Helena Halme's Blog, page 35

Only in Finland!

This is no gimmick, and I can fully believe that this reindeer does indeed think it's a dog.

Happy Independence Day!

Today Finland celebrates its independence. I have written before about the history of my country of birth, and about what being in independent means to a Finn, here. But this year, today is even more special for me, because the main celebrations are being held in my home town of Tampere.

Finnish flags flying at Tampere Hall. Photo: Jukka Kuusinen/YleThe highlight of the day, the Presidential Ball is taking place in Tampere Hall, a concert centre, because the Presidential Palace in Helsinki is undergoing major renovations. Big Sis who's in Tampere at the moment, tells me there's been a lot of hoo-ha in Finland about the lack of any dancing during the ball. It's a bit of a tradition in Finland to see how well the President, or the ministers, or various celebrities who've been honoured with an invite to the televised Ball fare on the crowded dance floor. 'This year it's going to be a different kind of Independence Day - a celebration the Tampere way,' my sister said to me over Skype and threw her head back and laughed.

Our home town is indeed a bit different - dubbed the Manchester of Finland, it has its roots in heavy industry and the working classes. Although nowadays the industry, instead of being heavy metal and cotton  mills, is information and communication technology and skilled engineering, so the town is more white collar than blue collar. To me, Tampere still feels different, more old-fashioned and traditional than, say Helsinki or Turku.

In any case, even if there's a departure from important traditions, such as dancing, I still hope the celebrations in Tampere go well and the organisers do the city proud. If you want to see what really goes on during the Independence Day in Finland, you can follow the celebrations from my home town on YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) here.

Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää kaikille suomalaiseille!

Kindle Countdown Deal on The Red King of Helsinki

To celebrate Finnish Independence Day tomorrow, The Red King of Helsinki, my Nordic spy thriller,  will be JUST $0.99 for 24 hours! Offer starts 8am PST - 4pm UK time. But HURRY, the Kindle Countdown Offer means the price will go up every 24 hours!


Here are the details:
6th December at 8 am PST (4pm GMT) the price will be reduced to $0.997th December at 8 am PST (4pm GMT) the price will go up to $2.998th December at 8 am PST (4pm GMT) the price is back to normal $4.99
Don't miss this excellent offer, get it here!

A great deal on Kindle Fire

I thought I'd let you know about a great deal on Amazon Kindle Fire today, on Cyber Monday.

Click here for this deal!Today only Amazon are offering £30-00 off Kindle Fire, making this popular tablet only £169! A great Christmas gift idea for almost anyone. Imagine how many books you could carry with you & how much easier your life will be with a tablet that you can use for email, surfing the net and more.

Here's the blurb:

What's newHDX display, quad-core processor, plus Mayday, our revolutionary on-device tech support...See moreWe want you to know...Learn more about design decisions to help make an informed purchasePerfect-colour HDX display, plus powerful quad-core processor for fast, fluid performance and console-quality graphicsExclusive 7" HDX display (1920x1200), high pixel density (323 ppi) and perfect colour accuracy (100% sRGB) for vivid, lifelike images that go beyond standard HDThe fastest processor on a 7" tablet—powerful 2.2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM for fast, fluid gaming, video and multi-taskingIntroducing the "Mayday" button—revolutionary, on-device tech support. Get free assistance from an Amazon expert 24x7, 365 days a year.Stay productive with ultra-fast web browsing, built-in OfficeSuite, plus e-mail and calendar support for Gmail, Outlook and moreNew Kindle FreeTime — Parents can create a profile for each of their children and choose the content they want to give their kids access to. Parents can also set daily limits for use or restrict certain categories like games while leaving unlimited time for reading.Ultra-fast 4G LTE technology lets you check e-mail, browse the web and more on the go (optional)The Amazon Appstore features your favourite apps, plus Kindle Fire owners in the United Kingdom get 400 Amazon Coins (a £4 value) for free to spend on apps and games.
You can get this deal today, just click here, but hurry, it's a 24 hour thing...

The Englishman is now available in paperback!

The paperback copy of The Englishman is finally here! My copies of the novel arrived on Thursday and you may imagine this caused some jubilation in Halme Towers. I very nearly gave this lovely (though a little embarrassed) delivery man a kiss and hug...


