What I did in March 2017

[squirmelia]

I took my first breath underwater and went scuba diving. I even saw a shark! (Admittedly, a toy plastic one, on the bottom of the swimming pool.)

I went on a tube walk from Regent's Park to Baker Street and we saw alpacas and the Jelling Stone.

My mum and I saw the exhibition on Sussex Modernism: Retreat and Rebellion at Two Temple Place.

I went to a UX Community event on "When did service design stop being UX?"

I ate dessert soup at the Shan State with doseybat and morwen and we saw A Silent Voice at the cinema.

I caught up with friends at Pub Standards.

After 4 weeks, the gas in my flat was finally turned back on!

I celebrated miss_newham's birthday at the Battersea Arts Centre.

I visited the Charterhouse museum.

I saw the exhibition at the Stables Gallery by Martin Davison - Playing the changes.


I visited Finland!

I wore snowshoes while I hiked across frozen lakes and through snowy forests, where lichen and juniper berries grew.

I stopped for a while and drank a cup of warm lingonberry juice with lingonberries floating on it, and then ate a cinnamon bun and some coffee that had been heated on the campfire. Two women sat across the fire from me and started singing, but I could not understand the words, as they sung in Finnish. They seemed friendly though and asked where I was from, and explained that they don't usually speak to strangers, apart from if they are in the forest (as they were then) or if they are drunk.

I walked past a tree that looked like it had been burnt, but actually, a chaga mushroom had grown there. I looked at the different kinds of lichen growing in the forest and remembered I dreamt about seeing lichen while snowshoeing.

I returned to Helsinki and visited the Design Museum there. I looked at a MikroMikko computer made by Nokia, screenshots of Finnish computer games, the design of characters in Angry Birds and a model of Futuro House.

One day, I explored dark tunnels inside an island fortress. I peered up at stalactites, visited a church which was also a lighthouse, looked at the Vesikko Submarine, pink buildings, abandoned green phone boxes, and a river which had chunks of ice floating on it. I walked from one island to another, crossing bridges, and it was then that it started to snow.

One afternoon, I mostly visited places of worship in Helsinki.

I visited the Uspenski Cathedral, red bricked and green roofed, and then the Lutheran Cathedral, white and neoclassical.

I visited the Kamppi Chapel by the shopping centre, with large stones inside that were soft.

I visited the Temppeliaukion Kirkko (the rock church), which was the best place of worship I visited that day, built into the rock, with music playing in the background, and I sat there for a while, listening.

Then I went to an exhibition - Mystical Rapture, which had figures with buckets on their heads. The description said, "Mystical Rapture is about the moment when control lets you down. It seems to conjure up something forgotten or hidden."

After I arrived in Helsinki, I took a tram and then met a parade of concrete turtles, near to the docks. The sky was blue that day. I stared up at the statues and buildings, as I wandered around the city. I visited a department store and then that evening, ate pulled oats, cinnamon buns and marzipan covered cakes that I had purchased there.

I sat on a bench in the middle of a sandy beach, and stared at the sea, but it was frozen. When I walked by it, I could hear it creaking, crackling, the ice melting. I looked into the distance and saw blue pylons, on tiny islands, and crows, standing on the ice.

I took the ferry across from Helsinki to Tallinn and spent the time staring at the sea, listening to a bingo game that took place in Finnish, and also to the music that was played there. I watched people dance and wondered then why I didn't have someone to dance with. "Whatever will be, will be," they sung. Yes.

Photos on Flickr: Finland

I visited Estonia!

In Tallinn, I wandered around the old town, visited the Seaplane Harbour, explored a submarine, danced in the captain's cabin on an ice-breaker ship, and peered at graffiti in a former Olympic venue. I admired the views from the TV Tower and walked on a beach backed by pine trees. I looked at old Soviet phone boxes, hand-driers from the 1960s, and televisions that you added water to magnify the screen! I ate parsnip ice-cream, tried
Vana Tallinn liqueur and drank my own Personal Jesus in the Depeche Mode bar.

Photos on Flickr: Tallinn

I wandered around an abandoned submarine base, where they used to do degaussing, and stared up at the graffiti and crumbling concrete.

