in 3 years Finland probably could figure out how to implement a lockdown that actually helps

It's funny that Turku is in lockdown except for essential travel which includes groceries and work (but not only work for essential personnel, they haven't done anything about closing places that are not essential except vaguely 'recommend' work from home where possible)... and the liquor store of course... but not only does that include stores being open that people aren't technically supposed to be able to go to (or are you meant to get into a philosophical debate about it???), the career couseling and rehabilitation agency that works as a subcontractor to Social Security is still open, in town, meeting face to face with clients who should probably just wait and not rush into the job market right now anyway, putting them at risk through these meetings and the necesssity of dining in person in a restaurant without masks every day they come! LOL. And like, they don't have any video meetings set up for these career counseling courses and meetings AT ALL. I'm gonna assume it's something to do with bureaucratic red tape, like social security can't require it or suggest it without first making sure they have the funds in place to give the ability to videoconference to every citizen who doesn't already have it at home. But the alternative is not even offering an option! And continuing to make people's social security payments largely contingent in their participation in these in-person meetings that are potentially endangering their health (at which they don't require the participants to wear masks, presumably because again they're government-funded and the Finnish government has extremely limited power to require things of people according to its constitution but EVEN SO)!

Of course right now there's maybe around half a fifth of the populace vaccinated I suppose, but heavily weighted towards the elderly of course... and at the same time the new more virulent strains are out and cases are spiking. And I mean, it was bad enough for them to determine to put a lockdown in effect in the first place.

I did eat in the restaurant last time, because that way it's free, but I suppose I'm going to try to find somewhere alone to eat, or at least outside, this time. Traveling into and out of Turku right now is bad enough.

Thanks for the comments on my last post, by the way! That's what the meeting is about. Kind of. It's brainstorming for where my next work practice should be, but I suppose it's not that hard since Pargas is so small. There are multiple obvious candidates, that is, largish stores that do enough business to definitely stay open, and probably have procedures in place for trainees and so on even if they don't have any summer job openings atm. In the long term I still wish I could work in a small independent store - like an antique store, or a yarn store, or an art supply store - but those places are all a bit precarious in the current economic situation.

And hey, the way the EU, US and the rest of the global north are currently conspiring to restrict vaccine production, we could have swathes of the global north as well as everybody else completely unvaccinated by the time resistant strains evolve that render the current batch of vaccines useless... so maybe in three years Finland will still have a use for actually functional restrictions after all.

designer impostor coatrack, octagonal mirror, 60s light; food & cat friends

Our entry hall looks great with the painting and wallpapering we did a few weeks ago, and then Friday we got to hang up the vintage 60s molded glass ceiling light, the big octagonal mirror, and the DESIGNER IMPOSTOR COATRACK, which is a phrase I'm still not tired of saying. DESIGNER IMPOSTOR COATRACK!

This is our coatrack on the minty offwhite wall, a chrome-plated Habo Berry with porcelain knobs, which is a pretty obvious knockoff of, or maybe you could get away with 'riff on', the iconic 1953 Eames Hang-It-All (which has wooden knobs and white or black body) for about 1/10th the cost:



This is the octagonal mirror we found in the attic in pieces and which I reassembled and painted with this wallpaper in mind:


(No pictures of the light fixture yet - it's tricky.)

Then yesterday we were awakened by a disaster involving the new litter we tried to put in the litterbox for Tristana, who seemed to be a little confused by our wood pellet litter (it was disastrous enough that we went back to the wood right away). We ended up washing and disinfecting and then vacuuming and airing out the hallway, cooked some apple jam and dried the peels for bunny treats, and spent a few hours raking up a pile of dead leaves roughly the volume of two sofas back to back.

And today we baked an experimental spiced nut cake with creamcheese frosting, and then... due to a slight miscalculation on my part... accidentally made enough tabbouleh, Greek salad, and roasted chicken and vegetables to last for like three days! So I'm still about a week behind in terms of laundry, but otherwise things are going well.

Also Tristana has gone from sneak-snuggling Snookums (and frequently getting growled or hissed at) to pretty much conquering his heart this weekend: we saw him take the initiative to sit down next to her, reach out to hug her with his little foot when they were next to each other, and groom her when they were snuggling today.



So I think we can say they are friends now, although she's such an irrepressible little twerp that she will no doubt get told off again in future. She hasn't even been here two weeks, hahah.