  Signed copies of the book can now be found at my favourite bookshop in London, West End Lane Books, but they'll soon be popping up all over town.
The lovely Joey sold the 1st even bookshop
copy of The Englishman! Way to go!The Englishman will also be available at Finn-Guild offices in Camden, where tomorrow there will be a Finnish book sale. And to celebrate the publication of the paperback copy, all Finn-Guild members can get the copy at the discounted price of £5-00. So, not only will you get the book at a lower price, but you will also help Finn-Guild, because £1-00 of each copy will go to support this worthwhile charity. 
If, however, you cannot get to London, do not fear! You can order your copy of The Englishman paperback online (but shh, don't tell those nice folks at West End Lane Books!). Just follow the link here.
West End Lane Books277 West End LaneLondon NW6 1QSTel: 020 7431 3770info@welbooks.co.uk
Finn-GuildSecond Hand Book SaleSaturday 30 November at 11 am to 2 pm1A Mornington CourtMornington CrescentLondon NW1 7RDTel. +44 (0) 20 7387 3508mail@finn-guild.org

Houses of Parliament Open over the Holidays

You may remember that I was raving about a visit to the Houses of Parliament last summer. Well, now there's some very good news. One of London’s most popular activities, tours inside the Houses of Parliament, are available for the first time over the Christmas and New Year period.The ‘Blue Badge’ guided tours take visitors on a 75-minute journey combining one thousand years of history, modern day politics, and stunning art and architecture. Tours highlights include the Lords and Commons Chambers, the Queen’s Robing Room, the Royal Gallery, Central Lobby, Members’ Lobby and Westminster Hall (over 900 years old and home to Parliament’s Christmas tree). The Members Lobby
Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament Festive opening dates have been confirmed for:·         Saturday 21 December·         Friday 27 December·         Saturday 28 December·         Thursday 2 January·         Friday 3 January·         Saturday 4 January
English language tours run at 15 minute intervals throughout the day between 9.15am and to 4.30pm. Tours in Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian tours are offered at various times on all opening days.Tickets cost £16.50 for adults with concessions for seniors, students and the armed forces at £14. One child is admitted free with each paying adult, otherwise tickets are £7 per additional child aged 5 to 15. Special rates for groups of 10 or more range between £9 and £13 per person depending on the tour start time. The Royal Gallery
Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament Information and reservations are available from Ticketmaster on 0844 847 1672 or 0844 847 2498 for groups, or by visiting www.parliament.uk/visiting.

Crouch End Christmas Fair

The Crouch End Festival Craft Fair is on 14th December outside Hornsey Town Hall. If last year is anything to go by, it's going to be a splendid event, with fabulous festive gifts, festive music and festive spirit in abundance. 
The craft fair is part of Crouch End 'Shop Local Campaign' encouraging everyone to make a difference to the local economy and community by shopping in the local high street. So watch out for posters galore in shop windows and please support your local shops, local community and local businesses this year!
Christmas decorations by Made in Crouch EndDon't forget to leave your festive shopping for the 14th of December!
Christmas Craft MarketCrouch End BroadwayLondon N8
14 December 2013

Scandinavian Christmas comes to London

The weekend when the Scandinavian Christmas fairs come to London is always when I start to feel festive. The Finnish Church in Rotherhithe opened its doors this Wednesday with wonderful Finnish foods, sweets and Christmas decorations, while the Scandinavian Christmas market on the street between the Finnish and Norwegian churches was set up yesterday. A sunny and cold day, with the scent of mulled wine and Nordic Christmas hymns playing in the background, all that was missing was snow to make me feel all at home.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's market.
All that was missing was snow...  Now how could you say no to these fellows?
I love these stars and had to get a couple to decorate my windows. These decorations are so cute! There was live music too.  If tree's one thing you have to taste, it's Fazer chocolate with  ginger snaps. Finnish Christmas stars and cinnamon buns. Inka Karppinen being a lovely volunteer.  'I know all about you,' said Father Christmas to the Englishman.
I was too scared to ask what he meant!
Finnish Church Christmas Fair 2013 is open:

Wed 20.11. 12-20Thu 21.11. 12-20Fri 22.11. 12-20Sat 23.11. 10-18Sun 24.11. 10-18
Tervetuloa! Welcome!

Book Beginnings on Fridays - Murder at the Maples by Joanne Phillips

It's that time again, a Friday beginnings post!




Today I'm starting to read Murder at the Maples by Joanne Phillips. This a sort of a homage to the end of the highly successful cozy crime TV series Poirot, with the screening of an episode based on Agatha Christie's last Hercule Poirot novel 'Curtain'.

I have loved Christie's books ever since I read them as a teenager, and am totally hooked on the Poirot and Miss Marple TV series and movies. I've been known to watch them several times over, to the absolutely exasperation of my family. These days I have to actually be ill in order to be allowed to watch them! They are a cruel lot, my family.

