How to survive over (Finnish) winter?

Hints for handling darkness, coldness and depression

Meteorologist says whenmean temperature of day isless than zero, it's winter.

Astrologist says winter starts on the wintersolstice (21 st or 22nd of December) and endson the spring solstice (20th or 21 st of March)

The polar night starts inUtsjoki 27th of Novemberand ends 1 7th of January.That's the dark time - thatone may call hc-winter.

However, it's winter whenit's cold and dark and nomatter whatwhateverlogist says,winter lasts in Finlandfrom mid November unti lthe end of March.

Temperature in Helsinki 201 0

Even thought it's cold outside, homes are warm or at least heated.The most of the apartments have triple windows, block flats areconnected to district heating, houses have verandah and blockshave draught lobbies. And pretty much everywhere one gets warmtap water. Advanced?

Depth of snow in Helsinki (201 0-201 2) "Joulu" means December

Roma camp in winter 2011

People know howto drive during icytimes - actual ly indriving schoolthere are speciallessons for drivingin"sl ippery"conditions. Theairports are nothaving crisis whenthe first snowcomes - nationalrai lways are butthe ice soundsmore like anexcuse.

Homeless people are ofcourse having hardertimes. In January 201 0maybe 30 beggarRomas were living on ayard of a social centerSatama where they sleptin heated caravans.Some kids were stayingthere too, but the socialauthorities couldn'taccept that. So the coldheart of the cityauthorities melted in thefront of the law and theyarranged back upaccommodation for thefamil ies who hadchildren. People withoutchildren - well , adultscan take care ofthemselves.

So how to survive?

DO THINGS, ENJOY

Do things which cannot be doneduring spring, summer orautumn. For example wintersports: Snowboard in a park, skion the ice in the moon light, iceskate on a lake, sledge, buildsnow castles, play snow war,create ice sculptures or go justfor a walk or on a bike tour tonotice that your city doesn't careabout sidewalks and bike lanesduring winter. AnywayREMEMBER TO GO OUTEVEN IT'S COLD!

What becomes on ones mind about ahole in the ice. Maybe ice fishing oremergency but not swimming, for surenot. However that's a really healthyand famous hobby which isrecommended to do twice a week.Paradoxical ly helps to avoid flu. So getyour auger, make a hole, heat up asauna or go for a jog, dip in, do notdive, go back in and feel the goodvibes.("avantouinti" = to swim in the hole inthe ice)

During summer onemakes easily money bycollecting bottles. I t'spossible during wintertoo. People do drinkoutside and there areactual ly less peoplehunting the empty ones.One way to earn moneyis to dig rich people's carunder a snow pile. Howmuch to charge?Depends on the amountof snow.. .

Diging bikes from snow at bikeworkshop

During summer skin createsvitamin D from sunlight but inNovember and in December it'snot rare that one sees sun forfour hours per month. Not joking,four damn hours per month. Therest of the time it's just foggy andmiserable. So try to hang outsideevery time there is sun (teachersand employers rarely understandthis).Well , back to the vitamins.

Vitamin D has been added tomilk and some fishes has it a lot.Not funny when one eats vegan.There isn't any vegetable withvitamin D. Grains have a minimalamount of it, it has been addedto all vegan margarine and somemushrooms might have it. Onecan always go to the pharmacyor just wait for the spring andhope for the best. Osteoporosisand rickets here we come!

One'l l most l ikelyget a flu duringwinter. Eat a lot ofthings with vitaminC, l ike blackcurrants, broccoliand citrus fruits -not to avoid it butmake it shorter.

What to consider?

AND DON'T LET THE DEPRESSION STORM

How to create an ice lantern:

Fi l l an 8 l itre bucket withwater. Take a bucket outsideover night. In the morningturn it up side down. Waterhas frozen but probably/hopeful ly not in the middle.Pour the unfrozen wateraway and put a candle into ahole. How sweet!?

Moominland midwinter - Tove Jansson 1 957

Lantern can also be made out of snowballsl ike the Moomins did.

Wear properly. Tights and long stockings are uncomfortable butnecessary. Hats, mittens and scarfs, of course. Make also sure thatthere is not holes in soles and do not wet trouser legs. One might notthink about it, but wet trouser legs make people really angry anddepressed. And one shouldn't forget woolen socks. I t's also a nicewinter activity to knit while watching movies.

Woolen sock pattern:- Cast on 44 loops (eleven on each needle)- Make ribbing for 40 rows (knit 2, purl 2)Change colour, make stripes or dots if you fancy

Start a heel:- Knit 1 1 last and 11 first loops of a row on one needle, let the rest wait- Turn the wrong side and purl al l but the last one, turn the right sideand knit al l but the last one.- Repeat and leave always one more loop unti l there are eight loopsleft.- Now start to take loops back. Start with the wrong side. Purl nine turnthe work and knit ten repeat.I f you are famil iar with knitting use wrap and turn technique to avoid holes, by wrapping yarn

around the one you don't knit/purl

- When all the loops are back in business keep on knitting with al l theloops.I f you have really thin feet you may want to decrease 4 loops (one inthe end of needle one, one in the beginning of needle three on tworows)- Knit 40 rows, depends how long your feet isStart with decreases:- Knit two together in the end of each needle- When there is eight left cast off

Some people consciously or not drink more during the dark times. I fone is used to drink a class of wine at the dinner or couple of saunabeers on Saturdays - in November there goes a bottle during adinner or 1 2-back during sauna evening. Doupt that helps, but atleast one may forget.

Weed smoking isalso quite popular inwinter times, there'salways differentposses in differentapartments justsmoking the wholewinter. Lots ofpeople around theworld think that bestquality of indoorweed is found fromKanada and Finland.Coldness and snowmight havesomething to do withit.

There is a risk to get passive and just lay at home watching tv-series and movies.Here are movie examples about people who didn't survive overwinter so well :Reindeerspotting - escape from Santaland (201 0)Black ice (2007)Paha maa (Evil land) (2005)

!TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE - BEAT THE WINTER!

201 2

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