I tried swinging on a large traditional Estonian wooden village swing, standing up, but I did not try kiiking. They are often used for celebrations and many villages have them.

I visited a waterfall, walked around manor houses and was told stories about ghosts and red-haired women who bite men.

I ate strawberry soup at a tavern, before wandering through the bogs, the mysterious bogs, in Lahemaa National Park.

I explored an abandoned military base, which had a lot of derelict buildings, some with trees growing in them now. I went to the former Soviet military town of Paldiski and stared up at the lighthouse and the wind farm.

I went inside the bunker there, using my phone as a torch, as it was dark down there.

I wandered around a ruined monastery, walked on cliff tops and on a shingle beach, where icicles had formed.

I was in awe of the beauty of the flooded Rummu prison quarry, with grey sand dunes and a lake with swans swimming on it now.

I sat in the cockpit of an old Soviet military aeroplane and pretended to fly it.

Photos on Flickr: Estonia

(I also visited Latvia and Lithuania, but in April.)

Ingress:

Another fun Enlightened monthly social!

I wandered around Croydon and completed the When Dolphins attack! banner and kept an eye out for suspicious dolphins. I visited the Boxpark in Croydon and ate cronuts and “the hard bowl”, which included yam and plantain and ackee.

I walked around Brick Lane and did the Brick Lane banner, and drank a vegan freakshake at the Canvas and smiled when I saw the sign made of beads that said, “All you need is weird”. I stared at photos in the Whitechapel Gallery, at the Terrains of the body exhibition, and also watched mobile phones spin around.

I walked around South Kensington and did the Evolution of Man banner. I stared at John Latham's skoob art at the Serpentine and marvelled at his creations. I also saw the Speak exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler.

I wandered around Canary Wharf one day and did the Canary Superskyline banner. Another day, I walked around St Pauls and did the The Bridge to St Pauls banner.

I organised a Ministry of Funny Walks banner meet and afterwards, we ended up in the Crobar.

Comments

[flaviomatani]

Busybusy1! Little wonder I have not seen you for ages :)

Mind those dodgy dolphins :)

[squirmelia]

Indeed, I have been busy!

I did find a photo of some dolphins on my phone, but can't remember where from. Definitely dodgy.

[green_knight]

I live in London, too, but you seem to be living several universes over towards the Weird. I am in awe of that.

[clare42]

I don't live in London, but I get what you mean. And I feel the same way!

[squirmelia]

I'm not sure what universe I was in when I visited Vancouver- just read the entries from when I went on holiday there. Maybe you've visited some of these places? :)

http://squirmelia.dreamwidth.org/tag/vancouver

[clare42]

That was a lot of fun! Thank you :)

I too have admired steam rising from the pavement and incanted SeaBus, SkyTrain. Immigration offices mostly were okay with me, although the one that eventually issued our work permits referred to me as “wifey” when talking with my husband.

Also I found a comment from Past Clare on one of the entries about Yellow and the Chaplaincy at UoS. I wonder what happened to the Chaplain? I only remember him as Yellow…

Granville Island is a 20 minute walk from home. The market is lovely, if costly.

I'm now going to go read my own past LJ entries about my Canadian holiday in 2013!

[squirmelia]

There are so many different Londons, I don't think I would want to live anywhere else really. :)

[clare42]

When did service design stop being UX?

[squirmelia]

I think the conclusion was that it was a trick question and people just seemed to see UX as being a part of service design.

[clare42]

Hey. On a totally different note, did you import your old LJ entries into DW, or were you always cross-posting? Am trying to figure out what to do with my old LJ. Thanks!

[squirmelia]

Yep, I've just imported the whole lot, including comments and security settings. I wasn't cross-posting before, so hoping it has all copied over okay!

[clare42]

Looks like it did so seamlessly! I was thinking of exporting my LJ just to a local dump, but maybe DW is worth a shout after all. Hm!

[squirmelia]

I also used BlogBooker to create a PDF version of my LiveJournal. You have to pay for it now, but I had used it when it was free, so figured it was worth it, as I am really keen to have backups! I still need to download my icons and my photos from the Scrapbook also.

I haven't quite got used to Dreamwidth yet or found a style I particularly like, but hopefully I will!

[squirmelia]

We also saw birds on the tube walk, such as a smew!