Saturday 14th October 2017,

After our late night discussions about world affairs and everything in between, we were up late this morning. After showering and breakfast, Bill and MAC took off for the supermarket to buy some Fazer nougat chocolates for gifts at home. At the supermarket they encountered 'Mr MilkyWay' a large very handsome male, long-haired 'Maine Coon' who was outside the pet store and whose owners, it seemed were offering him for breeding purposes. he proved to be extremely friendly and appreciated the attention he was getting from passers-by.

Mr Milkyway

In the early afternoon we left for Nick and Henna's house which is in Vantaa in the Metsola area. It was raining again and a grey day which was a pity as this is a very nice residential area. Sadly, the day before Nick had sliced his finger with a chisel and had to have three stitches in it at a local hospital which was a painful accident.

We arrived at their very nice house and were met by Nick, Henna, Robin, Aaron and little Edwin.

Robin, Edwin and Aaron at their dinner table

They have a wonderful house at the end of a tree lined street. They have managed to modify it with an ingenious heat pump which reaches down 175 meters into the earth to draw up the air which is at a steady 5 deg C and process it to heat the water for the radiators which heat the house as well as the hot water for domestic use. This system is very economical on electricity and Nick explained the way that the costs, net of various tax breaks for the installation work, have allowed a recovery of the capital costs of the system within about 6 years. Nick has outfitted the garage to allow various work and play-related activities. The two older children each have their own room. and the house is excellently laid out  with all sorts of gadgets including a home theater set-up and the omni-present sauna. Outside there is a terrace around the house for alfresco eating and cooking. Although there is a motorway close by a soon to be built sound proofing wall will exclude the noise from this.

The house is near schools for the children as well as public transport for henna to get to her workplace

We enjoyed a very nice lunch with a delicious salad containing chicken, cheese and all sorts of vegetables and 'sticky buns' for dessert.

It was interesting to hear how the two adults managed the family with alternate work at home, a work schedule which permits the taking of the children to school and to picking them up afterwards. They are lucky to also have good neighbors who are friendly and helpful. All this does mean that time together for everyone can be limited but the family are very happy and seem to manage the busy schedule very well.

After a very enjoyable stay we returned home, again in the rain!! We relaxed with some TV soccer and a leisurely dinner at home.

As the next day would see us leaving Helsinki for Berlin we had to try to collect all our belongings and get them packed which MAC managed after some iterations.

After our usual nightly review of world and other affairs, we retired to bed.