutions have been proposed to limit the rate at which people can eat, but here is a simple and cheap way to keep the waste line under control. Fix your fork to the table with a short stout piece of elastic. Struggling to pull the fork to your mouth will not only slow down the rate of eating, but also