'Cozy Mysteries' is also a highly popular genre in fiction, so this week I thought I'd try a book written by a fellow indy writer, Joanne Phillips. Her two previous romance novels have been huge successes, so I know this woman can write.

Murder at the Maples (Flora Lively Mysteries) by Joanne Phillips
Chapter 1
'Are you sure it's safe?' Flora looked out of the window and up the cliff face. The other carriage seemed suspended above them. How on earth had she let Joy talk her into this?

'Oh, Flora, you're such a wimp.' Joy sat back with a smile and patted the bench by her side. 'Come on, it only lasts a minute.'

So does plummeting to your certain death, thought Flora, but she tucked herself in next to Joy anyway and began a head count of the other passengers.

Visiting the cliff railway at Bridgnorth was a special treat for her friend's eightieth birthday - Flora's idea of a fun day out was shopping for vintage clothes or taking to the hills with a backpack. Not risking life and limb for a trip down memory lane. Flora stowed her tote bag between her sandaled feet and began to read the guidebook with determined interest.

'It was right here,' Joy said dreamily, 'where Eddie proposed to me. The fourth of May, nineteen fifty-one. The happiest day of my life.'

I get a definite whiff of Mrs Marple or Poirot from the beginning of this novel. There's the same kind of gentleness to the story - an eighty-year-old, a memory of a proposal - contrasted with such words as 'death' 'risking life and limb' and 'cliff face' and 'safe'.  You also get a sense that Flora is both physically fit (possibly younger than her friend?) and an observant kind of woman - she hikes and she's already taking a headcount of the passengers on the dangerous looking cliff railway.

These first paragraphs of Murder at the Maples have definitely whetted my appetite, and I look forward to seeing what adventures Flora faces in this first of what I firmly believe will become a very successful series of books.





   

A Very Swedish Evening with a "Chalmersspex" Show

You know those British traditions, like Pantomime, which is difficult to explain to someone who's never seen one? Well, Chalmersspexet is just like that - you really have to see one to know what it's all about.

Photo: Kristofer Norström — with Oliver Carlsson,Oskar Fridell, Johan Forsgran and Per Ahlgren.But I'll try to explain.

In Sweden, Spex is the name given to student comedies, or raucous plays, often performed in silly costumes. Chalmersspex is in fact very similar to a British Panto, because this student tradition which began at Chalmers University in Gothenburg some 65 years ago, also involves men dressing up as women; there's singing and there's general silliness. Unlike in a Panto, however, the only audience participation is clapping - if you show your keen appreciation for an energetic dance number, the cast have to perform the routine again. The aim is to get the poor young students as exhausted as possible - a task which seemed impossible with this lot!
With this Chalmersspex evening, there was also the show after the main show. We were guests at the Swedish Church in London, where after the hugely funny and entertaining performance, the hall was turned into a posh canteen, with long tables laid out with the very important schnapps and beer glasses. While us guests had delicious canapés and drinks at the Pastor's residence next door, the theatre company turned into party organisers and set up the room for us. 
Me (what's happened to my hair???)
with the very tall leading lady, Oskar FridellDuring the meal of Swedish husmanskost (traditional Swedish foods such as herring and pyttipanna), the cast and theatre company lead the singing of schnapps songs. After many drinks, songs and speeches, and dessert and Punsch (Swedish sweet liqueur), the cast began performing again, singing solos and duets.

Apologies for the quality of the photos -
at this point the show had been going on for s few hours already...The evening, which began at six o'clock, was still going strong when - at one am - we finally made a move to leave. I have to admire the energy of these young  people; apparently as well as doing the show, entertaining the guests all night long, and serving us drinks, plus clearing the detritus of the night before, they were contracted to set up the church hall for the Swedish Christmas Market the following day. And they did it all with massive smiles on their faces.
This was my first Chalmersspex, and the food as well as the general Swedishness of the evening took me back to my teens in Stockholm. But, if I get another invitation, I can guarantee you this won't be my last Chalmersspex! Judging by the few words spoken by the Pastor, next year the Church may have a visit from the all female version, Chalmersspexet Vera.

Now that would be a treat too!
The Christmas Market at The Swedish ChurchWe open the doors at 10.30 am Thursday the 21 November. Ambassador Nicola Clase opens the market at 11 am.Thursday 21 Nov kl 11-20Friday 22 Nov - closed
Saturday 23 Nov kl 11-18
Sunday 24 Nov kl 12-176 Harcourt Street, London W1H 4AG
Nearest tube station Edgware Road, Marylebone Station and Baker Street.