Monday, February 23, 2004

Weekend madness

Ripa has a birthday. Maija has a fever. Maija is supposed to visit Riita and meet up with old friends. Raisa says Chris will come and collect the table and chairs and bookcases at around 12 o'clock. Twelve comes and goes and no Chris. Maija calls up Riita and says she can't come. Postponing an event that has already been rescheduled. At one o'clock I phone Raisa and ask where Chris is. He has not left home yet. I have to be at Ripa's at two.

I decide to load all the chairs into the Yaris. I can carry a couple of chairs at a time. I go out and leave the door open. Maija tells me to shut it cos she feels vunerable with the door open. I put down the chairs. I close the door. I pick up the chairs walk to the front door, and put them down again and open the front door. I pick up the chairs and walk to the car. Open the car doors and remove the car seats and put in the dining room chairs. I lock up the car and I go back to the house open the door and Maija says close it because she feels vunerable. I close the door.

I repeat this sequence of events four times until the car is loaded. I am not in the best mood what with all the lifting up and putting down of chairs, all the opening and closing of doors.

Christpher calls and invites us for a meal at his house at seven. The Emma awards are on and it could be that Juhani will win an award for the Jazz musician of the year.

Maija feels better and decides to come to Ripa's with me. We deliver the chairs to Raisa and then drive on to Korso. We have difficulty finding Ripa's place. I say it is one way Maija says it is another way. In reality it is somewhere in the middle.

We eat cake that Ripa has made and Ripa reads about Bilbo's party from the Lord of the Rings. We applaud and shout. It was moving and sincere, but I have to get back to Raisa's and pick up Chris and go back to Espoonlathi to get the bookcases and the table. Maija does not want to leave. I want to go since I have promised Chris I would pick him up at five. Maija arranges a lift with the Kalmaris and I leave. I calculate half an hour to Chris, half and hour to Espoonlahti, half back to Chris's and half an hour to Terhi. That is a couple of hours and if I am luck I will just get into Christophers for the presentation of the Emma awards.

It nearly goes according to my calculations. I arrive 15 minutes late. They have recorded Juhani winning the Emma. We have a white wine. I make a salad. Christopher cooks some peppered steak, and we drink a fine red wine with it. For desert we have ice-cream and a good desert win. I fall asleep on the sofa, while the others watch Will Smith in Independence day. I wake up past midnight and it is time to go home.

We get lost trying to get to Keha II. We come to a T-junction and one direction points to Lippajarvi and that is where Maija wants to go. The other points to Kirkkonumi and that is where I want to go. Maija says Kirkkonumi is North. I say Kirkkonumi is in Espoo and Lippajarvi is in Vanta. I take the Kirkkonumi road and hit Keha II and I feel justified though I don't say anything. It is past one o'clock in the morning when we arrive home.

I open the car door for Maija, I undo her seat belt. I hold her arm to steady her on the icey road to the house. I open both doors to the house, and we go straight to bed.

I was happy that I had eaten the best steak in the world at Christophers and drunk and excellent red wine. Tomorrow will be a new day.

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